Success with Small Fruits Part 22

"NEWARK, October, 1878.

"The following are the methods of culture and the products of one acre of strawberries, grown on my farm near Newark, during the season of 1878. The ground on which these strawberries were grown was planted with Early Rose potatoes and heavily manured in the spring of 1877.

These potatoes were dug and marketed during the last week in July and first week in August of the same year. The ground was at once cleared off, plowed and harrowed smoothly. Furrows were then opened four or five inches deep and two and a half feet apart. Between the 15th and 22d of August, 1877, the strawberry plants were set in these furrows from fifteen to eighteen inches apart, without any manure being added.

Some plants died here and there, but the bulk of those set out made a strong growth before cold weather. They were kept free from weeds by running a cultivator twice between the rows and hoeing twice. This treatment kept the ground absolutely free from weeds. In the middle of December, the plants were covered over with a compost of the sweepings of the vegetable and fish markets, with some horse manure mixed through it. The whole was thoroughly decayed and light in character. About the middle of April, 1878, the coa.r.s.est part of this mulch was raked off the strawberry plants, and left in the s.p.a.ces between the rows, the finer portion being left among the plants. To the coa.r.s.e part raked off was added salt hay, pressed under the leaves of the plants on either side of the rows, enough being added to keep the soil around the plants moist and the fruit free from grit. There was no disturbance of the soil in any way in the spring, beyond the cutting off at the surface of a few straggling weeds that started up here and there.

"The varieties grown upon this acre were Charles Downing and Green Prolific, and the yield was five thousand four hundred and eighty-seven (5,487) quarts. The gross receipts from this acre of berries was seven hundred and ninety-five dollars and sixty-one cents ($795.61).

Deducting the commissions and picking the fruit, the net returns were $620.60."

Messrs. Gibson and Bennett, of New Jersey, stated before the Western New York Horticultural Society, that they "liked the bedding system, say four-row beds, with plants one foot apart each way and two-feet walks between the beds. We fertilize with fine horse manure, spreading it heavily and plowing it under. We start plants in pots and transfer them to the beds in September, the earlier the better. These potted plants form fine large crowns ready for the finest fruit. The beds are covered with manure January 1. The fruit is picked the following June, and the beds then plowed under at once and planted with other crops."

By this system, it will be seen that the plants occupy the ground but about ten months, and little or no cultivation is given. It is practically the same method as that employed around Charleston, S. C., and, I am inclined to think, could often be practiced at the North with great profit. In contrast, Mr. J. K. Sharpless said, on the same occasion, "We grow in the hill system, and expect the plants to last four or five years;" adding, "My experience teaches me that strawberries should not be cultivated deeply until their season of rest is over, say the last of August." I think this view sound.

Mr. E. B. Underhill, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., said that he "valued the Golden Defiance for late fruit. The Glendale is more vigorous. I think highly of the Champion and Kentucky. The Duncan is our best early of those well tested. As the mid-market in this section will probably be glutted with Crescents, I shall take great pains with the c.u.mberland Triumph, which, picked in pints (on account of its softness), will yield almost as well, and bring more dollars than any sort I have tested yet."

From Mr. Frank S. Alling I learn that all the small fruits succeed finely on the sh.o.r.es of Puget Sound, Washington Territory.

I will close this chapter of experiences with a very interesting letter from the Rev. Mr. A. A. Von Iffland, of Quebec, who gives an admirable statement of the conditions of success in the lat.i.tude of Northern Canada. It will be seen that his light, warm soil makes a difference of several degrees of lat.i.tude in his favor.

"My soil is of a light gravelly nature, with a subsoil of coa.r.s.e sand.

It requires annual applications of large quant.i.ties of manure to bring about the best results, but _then_ yields generous returns. It is warm and quick, and so porous that it can be worked almost immediately after the heaviest showers. Plants form roots in the soil with marvellous rapidity. All kinds of vegetables can be successfully cultivated.

Potatoes, tomatoes, squash, corn, carrots, parsnips, melons, cuc.u.mbers, beans, and peas are grown to perfection. Of course, it is liable to suffer severely in a drought--an evil which I find is best obviated by plenty of barnyard manure and cultivation. The climate is doubtless severe, and the winters long, but the abundance of snow affords the best kind of protection and is of the greatest possible advantage in the culture of small fruits. Winter sets in with us sometimes as early as the first of November, sometimes not till the middle of December, and the snow has not disappeared from the vicinity of the fences till the last week in April. The average depth of snow is 4 1/2 half feet, and we have cold spells of three or four days at a time, when the gla.s.s varies between 20 and 30 degrees below zero.

"STRAWBERRIES

"I think that all the varieties which are cultivated in the United States can be cultivated here under the same conditions of soil. I grow successfully the Colonel Cheney, Triomphe de Gand, Wilson, Charles Downing, Nicanor, Green Prolific, Monarch of the West, Seth Boyden, but have discarded Jucunda and Kentucky. I have the greatest success with the Cheney, Charles Downing, Wilson, and Triomphe, in the order written. I plant both in fall and spring, but prefer fall setting when it can be done early and you have good plants.

"I used to strike plants in three-inch pots, but have abandoned that plan, and instead, lay the runners as early as I can get them (from 1st to 20th July), and when well rooted, set them out, with a ball of earth, from 15th to 20th August. If the season is at all moist, so that the young plants make good progress before the frosts set in (about middle of October), I get a good crop (half a full crop) the following summer. From plants set in the spring, I take no fruit. With this exception, fall and spring settings are treated alike. As the cultivation is all done by hand, I have found that planting in beds of three rows each combines the greatest advantages. The rows are 15 inches apart, and the plants 18 inches apart in the row--in the quincunx form; each bed is separated from the rest by a path 80 inches wide. I need not say that the soil has been previously well enriched--with compost, generally, and well-decomposed manure. In fact, as I usually plant on soil from which a crop of potatoes has been removed, the ground has received two applications the year the plants are set. As the Colonel Cheney is my favorite, in order to fertilize it, I plant alternate beds of some good staminate variety, Charles Downing, Triomphe, or Wilson. The cultivation of the young plants the first season consists in cutting off any runners that may form, and keeping them clear of weeds. When well established, the beds are top-dressed with an inch or two of old manure; this feeds the plants, keeps the soil about the roots moist, and acts as a mulch when the fruit sets, and yields the following summer. The following spring and summer, nothing is done to these beds till after fruiting, except to hoe out the weeds. After fruiting, a thorough weeding is effected, and the runners are cut every three weeks; and before the frosts set in, the beds are given a top-dressing of old manure. After the second crop of fruit is taken off, they are weeded, and the runners are allowed to strike. The third spring, wood-ashes are applied; and after fruiting the plants are turned under. No winter protection is given to the plants, unless you except the top-dressing of manures; but this is sometimes not applied till spring, and I observe no appreciable difference between the plants with and those without it. What I do observe is that an early winter, and plenty of snow, kills fewer plants than a winter in which the snowfalls have been delayed till after frosts and rains.

"Strawberries begin to ripen with us about the 28th of June, and raspberries about the 15th of July. With the above treatment, I have grown Wilsons and Cheneys at the rate of 11,000 quarts, or 344 bushels, to the acre.

"RASPBERRIES

"I prefer fall planting, which may be done as late as they can be put in. I have set them the last day of October, without losing one. I plant them four feet apart, but five would be better, and tie the canes, when grown, to stakes four and a half feet high.[Footnote: "The following fall, of course; when planted, the canes are cut back, so as to be only six inches above ground."] Sometimes I have laid them down, and sometimes have tied up the young canes to the stakes in the fall, and I find but little difference. They always bear, and are never winter-killed.

"As to blackberries, I have but little experience. That blackberries will succeed here, some canes I saw 15th August, in a friend's garden, some two miles from my house, afford ample proof. They were loaded with cl.u.s.ters of magnificent, large, luscious fruit, and were equally prolific last year. My friend told me he was obliged to give them. very warm protection--literally bury them in straw and earth.

"Red and black currants grow well with us, under ordinary treatment.

Gooseberries, however, are liable to mildew; that is, the English varieties. The native hybrids, of course, are safe enough. Still, under some conditions, I have seen the English varieties without a touch of mildew. My English varieties mildewed badly this summer, and the man from whom I got them says that he has never seen it in his garden, not far from me. I went to see his bushes, and there was not a sign of mildew affecting his gooseberries, which were very large and fine."

CHAPTER x.x.xII

A FEW RULES AND MAXIMS

Suggestive experiences and the methods of successful men are usually far more helpful than a system of rules. Nevertheless, I have thought that some concise maxims and formulas would be of use to those not yet well versed in the labors of a fruit farm. Such rules, also, may be of service to the unfortunates who are dependent on the "hired man," since they can be copied and given to this minister of destiny whose hands work out our weal or woe so largely. There are two types of workmen that are incorrigible. The one slashes away with his haphazard hoe, while he looks and talks in another direction. His tongue, at least, is rarely idle, and his curiosity awakes when he does. If any one or anything goes by, he must watch it while in sight and then comment and expectorate. He is not only versed in all the coa.r.s.e gossip concerning his neighbors, but also can talk by the hour of the short-comings of even their horses and dogs. The virtues of man or beast, however, make but little impression on what answers in his organism for a mind. That which is good, wholesome, and refined interests him no more than strawberries would a buzzard. To the degree that he is active, he usually makes havoc. The weeds do not suffer seriously from his efforts, but if you have a few choice plants, a single specimen or two of something unpurchasable and rare, or a seedling that you dream may have a future, the probabilities are that, unless watched and warned, he will extirpate them utterly. It rarely happens that you can teach this type of man better things. The leopard may change his spots and the Ethiopian his skin, but this man--though resembling both outwardly, through his uncleanliness--never changes. His blunders, garrulity, and brainless labor, however, would transform Izaak Walton himself into a dragon of irritability. The effort to reform such a man would be heroic, indeed, but let those who enter upon such a task give their whole souls to it, and not attempt gardening at the same time--unless the garden is maintained for the sake of the man, and they, in their zeal, approach t.i.tania in her midsummer-night's madness, when she bade her attendant fairies to "feed" the "translated" weaver--

"With apric.o.c.ks and dewberries, With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries."

This degenerate descendant of Bottom, however, needs no such considerate attention; he will help himself to the choicest and rarest.

Scarcely better than the type portrayed above is the deliberate workman, who can soon show you how easy it is to spend two dollars in order to make one. His wages--the one thing he is prompt about--will leave little margin of profit on the berries that he has packed, although, by reason of his ancient pipe, they may outrank all the fruit in the market. This man never walks nor runs, no matter how great the emergency and press of work; he merely jogs around, and picks a raspberry as he would pry out a bowlder. He does his work fairly well, usually; but the fact that it would require a hundred such men to care for a small place causes not the slightest solicitude. He would smoke just as stolidly and complacently after bringing wreck and ruin to a dozen employers.

Men of these types are as disastrous on a fruit farm as the _Lachnosterna_ or currant worm. Unless the reader has far more native goodness and acquired grace than the writer, he had better dismiss them speedily, or his feelings may resemble those that Sam Jubilee described on previously. I have given two extreme examples, but there are also gradations of these characters, who had better find employment from those requiring "hands" only. Successful work on a fruit farm, or in a garden, requires a quick brain, a keen eye, a brisk step and a deft hand. Many of its labors are light, and no profit can follow unless they are performed with despatch, at the right time and in the right way.

The majority of those we employ wish to do right and to give satisfaction. They are not only willing but are glad to learn; and while only actual and long-continued experience can make a thorough gardener, perhaps the following rules, maxims, and principles, embodying the experience of others, may be of service to beginners, giving them a start in the right direction:

1. Never put off till spring work that might be done in the fall.

Spring is always too short for the labor it brings, even when not wet and late.

2. Plow in the fall all heavy, loamy land that you intend to plant in spring. This exposes it to the action of frost, and if done late, tends to destroy insects and their larvae. Do not plow sand in the fall unless there is upon it sod, stubble, etc., that is to decay.

3. Top-dress very light land with an inch or two of clay or heavy loam in November, and let the winter frosts and rains blend the two diverse soils to their mutual advantage. Harrowing in fertilizers on light ground is better than plowing them in.

4. In the fall top-dress all the small fruits with compost, bone-dust or other fertilizers that have staying powers, spreading it along close to the rows and over the roots, and working it into the soil lightly by cultivation. This gives everything a vigorous start in the spring.

5. If possible, take out before winter all perennial weeds--sorrel, white clover, etc.--but do not greatly disturb the roots of strawberries, just on the approach of winter.

6. In most localities and soils, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and blackberries do better if planted any time after they drop their foliage in the fall. Such planting can be continued even into the winter, on mild, still days, when frost is neither in the air nor soil.

Frozen earth should never come in contact with roots. I plant strawberries, also, all through the autumn, even into December; and before the ground freezes, hoe upon them one or two inches of soil, raking it off as soon as freezing weather is over in the spring.

7. The earlier plants are set out in spring, the better, if the ground and weather are suitable. It is usually best to wait till the danger of severe frost is over. Do not plant when the ground is wet and sticky, or dry and lumpy, at any season, if it can be helped. Do not plant in a high, hot or cold wind. Make the most of mild, still, and cloudy days.

If plants can be set before a storm or shower, much is gained; but this is not essential if roots are imbedded their whole length in moist (not wet) earth, and the soil made very firm, around them. Plantings may be made in very dry weather if the land is forked or plowed late in the afternoon, and the plants set immediately in the fresh, moist earth.

Keep the roots from contact with unfermented manure.

8. In handling plants at any time, _never_ let the _little_ rootlets dry and shrivel. Keep them from sun, frost, and wind. If the roots of plants received in boxes are frozen, let them thaw out in a cellar undisturbed. If roots are black, shrivelled, or musty from long transportation, wash them in clean water, and, in the case of strawberries, shorten them one-third, and then plant at once in moist soil.

9. In cultivating strawberry plants recently set, stir the surface merely, with a rake, _not over half an inch deep_.

10. Never disturb roots by working among them in dry weather. At such times, stir the _surface only, and often_.

11. If you water at all, water thoroughly, and keep the soil moist till rain comes; otherwise watering is an injury.

12. The easiest and cheapest way to keep a garden clean is to rake the ground over once a week on sunny days. This method destroys the weeds when they are just appearing, and maintains moisture.

18. Pick fruit, if possible, when it is dry, and before it is over-ripe. Do not leave it in the sun or wind, but take it at once to coolness and shade. Pack carefully and honestly. A quart of small, decayed, green, or muddy berries scattered through a crate of fine fruit may reduce its price one half.

14. Mulch everything you can. Save all the leaves and litter that can be gathered on the place, and apply it around the plants only when the ground is moist. _Dry_ ground covered with mulch may be kept dry all summer.

15. Practice summer pinching and pruning only when plants are in their spring and early summer growth, and not after the wood begins to ripen.

If delayed till then, wait till the plant is dormant in the fall.

16. Sandy or gravelly land can usually be worked immediately after rain; but if heavy land is plowed or cultivated when wet, or so dry as to break up in lumps, it is injured.

17. Watch all crops daily. Plants are living things, and need attention. Diseases, insects, drought, or wet may destroy them in a few days, or even hours, if left uncared for.