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Apeil, 1889. 
Spring Work among Small Fruits. 
Tlie advent of spring weather brings to 
thefruitgrower.no less than to the farmer. a 
season of great activity and work. The 
practical man will have his plans fully ma- 
tured and designed and thus can enter upon 
their execution without unnecessary delay. 
At this time he reaps the benefits of his 
studies and cogitations carefully pursued, 
long since, at the winter fire- 
side. The uncovering of straw 
berry plantations should pro- 
ceed cautiously, and in Northern 
localities should not be done 
until all danger from Jfreezing 
weather has passed. The cov- 
ering material may be raked 
from the plants and left between 
the rows, coming into service 
later in mulching the soil to 
keep the berries clean. W e do 
not favor working the ground 
before fruiting as it is certainly 
no advantage to the plant to 
check its growth on the eve of 
the fruiting season by mutilat- 
ing its roots. The plants should 
be treated to a top dressing of 
unleached wood ashes which 
must be applied early and be- 
fore warm weather sets in. If 
possible do it just before rain 
that the foliage may be washed 
clean. 
The work in raspberry plan- 
tations consists in uncovering 
the canes of tender varieties 
that have been covered with 
earth duriDg the winter. This is 
best done by lifting them care- 
fully with a digging fork and 
gently shaking the soil loose 
from them;they will quickly re- 
gain their upright position and 
may be neatly secured to stakes 
or trellis with soft twine. The 
hardy raspberries that have 
stood out without protection 
require to be gone over and the 
canes shortened about one 
third, if this has not been done, 
as it should have been, last month. A 
shovelful of well rotted manure or its equal- 
ity of fertilizer — bone dust and wood ashes 
are excellent — to each hill will pay well in 
the increase of the prospective crop. In 
Southern locations and where exposed to 
the full glare of hot suns it will be found a 
decided benefit to mulch the soil around the 
canes with leaves or any other similar ma- 
terial, after a heavy rain and wdiile the soil 
is moist; this may properly be deferred until 
after the spring rains have passed. 
Gooseberries, too, will require mulching, 
in our hope of warding off mildew, and even 
ployed, much less space is required than in 
the field. We would plant strawberries in 
rows two feet apart and the plants one foot 
apart in the rows. 
New raspberry and blackberry plantings 
will also be necessary from time to time al- 
though these will bear well, ■with good 
care, for a much longer time than will the 
strawberry bed. A good distance to set 
plants for home gardens is 3x3 feet for 
raspberries and 3x4 feet for blackberries, 
putting two plants in the hill in each case. 
The canes should be cut back to within six 
inches of the ground; do not be tempted, in 
the hope of getting fruit the same season, 
to permit the vines to remain their full 
length, for most surely will the 
tax upon them result in much 
injury, if indeed they do not 
die outright. 
Golden Prolific Gooseberry. 
Some little attention has been 
given of late to the gooseberry, 
heretofore a neglected fruit 
with us, and efforts have been 
made to so improve upon the 
native stock as to produce 
something that would vie with 
the gooseberries of England, 
but seemingly without much 
success. The Downing which, 
all things considered, is the best 
of our American sorts, is very 
small, and previous to the in- 
troduction of the Industry, we 
have been unable to grow satis- 
factorily any of the foreign 
class of gooseberries. Of those 
new sorts which have appeared 
from time to time, a few give 
promise of some value and are 
seemingly exempt from mil- 
dewy but as the years pass by 
and the bushes grow older, 
mildew appears and is not to 
be repelled. Many will remem- 
ber the magnificent gooseber- 
ries, Emerald and Ruby, intro- 
duced by the late E. P. Roe, 
and which gave such fair 
promise, bearing for a few 
years abundantly, of large, 
handsome fruit, quite clean and 
free from mildew, but which 
failed so ignominiously a few 
years later on. 
A new variety, the Golden 
Prolific, which we here illustrate, is now 
being introduced. It is an American seed- 
ling of the English type, found in the neigh- 
borhood of Rochester, N. Y., some few 
years ago and which has been fruited con- 
tinuously during the past six years in sev- 
eral localities. Those who have grown it 
regard it as a decided success and it has 
made friends among those horticulturists 
who have seen it in bearing. 
Mr John Charlton says of it, “It is per- 
fectly hardy, a good grower and unusually 
free from mildew. Its foliage is a dark, 
glaucous green, and in a young state tis 
a layer of stones around the base of the 
bushes will prove of much service to them. It 
is well to note here that gooseberries should 
always be planted on a northern location, I 
such as the north side of a bouse, barn, or 
even fence, and the heads kept closely 
pruned, open and airy. 
New strawberry beds in the family gar- 
den should be made often. It does not pay 
to keep a strawberry bed in bearing after 
three years, and it is always cheaper to set 
out a new bed than to clean the old one if 
it is very weedy. At this season whilst the 
soil is moist and before the plants have 
started to grow, one can readily take up 
young plants with large balls of soil at the 
Golden Prolific Gooseberry. 
roots, from between the rows of the old 
bed. Transplant into the new bed, made 
rich and mellow, and these plants, so 
moved, will give a good yield of fruit the 
coming season. The old bed may be left to 
fruit in June and then be ploughed under. 
Or if there are no young plants to be found 
in the old bed it will be necessary to pro- 
cure ordinary layer plants without soil, 
from a distance perhaps, in which case we 
must depend, for our strawberries once 
more, upon the old bed, after which it may 
be destroyed. In the home garden, where 
the use of a horse in cultivation is not em- 
