Sm^LL pRUITS. 
Tho small fruits are of the greatest impoitance, and whether for home use or profit- 
able marketing, cannot be overlooked by any intelligent cultivator. We take them up 
first, as of first importance. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
CULTURE.— Many points are to be learned in this line of horticulture in one’s life; 
hence, with a life-long experience, one must profit by it. It would be useless for us to 
rehearseall the points wehave broughtoutin the past through the journals of thecountry, 
setting forth the methods of culture and marketing the crop. In this brief space we can 
only allude to this point, but in a brief way we will try and cover the ground. 
With the standard berries of the day, it is no trick to grow from 150 to 250 bushels of 
this fruit per acre, if the proper care is given and the best varieties planted. 
One would think it useless to work a bed once a week; but here is one point not to be 
overlooked; cultivation checks evaporation, and admits air to the soil which the plant 
roots delight to have. Thus by frequent culture you add both to the root-growth and the 
crop of the future. 
Different methods of planting area rule in different sections of thecountry ; hence, we 
can but give you the one practiced by us— this is a compromise between the matted row 
and hill system. With the matted row yougetmuch small fruit— with the hill quitelarge, 
but not paying qualities ; so we take the compromise. 
When a bed is set in spring, wc allow no runners to set until July 15 th to August 1st; 
we then see that they are notkuddled together, but kept separate so they will form a good 
root-growth, and be prepared to produce a good crop. 
The method many practice in matted-row system is pushing the runners to the plant 
all through the fall. This isnot right; .vouform anestof vines without being well rooted, 
and that will produce inferior fruit. When one wants some fine specimens of fruit, he 
will not go to the largest cluster of vines, but where the set is more scattered and where 
the sun shines in around the plants, 
The rows on this system should be 3X feet wide, and plants 15 to 18 inches apart in 
row. In preparing the soil, would not advise planting sod to this fruit, but if that is 
done, it should be plowed the fall before and replowed in the spring, with a light coat of 
manure plowed under, and the same worked in from top. 
The soil cannot be too well prepared ; the more work put on it, the less it will require 
in the future 
As a fertilizer, we recommend barn-yard manure above all others. Commercial fer- 
tilizers with us have never proved a profitable investment; hence, we pay more in propor- 
tion for the former than the latter. The manure has the lasting qualities, where with the 
phosphate you know not the hour its strength will be exhausted, and many times the re- 
sult will be the loss of crops. 
We advise working the manure into the soil from the top by plow or harrow ; it is 
then placed in reach of the plant roots; when plowed under it is seldom reached, and the 
plant proper receives but little from it. 
The soil does not need to be rich to produce the crop; any soil that will produce good 
potatoes or wheat, with a supply of manure added, will yield you good returns. The one 
main pointin view should be cultivation, and the best tool to do this work at the least ex- 
pense is the Planet Jr. See cut on a rear page. 
Planting. — The planting of abed is the most important part. It costs you the same 
to cultivate a poor stand of plants as it does a good one; hence, the importance of well- 
rooted strong plants. 
We cannot produce such with the care and high culture we give them at the cost they 
can be grown on New Jersey sand-banks and at some other points, but we can send you 
plants that are worth ten times their value, and will all grow; not only grow, but produce 
you a good growth instead of one of the dwarf nature ! 
The plant should not be planted deeper than it stood in the bed; when planted too 
deep it will not grow, and if planted too shallow, the same. 
We use a spade and line for setting; have our plants all dug, and when we are ready 
it is but a small job to set. Two men and a boy can set one acre per day. Care should be 
taken not to expose the roots to sun or wind. 
Should plants be received before you are ready to plant, or should anything interfere, 
heel in : cut the string about the bunch and spread them out, dampening the roots but not 
the leaf. 
Our plants are all stripped of surplus leaves and runners, and put in bunches of 
