The successful market grower, to whom I have referred previously, practises the following method: The ground from which early potatoes have been harvested is sown with oats and rye, and when that crop is removed the following summer the ground is ploughed, harrowed and marked off in rows four feet apart, and the plants are taken from the field set out the year before.
When the field is planted in June, a man goes through the rows about August and covers the tips of the runners with a little soil, to hold them down to the ground. This work is usually done by a man’s foot and a hoe; then, after growth stops in the fall or before it starts the following spring, the young plants formed from the runners are severed from the parent plant and taken up. This is accomplished by running a one-horse plough along the outside of the rows to cut the runners and throw out the plants, so making it easy for a man to go along and pick up the strongest plants, which are carried to a trench in some convenient location and left until the following June.
The trenches are made about six inches deep and the plants are set about one inch apart, and the trench refilled. Again a man’s foot and the hoe do the work. The idea is that severing plants while in a dormant condition and storing them closely in a trench prevents their feeling the shock of removal from the parent stem and retards growth until time to bed. Of course, when they are removed to permanent rows, they are planted one foot apart and fields are kept free from weeds by the use of a one-horse cultivator between the rows.
Even in field culture the runners have to be attended to as soon as they commence to form. Allowing several to develop from each plant will make the row a comparatively solid mass of from fifteen to eighteen inches wide at the end of the season. A field set out in June or early July will give a full crop the following year and be nearly as productive the second year if early cultivated and fertilised, but after that should be ploughed up and the ground used for potatoes, cabbage or some other crops before it is again used for strawberries.
The ground on which strawberries are to be grown should have been well enriched with barn-yard manure for previous crops, but commercial fertiliser should be used while berries hold possession of the ground, for barn-yard manure is apt to contain the spores of fungus diseases which attack strawberries. Any sign of these diseases should be instantly checked by spraying with Bordeaux mixture. One thing more. When purchasing plants, remember that there are what are called perfect and imperfect plants. The latter are just as good for all practical purposes if planted side by side with perfect plants, but not otherwise.
HOW TO GROW SMALL FRUITS
If gathered when ripe, and served at once, berries—in fact, all the small fruits—are undoubtedly luxuries. So the country home should always devote some space to them, no matter how small the garden may be; and when the home is a farm, expected to become self-supporting, the berry orchard should be established immediately after taking possession, for the outlay is little, returns quick, and necessary knowledge is very easily acquired. Therefore, small fruits are a permanent branch of husbandry to be recommended to the amateur of small means, who needs a marketable commodity to keep the pot boiling.
Like most old farms, our place had a few neglected currant bushes, a patch of half-wild black and red raspberries, and a strawberry bed in a most demoralised condition. But even these poor degenerates convinced us of the economy of growing small fruits for our own use, and the profit to be derived by supplying other people’s tables. Besides the luxury of having freshly-gathered fruit, there are preserves, jellies and cordials for winter use. At the end of the first year we thoroughly pruned and cultivated the old brambles, and planted half an acre with brambles and black and red currants. Afterward the space was enlarged, until we had a good-sized berry orchard, which has always shown a profit even in the worst seasons. Brambles will grow in almost any ground, but if well fed and given a congenial home they yield much better. The fruit is larger, better coloured and finer flavoured. So, when possible, select ground that is somewhat sandy in character, with a heavy subsoil. Ground that has been under cultivation for two or three seasons is best, because it will have been well worked, and so will be comparatively free from weeds. Commence with a small patch, say half an acre, divided equally between black and red raspberries, blackberries and black and red currants. Strawberries cannot be included in a general small-fruit orchard, because the beds are profitable for only three years, and it is better to take them into regular crop rotation, using ground that has previously been occupied by potatoes or corn. As space is somewhat limited, we will devote this chapter to brambles and currants.
There are new plants for favour each year in nursery catalogues, but we will cover only a few of the old stand-bys, such as the following list: Raspberries (red), Columbian and Cuthbert; (black) Gregg and Cumberland; blackberries, Wilson and Taylor; currants, Red Cherry and Fay’s Prolific; gooseberries, Industry and Pearl. The best plan is to purchase a few dozen plants of each variety from some good nursery for parent stock, and when they are once well set, do your own propagating from them. Raspberries should be set three feet apart, in rows five feet apart. Have the ground well dressed with stable manure, and mark off in rows. It is best to use a plough for the marking, as you then have a furrow about the right depth in which to plant. If the plants have travelled far, stand them in a shallow pan or half barrel, and cover the roots with water for ten or twelve hours before planting. Brambles that are kept well trimmed need no staking out, but when planting young stock it is well to have some stakes cut about four feet long and pointed at one end. Drive one every three feet along the rows, and then set the plant close up to it. Spread out the roots in the natural form, and firm the earth well around them, then tie the canes loosely to the stake, to prevent the wind from blowing them from side to side. Unless stakes are used at this time, brambles or small bushes sway from side to side in every light breeze, and the roots are loosened, thus preventing them from gaining any hold on the ground. Cultivation should be as thorough and constant as for corn until August, as it is required to keep down weeds and permit growth. After August, cultivation should stop, to check the growth and allow the summer wood time to ripen before frost.