122 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FEB 14 
THE CULTURE OF SMALL FRUITS. 
NOTES BY E. P. POWELL. 
In my articles on small fruits I omitted matters of 
culture, because for young cultivators it is of advantage 
to have what hints we can give them in compact form. 
Grapes. 
There are two plans for economically growing grapes— 
one on trellises, the other on posts or poles. I grow mine 
on two-wire trellises. I plant two-year-old vines, buying 
by the wholesale of only the most reliable growers. The 
trellises are ten feet apart with currants between, or cur¬ 
rants and red raspberries in the same row, as I shall 
describe further on. I want my trellises to run north and 
south. The ground must be well drained and 
have a warm, sunny exposure. The observance 
of these precautions will often make a difference 
of two weeks in ripening. Grapes like liberal 
feeding; but the old notion of the need of vast 
holes full of bones and manure for the roots is 
exploded. Give them good garden soil and keep 
it up. Grapes feed near the surface as well as 
deep down. It is, therefore, not desirable to cul¬ 
tivate with the plow. I have preferred to use a 
hoe freely ; and in some cases grow strawberries 
along the trellis ; these serve as mulch to keep 
the roots at an even temperature. This plan, of 
course, requires regular feeding with good fer¬ 
tilizers. 
In trimming grapes one must, for the first 
two years, cut back to two or three buds. After 
that, the shortest plan is to visit a good vine- 
yardist and learn the system which you observe 
to work well. Any description given in print is 
bewildering I find, and hardly worth the trouble 
of writing it out. For winter protection all 
hardy grapes should be pruhed in November and 
laid down to the ground and pegged low. A 
few sorts that deserve to be grown must be 
covered. I do this with the Iona, Duchess and 
Goethe. [The Goethe does not usually ripen at 
the Rural Grounds, being too late. Does Mr. 
Powell consider it fine as to quality ? Eds.] 
These are three of the best grapes and cannot 
be dispensed with. I first peg them down and 
then throw earth over them from the other side 
of the trellis. Most of the hardier grapes will 
generally live the winter through without being 
laid down; but it is not well to run the risk. 
Varieties like Brighton and most of Rogers’s 
Hybrids, should be grown on alternate trellises 
to insure fertilization. In my judgment the best 
thing for old buildings, as well as for barns, 
fences and arbors is to grow grape vines over 
them. Let there be enough grapes to constitute 
the bulk of the family’s food for three months. 
Raspberries. 
These like cool soil well mulched. It is a capital 
plan to cover the roots with sawdust or coal ashes. But I 
have a plan of growing them that enables them to shade 
themselves. The old plan was to cut the canes back to 
about four feet. Even then there was a good deal of break¬ 
ing down owing to the weight of snow, or to accident. 
Droughts easily affected the ground; and the bushes were 
snarled in picking time. I invented a plan of trellising 
them like grapes. After the old canes are cut out in Septem¬ 
ber, the new ones are tied to a wire which runs along the 
row about 4% feet from the ground. This wire requires a 
stake about every 20 feet. The tying should not be directly 
to the wires, but the vines should be gathered in bunches 
of three or four just above or below it, preferably the 
former. Coarse hop twine that will not cut the bushes 
should be used. The bushes after they have been tied may 
be rapidly cut off with hedge shears, so as to stand about 
six feet high. Then they are firm and erect. 
No snow or storm disturbs them. Standing so 
tall, they shade their own roots. Remove all 
canes that cannot be easily tied to the wires. 
Cnthberts may stand in very thick rows, but 
Turners must stand very thinly indeed. Golden 
Queen is like the Cuthbert. The result of this 
plan is a wall of berries at every picking. I think 
it adds one-third to the crop. It is inexpensive. 
Fasten the wires to stakes with small staples as 
in the case of grapes. Purples and blacks grow 
in the same way; or the latter can be tied to 
stakes. I cut them back three or four times 
while growing; but the reds I do not cut until 
fall ; and only once. Black raspberries root at 
the tips and must be renewed once in three or 
four years. 
Currants. 
I grow these very largely in the rows with red 
raspberries; but not with blacks. That is, I 
plant alternate stools of each. This requires 
some care in keeping each in place. I think it 
slightly decreases the currant crop when a good deal 
shaded, but I get fine crops. Bear in mind that both the 
red raspberry and currant like partial shade. One of 
my vineyards shows alternate rows of grapes with straw¬ 
berries and currants, together with red raspberries. The 
Versaillaise and Fay, as well as Cherry, do best with 
severe pruning, keeping them in a tree form or with three 
or four main stalks. But I always grow the smaller cur¬ 
rants with more stalks. Weak suckers must be kept out 
and very old wood cut away. The currant likes mulching. 
It prefers strong clay soil, full of moisture but well drained. 
A currant plantation in wet, undrained soil, will be heaved 
out by the frost and ruined in a single winter. I know no 
crop more easily marketed, because the fruit can hang on 
the bushes so long. The demand is increasing, and new 
plantations are likely to meet with a profitable market. 
Blackberries. 
The blackberry should be set in rows five or six feet 
apart and cultivated two years, then left to take care of 
itself. It will fill up the whole land, and keep down grass 
and weeds without attention. Set this berry in your 
lowest land, only it must be well drained. It does not like 
a drought. Each year cut out old canes early in the spring, 
and cut the new canes down to six feet. 
Gooseberries. 
The gooseberry likes good, strong soil, but it must be 
high and well-drained. Prune like currants; but the 
general growth of the native sorts is drooping, so as to 
cover the fruit from too sharp sunshine. The berry burns 
f 
THE ROCHESTER GRAPE. Fig. 50. 
easily. Plant the gooseberry at a distance from the barn ; 
for of all fruits the hens like this the best. They will 
quickly eat the crop as soon as out of bloom; or even in 
bloom. This appetite of the hen is curious, but it is fatal 
to the berry. 
Strawberries. 
Success with strawberries lies in good culture A 
poorly managed bed gives no returns worth estimating. 
The soil must be very clean and strong to begin with. 
Weeds in a strawberry patch soon come out ahead. Set 
the plants close in rows four feet apart. Six inches apart 
in the rows will be advisable. When the runners start, go 
about and see that they follow the rows. Keep the 
ground well cultivated and hoed. Let no weeds start. 
The work of weeding a bed over-neglected is lost time. 
Manure in the fall between rows with the best rotted 
barnyard manure. As heavy frosts begin, cover the rows 
lightly with clean, light manure—not sticky. The best 
covering is sawdust run through the stable as bedding. 
If not obtainable, use clean, fresh sawdust from the mill. 
Cut straw is often used ; but the mice will nest in it; and 
in the spring it must be removed ; but the sawdust settles 
down and eerves as a clean mulch. Cultivate early in the 
spring. Stop cultivation a little while before picking and 
let the ground be well settled. I have not seen hereabouts 
one clean bed this summer. For money, clean culture and 
big berries are requisites. Plant only the best approved 
sorts; not those that happen to be raised most In your 
neighborhood. I have a greedy demand at the highest 
figures for all the Sharpless, Bubach, and Haverland I can 
raise. I shall add to them largely of Mrs. Cleveland and 
Eureka, and one or two more. 
In Conclusion, 
In the culture of all small fruits it must be understood, 
once for all, that one cannot put all his work on potatoes, 
corn and beans, and let the vines and bushes phift for 
themselves. They must be just as carefully and intel¬ 
ligently cared for as other crops. When this is done they 
pay and add comfort and pleasure to home life. 
One object in these notes on small fruits has been to 
point out the advantage of growing a large variety of 
crops. If one fails the grower still has a good income. The 
chief disadvantage, in case of ordinary farming, is that it 
has not breadth of view. The farmer puts his trust in one 
or two crops ; they fail once or twice, and he is bankrupt. 
But the man who has a field of raspberries can endure the 
loss of his oats; and if he clears $100 on his straw¬ 
berries it lightens the trouble of a poor corn year. 
Here is the chief secret of success in farming. 
The German farmer buys out the Yankee, and 
thrives where the other starved, because he is 
educated to understand grape culture and gar¬ 
dening as well as field crops. 
I must be allowed to add that I cannot an¬ 
swer letters written on these topics, and I have 
not one thing to sell—not one of any sort. I 
write simply because, having no sales to make, I 
can speak without bias. 
Oneida Co., N. Y. 
THE ROCHESTER GRAPE. 
A grape whose many excellent qualities have 
never been freely recognized is the Rochester. 
This is owing, no doubt, to the fact that it is 
difficult to propagate. The bunches are large to 
very large, shouldered and sometimes double¬ 
shouldered—the berries compact. The latter are 
of medium size, round, inclined to obovate, as 
sprightly as the Catawba; pulp tender, two to 
three-seeded, skin very firm. The color varies 
from a Catawba color to a lilac purple, while 
some of the berries are variegated green and 
purple. A single vine was sent to the Rural 
Grounds three years ago by Ellwanger & Barry, 
the originators. The vine is vigorous and 
healthy, bearing short-jointed stems and large, 
thick leaves. It ripens early in September. 
THE CHESHIRE HOG. 
“The Best Hog I Ever Had.” 
Its Popularity.— Of the various breeds of 
swine kept in the United States^ the Poland 
China, Chester White, Duroc-Jersey and Cheshire 
originated in this country. The Cheshire, while 
not so well known outside of New York as the 
other three breeds, is, I believe, superior to 
them all. In the central part of the Empire 
State, the Cheshire and its crosses (Cheshires in 
appearance) have, to a large extent, displaced all 
other breeds ; and, in this section, have become the com- 
mon hog. Attempts have time and again been made by 
enterprising farmers to introduce some of the other 
popular breeds, but, in every instance, they have not been 
able for more than a year or two to make any headway 
against the Cheshire. A man who has once had good 
Cheshires is never quite satisfied with any other breed, 
and I have yet to meet the first man who has fed Cheshires 
who does not declare them to be “the best hogs I ever had.” 
Origin. —The Cheshire was first bred in Jefferson 
County, N. Y., and for a time was called the Jefferson 
County hog. Specimens of the breed were first shown at 
the State fair in 1859, by A. C. Clark, of Belleville. The 
Dreed may be said to have had its beginning by crossing an 
imported Large Yorkshire boar upon selected native sows. 
For some years previous to this crossing a good deal of 
pains had been taken in the neighborhood of 
Belleville in selecting and improving this stock 
of hogs and there were several farmers who had 
a local reputation for the excellence of their 
swine. This cross of the Large Yorkshire upon 
these somewhat improved sows gave such a 
marked result that attention was called to them, 
selections were carefully made, the best white 
hogs being selected for breeding stock. When 
exhibited at the State Fair they attracted so 
much attention that pigs from this stock were 
sent into various parts of the State, but specially 
into Oneida and Madison Counties. In 1870 
Clark and his partner, Daniel Green, exhibited 
the stock at the Western fairs, commencing 
with the Ohio State Fair and ending with the 
St. Louis Fair. At the latter their herd won the 
great Pork-Packers’ Prize of $500. This noted 
success created a great demand for the pigs, till 
the panic of 1873 suddenly put a stop to all sales. 
Meanwhile Mr. Clark, the original breeder, had 
sold his interest in the stock and moved to the 
West. When sales stopped in 1873, those who then owned 
the herd fatted and killed most of them and the breed 
came very near to complete extinction. 
In 1873, on account of failing health from teaching, I 
went upon a farm near Oneida, N. Y., and bought a litter 
of very fine pigs called Cheshire, not because they were 
Cheshires, but simply because they were good pigs. These 
pigs when fed beside pigs of other breeds proved so superior 
that I soon concluded I had something extra good, and set 
about establishing a herd of Cheshires. I raised one sow 
so fine that she was taken as a model in establishing a 
herd. Several persons in the vicinity had bought pigs 
from different breeders in Jefferson County, and I was 
thus enabled to use Cheshires only. The sow mentioned 
above was bred to the best Cheshire boar that could be 
found and those animals were saved for breeding that ha,d 
CHESHIRE HOG VULCAN. Fig. 51 
