THE RUSHIRE FRUIT FARM, IONIA, MICH. 
9 
their weight every day. Now, all this water 
comes from the mother plant. 
IVorse than ever! The crust on the sur- 
face of the ground soon forms in the mid- 
dle of the row and capillary action brings 
the water from the "-ubsoil where it passes 
off without any hindrance whatever and to 
keep this crust broken up among the thick- 
ly matted plants after every rain where it 
can only be done with fingers involves an 
amount of work not to be thought of. Look 
at the puny plants all over the west this 
year as well as in the east. Notwithstand- 
ing there was no rain of importance from 
the last of May till near September there 
was not a day on my twenty acres of spring 
set plants where the ground was not' wet to 
an inch of the surface, and mv plants are 
the largest I have ever seen. Under favor- 
Lovett's Eakly (h). 
able climatic conditions for the coming 
spring we may expect to harvest the 
largest crop of berries ever picked, 
whereas, other plantations throughout the 
country in thick matted rows amount to 
almost nothing. Yet the actual expense of 
caring for the half matted row or hill sys- 
tem was less than half that e.xpended by 
growers who practice growing m the old 
system. 
THE MARKET. 
If you have large and luscious berries, 
you need not concern yourself, you will not 
have enough. Your customers will growl 
because you cannot furnish more. The 
markets of your town or any city were 
never glutted with fancy fruit. The amount 
of this concentrated deliciousness a village or 
city will "stow away" will surpass your 
wildest estimate. You simply can't supply 
the demand, but a few bushels of little, 
flavorless berries will last any town a week. 
More and Worse. You may preach 
this system of pedigree plants and high 
culture till doomsday, and nine growers 
out of ten will keep right on in the old rut 
of cultivating sterile plants if he can buy 
them a little cheaper than pure pedigree 
high fruiting stock. 
He will pay out a hundred dollars for 
fingering out the weeds and lose as much 
more on quantity and quality of his fruit 
rather than pay for a Perfection Plant 
Setter and runner cutter, and while these 
machines will do the work on twenty acres 
for a life time they will pay for themselves 
extra on one eighth of an acre every year. 
What is your average crop? Will 
it go seventy-five bushels per acre? No; 
not fifty. What is the crop here? Three 
to four hundred bushels per acre of high 
priced, ready sale fruit. 
You have good land, good opportunity, 
good everything, and there is no danger of 
too many adopting this plan of cultivation. 
The question to consider is this: Are you 
going to be the tenth man, and make a 
handsome success, make money, gain fame 
and name or be one of the nine. Which? 
MULCH AND FIRE. 
Mulching is not absolutely necessary on 
sandy land or soil that does not heave bad- 
ly. It should never be applied until quite 
hard freezing. Plants grow late in the fall 
and if applied early it might injure them. In 
the spring rake off a little so the leaves can 
Enhance. 
come through and permit it to remain till 
after picking. Then mow off the leaves and 
stir out the mulchitig and when dry and a 
