SMALL FRUITS AND THEIR CULTURE 



exacting in their demands that none but 

 skilled gardeners are warranted in undertak- 

 ing their culture. And a third one is: The 

 uncertainty of being unable to take them 

 through our severe Northern winters safely. 



The first objection is met with the argu- 

 ment that the man who is obliged to w^ork 

 for a living, and has a family to support, 

 has no excuse for neglecting to avail himself 

 and those dependent on him of all the good 

 things that can be grown from the plants 

 named, if he owns a piece of ground large 

 enough to accommodate a small collection. 

 The second objection is not justified, because 

 it is an easy matter for any man to learn 

 how to care for small fruits if he sets about it 

 with the intention of mastering its details. 

 There is really no basis in fact for the third 

 one, for we have, to-day, varieties of each 

 kind of small fruit that are entirely hardy at 

 the North if properly cared for in the fall. 



There should be a strawberry-bed, large 

 or small, in every garden, if I had my way 

 about it. 



Here I suppose some reader will meet me 



with the objection that ^^strawberries don't 



pay. They require too much care, and the 



beds soon run out, and then everything has 



to be done over again.'' 



57 



