FIELD NOTES. 



397 



tool in their crops under two or three weeks after plant- 

 ing, snd the result is a large amount of hand-labor and a 

 stunted growth. 



While one horse was harrowing, I took the other and 

 marked some ground for raspberries. I have a common 

 three-prong corn-marker with legs three and one-half feet 

 apart. Across the legs, near the bottom, I nailed a piece 

 of fence-board, and then spiked two short pieces up and 

 down. These were tapered to three inches, and were 

 seven inches longer than the original legs. They were 

 five feet apart, and were used to mark for planting red 

 raspberries. Then I nailed on another piece between 

 these pieces, and used it to mark the black raspberry 

 ground across the rows, making the plants thirty inches 

 apart. After marking one way I knocked away the tem- 



plan one that will be light and serviceable, and have legs 

 that can be quickly adjusted to any width. 



Wet weather is very favorable for planting berries, and 

 we hurry planting along during spring rains. For the 

 last few years I have not dug raspberry-tips until ready 

 to use them ; then they are dug and planted at once. 

 They are then about two inches high, and can be planted 

 about as rapidly as strawberries. I bought 500 plants of 

 one variety to fill out rows, and it took fully three times 

 as long to plant them as it did those just dug. They 

 were several days in the package, and the sprouts had 

 grown crooked, turned white, and were very tender. 

 The greatest care was necessary to prevent breaking 

 them, and fine dirt had to be sifted among the sprouts. 



We dig raspberry-tips into half-bushel market-baskets 



Thk Sa.NT.Ji B.J.RB.J,k.\ Fl 



porary attachment and marked the other way with the 

 regular corn width. We planted every other row with 

 berries, and when the weather grew a little warmer, a 

 row of Cory sweet-corn in the alternate marks, and a 

 hill between each two raspberry-plants. Last year I 

 tried both early and late corn among raspberries, and I 

 could not see that the berries were in the least checked 

 in growth. 



I find that when the ground is marked both ways plant- 

 ing can be done about twice as fast as if done by a line, 

 the way I formerly did. In marking across the row it is 

 not necessary to retrace the row, as absolute accuracy is 

 not required either in width or in straightness. In mark- 

 ing the other way I try to get the first row exactly right, 

 and then, by retracing, all the rest are made true and 

 exact. I need an adjustable marker, and am trying to 



and plant therefrom without dropping. In planting, the 

 basket is set down between two plants, and when they 

 are planted moved between the next two, and so on. A 

 basket holds about 60 good plants. Last fall I got some 

 excellent baskets for this kind of work. They are the 

 ordinary diamond basket lined with a tight veneer lining, 

 and have an extra band around the outside midway be- 

 tween the bottom and the top. The tight lining prevents 

 drying from the wind, and by renailing the bands and 

 putting an old leather strap around the bottom and up 

 over the handle, a basket will last for several years. 

 The ordinary cheap diamond basket without the above 

 improvements will scarcely last a week if used in plant- 

 ing raspberry-tips. The best tools and conveniences are 

 always cheapest. 



Summit county, Ohio. L. B Pierce. 



