-I SMALL FRUITS AND HOW TO PROW THEM 
11 
cultivate one way all the time so as to 
throw the runners around so plants will 
stand three to six inches apart directly in 
line, only one plant wide. Then attach the 
rolling cutter to the twelve tooth cultivator 
and clip the runners as often as you culti- 
vate. The narrow alleys furnish root pas- 
turage, light and air so that full assimila- 
tion is secured. 
THE FULL MATTED ROW. 
Planet Jr. Cultivator with Runner Cutter 
Attachment. 
HALF MATTED KOW. 
This is the next best way to grow berries. 
Make rows three and one-half feet apart and 
set 18 to 24 inches in the row according to 
variety and fertility of soil. On poor land 
set closer. Keep off all runners the same as 
for hill culture until about the middle of 
July. By this time nearly all weed seed 
will have germinated and been killed by the 
cultivator; the plants will have formed large 
crowns and an abundance of long roots and 
Half Matthii Ro\s. 
will send out large strong runners. The 
ground having been kept moist and mellow 
over the entire surface by frequent cultiva- 
tion, the plants have not been stunted by 
the usual early summer's drouth. 
The fir.st ruinier.s usually start about 
the time the summer drouth begins and will 
not root unless the ground is wet at the sur- 
face, but the wind and cultivator rolls them 
up in ropes where they continue to draw 
their sustenance from the mother plant, pre- 
venting it from making new crowns or 
materially increasing its rootage. Hence 
there is nothing lost by keeping them cut 
off, but an immense amount of labor saved 
in hand weeding. 
Probably three-fourths of the berries are 
grown in this way, but it is a mistake and 
progressive growers are fast finding it out. 
It involves an immense amount of hand 
labor in pulling out grass and weeds with 
fingers not required in hill culture, hedge, 
or half matted row, and fruit is always of a 
lower grade. 
Make rows four feet apart and set plants 
eighteen inches apart in the row. Let the 
cultivator go in the same direction every 
time so as to throw the runners around with- 
out tangling them, and as they root narrow 
up the cultivator. 
In the thick matted row there is not 
enough room for the roots, and plants form- 
ing later find it impossible to establish them- 
selves,yet being supported by the"wire"from 
the mother plant they set buds and attempt 
to produce fruit which for the want of root- 
age they cannot bring to maturity, thus they 
are not only worthless in themselves but 
greatly injure other plants near them. With 
the isolated plant in hill culture the roots 
often extend in every direction filling the 
ground without warring on other plants. 
It is thus enabled to meet all requirements by 
maintaining an equal balance of root and 
foliage making perfect assimilation of all 
food gathered and thus giving potency to 
pollen and vitality to seeds and consequent 
high development of fruit. 
Some careful g-rowers thin out the 
plants when they get too thick, but slovenly 
people never do that; but such folks are 
the ones "zv/io tarry long on the marker' and 
sell what they raise at any price they can 
get, work like slaves from daylight till dark 
and never make any money, live in cheerless 
homes, wear ragged clothes and play second 
fiddle to every body else. As they aspire to 
nothing better, it don't make much differ- 
ence. They cannot distinguish between 
true economy and penuriousness in 
expenditure of labor or money. Spurious or 
exhausted plants will serve their purpose as 
well as any if they can be bought of 
some irresponsible party for a few cents 
cheaper than pedigree plants of high fruit- 
ing power, and you can't make them see 
they are saving pennies by the loss of dol- 
lars. If you think this is harsh, go among 
your neighbors and on the market and see if 
it is not true. 
Only one man in ten succeeds liber- 
ally in any business because they do not 
adopt the better methods. In which class 
you propose to stand? 
SETTING PLANTS. 
The great point is to have every root 
straight and separated from each other and 
imbedded in soft mellow earth so that new 
feeding roots can start out in every direc- 
tion without any hindrance and thus secure 
a vigorous growth at once. 
The spade is quite generally used, but in 
the hands of a careless man is about the 
most villainous tool ever used for the pur- 
