Raspberries may be bent over to the ground so that the snow will protect them, in severe climates.
For red rust, pull out the plant, root and branch, and burn it. Short rotations—fruiting the plants only two or three years—and burning the old canes and trimmings, will do much to keep raspberry plantations healthy. Spraying will have some effect in combating anthracnose.
Varieties of raspberries.
Of the black sorts the following will be found desirable: Palmer, Conrath, Kansas, and Eureka, which ripen in the order named. In some sections the Gregg is still valuable, but it is somewhat lacking in hardiness. Ohio is a favorite variety for evaporating. Of the purple-cap varieties, Shaffer and Columbian generally succeed. Among the red varieties none are more universally successful than Cuthbert. King is a promising early variety, and Loudon is a valuable late kind. Many growers find Marlboro and Turner well worthy of cultivation, although rather local in their adaptations; while for home use, Golden Queen, a yellow Cuthbert, is much liked.
Strawberry.—Every one may grow strawberries, yet the saying that strawberries will grow on any soil is misleading, although true. Some varieties of strawberries will grow on certain soils better than other varieties. What these varieties are can be determined only by an actual test, but it is a safe rule to choose such varieties as prove good in many localities.
As to the methods of culture, so much depends on the size of the plot, the purpose for which the fruit is wanted, and the extent of care one is willing to give, that no set rule can be given for a garden in which but few plants are grown and extra care can be given. The grower must always be sure that his varieties will “fertilize”; that is, that he has sufficient pollen-bearing kinds to insure a crop.
With the highest culture, good results can be obtained from the hill system of growing strawberries. For this the plants may be set in rows 3 feet apart and 1 foot in the row, or if it be worked both ways, they may be from 2 to 2-1/2 feet each way. In the small garden, where a horse cannot be used, the plants are frequently set 1 foot each way, arranging them in beds of three to five rows, with walks 2 feet wide between them. As fast as runners form, they should be removed, so that the entire vigor of the plant will be exerted in strengthening the crown. When extra fine specimen berries are desired, the plant may be held above the ground by a wire frame, as shown in Fig. 288.
Or strawberries may be grown by the narrow matted-row system, in which the runners, before rooting, should be turned along the rows at a distance of 4 to 6 inches from the parent plant. These runners should be the first ones made by the plant and should not be allowed to root themselves, but “set in.” This is not a difficult operation; and if the runners are separated from the parent plant as soon as they become well established, the drain on that plant is not great. All other runners should be cut off as they start. The row should be about 12 inches wide at fruiting time (Fig. 289). Each plant should have sufficient feeding ground, full sunlight, and a firm hold in the soil. This matted-row system is perhaps as good a method, either in a private garden or field culture, as could be practiced. With a little care in hoeing, weeding, and cutting off runners, the beds seem to produce as large crops the second year as the first.
The old way of growing a crop was to set the plants 10 to 12 inches apart, in rows 3 feet apart, and allow them to run and root at will, the results being a mass of small, crowded plants, each striving to obtain plant-food and none of them succeeding in getting enough. The last, or outside runners, having but the tips of their roots in the ground, are moved by the wind, heaved by the frost, or have the exposed roots dried out by the wind and sun.