1858 . 
TIIE CULTIVATOR. 
371 
Raising Small Fruits, 
Messrs. Editors —Can I next summer with any 
degree of certainty raise strawberries 7 and if so, what 
course is best to pursue, with regard to fertilising, set¬ 
ting, &c., and what kind is most certain and most pro¬ 
fitable ? Will you make replies to similar questions 
concerning raspberries and blackberries 7 and let tne 
know whether there are any other light crops more 
profitable, that will yield a quick return. I want to 
realize quick profit for a year or two. L F. D. Mi¬ 
ami Co., Ohio , 
Strawberries, rightly managed, are one of the most 
certain of a51 crops. It is first in importance to have 
a productive sort. Wilson's Albany undoubtedly 
stands at the head of all in this particular, at the same 
time it is very hardy, the berries are large, and the 
Savor is good, although not equal to some- The Hook¬ 
er is nearly as productive, better in Savor, as large, 
but more tender. Both are staininates, and need no 
fertilizers, and are undoubtedly the two most valuable 
sorts. The soil should be rich and firm—old yard ma¬ 
nure is best, or old compost made from it by mixing 
with turf. Spring is the best tame for setting out. A 
small crop will be produced the first summer; a pro¬ 
fuse one the second, if the soil is clean and well culti¬ 
vated. 
Raspberries and blackberries are not so uniformly 
productive in all localities, and require more care in 
pruning and training. Brinckle’s Orange is doubtless 
the finest Savored and most productive raspberry, but 
too soft sor distant conveyance to market. Red Ant¬ 
werp and Franconia are firmer and bear carriage bet¬ 
ter. The New Rochelle is the most showy blackberry 
for market, but the Dorchester has a better flavor. 
Our correspondent must not expeet great profits at 
once from these Fruits, although they bear abundantly 
in two or three years, when properly managed, and on 
suitable soil. Variations in external causes affect their 
success, and these variations are only learned in each 
particular locality by experience. It will probably re¬ 
quire two or three years to ascertain the most profita¬ 
ble way of marketing. It may be laid down as al¬ 
most a universal rule, that no business bringing large 
profits, ean be immediately learned; if it was not so, 
the large profits would immediately disappear by every 
one engaging in it. 
Thrashing- and Cleaning Clover Seed—Fallows. 
Messrs. Editors —You recommend, before putting 
clover seed through the huiler, to pass it through an 
ordinary thrashing machine to separate the heads from 
the stalks. A neighbor of ours has fourteen loads, and 
wishes to know how it is done.(L) 
Here they never thrash it with a machine, but by 
hand, or else tread it out with horses. I have looked 
through back Cultivators, but could only find a way of 
fixing a thrashing machine so as to hull it by passing 
it through two or three times. Will it pay to use an 
eight-horse thrashing machine for fourteen loads 7(2 ) 
Will the heads and stalks come out at the same place 7 
How long should, it take to run a given quantity 
through 2 How many hands will it require, and how 
should they be placed 7 Will a thrashing machine 
prepare the seed sufficiently for all hullers, or will it 
leave the seed too bulky for hauling to the huiler ma¬ 
chine, which is 12 or 14 miles distant 7(3.) 
What alteration must be made in the machine 7 
The ones in use here are separators. If you would 
give all the information necessary to one who never 
saw it done, you would much oblige us. 
I should also like to know how flax grown for the 
seed would answer for a fallow crop to precede wheat. 
The land is hilly and dry; soil a clay loam; has been 
in clover pasture two years. I wish to break it up 
next spring in preparation for fall wheat.(4 ) Which 
would you advise, flax or a summer fallow 7 I shall 
have too much corn to attend to, mind any more hoed 
crops. J. Suliot. 
1. The clover straw with its seea is passed through 
the thrashing machine and thrown out on a horizontal 
or shaking separator, like those commonly attached to 
the smaller machines, which retains the straw and 
coarse light matter, and allows the part containing the 
seed to drop through. In this way the 14 loads will be 
probably reduced to three or four loads. Beating with 
a flail or treadihg by horses is a very tedious as well 
as imperfect process. 
(2.) If the thrashing machine is easily procured, it 
will undoubtedly pay, but the work is best performed 
by farmers who have their own machines, to be used 
at their command. The 14 loads might be run through 
in a day or day and a half. The hands will be a dri¬ 
ver, a pitcher, a feeder, and one to clear away—four 
in all. 
(3.) It will be ready for the huiler after passing 
through the thrasher, and may be carried in a large 
box, like the boxes used for drawing charcoal, or a hay¬ 
rack may have boards placed at the sides. The 
amount of seed obtained greatly varies, but is usually 
one to three bushels per acre. 
(4.) Much depends on the nature of the soil—very 
strong tenacious soils, with manure, would give flax 
seed and wheat—but as flax seed is very exhausting 
on fighter soils, the result would probably be failure. 
We would recommend a summer fallow for the purpose 
only for eradicating weeds—but we have found the 
dense shade of corn sown thickl yfor fodder quite equal 
to a fallow to smother down and destroy weeds. Chinese 
sugar cane sown for fodder is still more destructive to 
weeds, except that it grows slowly at first, and the 
weeds must not be allowed to “get the start” of it. 
Experiment in Potato Culture. 
Messrs. Editors —Having read m your valuable 
paper the plan of Mr. Howatt of preparing potatoes 
for seed, I determined to try the experiment here in 
Iowa. Accordingly about one month before planting 
time I cut my potatoes, leaving one eye to each piece, 
and separating the end with the cluster of eyes from 
the rest of the potato, and drying them with air-slack¬ 
ed lime. One eye and the stem end I threw to the 
pigs, planting only the middle and other end. 
Lot 1—I planted with cuttings from middle of po- 
to. They ripened and were ready for market by 1st 
Sept. Potatoes medium size. Quality first rate. In¬ 
fection by rot, half a bushel in 100 bushels. 
Lot 2—Planted with cuttings from cluster of eyes. 
They were ripened by the frost on the 8th Oct In 
size a little better than lot 1. Quality not so good. 
Quantity about the same. Rot about one bushel in 
eight. 
Lot 3—Planted with potatoes cut and planted pro¬ 
miscuously without liming, and on the same day with 
the others—was remarkable for the unevenness of ri¬ 
pening Some ripe by 1st Sept., and others not until 
frost. Quality not so good as lot 1 Size better. Bad¬ 
ly infected with the rot—nearly one-half. One thing 
I noticed was, that all I examined were first decayed 
on the end with cluster of eyes. The variety I plant¬ 
ed was the White Pink-Eye. C. E. Ii. Ioica. 
