=1 SMALL FRUITS AND HOW TO PROW THBM 
13 
for $9.00. It does 
the work faster 
than any other 
machine that will 
do it equally well. 
The only re- 
quirements are 
that the ground 
shall be properly 
fitted by rolling- ■ 
lre% from" s5 
straw, or any- 
thing which Ready fok Covering. 
would gather on the edges of the blades in 
quantity so as to tear the cone to pieces. 
Small stones do not interfere if not too many. 
An experiment in setting alternate 
rows with Perfection plant setter showed a 
plain difference of at least twenty-five per 
cent in favor of those set on the cones. 
This increase, I estimate, will entirely pay 
for setting and cultivating plants for the 
season, giving a profit of very many times 
its cost. If given good care the tool will 
last a life time. 
An absolute necessity. I wish to im- 
press the necessity of loosening the earth 
around the plant by cultivating with weed- 
ing machine immediately after plants are set, 
so that capillary action will bring the water 
up above the roots and collect under the 
loose earth or dust mulch and nourish the 
plant during the trying ordeal of transplant- 
ing and becoming established. Where you 
step around the plant to firm it, about the 
roots you have left the particles so close to- 
gether that the water draws up to surface 
with great rapidity to be carried off with sun 
and wind. I do not wait a single hour after 
plants are set before cultivating. 
Leaving- the ground without cultiva- 
tion for a few days in a dry time kills and 
stunts more plants than any other negli- 
gence you are liable to commit. To have a 
boy drop plants ahead of the setter often 
leaving them five minutes in bright sun and 
drying winds is sure death or permanent 
injury. Don't do it. Put a piece of manilla 
paper in the bottom of a basket and pour in 
a quart of water and then open the bunches 
of plants and set the roots in it and take 
them out as needed. Do not let them stand 
in water over a half hour before setting as 
they become soaked and injured. 
NUMBER OF PLANTS REQUIRED 
TO SET ONE ACRE. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
GRAPES. 
18x30 inches. 
..11,616 
7x7 feet 
888 
30x30 
6,968 
7x8 " 
777 
18x34 
(( 
..10,250 
7x9 " 
691 
34x34 
(t 
.. 5,426 
7x10 " 
662 
15x48 
.- 8,712 
8x8 " 
680 
20x36 
t ( 
.. 8,712 
8x9 " 
605 
18x36 
H 
.. 9,680 
8x10 " 
S44 
36x36 
H 
.. 4,825 
8x11 " 
495 
18x42 
(( 
.. 8,297 
8x12 " 
453 
18x48 
( t 
.. 7,260 
RASPBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES, ETC. 
3x5 feet 2,904 3x7 feet 2,074 
3x6 " 2,420 3x8 " 1,815 
HOW MANY CROPS? 
How many crops can be taken ' before 
plowing under depends on the method of cul- 
tivation. In hills fruiting vigor can be 
maintained from four to six years. In the 
half matted row two or three years and if 
matted very thick one big crop ends the use- 
fulness of the patch. If as explained else- 
where, the plants are mixed so that some 
are fruiting and some not, it will produce 
two or three small crops. If perchance the 
plantation is severely injured with frosts, so 
that plants can use the season largely to 
recuperate,- a good crop may be expected 
the next season. 
The second and third crops cost very little 
save the picking, as the plantation is already 
established. Berries generally ripen two or 
three days earlier in an old bed than in a 
new one. 
INSECTS. 
DISEASES. 
Diseases and fungi always attack weak 
and sickly plants. I never could fuss to 
doctor a sick ten cent chicken. Send it to 
the dung heap — and a plant to the brush 
pile. Keep up the selection. Adopt the rule 
of the survival of the fittest. Fix your ideal 
of perfection high and accept nothing below 
it. There are plenty of varieties to occupy 
our soils and maintain health and vigor. 
No, we don't need a plant doctor. The hoe 
is the best physician. If a plant has not 
vitality enough to shake off the disease 
and resist fungi, hoe it up and put in one 
that has. 
3 and 4, May beetle; 2. larva or white grub; 
1, pupa. 
The only insect likely to do serious dam- 
age in strawberries is the white grub or 
larvaj of the May beetle illustrated in the 
