Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farminrj. 
91 
raspberries and strawberries by fruit-growers in Derbyshire and 
other Midland and Northern counties, and are cleaner, and 
retain the juice much better than baskets, and should be adopted 
in Kent and other counties where these juicy fruits are pro- 
duced, for sending- small quantities of fruit to market. 
We have much to learn in the modes of packing and arranging 
fruit. Those who intend to grow fruit extensively would do 
well to go to Covent Garden INIarket, and notice the packages 
of the French and other importers of fruit, which are much 
smaller and neater, and, it must be said, far cleaner than the 
"sieves" and "half-sieves"* in which much of the English 
fruit is packed ; many of these are dirty in the extreme, and 
wholly unfit to put fine fruit in. 
Strawbekkies may be profitably grown in most of the 
lighter clays, also upon loams, and upon the better sandy soils. 
Upon loams and good descriptions of clay, the plants will con- 
tinue to bear well and pay for several years. Upon some soils 
they will only pay for three or four years. In parts of Kent, 
upon the London Clay, and Greensand, they will last for six 
or eight years. They are propagated by runners taken from 
the best plants directly the fruit is picked, and are put in a 
nursery, and transplanted from thence in the autumn. Or the 
runners are left on the plants till the autumn, by which time 
many have thrown out roots ; these are cut away and put at 
once into the ground in rows, 30 inches apart, with a distance 
of 18 inches between each plant. Some put the plants 30 inches 
apart each way, or 3000 plants per acre, so that the ground 
between may be horse-hoed. Early potatoes may precede straw- 
berries ; the land should be well manured and deeply ploughed, 
and subsoiled if necessarv. Just before the fruit is changing 
colour the ground is covered with rough farmyard-manure or 
litter, laid all round the plants, to keep the fruit from the dirt, 
to stimulate the growth of the plants, and to retain the moisture. 
Picking is done by men and boys very early in the morning, 
and necessitates a good supply of labour. Women pack the 
fruit for dessert in punnets, which are put into deal boxes, 
holding five dozen. In some districts the best fruit is put into 
earthen crocks or pots. Inferior fruit is put in tubs, and sent 
to jam markets. For this there is a very extensive demand. 
The average price of the fruit is about 6c?. per lb. An average 
crop would be about 3000 lbs. per acre. Frequently as much 
as 5000 lbs. have been grown per acre. Keen's Seedling, Princess 
* Half-sieves are generaUy used for gooseberries, currants, and cherries in 
Kent, and the weight is made up to 24 lbs. for currants and cherries, and 28 lbs. 
for gooseberries. Raspberries are sent in tubs lidding J cwt. In other counties 
various sized baskets, called " pots" in some places, are used. 
