20. In setting raspberry plants, or any fruit, never set in hard, unprepared soil. Do not stick them in little, shallow holes, nor in deep, narrow ones, wherein the roots are all huddled together; make the holes large and deep, either with the plow or spade, fill the bottom partly with fine, rich, moist, surface soil, free from lumps and manure, and spread the roots out on this, then fill in with very fine pulverized earth, setting the plant, in light land, one or two inches deeper than it grew naturally; and in heavy land at the same depth. If manure is used, spread it on the surface, around, not up against, the stem of the plant.
21. Both for the sake of economy and thoroughness, use the plow and cultivator rather than fork and hoe, whenever it is possible. Ground can be laid out with a view to this rule.
22. In cultivating crops among trees, use short whiffle-trees, with the traces so fastened as to prevent the young trees from being scratched and wounded.
23. Save, with scrupulous economy, all wood-ashes, soap-suds, and all articles having fertilizing qualities. A compost heap is like a sixpenny savings bank. Small and frequent additions soon make a large aggregate. The fruit-grower and his land usually grow rich together, and in the same proportion.
24. Once more I repeat—in handling and setting out plants, never let the roots shrivel and dry out. After plants and cuttings are in the ground, never leave them just long enough to dry out and die. Keep them moist—not wet and sodden, but moist all the time. In setting out plants, especially strawberries, spread out the roots, and make the ground very firm about them. In trenching stock, put the roots down deeply, and cover well half-way up the stems. The gardener who fails to carry out the principles under this number has not learned the letter A of his business.
Mr. William Parry gives the following rule for ascertaining the number of plants required for one acre of land, which contains 43,560 square feet:
"Multiply the distance in feet between the rows by the distance the plants are set apart in the row, and their product will be the number of square feet for each plant or hill, which, divided into the number of feet in an acre, will show how many plants or hills the acre will contain, thus:
"Blackberries . . . 8 feet by 3 == 24)43,560( 1,815 plants.
Raspberries . . . 7 " 3 == 21)43,560( 2,074 plants.
Strawberries . . . 5 " 1 == 5)43,560( 8,712 plants.
Strawberries . . . 3 " 16" == 4)43,560(10,890 plants."
The same rule can be applied to all other plants or trees.
I would suggest that fruit-growers take much pains to secure trustworthy pickers. Careless, slovenly gathering of the fruit may rob it of half its value. It often is necessary for those who live remote from villages to provide quarters for their pickers. Usually, the better the quarters, the better the class that can be obtained to do the work.