381
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B M 173 SEE
SMALL FRUITS
WILLIAM H. HILLS
SMALL FRUITS:
Their Propagation and Cultivation, Including
the Grape.
CONTAINING PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE SELECTION OF SOIL AND ITS
PREPARATION; THE USE OF MANURES AND FERTILIZERS; CROSSING,
HYBRIDIZING, AND GROWING NEW VARIETIES FROM SEED:
TRANSPLANTING, PRUNING, AND TRAINING; GATHER-
ING, PACKING, AND MARKETING FRUIT; DE-
SCRIPTION OF VARIETIES, THEIR ORI-
GIN, DISEASES, AND INSECT
ENEMIES.
Ellustratfti fottfj Numerous
BY
WILLIAM H. HILLS,
PRACTICAL HORTICULTURIST, PLAISTOW, N.H.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
LIBRARY
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
DAVIS
BOSTON :
CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO.,
AGRICULTURAL PUBLISHERS.
1886.
COPYRIGHT, 1886,
BY W. H. HILLS.
A II rights reserved.
PREFACE.
1 have been induced to present in the following pages practical
directions for the propagation and cultivation of small fruits, partly
because a few friends, to whose judgment I have been accustomed to
defer, advised it ; partly to answer the numerous questions that are
being constantly addressed to me orally and by letter ; and partly
because I hoped thereby to encourage the more general dissemina-
tion and use of fruits.
There are many merchants, mechanics, professional men, and men
of leisure, owners of small tracts of land in the country or suburban
villages, who are anxious to learn something of the best varieties,
and the different methods of growing them in the private garden. It
has been my aim to furnish a hand-book containing just the kind of
information required by this class, and also for more extensive culti-
vators in the field.
No attempt has been made to dress the subject in fine language
and well rounded periods, or to do more than to give the best prac-
tical directions in the most compact form, thus bringing the work
within the means of all who may wish to cultivate fruits for their own
tables with their own hands. Whoever wishes to grow fruits for the
market will not fail to consult the works of such men as Downing,
Barry, Fuller, and Roe, each of which should have a place in the libra-
ry of every one making any pretensions to horticultural knowledge.
Some of the more elaborate works, however, embrace matter of little
or no interest to the novice, while others are too expensive for gen-
eral circulation.
This brief treatise will be found to contain all that is essential to
success at trifling cost, but is not intended to supersede the labor of
others. Most of the so-called "Guides" and " Instructors" are little
more than advertising catalogues, in which new varieties are puffed,
and old standard sorts decried or totally neglected. Believing that
all varieties of merit should be retained, I have endeavored to avoid
fulsome praise of the new, on the one hand, and undue detraction of
the old, on the other. Both the faults and excellences of varieties
have been frankly stated, hoping that disappointments and needless
expense on the part of the beginner may thereby be avoided.
The collection of information as to the origin of varieties has caused
me no small amount of labor. Due credit has been given to those by
whose skill and care superior new fruits have been produced. If I
have occasionally hit a humbug, no apology will be made for the
offence.
The book is mainly the result of not large but long personal expe-
rience and observation, to which is added information drawn from
some of the most reliable and intelligent horticulturists in the coun-
try. It has been written in odd moments, and will be found neither
perfect nor complete.
About one third of the volume is devoted to grape culture, a sub-
ject not usually embraced in works treating of small fruits. A few
copies of the essay on grapes were originally printed in pamphlet
form, and received the commendation of President Wilder, Charles
Downing, and other eminent horticulturists. That essay has been
revised and enlarged, so as to adapt it to the present state of knowl-
edge. I trust it may be found of some value.
If those who may take the trouble to read what has been here pre-
sented shall find therein the information they are seeking, the writer
will feel amply rewarded for the labor its preparation has cost.
WILLIAM H. HILLS.
Plaistow, N. H., May 19, 1885.
SMALL FRUITS:
THEIR PROPAGATION AND CULTIVATION.
As the practices and opinions of fruit-growers differ so widely,
anything that may be written on the subject is likely to be
severely criticised, and the criticisms in many instances will
undoubtedly be just and pertinent. My aim will be simply to
make the process of growing small fruits, both for the market
and family use, so plain and practical that the novice will need
no other guide.
I shall not occupy the limited space allotted me with direc-
tions for cultivating the barberry or the huckleberry, but confine
myself mainly to those species and varieties usually found
under cultivation. I shall make no attempt to write up the his-
tory of our small fruits, regarding it of no importance whether
Plin} T , Virgil, or Ovid spent their leisure hours in the berry
" patch," or even knew anything at all about the best varieties.
I began the cultivation of the strawberry more than thirty
years ago, at a time when the Hovey's Seedling, Boston Pine,
Hooker, Virginia Scarlet, and Cutter's Seedling were the lead-
ing varieties, all of which, except the Hovey, have disappeared
from the lists of varieties cultivated or named. In size, beauty,
productiveness, and quality, some of these were at that time
thought wonderful ; and though most of them are not now to
be named in comparison with the best sorts of to-day, yet they
were so much superior to the wild berries gathered in boyhood,
that they made an impression upon the mind never to be effaced.
Since that time I have never lost my interest in this and the
other small fruits, but have had under cultivation at times some
8
fifty varieties, adding new and rejecting old sorts from year to
year, so that many of the candidates for popular favor have
been fairly tested.
A NEW DEPARTURE.
A new departure was made in 1806, by one Michael Keen, a
celebrated English gardener, who introduced the tk Imperial,"
which he grew from seed, and subsequently, from seed of the
Imperial, what was long known as "Keen's Seedling." This
was a wonderful fruit for the time, being large, productive, and
of good flavor and habit of growth ; but it did not succeed in
this country, and was soon supplanted by more hardy sorts.
The London Horticultural Society, in 1821, had executed a col-
ored plate of this strawberry (not a very rare thing now), indi-
cating its high appreciation of its merits.
The success of Keen excited scores of others to attempt the
growing of better varieties from seeds, and from that time to
the present, seedlings have been numerous. Little was done in
this country, except in imitation of English practices, till about
1834, when Mr. C. M. Hovey produced and introduced what has
since been known as " Hovey's Seedling," a fruit hardly sur-
passed by the best varieties of the present time.
Little or nothing was generally known in this country, at the
time when the Hovey appeared, relative to the sexuality of the
strawberry. The wild plants were all perfect flowering, or stam-
inate, and the effect of cultivation in producing pistillate varie-
ties had attracted but little notice. Mr. Longworth, of Ohio,
was among the first to take a decided stand on this question,
and the war on the subject was long, if not bloody. Mr. Long-
worth made a standing offer if history is not at fault of one
hundred dollars, to any one who would produce a perfect berry
from a pistillate plant, unless the same was fertilized by a stam-
inate variety. No claim was ever made for the money, and
the correctness of his position is now generally conceded by all
intelligent pomologists.
The great success attending the production of seedling straw-
berries has incited those engaged in the business to try and im-
prove other small fruits by similar methods, and \\ith almost
equally favorable results. This has been accomplished by sow-
iDg and resowing seeds of the best varieties under cultivation,
by transplanting to the garden plants of the choicest wild ber-
ries, and by crossing and hybridizing, a process that will be
hereafter described.
The result is, that we now have raspberries, blackberries,
grapes, and currants, nearly equal in size and quality to the
finest foreign sorts, and greatly surpassing them in hardiness
and general adaptation to our climate. The progress made
seems more rapid every year, as the methods are better under-
stood, and it is to be hoped that the ideal berry will soon be
produced.
SMALL FRUITS NEGLECTED.
It would seem that no owner or lessee of land for a term of
years would omit to plant out on his place a variety of small
fruits, sufficiently abundant to supply his family during their
entire season. There should always be a surplus for the liberal
entertainment of friends, always numerous in the berry sea-
son, and for preserving in various ways for winter use. The
first cost of plants would be but a trifle, no more than a meer-
schaum pipe, a box of cigars, or a gallon of whiskey, and
they are so rapidly propagated that the sale of surplus plants
may be made a source of some income.
When urging farmers to plant out small fruits, we are fre-
quently told that there is an abundance of wild berries in the
neighboring fields and pastures, to be had for the mere picking.
Now, while there may be wild berries of an inferior quality in
some localities, it is more often the case that the supply is lim-
ited to one or two kinds, and these are only attainable by mak-
ing rambling journeys over brush and brake. There is nothing
like a continuous supply during the small fruit season.
It is often claimed that wild fruits strawberries and the like
are superior in flavor to cultivated varieties. This is a great
mistake, arising in part from lack of familiarity with the best
cultivated sorts, and in part from an uncultivated taste. I have
seen persons who preferred the flavor of the wild, foxy grapes
of the swamps to that of the best foreign variety grown under
glass.
The wild strawberry is not usually picked as soon as colored,
as frequently occurs in case of those under cultivation, but
10
remains on the vines till perfect!} 7 ripe, and in its best condition.
But the average wild strawberry will be found as poor in quality
as it is inferior in size and appearance. Place the two on the
fruit-stand or table, side by side, and no one would hesitate
in making a selection. We now have plenty of varieties su-
perior in all respects to any obtainable without cultivation-
More fruit, of larger size, superior flavor, and of almost any
variety, can be grown on five square rods, rightly managed,
than can be found wild on any farm of ordinary size in the
country. A few rods devoted to this purpose will afford health,
satisfaction, and pleasure, and by enlarging the area from time
to time, as experience is acquired, ma} 7 , in many localities, be-
come a source of profit. Special knowledge and skill will be
useful in this business, as in any other, but the degree of skill
and knowledge required is no greater than for the successful
treatment of any farm crop.
Who ever saw a wild strawberry that would equal in size the
smallest variety now under cultivation? Just take a ramble
over fields and pastures, where you formerly gathered the ber-
ries now remembered with so much pleasure, gathering and
testing the best fruit to be found, and it will prove to be almost
uniformly small, sour or insipid, arid worthless. Who ever
thinks of eating wild strawberries, that has the improved varie-
ties under cultivation? Children, even, will hardly stop to pick
such fruit, if growing directly in their path. The wild berries
are as abundant in their season as formerly, yet they are never
seen in market, and, if offered for sale, would be rejected at
once. Occasionally one has been found better than the rest,
and transferred to the garden, like Cutter's Seedling, and dis-
seminated more or less widely, but I know of no variety now
under cultivation that originated in that way. Yet, as birds
are scattering the seeds of the best sorts far and near every
year, the discovery of valuable seedlings in uncultivated locali-
ties would be no surprise, and the wide-awake fruit-grower is
always on the lookout for all such chance seedlings.
TO THE NOVICE.
To the inquiry, often made, us to where to locate in the small
fruit business, I would say in answer, as near to the people us
11
possible. Your success will depend largely upon the distance
you are from market. Small fruits cannot be grown profitably
ten miles from the consumer, except on the line of some rail-
road, in which case a distance of twenty or thirty miles will
make a difference of only an hour or two in time.
There are numerous villages, large and small, furnishing good
opportunities to those near by for doing a safe and profitable
business in growing fruits. In the vicinity of summer resorts,
fresh fruits net a higher price than can be realized from com-
mission men in large cities, where competition is sharp. If
marketed by the grower, there is no expense for freight, or per
cent, to be deducted by the middle-man. The large manufac-
turing towns afford good markets. Mechanics, factory opera-
tives, and shop-girls spend their money freely when the times
are brisk, and the boarding-houses consume fruits in large quan-
tities. Get as near to such a town or village as yon can. If
within a mile, you will have a great advantage over one five
miles away. You can watch the market, and rush your berries
when there is a demand, and hold them back when there is a
glut.
There are always many visitors from the cities to near-by
fruit-farms, persons who like to take their fruits fresh and fra-
grant from the vines, even at an extra price, rather than stale
from the huckster's stall. The man engaged in growing small
fruits must not only cultivate his berries, but also his business,
by selling only the best, honestly and tastefully put up. In this
way he will soon acquire a reputation, and secure the patronage
of a desirable class of customers.
But the beginner should enter upon the business expecting to
meet with many discouragements, such as hard winters, late
spring frosts, drouths, destructive insects, overstocked mar-
kets and consequent low prices. It must be borne in mind,
however, that others will meet with like discouragements and
quit the business, leaving the coast clear for those who are more
persistent. If the beginner consults his own interest, and grows
only the best varieties in the best way, and puts his fruit upon
the market in the most attractive form, he is sure to succeed.
Of such fruit there is never an over-supply.
12
SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION.
Small fruits may be successfully grown on almost any soil
which is in suitable condition for the ordinary field and garden
crops. Land well prepared for corn, potatoes, or any of the
root crops, will insure, other conditions being favorable, a prof-
itable yield of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants,
or gooseberries. It is true that some fruits require a strong
soil and high cultivation, while others will succeed admirably on
rather light, sandy, or gravelly land, with comparatively little
care. The extremes, loose sand and heavy clay, should of
course be avoided. The slip-shod sloven will do well to inquire
for and plant out the varieties last named only. The more care-
ful cultivator will select a plot such as he would prefer for gar-
den vegetables, and prepare it in a similar manner.
To say that small fruits must be planted on soil plowed or
trenched eighteen, twenty, or twenty-four inches deep, and re-
ceive an application of ten, fifteen, or twenty cords of fine old
manure to the acre, is only to frighten the novice out of his wits,
or, at least, out of any idea he may entertain of growing small
fruits at all. It is not denied that surprising results may be
attained by adopting such methods, but the returns will not jus-
tify the outlay.
This statement is made after having tested nearly all the vari-
ous methods recommended. In one instance the ground was
trenched with a spade two feet deep, and well fertilized to that
depth with fine old manure. Strawberry plants were set in beds
containing three rows each one foot by eighteen inches, with
walks of two feet between the beds. All runners were cut as
soon as they appeared, and each plant formed a stool as large
as a well cultivated hill of beans. The result was simply won-
derful. As many as twenty-seven fruit stocks were counted on
one plant of the Wilson, and the yield was undoubtedly a quart
to a plant in many instances. But it did not pay ; the expense
was too great, not less than $300 per acre. I have grown as
fine berries, and nearly MS large a crop, with half the manure,
on land plowed less than a foot deep. But it must be admit-
ted that under the treatment first named the plants continued
to yield well one or two years longer than under the hitler.
Remunerative crops are not likely to be repeated under the
13
usual methods of cultivation for more than two or three years,
and many take one full crop only and then turn under the plants,
growing some other crop on the land for a year or two before
planting again to berries. The practice of frequently renewing
the plot, as young plants give the finest fruit, will be found
most profitable and satisfactory.
It is not intended here to encourage poor cultivation under
any circumstances, but only to combat the wild and extravagant
statements of a few writers who do much to discourage the gen-
eral cultivation of small fruits. A circular recently received,
with a highly-colored picture of a strawberry bearing the name of
the writer, contains the statement that the soil, after being dug
or plowed, should be il spread over with at least three inches
of thoroughly rotted stable manure." This would require about
eighty-five cords to the acre, varying in cost from five to eight
dollars a cord, according to locality. Here we have an outlay
of from four hundred and twenty-five to six hundred and eighty
dollars per acre for manure alone. If this pet berry, christened
in the name of the modest disseminator, requires such extraor-
dinary treatment, it will be well for purchasers to leave it alto-
gether in first hands.
Some varieties require good strong soil and high cultivation,
and if the best treatment cannot be given them the} 7 had better
be left severely alone. As a rule, it will be safe to give all
kinds the best care possible. Do not spread over and half cul-
tivate too large an area, but plant less and cultivate better, re-
membering that it is the inferior fruit that gluts the market, and
that there is never a surplus of the best. A good sandy loam
will be found suited to a greater number of varieties than any
other. Whatever the soil selected may be, it will pay to have
it thoroughly prepared mechanically before the plants are set.
This would consist in deep plowing, cross plowing, cultivat-
ing, and harrowing. A sub-soiler run in the furrow of the com-
mon plow, loosening and lifting, but not bringing to the sur-
face the lower strata, will tend to ensure the crop against a pro-
tracted drouth, such as often happens at the season of ripening.
There is little danger of working land too deep.
If these operations are preceded by the application of a suffi-
cient quantity of stable manure, it will have become well mixed
with the soil by the time the planting out is completed.
14
I'L ANTING ON SOD.
As a rule, never plant small fruits on sod land if it can be
avoided. Still, if such land is plowed up early in the fall,
when covered with grass or clover, the sods will become well
decayed by spring, and may be worked fine with the Acme, or
one of the wheel harrows. The soil may thus be made mellow
four or five inches deep, without disturbing and bringing to
the surface uudecayed herbage. The roots of plants on such
land will strike down into the decayed sods and make them-
selves quite at home. If an application of manure is spread
broadcast on the land before plowing, all the better.
The great danger in planting such land with strawberries
would arise from the white grub, so common in sod laud, often
proving very destructive to the plants.
DRAINAGE.
Whatever the character of the soil selected for small fruits,
care should be exercised that no water stands over or around
the plants in winter. A heavy rain will often occur after the
ground has frozen in the fall, filling depressions, and sometimes
covering a large level plot completely with ice. This is sure to
prove fatal to the plants frozen in and excluded from the air.
Outlets should be seasonably provided for the escape of sur-
plus water from all low places, and even on level plots it is
safer to plant in beds slightly raised, to avoid this danger.
Where there is a slope to the land, which will almost always be
the case, the width of the bed may be greater, and the elevation
less, in proportion to the fall.
On all wet lands under-draining of some kind must be
attended to or the plants will be thrown out by frost, and this
should be done, of course, before the plants are set. Tile for
this purpose will be found the best, cheapest, and every way
the most satisfactory. Where rocks are abundant and must be
removed at all events, they may be utilized for this purpose ; but
the flow of water in stone drains is liable to become obstructed,
while tile drains, properly laid, never fail. The depth tit which
tiles should be laid ought never to be less than three feet.
The expense of excavation will be much less than for more shal-
low drains when stones are used. Any one about to put in
15
drains of any kind will find it for his interest to consult some
one of the valuable works on that subject before any expense
is incurred, thereby avoiding many mistakes and much unneces-
sary labor.
A plot well drained with tile is not only comparatively safe
from sudden floods in summer and fall, but will be in condi-
tion to work much earlier in the spring a matter of no small
importance when new plantations are to be made.
MANURE AND FERTILIZERS.
The kind and quantity of manure required will depend some-
what upon the character and condition of the soil. For light,
sandy land, a compost of one third peat or muck containing a
large per cent, of vegetable matter, one third clay or strong-
clay loam, and one third stable manure, will make a valuable
compost for any of the small fruits. Ground bone mixed with
unleashed wood ashes one part bone and two parts ashes
dampened with water at the time of mixing, and allowed to heat
for a few days, will make one of the best fertilizers for work-
ing into the soil at the time of cultivation. The mixture should
be shovelled over on the stable floor once or twice, and more
water and a little gypsum added to check too high a degree of
heat.
Some contend that old manure is indispensable. This has not
been my experience. A Kemp manure spreader will fine any
manure, and give it an even distribution. If spread by hand, a
disk harrow will cut and cover it in a satisfactory manner.
Fine old manure will act at once, and, for top dressing old
beds as it can be more evenly spread is much to be preferred.
Coarse manure in rotting down will shrink one half in bulk, and
in its fine condition we usually apply twice as much of it, and
this, in connection with the fact that it is more soluble, gives it
a deservedly high reputation. But no one expects a crop of
fruit till a year, at least, from the time of setting the plants, by
which time, and long before, green manure will have become
decayed and available.
Liquid manure will produce immediate and wonderful results,
but, unfortunately, few have the facilities for applying it. When
used it should always be in a dilute form, as otherwise it will
16
prove not only unavailable as plant food, but injurious if not
destructive.
In making a plantation of small fruits, the condition of the
land selected should be carefully considered before deciding
what kind and amount of plant food to apply. A fertile soil,
under high cultivation, will give a good crop with very little or
no manure, while a starving soil must be liberally fed to insure
profitable results. As a rule, the poorer the land the more
manure will be required ; and the more manure, the larger the
crop.
If special fertilizers are used, compost them with more bulky
manures. The two will be better when mixed than either alone.
The strawberry is not only a gross feeder, requiring large appli-
cations of plant food of some kind, but it will pay to have it in
the best condition, and at the right time.
The fruit buds of the strawberry, and so of other small fruits,
are formed in summer and autumn, and no application of manure
in spring will increase their number, although it may increase
the size of the fruit. There is no better time to apply manure to
the strawberry-bed than immediately after the picking season,
or early in autumn. A late application m spring will be of
comparatively little benefit. To obtain the largest crop of fruit,
we must have vigorous and healthy plants, and these must be
grown the previous season.
Some varieties, under high cultivation, are inclined to make a
very rank growth without a corresponding yield of fruit, while
others have a dwarf habit. The blackberry, for example, on
rich, heavy land, makes a rampant growth, and for this reason
the less stimulating manures should be used. On the other
hand, the Wilson, and some other varieties of the strawberry, are
of a dwarfish habit, and will bear Peruvian guano and other
nitrogenous fertilizers. Thus the cultivator will find occasion
for constant observation and study.
SEASON FOR TRANSPLANTING STRAWBERRIES.
The spring is undoubtedly the best time to set plants in the
latitude of New England, but, with a little extra care and risk,
it may be done in mid-summer, or as soon after as new plants
from runners become well rooted. The time will depend upon
17
the weather and the condition of the ground, whether wet or
dry. I have made plantations as early as July, and obtained
nearly a full crop of fruit in less than a year. Where plants
must be obtained from a distance, and are several days on the
way, the risk is greater, and more losses will occur ; but if they
are only to be moved from one part of the field to another,
there need be but few failures. If the new plants are rooted in
small pots a method described elsewhere they may be trans-
ported long distances, and set out at any time before the middle
of September, and will yield a partial crop the next season.
If runner plants from the bed are to be set in the fall, which
may be done from August to October, a time should be chosen
when the ground is moist, or during a rainy season, in which
case very few will fail to take root and become firmly established
before winter. When set late, the plants will not always be-
come well rooted, and are liable to be thrown out by frost and
destroyed.
When set in spring, let it be as early as possible, as soon as
the ground can be properly worked. April is preferable to any
other month, but they do well in May. At this season
April the land is cool and moist, the days are not long, and
there is an absence of drying winds and scorching suns. It is
at about this time that the plants are in a semi-dormant condi-
tion, and, being but half awake, they receive less shock than if
transplanted after vigorous growth has begun.
Plants set as early in spring as is here recommended will give
a moderate quantity of fruit within three months, if the flower
buds are allowed to remain. But fruiting plants will not make
a very strong growth, and it is better to pinch off all fruit-
stalks, and trim off all but the centre leaves at the time of
transplanting.
Where a mixture of varieties is suspected, sufficient fruit may
be allowed to set as a test of purity, and all spurious plants at
once removed. The vacancies thus caused will be filled by run-
ners in a few weeks, and the grower will have the satisfaction
of knowing that his plants are unmixed and true to name. The
reputation of a dealer depends upon the purity of his stock, and
he should make a study of foliage so as to be able to detect any
mixture at a glance. No two varieties have the same habits of
2
18
growth, and when the peculiar characteristics of a plant are
once fixed in the mind, all spurious sorts can be removed at any
time.
Old beds of strawberries are often situated in proximity to
where a new bed is to be formed, and in such cases tufts of
.plants can be cut out with a spade, and removed to the newly
prepared bed. If in spring, fruit may be obtained in a few
weeks. As trenches will be required to receive plants removed
in this way, and as they are bulky and heavy to handle, this
method can only be recommended for small plots, where the
-stock plants are near at hand, and fruit is desired at the earliest
possible moment.
POTTED PLANTS.
The amateur is often anxious for a strawberry-bed in bearing
.at once, and cares very little about the expense. This demand
from persons who are in a hurry, has led to the practice of root-
ing plants in small earthen flower-pots, and such plants can be
furnished at about double the price of those that are allowed to
.strike root in the ground.
The method adopted is to fill the pots with rich soil or fine
<jompost the better the material the sooner the plant will fill
the pot with roots sink the pot in the ground, under the young
plant, and fix the plant in position by placing on the runner a
-small stone, or covering it with dirt, to prevent displacement by
the wind. It will take about three weeks, under favorable cir-
cumstances, for the roots to fill the pot, when the runner con-
necting it with the old plant should be cut. The pot may be
left undisturbed for a week or two longer to allow the plant to
, become well established as an independent institution. If the
weather be dry during this time, one or two applications of
water, pouring it directly into the pot, will be of service.
As soon as plants have become well rooted, they will be in
the best condition for planting out in their new quarters. If
allowed to remain long in the pots, they become almost worth-
less, owing to lack of room for their roots to develop and ex-
pand. They are cramped and dwarfed, like a Chinaman's foot,
-and seldom if ever recover. These plants are in the condition
.known to plant-growers as " pot-bound." On examination, it
will be found that the roots next to the pot have turned black,
19
and are in fact dead. The best way to restore such plants is to
turn them out of the pots and wash all the soil from their roots,
removing entirely those that are dead, and planting out in fresh
soil. It must be apparent that such plants are greatly inferior
to those that have simply taken root in the ground, yet unscru-
pulous dealers sometimes impose upon their customers by filling
orders in spring with plants that have been kept over winter in
pots.
For the reason here given, dealers only pot plants in limited
numbers, and of leading varieties, not knowing what and how
many will be called for, and not wishing to injure their stock,
or incur unnecessary expense. Hence potted plants should be
ordered early, never less than three or four weeks in advance,
to secure a supply of well-rooted plants of the varieties wanted.
It should be borne in mind that plants grow, but cannot be
made to order. They should always be turned out of the pots
when shipped, and the balls of dirt containing the roots packed
in damp moss, leaving the foliage fully exposed to light and
air, and in this condition they may be transported almost any
distance without risk.
Fig. 1 represents, better than language can describe, the
method of growing potted plants. The marks of cancellation
Fig. 1.
show where the runner should be cut when the plant has filled
the pot with roots.
There is not much to be gained by setting runner plants in
autumn, as they will not give a full crop the next year ; but even
a small crop may be better than none, and it is sometimes more
convenient to transplant at that season.
TRANSPLANTING STRAWBERRIES.
The land being ready, the next thing in order will be to set
the plants. Let the rows for field culture be as long as possi-
20
ble, so that the horse and cultivator can be conveniently used
to keep the ground loose and clean. The hand hoe may answer
,for small plots in the garden, but need onh* be used immediately
around the plants on large plantations. If the plants are to be
grown in " matted rows," the most common practice they
should be four feet apart. Matted rows a foot wide will do to
talk about, but they are seldom seen. A single row of fully
developed plants will spread at least a foot, and matted rows
are seldom less than two feet wide. This will leave only two
feet for the horse and cultivator. Where plants are to be kept
strictly in hills, or narrow rows, three feet apart will be a suita-
ble distance.
Plants are usually set one foot apart in the rows, but varie-
ties that send out numerous runners may just as well be set two
feet. This should be the distance when set in spring, or where
the multiplication of plants is an object, as in case of some new
or valuable variety. If the land be rich, it will be fully stocked
with plants by fall. The runners may be trained in all direc-
tions, where plants only are wanted, and covered with soil at
each joint, to keep them in place and hasten rooting. Runners
push before the parent plants have fully ripened their fruit, and
after picking is over, make rapid growth. The new plants
only are of any value for making new beds ; old plants are
worthless.
When plants are to be moved from one field to another, pro-
ceed as. follows : Lift the plants with a garden-trowel ; remove
all but two or three of the centre leaf-stalks and the fruit-stalks,
if any, with shears or a sharp knife ; straighten out the roots,
and cut them back one third their length ; sprinkle the plants,
if a dry day, and take them to the field or garden in a covered
basket, or in a pail with their roots immersed in muddy water.
Use a garden-trowel for opening the holes, and always set by a line.
If the weather is dry, let an active boy open the holes and drop
out the plants, a second boy fill the holes with water, while a
third sets the plants, being careful to have the crowns just even
with the surface. Spread the roots in all directions, and press
the soil firmly over them. It would seem as though no mistake
could be made in performing a process so simple, yet it will
take one man, on an average, to watch three boys, and imike
21
sure that the work is properly and faithfully done. The roots
will be crowded into the hole in a mass, sometimes with their
ends pointing up instead of down ; the plants will be set so
shallow that nearly half of the roots will be out of the ground,
or so deep that only the leaves can be seen, or, worst of all, so
loose that they are in danger of being blown out by the wind. I
speak of boys, but they are no worse than men. In fact, a man
is more intractable than a boy, just in proportion as his skull is
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
thicker. Once more let me say to every boy and man : Set straw-
berry plants with their crowns just even with the surface of the
ground; spread their roots as much as possible, and press the soil
firmly over and around them.
It is hoped that the illustrations here given will make the
matter perfectly plain. Fig. 2 represents a plant set too deep :
the crown will decay, and the plant
die. Fig. 3 shows a plant set so shal-
low that the roots are not fully covered.
They are left in a matted mass, and
unless the plant is re-set it will be
worthless. Fig. 4 represents a plant
that had its roots shortened, and prop-
erly spread when transplanted, and
gives a good illustration of how the
work should be done.
In field culture I like the method of growing strawberries in
narrow rows in preference to matted rows, or, what is still
worse, matted beds. One objection to the matted row or bed
system is. that it is impossible to keep the grass and weeds sub-
99
dued. The plants very soon become so thick that the hoe can-
not be used, and hand weeding on a large plot is out of the
question. The result is, that any attempt to give clean culture
must be abandoned, the grower taking one or two inferior crops
of fruit, when the vines are turned under with the plow.
President Wilder says, "For garden culture, I like the
method of planting in rows three feet apart, with plants one
foot in the row, allowing each to make from two to four shoulder
runners, and no more, for the first season. These, by autumn,
will constitute a thrifty row of strong-bearing plants, and will
produce more than the common matted beds. For field culture,
I would plant in rows four feet apart, and a foot apart in the
row, and where wide beds are allowed, it will be found of great
benefit to pinch off all superfluous runners, so as to have none
but strong plants. Some varieties require to be grown in hills,
and to have the runners cut off as soon as they appear such as
the Sharpless, Bidwell, and Triomphe de Gand. Parker Earle,
an extensive grower of small fruits at the West, says, " Let as
many runners grow as will make a narrow matted row : cut the
balance, keep the middles clear all the time." E. P. Roe,
author of " Success with Small Fruits," says, " I am satisfied
that the method best adapted to our Eastern and Western condi-
tions is what is termed the c narrow-row system,' believing that
it will give the greatest amount of fine fruit with the least de-
gree of trouble and expense. The plants are set one foot from
each other in line, and not allowed to make runners. In good
soil they will touch each other after one year's growth, and
make a continuous bushy row."
In garden culture, plants may be set in beds not raised beds
of three or four rows each, the rows eighteen inches apart,
and the plants one foot apart in the rows. Leave walks at least
two feet wide between the beds for convenience in hoeing and
picking. There will be no occasion for stepping on beds thus
set for any purpose. Cut all fruit-stalks, and, if to be grown in
hills, all runners as the} 7 appear. Keep the ground mellow, al-
low no weeds to grow, and mulch in case of severe drouth.
Such a bed will remain productive, if top-dressed annually for
five or six years.
23
THE NUMBER OF PLANTS REQUIRED FOR AN ACRE.
Many orders are given for plants and trees without making;
an estimate of the number required. The order may be for
more or less than are wanted, thereby subjecting the purchaser
to unnecessary expense in one case, or to the trouble and delay
of sending a second order in the other. Late orders are always
to be avoided, as the stock of a variety may be exhausted, and
if not, the plants are liable to be of an inferior quality.
The following table will be found convenient :
Number of Plants, Trees, etc., required to Set an Acre.
Dista
1ft.
u
2
2
2i
3
3
3
4
6
nee.
by if
U
1
2
2
1
2
3
4
5
Number.
t 43,560
Dista
6ft
8
10
12
15
18
20
25
30
40
ice.
by6f
8
10
12
15
18
20
25
30
40
Number.
t. . . . 1 210
19 360
680
21 780
435
10 890
302
6 970
194
. . 134
14,520
7 260
103
70
. . . . 4 840
2 722
40
1.742
27
In case it is proposed to set at distances not given in the
table, it will only be necessary to multiply the width of the rows
in feet by the distance of the plants apart, and divide 43,560,.
the number of square feet in an acre, by the product.
Example. Plants set three feet by six would each occupy an
area of eighteen square feet, and 43,560 divided by 18 gives
2,420, the number required to set an acre.
STRAWBERRIES. WHAT TO PLANT.
It would be impossible to name any one variety as superior
to, and for all purposes more valuable than, any other. The
question is often asked, What is the best strawberry? and
the answers given by good judges are quite varied. In fact r
there is no one kind superior to all others under all conditions.
Soil, location, cultivation, and other circumstances have so
much to do with success or failure, that we cannot be sure, in
advance, what variety or varieties it is best to plant out. On
one plot a certain kind will lead in productiveness and profit,,
while only a few rods distant the soil and situation may be so-
24
unlike that the same variety will be a total failure. The begin-
ner may derive much aid by consulting those extensively en-
gaged in the business of growing small fruits, though he
cannot safely rely upon the experience of others, but must ex-
periment for himself. If growing for his own private use, he
will consult his own taste as to quality ; but if for market, he
must cater to suit the demands of the purchaser.
MUST BE ADAPTED TO THE SOIL.
While some varieties seem peculiarly adapted to a rather
light sandy soil, others require that which is strong and heavy,
and still others appear indifferent, doing equally well on any
soil. One kind will give perfectly satisfactory returns grown
in hills, matted rows, or by the slipshod method, while another
will fail in the absence of high and clean cultivation, and unless
grown in hills on congenial soil. Liberal manuring, deep work-
ing of the land, mulching, and irrigation will insure success in
the dryest season. If plants are thus treated, the soil will be
found filled with their roots as deep as cultivation extends. A
like examination of plants on a shallow soil will show roots too
short to render the moisture below available. Some varieties
require deeper soil than others.
The following extract from the report of the New York Ex-
periment Station for 1883 is in point: "A plant of the Triomphe
de Gand strawberry, the roots of which we washed out August
13, had roots extending nearly vertically downwards to the depth
of twenty-two inches. The horizontal roots were few and short,
the longest being traceable but six inches. The greater part of
the roots extended nearly perpendicularly downwards, and near-
ly all of the fibrous ropts were found directly beneath the plant."
It will be seen that the varieties to be selected will depend
almost entirely upon the object in view. For the home garden
the quality should be first considered. The plant should be
hardy, healthy, and fairly productive, the fruit of at least me-
dium size, of good form and color, and in its general appearance
attractive. With such varieties as the Downing, Cumberland,
Hervey Davis, Jersey Queen, Minor's Prolific, Mount Vernon,
Sharpless, and Wilder, or any other judicious selection from the
early, medium, and late varieties, any one may enjoy a full supply
25
of the most beautiful, luscious, and healthful fruit for more than
a month. That it comes before any other fruit is ready for the
table renders it all the more welcome and valuable.
For the market, varieties must be selected that will " crop
heavily," that are large and " showy," and that are firm enough
to bear " handling." As purchasers are seldom guided by the
palate, the fruit must be such as will " take the eye ;" the qual-
ity is of but little account. It is to be regretted that the public
taste is so defective as not to demand fruit of the highest ex-
cellence. Fortunately there is no longer any excuse for placing
upon the market inferior berries. There are now many varie-
ties, each of which has combined in a high degree almost every
desirable requisite of a first-class fruit ; yet none are perfect.
The ideal variety has not yet been produced, although there are
plenty of them described in the catalogues.
ORDERING NEW VARIETIES.
Purchasers should be cautious in ordering new varieties at
exorbitant prices. Every year brings out a batch of new straw-
berries, " price $2 per dozen, $10 per hundred. " The mails are
filled with beautiful colored plates of single plants, and sections
of rows loaded with fruit in all stages of development "per-
fectly splendid." Why, a plot ten feet square of such plants
would supply a large family with fruit for four weeks, when it
would be time for the introduction of some new candidate for
favor greatly superior to the last.
These new kinds are purchased of the originator, and con-
trolled each by a single dealer, by whom they are parcelled out
to other dealers to be sold at a stipulated price for a specified
time. This u syndicate" puff and push the variety as long
as the price can be kept up, and until it has become widely
disseminated, when all at once it proves to be a fruit of little or
no value, inferior to many of the old standard sorts. If the
amateur could only keep cool a year or two, he would not want
the much lauded variety at all, and thus save his money.
On a careful comparison of two lists of strawberries offered
for sale by New York horticulturists, largely engaged in selling
small fruits and plants one published in 1862, and the other in
1882, naming sixty-four and forty varieties respectively I find
26
only one variety, the Wilson, retained of the former list after
a period of twenty years. This shows how rapidly old varieties
are supplanted by those of recent introduction. We have better
varieties now from which to select than at any time in the past,
but the long list should be greatly abridged, and all inferior
sorts discarded. In selecting fruits, either for home use or for
market, it is best to rely mainly upon a few standard sorts,
leaving it for the amateur to hunt through a bushel of chaff to
find a grain of wheat.
SUBSTITUTIONS.
Some dealers claim a right to substitute other kinds of plants
and trees for those ordered, whenever they can offer an excuse
for so doing. The only excuse in most instances would be,
that they have not in stock, and never had. half of the varieties
advertised in their catalogues. Early in the season, when there
is plenty of time to procure plants from other dealers, they are
likely to fill the order, but later resort to substitution. Here is
a sample of what one dealer claims a right to do :
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY NUSERYMAN to keep up his as-
sortment of all kinds, and it is so with us, and we must claim the privi-
lege, when out of some sorts, to put in others equally as good for the sec-
tion of the country the order comes from. We believe that in nine cases
out of ten we can select a better assortment for either market or family
use than what is generally called for. We can, however, make out most
any assortment, if allowed to put in sorts that we have not got among our
larger trees, with a smaller size, or those " in the bud, 11 we making up the
difference in size and price with more trees, or any other stock you may
name.
And here is another :
SUBSTITUTION. In case where my stock of certain varieties is ex-
hausted, as may happen late in the season, it is the general custom to sub-
stitute a variety equally as good, or better, and as near like it as possible,
in time of ripening, quality, etc. It should be stated in the order, there-
fore, if it is desired that this should not be done.
Could anything be more absurd? Mark the modesty of the
first author, when he claims Unit in nine cases out of ton lie
27
knows better what his customers want than they know them-
selves.
Many orders are made up largely of new varieties, the parties
giving them having been in the small-fruit business for years,
and possibly may have grown more plants than the dealer ever
saw. He wishes to keep up with the times by testing every-
thing new, and gives his order for one thousand of the Ne 2)lus
ultra. The dealer is short of that variety, and sends as a sub-
stitute the Big Booby (named for the originator, and badly
mixed), that being a bit of a drug on his hands, but, in his esti-
mation, just the thing to "fill the bill." The would-be pur-
chaser may have already tested the substitute, and be on the
point of plowing under an acre or two of that variety, having
found it perfectly worthless.
But, says the plant man, "It should be stated in the order,
therefore, if it is desired that this should not be done," or, in
other words, place at the top, bottom, and sides of your order
this caution : N. B. Please do not substitute the old choke
pear for the Seckel, nor the common field strawberry for the
Sharpless.
The catalogue from which the last extract was made contains
this very proper announcement : " We would be pleased to see
our customers and others at any time, except on the SABBATH :
on that day there will be no admittance to our grounds, and no
business transacted" from which we may fairly infer that the
author is not only a conscientious but also a pious man. When,
however, we ask of this man bread, he claims a right to give us
a stone ; or if we ask a fish, he is ready to give us a serpent.
No man has either a legal or moral right to fill an order, ex-
cept by following it literally ; and the better way is, where any
deviation is made, to reship the plants at once.
OVER-PRAISED FRUITS.
There is often a war of words among fruit-growers relative
to the quality of different fruits, and as to the rank to which
each is entitled. This is sometimes the result of prejudice, or
an interest which different parties may have in pushing the sale
of a new variety. The entire stock of " a new thing " is often
purchased by an enterprising dealer in plants at an extravagant
28
price, and it is a matter of interest for him to " unload " as soon
as possible. It is not strange that the description of such a
fruit, coming from a person deeply interested in its sale some-
times unscrupulous often turns out to be high-colored, fabu-
lous, or a downright, bold-faced lie. I want to strike out of the
last sentence all after the word " be," and insert in place thereof
the words " too highly praised." The description by the origi-
nator is often so extravagant as to be amusing. Here is a spec-
imen : " The Jersey Queen. The largest and most luxuriant
plant we have ever seen ; appearing to thrive under any and all
circumstances ; easily grown, making vigorous runners, never
burning or blighting its foliage, invariably bearing the largest
fruit, of fine form and first quality ; coloring evenly, and per-
fectly brilliant and beautiful ; fine in texture, solid and firm, yet
melting, high-flavored and luscious. The very best of all to
carry and keep. The crop under high culture, in both quantity
and quality, and under neglect and abuse, has astonished every
one acquainted with its performance. With the terrible drouth
prevailing, it neither faltered or failed in any respect, but ap-
peared as thriving and luxuriant as in more favorable seasons.
The most trying circumstances do not seem to affect it, as under
the action of the severe frost of 1878, in the most exposed sit-
uation, when every other in its vicinity was nearly destroyed, it
seemed but slightly affected, as it bore the largest and finest
crop ever seen upon our grounds." I have here given only
about half of what the originator has to say in praise of the
Jersey Queen, yet enough to show that, if true, it is far superior
to any other variety ever offered to the public. The only reason
why this variety has not driven all others out of cultivation is,
that there are a score of other kinds just as highly praised.
But there is an honest difference of opinion as to the merits
of varieties, that is entitled to greater respect. Soils, locations,
fertilizers, and other conditions, have an important influence on
the quality of all fruits. Vintners in all wine-making countries
find that there is a great difference in the quality of wine made
from the same variety of grapes grown in vineyards only slightly
remote from each other. This difference cannot be accounted
for by the vine-grower. It may be the result of a combination
of circumstances apparently so trifling that no one of them
29
seems important. The same is true of other fruits as well as of
the grape, and this may account for the great diversity of opin-
ion as to the rank of certain varieties, among equally good
judges. In one instance a fruit is grown under the most favor-
able conditions, and in the other the conditions are all adverse.
Grapes in California, where grapes almost equal to our best hot-
house varieties grow spontaneously, have been found to contain
fifty per cent, more sugar on the mountains than in the valleys.
This may be owing, in part, to the fact that on elevations the
season for ripening is longer, such localities being comparatively
exempt from frost.
There can be no doubt that the quality of all small fruits may
be improved, or injured, by the amount and kind of plant-food
applied to the soil. And there is a wide field open in this direc-
tion for experiment and observation. As all the elements of
plant nutrition are now conveniently accessible, through dealers
in chemicals and chemical fertilizers, it would not seem difficult
to arrive at some definite and important results relative to thi&
subject.
RAPID PROPAGATION.
The grower is often anxious to increase to the utmost a val-
uable, scarce, or high-priced variety, and it is possible to obtain
fifty or one hundred runner plants from a single stock-plant the
first year. In order to attain this object, careful attention and
judicious management will be required. First in order will be a
thorough preparation of the land at least a foot deep two feet
would be better by the use of a spading-fork or plow, cultivator
and harrow. A heavy application of fine old stable-manure, or
compost, should be worked into the soil, and if this can be done
the autumn previous to planting out, all the better. Peruvian
guano, if it can be obtained before it has been " doctored," or
some chemical fertilizer containing a large per cent, of nitrogen
for it is plants and not fruit that we are working for may be
applied with advantage. Avoid the use of green manure, as its
action is slow and we are in a hurry, and for the reason that it
is liable to fill the land with the white grub (lachnosterna fusca),
the larvae of the May-bug, June-bug, or dor-bug, as it is often
called, so destructive in the strawberry-patch.
Set the plants as early in spring as the condition of the soil
30
will admit, in rows six feet apart, and the plants at least four
or five feet distant in the rows. Let all runners grow, training
them so as to cover the ground. No weeds should be tolerated.
Make slight depressions beneath each joint of the runners,
pressing down the young plant and weighting it with a small
stone, on covering it with earth, to prevent displacement by the
wind. If a little fine manure, or fertilizer of some sort, is
placed under or around the plant, it will cause a stronger and
more rapid growth. Irrigation, or frequent watering with dilute
liquid manure, will also aid in the multiplication of runners, and
plants unsurpassed in quality. A good stock of any new straw-
berry may in this way be obtained in a few months.
NEW VARIETIES FROM SEEDS.
The perfect strawberry must be of the best quality, large,
productive, of good color and form, and firm enough to bear
handling and transportation. The plant must be vigorous,
healthy, hardy, not easily injured by cold in winter, or scorching
suns in summer, and every way the habit of the plant must be
good.
A berry not ripening evenly and coloring to the point is ob-
jectionable, as it is inconvenient to pick, and unsalable. It is
hard to convince the buyer that a berry having a white tip is
fully ripe. This is a fault of the Sharpless, Kentucky, Bidwell,
and most of the very large varieties. Some of the largest and
best kinds have the fault of being ill-formed, or coxcomb
shaped. The old Iron-Clad, as pictured, is one of the worst of
this class ; and the Sharpless is often so imperfectly formed that
many think, and not without reason, that its name is Shapeless.
Experiments in growing seedlings are very interesting, and
may prove very profitable. In case of small fruits, results are
arrived at early in from one to three or four years. The proc-
ess consists simply in sowing seeds of the best berries of the
best varieties. Never sow seeds of inferior fruit. Plants
raised from the best are inclined to revert, and will usually pro-
duce fruit inferior to that of the parent. If one seedling in a
thousand proves superior in all respects, the experiment may be
regarded as a success.
To obtain seeds, select the berries when perfectly ripe, crush
31
them with the hand or otherwise, and free them from the pulp.
This may be done by washing, as the seeds will readily settle,
while the pulp will float, and may be drained off. The seeds
may be preserved in sand, or in the ordinary paper seed-bags,
and stored in a cool, dry place till wanted ; or they may be sown
at once in boxes, or in the open ground. Care must be taken
that the seeds are not too deeply covered, say not more than
one fourth of an inch. Press the soil firmly over the seeds, and
and be watchful lest the soil becomes dry before they have-
germinated. The young plants will begin to show themselves
in a few weeks, and must receive careful attention. If sown in
midsummer, the} 7 will encounter the dryest and hottest weather,
when watering and partial shading will be sometimes indispen-
sable.
If started in boxes, they may be transplanted to the open
ground as soon as a few leaves have pushed, giving them suita-
ble distance to develop and form robust plants. Watering and
shading at this time are very important, and must be continued
until the young seedlings have become well established. For
shading a few plants seedlings of ain* kind I have found
nothing better or more convenient than small flower-pots.
These are inverted over the plant in the middle of the day, but
removed at night and in damp, cloudy weather. As the bottoms
of such pots are perforated, the plant has sufficient air, and they
are not disturbed by the wind. The cost of pots is at present
so small as to be no objection to their use.
Where many seedlings are grown, a low frame consisting of
a narrow board may be formed around the bed, and screens
made by nailing laths to narrow strips of board, so as to leave
open spaces about equal to the width of the lath. These screens
placed over the bed of seedlings will afford the requisite shade,
as the constant movement of the sun will prevent its rays from
striking upon a plant more than a few minutes at a time.
Plants treated as here recommended, if successfully wintered,
will give fruit the next season when only a year old ; but a
longer trial will be required to determine whether any will prove
of real value.
In planting out these tender seedlings, select soil prepared
with extra care in the most favorable location. If you propose
32
to start a strawberry " boom," and go into the " Jumbo" and
" Big Booby " business, all the conditions must be most favora-
ble. Especially avoid a plot for a bed of seedlings liable to be
covered by standing water, or sheets of ice in winter, as either
will be sure death to the plants. Both the bottom and surface
drainage should be perfect. A mulch of straw, not too heavy,
and a few evergreen boughs over all, will carry the plants safely
through.
The directions here given will be a sufficient guide to those
who may attempt the production of new varieties by hybridizing
or crossing a process fully described below.
HYBRIDIZING AND CROSSING.
In every flower, in its natural state, we find what are known;
to botanists as stamens and pistil. These are the male and fe-
male organs, and seeds, when present, are the offspring or
true fruit. Under cultivation the stamens often diminish in
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7
Fig. 8.
number, are very imperfectly developed, and sometimes are en-
tirely absent. As an illustration, I here give a very good rep-
resentation of the strawberry flower of each class.
Fig. 6 represents the perfect flower as we find it growing
wild, having the pistil and the stamens fully developed. Fig. 7
shows the flower with the stamens imperfectly developed, and
33
Fig. 8 represents the flower with the stamens entirely wanting.
Plants having the perfect flower, as in Fig. 6, will give a full
crop of fruit, as they are self-fertilizing, and those having no
stamens, as in Fig. 8, will give no fruit unless fertilized by
other plants. Where the flowers are imperfectly developed, a
partial crop may sometimes be obtained. Fig. 6 represents
what are variously known as staminate, perfect, bi-sexual, or
hermaphrodite flowers, and Fig. 8 a pistillate flower. The pistil
is that part of the flower which enlarges when fertilized, and
forms what is usually called the fruit, but by botanists the
stigma ; unfertilized, there will be no development and no per-
fect fruit. It will be seen that at the top of the stamens
in the perfect flower there is an enlargement which is known
as the anther. This is filled with and scatters over the
pistil an exceedingly fine dust called pollen, by means of
which the flower is fertilized, and perfect fruit follows.
Now, as no fruit can be obtained from a pistillate variety, un-
less its flowers are fertilized by pollen from some perfect flower-
ing sort, it follows, of course, that the two varieties must be plant-
ed out near enough togethei to insure that result. Fortunately
pollen is exceedingly light, and is carried by the wind and in-
sects from flower to flower, and fertilization will be effected at
a distance of twenty feet or more. In planting, set the stami-
nate varieties, so that the prevailing winds at the fruiting
season will carry the pollen over the pistillate bed.
It is obvious that if a pistillate and staminate variety are set
side by side, remote from any other, cross fertilization will oc-
cur, and the seed of the pistillate variety will produce a plant
and fruit unlike either parent, but having some of the character-
istics of both. In this way thousands of new varieties are
easily grown, some of which may prove t superior to either
parent, and better than any other known sort. The method of
crossing the strawberry when one is a staminate and the other a
pistillate requires no skill, but may be performed by any boy of
intelligence, simply by planting the two side by side. The seeds
from the pistillate plant should be sown, as the staminate plant
will be self-fertilized, and its seedlings may be quite like the
parent.
Any one will see that two pistillate varieties cannot be crossed,
3
34
as neither has the power to fertilize the other. But two stami-
nate kinds may be crossed ; the method, however, requires
more care, and is attended with more uncertainty. The stamens
of one variety must be removed as soon as the flower expands,
and the pistil dusted with pollen from the other. Remove all
the flower-buds from the plant to be fertilized, except those
experimented with, to prevent self-fertilization, or the stamens
may be removed with pointed scissors from all the flowers on
one plant, when it may be treated as a pistillate variety.
I have endeavored to make this subject plain, as it is impor-
tant that it may be fully understood. A majority of the new
strawberries introduced from year to year are the result of cross-
ing, either artificially or through the agency of wind or insects.
We are often told that a new strawberry is a " chance seedling,"
found growing in a bed of the Crescent, it may be, but sur-
rounded by plants of the Charles Downing, or some other per-
fect flowering kind, showing that it is as truly a cross as if
more carefully effected.
Before leaving this subject, a few hints may be useful to those
intending to try the experiment of producing some new and val-
uable variety. Success will depend more upon a judicious se-
lection of varieties to be crossed, than upon skilful manipula-
tion. It would not be wise to cross two varieties of very poor
quality, though they might possess some other desirable charac-
teristics. So of two varieties that were unproductive, lacking
in firmness, of poor color or form. The aim should be to
counteract any fault of one variety by using as the other parent
a kind as near perfect in that particular as possible.
For example : The James Vick is a staminate variety, said to
be immensely productive, but inclined to run too small. Why
not cross this with the Jersey Queen, a pistillate sort, of very
large size, fine flavor, good form and color, but in some locali-
ties not very productive ?
Why not try a cross of the Windsor Chief (pistillate) with
the Hervey Davis ? They are both of good size and habit of
growth : the color of the Chief rather dark, the quality a little
off unless perfectly ripened, and not very firm. The Davis is
firm, of a beautiful color, and excellent in flavor.
Try a cross of Jersey Queen or Hervey Davis both of excel-
35
lent quality with the Crescent, a variety wonderfully productive
and persistent in growth (it will beat twitch-grass, white clov-
er, and sorrel, in a game for life, three times out of five), but
not quite good enough to suit a critical taste.
I have named only crosses between pistillate and staminate
varieties as being more easily made ; but the suggestion will
apply to crosses of staminate sorts.
The query is often propounded by the novice, Why grow
the pistillate varieties, when they require to be fertilized with
some perfect flowering kind in order to secure a crop? The an-
swer is, There are among them some of the best, most beau-
tiful, and, when fertilized, most productive varieties ever pro-
duced.
The different staminate and pistillate varieties may be planted
for field or garden culture in rows as indicated below, the marks
" P " and " S " showing which are pistillate and which stami-
nate sorts. It is not to be understood that only two rows of
pistillate plants can be fertilized when flanked by a row of stam-
inates on either side, as five or more rows would do equally well.
Seeds taken from these centre rows may be sown with the cer-
tainty of obtaining a new cross variety.
^ S. Wilson.
. .. T; P. Crescent.
Plot 1- | P ; Crescent.
S. Wilson.
g S. Downing, Sharpless, or Cumberland Triumph.
P1 , .5 P. Manchester.
H P. Manchester.
f% S. Downing, Sharpless, or Cumberland Triumph.
z S. Bidwell, or Sharpless.
pl .J P. Jersey Queen.
' 6 ' 15 P. Jersey Queen.
^ S. Bidwell, or Sharpless.
S. Mfr. Vernon, or Kentucky,
-pi . A 3 P. Champion.
Plot 4. * p Champion,
S. Mt. Vernon, or Kentucky.
The crosses here suggested are only intended as a hint to the
beginner, and not as the best that can be made. Some sur-
36
round a pistillate variety with a number of starainate sorts as
fertilizers. This, of course, would give a great variety of seed-
lings, but it would be difficult to tell who was the father of the
different children. Plants may be potted, and, when in flower,
the crossing performed artificially by transferring the pollen
from one flower to the pistil of the other by means of a small
camel's-hair brush. This may be done in a green-house or con-
servatory, at a season when all plants outside are in a dormant
state. The process is exceedingly interesting, as showing how
the laws of nature may be made to subserve the purposes of
man, when guided by intelligence.
I have treated this topic more at length, as "the books"
usually make but brief allusion to it. On another page, where
a description and the origin of the varieties are given, it will be
seen how many of our best fruits have been thus produced.
PLANTS FROM A DISTANCE.
Plants that have been long packed are often received unex-
pectedly, before we are ready to set them out. The land may
not have been fully and properly prepared, or, owing to recent
heavy rains, or storms still raging, the land may not be in suit-
able condition to work. We may be without sufficient help to
plant out large lots at once, or other engagements may render
it inconvenient or impossible. What is to be done? Shall we
douse the plants in water, and let them remain for days in the
package ? Not a bit of it : yet this is the most common prac-
tice. Carefully unpack at once, being sure that the labels are
all right. If the plants were packed in sphagnum, the best of
all materials, damp, but not wet, with their leaves exposed to
the air, they should be in prime condition though out of the
ground for a week. If found quite dry, they may be spread
upon the bottom of a cool, damp cellar, and lightly sprinkled
with water, and the roots covered by a cloth. But it is usually
better to select a damp, shady place, on the north side of a
fence, grove, or building, and open a trench sloping to one side,
and spread out the plants so that the foliage, when the roots
are covered, will be just above the surface. They should m-ver
be covered in bundles, as the soil in such case will only come in
contact with the outside roots, while it should touch every rootlet.
37
When a single layer of plants has been spread in the trench,
cover the roots with fine fresh soil, then another layer of plants,
and so on till all the plants of one variety are nicely covered.
The whole should then be firmly pressed down with the foot.
This is called " heeling in." Let the roots be so covered that
all air will be excluded, and each variety marked with a substan-
tial stake. Such plants are as safe as if set in the field per-
manently, and if not disturbed, will at once send out fibrous
roots, and push a fruit stock, flower, and grow all summer. It
may be well to throw a few evergreen boughs over such plants
for a few days when first heeled in, especially if the weather is
dry and windy. Plants treated in this manner have kept in the
best condition with me for several weeks, and I should prefer to
treat plants arriving in bad condition in this way rather than to
set them out at once. They very soon become well furnished
with working roots, and are in a condition to make a vigorous
growth. There need be no hurry. Get your land in good order,
and wait for a cool, lowery day.
PLANTS BY MAIL.
The best and cheapest way of ordering and filling small orders
is by mail. Four pounds can be sent in one package, any dis-
tance, at one cent an ounce. Such packages are likely to reach
their destination sooner than when sent b}* express, and if prop-
erly put up, will arrive in good order.
For mailing, select plants of medium size, which are always
the best, and remove all but the centre leaves. Straighten
out the roots, and spread them upon a thin layer of moss ; cover
them with the moss, and roll all up together. This will bring
all the roots in contact with the moss, and prevent drying, or
the generation of heat and consequent decay. The package
should first be rolled up in oiled paper, with the leaves ex-
posed, with strong manilla paper outside, securely tied, and
plainly directed. Such a package is good for a journey of five
hundred miles. Failures almost always arise from too much
moisture.
SHIPPING PLANTS.
Strawberry plants, to be sent as freight or by express, should
be packed in boxes made with open slats on the top and sides.
38
I prefer not to put them in bundles unless moss is mixed with
the roots before tying up. If packed in the box m layers alter-
nating with damp sphagnum, the roots at the centre or bottom,
and the leaves exposed to air and light, the plants may be sent
almost any distance without injury. Pack closelv, so that the
contents of the box cannot be displaced by rough handling.
The box should be strongly made, and neither too large nor
too small, and it is better to have them made specially for the
purpose. All packages must be carefully directed, giving the
name and residence of both seller and purchaser, and the date
when shipped. This last direction will be found important.
Express messengers dare not retain a package long when the
date on the label is evidence of their neglect.
CULTIVATION.
When a plot has been properly set with plants, the next im-
portant thing will be to cultivate and care for them. Unless the
land is unusually clean, the cultivator should be run between
the rows the first season as often as once in ten days, followed
by the hand hoe and weeder. If the land is stocked with the
seeds of white clover, sorrel, couch-grass, and purslane, it will
require a persistent effort to keep the weeds in subjection.
Elsewhere will be found a description of some of the most use-
ful implements for this purpose. All disturbance of the roots
by cultivation should cease after the first of September.
CUTTING RUNNERS.
This work, like that of picking the fruit, will tax the muscles
of the back severely, but no more than that of weeding and
transplanting. Quite a number of implements have been in-
vented for cutting strawberry runners, but I have seen none of
any practical value. The runners are very strong, and any
machine, like a cultivator with knives or revolving disks at-
tached to the outside frame, are as likely to pull up the parent
plant as to cut its runners. There is this additional objection :
such knives or wheels run into the soil so deep as to cut too
many of the horizontal roots of the plant. A narrow hoe that
will pass between the plants, ground sharp, will do most of the
work, and require but little stooping. Large shears may be
39
conveniently used to finish the work, as the}' pull the plants
less than a knife. Since the dogs have exterminated the sheep
in New England, the old sheep- shears may be utilized for this
purpose.
MULCHING.
Mulching consists in covering the plants in autumn with straw,
sedge from low meadows, hay from salt-marshes, leaves, saw-
dust, spent tan, or long, strawy manure. Evergreen boughs
are an excellent winter protection, but are not always available,
and do not meet all the requirements of a mulch. Corn-butts
are sometimes recommended, but unless cut short are too heavy,
coarse, and awkward for convenient application and removal.
There are other materials that may be used as a mulch, and the
grower will be likely to select such as are most convenient and
least expensive.
The object of a mulch is not simply to keep the plants warm,
or, in other words, to prevent fatal injury by frost, for the
foliage of the strawberry is not usually sensitive to the cold,
but also to prevent the frequent freezing and thawing of the
ground in fall and spring, by which the plants are lifted, and
the roots broken and exposed to sun and wind. Mulching
should be removed in spring from directly over the plants, and
carefully arranged around and under them till after the fruit
has been picked. If in sufficient quantity to cover the spaces
between the rows, it will keep the ground from becoming dry
and parched, smother the weeds, and prevent the fruit from be-
coming soiled and spoiled by violent showers and protracted
rain-storms. Soiled berries are of very little value. It is true
that the fruit can be washed, but it must be at the expense of
its flavor and keeping quality, as well as its appearance on the
fruit-stand and table.
The objects of mulching having been given, any one will be
able to decide at once what available material it will be for his
interest to employ. The objection to leaves is, that it will be
found impossible to keep them in place. The strong winds pre-
vailing in fall and spring, when protection is most important,
are sure to drive them into windrows under some neighboring
fence. There is the same objection to oat and barley straw,
unless weighted in some way. Evergreen boughs cannot be
40
used conveniently for protecting the fruit from sand. Sawdust
and tan-bark are only a little less objectionable than sand itself,
as the fine dust from either is sure to be blown and spattered
upon the berries, and will be found quite as difficult to remove.
Due caution should be exercised as to the amount of mulching
applied. Little more than enough to shade the foliage and
ground is required, while too much is liable to exclude air en-
tirely, and smother the plants. Straw not cleanly threshed, and
grass or sedge that have matured their seeds, will fill the rows
with plants as objectionable as any other weeds. I think hay
from the salt marshes preferable to any other material as a
mulch for the strawberry bed, as it is sufficiently heavy to retain
its place over and around the plants, it never fills the ground
with weeds, and the small per cent, of saline matter which it
contains is certainly no detriment to the plants or soil.
Some have adopted the practice of throwing soil over straw-
berry vines with the spade or plow in autumn, removing the
covering early in spring : but this, while it may give protection,
does not answer any other purpose for which a mulch is applied.
It does not aid in keeping the fruit clean, but the opposite ; and
it has no tendency to prevent the ground from becoming parched
in time of drouth. A furrow each side of a row of strawberry
plants, opened late in autumn, so near as to cover the foliage,
must expose their roots to the action of frost, greatly to their
injury.
Mulching has a tendency to retard the flowering of the plants,
and the ripening of the fruit ; but this, instead of being an ob-
jection, is sometimes an advantage, as a few days' delay in flow-
ering may prevent injury by late spring frosts.
INSECTS.
The White Grub (Lachnosternafusca).
This well known grub works beneath the surface, eating the
roots almost to the crown of the plant, thereby causing it to
wilt and die. When the matted bed or row system is practised,
their mischief is not so apparent, as the plants are crowded, and
the loss of a few of them is not noticed ; but when grown in
hills, every plant destroyed makes a bad break, which can be
41
filled only by training a runner so as to fill the vacancy, or
transplanting from other beds.
The grub is sure to follow the row from one plant to another,
destroying everything in its path. The place to look for it is
not beneath the plants that are dead, but at the roots of those
that are just commencing to droop under the midday sun. On
land where they are plenty, the strawberry patch should be
examined often. Dig out the grubs with a garden trowel or
hand weeder, and crush them with the foot, or feed them as a
tidbit to the poultry. The application of five bushels of salt to
an acre, and working it well into the soil some days before the
plants are set, may tend to repel the grub, but I do not believe
salt can be used in sufficient quantit}^ to kill them, without
destroying the plants. Avoid the grub by planting on land
that has been occupied by some hoed crop for at least two years.
The Strawberry Leaf-roller (Ancliylopterafragaria).
This is another insect that proves very destructive to the
strawberry crop in some sections of the country, especially at
the West. It is not known to be common in New England at
present, but is liable and likely to spread over all sections where
the strawberry is grown. Fig. 5 gives a correct representation
of the worm and moth. The larva, a,
is shown of the true size, but the moth
is enlarged, as seen by the lines, &, be-
low. Mrs. Treat says there are two
broods each year, the first one com-
pleting their transformations on the leaf
about the first of July. The second
brood enter the ground, where they
change into the pupse, and remain until the next spring. The
name is given to the worm from its habit of rolling itself up in
the leaves, which are held together by silken threads, while the
pulpy portions are eaten out. The insect is thus securely
packed away, so that no application to the vines can reach it.
Some recommend mowing off and burning the leaves as soon as
the fruit is gathered, and others plow the plants under, and
set new beds at a distance. Scattering straw lightly over the
bed and burning it off will not injure the plants, but will destroy
42
both the insects and their eggs. Plants should never be ordered
from sections where the worm abounds.
INJURY BY FROST IN SPRING.
It is not an uncommon occurrence to catch a late frost just
when strawberry plants of the earliest varieties are in flower.
This is sure to result in a partial or total destruction of the
crop. All at once we find ourselves at the mercy of the weather,
after having taxed our skill to the utmost in our efforts for suc-
cess. We look over our fields, a day or two after a frost, only
to find the incipient fruit black and blighted, and realize fully
that
" The best-laid schemes o 1 mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley."
The injury is sometimes so slight as not to be apparent for a
time, the fruit not being killed, but only touched at the apex,
causing imperfect development, the formation of " buttons,"
as they are called. Such varieties as have long fruit stems and
hold their flowers high above the foliage, are especially liable
to injury. Among these may be named the Sharpless, Crystal
City, Captain Jack, and Kentucky. The later-flowering sorts,
and those having only short fruit-stalks, well protected by
leaves, are more exempt from injury.
Can anything be done to ward off the mischief that threatens
in all frosty sections? The answer is : First, select an elevated
tract of land, as little subject to frosts as possible, where winds
are unobstructed, in preference to that which is low and level.
It is well known that frost is not so likely to form where there
is a free movement of air. Second, make yourself familiar with
the habit of growth of the different varieties, and choose those
having short fruit-stalks, well protected by leaves. Third, if
the plot is not large, smoke may be made to drift over the bed,
so as to prevent all injury. This, if seasonable arrangements
are made to light up, is not attended with much labor or expense.
Sawdust, fine shavings from a planing-mill, dampened a little,
leather chips from a shoe-factory, weeds, or any waste material
about the farm, may be used. This is not mere theory, as
instances are not rare where the strawberry crop and tender gar-
den plants have been successfully protected in this way. But a
43
slight degree of heat is required, and smoke is always charged
with more or less heat.
Still another method may be adopted, where provision to meet
the foe is made in advance. A very light mulching of straw or
hay will effectually protect the flowers, if applied when danger
of frost occurs. If kept stacked on the field where it is likely
to be wanted, it may be scattered over a large area in a short
time. Of course it will be necessary to remove it from over the
plants as soon as the cold wave has passed.
I have occupied more space with these suggestions than may
seem necessary to those who are situated in localities exempt
from frost, feeling certain that many of the failures attributed
to other causes by the unobserviug are the result of injury after
the flower petals have expanded. A bed of the Sharpless on
my own ground, last season, that was white with flowers, gave
not a single basket of fruit, having been killed by the frosts of
the 30th and 31st of May. As the flower-petals are not always
affected, the novice is not usually aware of the injury that has
been done, but the incipient fruit turns black in a day or two,
showing the full extent of the mischief.
FIELD NOTES.
Notes carefully taken in the field, from time to time, and re~
corded, will become very valuable afterwards for reference.
The date when each variety flowers, ripens, and the length of
time that it continues in bearing, should be jotted down. The
following memoranda were made on the llth day of June, and con-
tained information not to be found elsewhere, showing the rela-
tive hardiness of different varieties of the strawberry, and their
liability to injury by spring frosts. The letters " S " and " P "
indicate which are staminate, and which pistillate.
Captain Jack. S. Hardy, but a poor grower. Leaves dark-
green, and small. Flowers perfect, and badly exposed to frost.
A poor show for fruit on rather light soil.
Champion ( Windsor Chief). P. Hardy foliage, as dark and
healthy as in mid-summer. A good but not rampant grower.
Leaf-stalks longer than the fruit-stems. Flowers, only a few
of which are open, well protected by leaves.
Charles Downing. S. Hardy. Plant strong and uninjured.
44
The leaves are above the flowers, giving protection in case of
frost. About one half the flowers are open. A good show for
fruit.
Continental. S. Foliage half-hardy. The flowers half open.
Leaf and fruit-stalks short. A poor show for fruit.
Crescent. P. Flower small, not entirely destitute of stamens,
but requires a fertilizer for a full crop. Plants hardy and
healthy, but not strong. Flowers half open, and well protected.
Well set for fruit. A sure cropper on any soil.
Crystal City. S. Foliage strong and healthy. Fruit and leaf-
stalks high. Flowers exposed. Nearly out of flower. Well
set with fruit, but it seldom fulfills its promise. One of the
earliest. The crop is liable to be spoiled by frost.
Cumberland. S. Foliage strong and healthy. Flowers large
and perfect. Well set for fruit. Flowers early.
Downer's Prolific. S. Leaf and fruit-stalks tall. Leaves a
light green, but healthy. Indications of only a small crop.
Forest Rose. S. Only half hardy. A poor grower, and poor
show for fruit. Fruit-stems higher than the leaf-stalks, leaving
flowers exposed. Soil poor. Might do better on stronger land.
Glendale. S. Plant strong, healthy, and hardy. Comes
through the winter uninjured. Leaves yellowish-green, and
higher than the flower-buds. But few flowers open. One of
the " iron-clads."
Kentucky. S. Foliage dark and healthy. Rather late in
flowering. Flower and leaf-stalks tall, but the flowers are not
badly exposed.
Lenning's "White. S. A poor grower on light land. Foliage
of good color. A poor crop indicated.
Miner's Great Prolific. S. Color of foliage light green.
Forms a thick matted row. Winters splendidly. Leaf and fruit-
stalks of medium height. Flowers well covered by leaves.
Well set for fruit. The name should not be abridged.
Nicanor. S. Foliage small ; plant looks feeble. Flowers
small, early, and badly exposed.
Pioneer. S. Foliage yellowish-green ; looks sick. Fruit-
stalks higher than the leaves. A poor prospect for a crop.
May do better on stronger soil.
Prouty. S. Forms a thick matted row. Healthy and hardy.
45
Comes through the winter unharmed. Flowers protected by the
leaves. Very productive.
Sharpless. S. Flower-stalks very high. leaves large and
glossy. The strongest grower of all. Flowers large, and badly
exposed. Winters well. Prospect of a heavy crop. Later
notes show that the fruit was entirely destroyed by frost.
Wilson. S. Foliage dark and healthy. Has wintered un-
harmed. Fruit-stems taller than leaf-stalks, leaving the flowers
that open early almost entirely exposed. Well set for fruit.
From these notes, any one can select varieties that are hardy,
healthy, and productive, and that may be safely planted on
frost} 7 land, thereby avoiding disappointment and loss.
SIZE OF BERRIES.
Apparently fabulous stories are often told relative to the size
of berries. It is useless to give measurements in describing
different varieties, as the size of any variety will depend upon
the soil, exposure, locality, and general treatment it receives at
the hands of the cultivator, and often upon some cause difficult
to explain. A berry that would be classed as small, when
grown under ordinary conditions might be made to rank as large
in the hands of an expert.
The classification is usually as follows : Small, medium, large,
very large. Just what is a small or a large berry has never
been settled, all such terms being used in a relative sense.
Small strawberries among fruit-growers and dealers in plants
are unknown. No such thing will be found in any of the cat-
alogues. Look over the catalogue of the American Pomological
Society, where every variety described is thought worthy of
general cultivation ; and of forty-one varieties named, no berry
will be found classed as small, and in the copy before me, only
three as medium.
Specimens of the Sharpless are often found growing in matted
rows, with nothing like high cultivation, measuring five or six
inches in circumference. It is not rare to hear of them eight
and even nine inches. It is undoubtedly the largest of all straw-
berries, and usually takes the prize at the fruit-shows when size
is the criterion. Bidwell, Cumberland, Jersey Queen, Miner's
Prolific, Monarch, and Shirts, are all classed as very large ; and
46
while some of them may average nearly, if not quite, as large as
the Sharpless, yet they never show single berries equal to the
best of that variety.
EXHIBITION FRUIT.
Almost every fruit-grower is ambitious, at times, to produce
specimens of unusual size for exhibition, or as a present to some
friend. This may be done by selecting one of the large varie-
ties, preparing the bed with special care, manuring heavily,
mulching, watering frequently and freely when required, culti-
vating in hills, and removing all runners as soon as they appear.
The application of Peruvian guano or sulphate of ammonia in
weak solution, with potash in some form, will cause an enormous
growth of both foliage and fruit. Cut out all but one or two of
the strongest fruit stalks as soon as a selection can be made,
and leave only two or three of the largest berries to mature on
each.
It will be prudent to protect fruit thus carefully grown with
a screen of mosquito cloth as soon as the berries begin to color,
or some pet robin, whose nest is located on a neighboring tree,
may not be particular in sampling your crop to select the smaller
specimens. It should be borne in mind that plants producing
their first full crop will give the largest fruit. Succeeding crops
will run smaller, while the fruit will mature earlier.
ACCELERATING AND RETARDING RIPENING.
Strawberries are classified as early, medium, and late. Of
course there is some difference in their season of ripening, but
hardly two persons, equally familiar with different sorts, will
agree in their classification. So much depends upon location,
soil, and cultivation, that a berry that would be called early by
one person would rank as medium with another when grown
under varying conditions. I am satisfied that the time of ripen-
ing depends more upon the circumstances named than upon the
variety grown.
It is always desirable to extend the berry season as much as
possible, either for market or family use. This may be done in
various ways : First, by selecting those kinds that vary most
naturally ; second, by planting the early varieties on light,
47
warm, sandy, soil, having a southern exposure, and late kinds
on heavier and cooler land sloping from the sun. In the gar-
den, plant on the sunny side of a building, hedge, or tight board
fence, for early fruit, and reverse the conditions to retard ripen-
ing. By adopting these methods, and others that may occur to
the gardener, the season can undoubtedly be extended ten days
or two weeks.
Allowing the mulch applied for winter protection to remain
as late as it is safe to do so, thereby retaining the frost in the
ground, will tend to prevent early growth and flowering ; but
caution must be used or the plants may be injured if air and
light are excluded after the weather has become warm.
The following list contains some of the most popular varieties
as usually classified :
Early. Medium. Late.
Crystal City, Bidwell, Captain Jack,
Crescent, early to late, Charles Downing, Champion,
Downer's Prolific, Cumberland, Glendale,
Dutchess, Hervey Davis, Jersey Queen,
Duncan, James Vick, Jucunda,
Piper's Seedling, Manchester, Kentucky,
Wilson. Miner's Prolific, Mount Vernon,
Sharpless, Phelps's Seedling,
Wilder. Prouty,
Seth Boyden.
PLANTING FOR FAMILY USE.
Farmers and other owners of large tracts of land often seem
unwilling to devote any part of it to the growing of garden veg-
etables or small fruits. This disinclination arises from a lack
of interest in the subject, and also from an impression that the
products of the garden are mere luxuries, and add nothing to
the substantial comforts of life. Of course all such impressions
are erroneous. No part of the farm will yield a better return
than the garden, to say nothing of the pleasure and health to be
derived from its cultivation.
The expense of a garden of one eighth or one fourth of an
acre would be merely nominal, and such an area would supply
a large family. At present the table of the mechanic, owning
no land, is better supplied with fruit and vegetables than that of
48
the average farmer. This state of things need not and ought
not to exist.
A plot of strawberries containing four hundred plants will
give three bushels of fruit, or more than three quarts a day, for
a month, and will occupy less than three square rods. Fifty
raspberry plants will yield two bushels of fruit, or two quarts a
day, for one month, and occupy three square rods ; and fifty
blackberry plants will give two quarts a day for two months,
and require four rods of land, making the total area occupied
ten square rods, or one sixteenth of an acre. An equal amount
should be planted with currants, gooseberries, and grapes. The
entire cost of plants will not exceed five dollars. This would
appear to be a small outlay for an abundance of fresh berries
during a period of four months, whether they are regarded as a
luxury or otherwise. Certainly no eighth of an acre on the
farm planted with corn, potatoes, or any of the other grain or
vegetable crops, will yield so great an amount of pleasure or
profit.
PICKING AND MARKETING.
In growing berries for market, arrangements must be made
for suitable help in picking, packing, and shipping the fruit.
On extensive plantations a large force is employed during the
entire berry season, which, when strawberries, raspberries,
gooseberries, currants, and blackberries are grown, following as
they do,' in succession, will extend over a period of about three
months. The man who engages in the small fruit business will
never think of confining himself to any one kind, as in case that
should fail, his profits for the year are gone. When, however,
the different fruits are grown a total failure will seldom occur.
Berry-baskets and crates must be provided before the season
opens, and if only the strawberries were grown, they would be
out of use at the end of three or four weeks, while if all the
other small-fruits are cultivated, they will be required for nearly
half the summer. They constitute a part of the fruit-grower's
capital, and must not be allowed to lie idle eleven months of the
year.
In case of pickers, it will be well to contract for the season,
as it is difficult to secure a suflicient number of trusty persons
for a short time, and transient pickers can hardly be trained to
49
the business before the strawberry harvest will be past. Much
better help may be obtained where constant employment can be
given for a longer time. Pickers become expert in the business,
when they will give better satisfaction to their employers and earn
larger wages for themselves.
On large fruit farms, resort is had to the cities and villages
for help, and temporary quarters are fitted up for their accom-
modation. This becomes necessary when the distance is too
great to admit of returning home at night. These pickers some-
times form quite a little army, and have to be trained in their
work by overseers, and governed by stringent rules. The pick-
ing is done at a certain price per basket, usually from one to
two cents for strawberries, the price increasing as the berries
diminish ; and the wages earned vary from one to two dollars a
day.
Each picker is required to pick ripe fruit only, and that which
is fit for market, confining himself strictly to the row assigned
him. If, on pouring out a basket, occasionally, the fruit proves
to be unripe, the picker forfeits all pay for his work ; and if, oa
examination, it is found that he has not picked his row clean,
he is set back, and required to go over the ground again. One
or two such lessons usually suffice ; but when, after repeated
admonitions, a picker persists in violating reasonable rules, he
is dismissed from the field.
Small stands are provided, holding four or six quart baskets,
for convenience in bringing the fruit to the packing shed.
As each is brought in, the berries are inspected, and the picker
receives a check for the number of baskets which it contains.
Some growers redeem these checks every Saturday night, while
others pay only at the close of the berry season. This practice
is adopted to prevent desertions at the height of the harvest.
As a loss of checks is a loss of pay, each picker must keep them
with care until the day of redemption.
Some growers pick over one half of the ground each day, so
that a particular section is gathered every alternate day, while
others prefer to pick over the whole area every day. In the
latter case the berries are simply colored, not ripe ; but they are
firmer, and ship in better condition, which is all the grower
cares for, except to get his money. These berries are sent
50
from the suburbs or country to the city, where they pass through
.the hands of a commission merchant, by whom they are " jobbed
-out," and many of them sent back over the railroads to the
country again, and sold, in some instances to the next neigh-
fbor of the man who grew them. This is called doing business.
PACKING FOR MARKET.
'It was formerly the fashion to remove the calyx from straw-
berries when packing for market, but this practice has been
abandoned for quite a number of years. The labor, when
large quantities were grown, made it well-nigh impossible to put
up berries in this way, and the fruit did not ship as safely or
keep as well as when packed with the calyx remaining attached.
There is another practice, too common with careless growers,
that must never be tolerated, if best prices are desired that of
mixing several varieties in the same basket and crate. There
is such a difference in form and color of the kinds usually grown,
to say nothing about the great difference in quality, that no
sagacious dealer ever thinks of placing upon the market a mixed
lot of berries. The difference in price between unmixed fruit
nicely packed, and a mixed lot badly assorted and otherwise
carelessly put up, will often amount to one half the net receipts.
This is especially true at the height of the berry season, when
the market is crowded, and the purchaser can make his selection
almost at his own price. The best fruit, carefully handled, and
packed in clean baskets, displayed upon the fruit-stand in an
attractive manner, will never spoil for want of a purchaser,
-while the consignment of the careless shipper will be dumped
into the dock. There is the same reason why small fruits
should not be mixed as might be urged against a like practice
with the large fruits, such as the apple and pear.
Only a few years since it was the custom to pack berries of
all kinds in quart or pint boxes with covers, but now baskets
are generally used. The change is attributable to several causes.
The first cost of boxes is five times as great as that of baskets.
As all air was excluded the fruit did not keep as well as in bas-
kets, the slats of which are more or less open. The sides of
boxes being perpendicular, gave the fruit a chance to settle,
and become crushed by its own weight, while the baskets are
51
flaring, so that the sides help support the fruit, and prevent its
pressing directly upon that at the bottom a matter of the great-
est importance in case of distant shipment. Then, again, the
form of the basket being nearly square, the corners only slightly
rounded, they can be packed with greater economy of space
than boxes. The price of baskets is so small from $7 to $10
per thousand that the dealer can well enough afford, when
selling at retail, to let the purchaser take the basket along with
the fruit, and return it or not, as may be convenient. For sev-
eral years I have kept no account of baskets, except in crates,
as was formerly necessary with boxes, which cost, including
freight, about $5 per hundred. The practice still in vogue with
slovenly retail grocers, of pouring the fruit into paper bags for
delivery, in the same package with kerosene oil, codfish, and
plug tobacco, is intolerable. The purchaser should insist upon
having his fruit delivered in clean, new baskets, and refuse to
receive it in packages that have become mildewed and filthy by
long and careless use.
Berry crates for shipping purposes are made of several sizes,
holding thirty-two, forty, and sixty quarts. The thirty-two-
quart crate is used by nine tenths of fruit-growers. It is of a
size easily handled by one person, and not likely to receive as
rough usage as a heavier package. These crates cost, filled
with baskets, about one dollar each. Veneer partitions, called
u trays," accompany each crate, and are so constructed as to
keep the tiers of baskets separate, and prevent all pressure
from those above.
By the courtesy of the
Messrs. Batterson & Co.,
who have kindly loaned
their electrotypes for that
purpose, I am enabled to
present illustrations of
crates, and also of berry
and grape baskets manu-
factured by them. Their
goods have been long on
the market, and, so far
as known, have given Fi 1Q
52
Fig. 12.
satisfaction. It will be seen that the crates are not only strong,
but so constructed as to exclude
dust, and yet admit of the re-
quisite ventilation. There are
thousands of baskets manufac-
tured, holding less than a quart,
and the temptation for some
growers to adopt packages of this kind is too strong for their moral
sense. Thus the honest dealer is brought into competition with
the cheat. The purchaser is not particular
to notice the difference in size between the
honest and fraudulent basket. ff&Hf^'f ''
Strawberries and black raspberries are
usually packed in quart baskets, but the pint basket is better
for red raspberries, and some soft varieties of the strawberry,
that do not " stand up " well in the larger size.
Where small fruits are grown to be shipped to a distance,
seasonable provision must be made for a full supply of baskets
and crates. It will take from six to ten days, on an average,
for the return of crates, as consignees cannot dispose of all
fruit as soon as received, and in the hurry of the season are
often negligent about returning them when empty. All crates
should be marked with a stencil giving the name and residence
of the owner ; otherwise he is liable to receive those that are
inferior in return.
VARIETIES OF THE STRAWBERRY.
I shall be unable to even so much as name many of the varie-
ties that have been under cultivation within the last twenty
years. To give a full list. were it possible, would be a waste
of space that should be better occupied. Very few of those so
famous a few years ago are now to be found in the catalogues,
and only occasionally is one cultivated. In the following list I
have included nearly all the old standard sorts, and such of
more recent introduction as have been widely disseminated, and
proved valuable either for market or for home use.
But few berries firm enough to bear transportation long dis-
tances are such as would be selected for the table. A berry
that will rank as best for all purposes has not yet been found.
53
I may not have named in the descriptive list all that may be
thought entitled to a place in such a catalogue, while it might
have been better to omit others that are included. In making
up such a list no two fruit-growers would agree. I have made
the description as brief as I possibly could and do justice to
the varieties named, using very few superlative adjectives.
Extravagant praise is calculated only to mislead the inquirer.
An honest description will not overestimate a variety, or omit
its faults.
The pistillate or imperfect varieties are so marked, and it
may be understood that all others are bi-sexual, or perfect-
flowering. In purchasing, this knowledge becomes important,
as pistillate plants will bear no fruit if set alone.
The engravings, as a rule, represent berries of the largest
size, and this should be borne in mind by the novice. The cuts
would please me better if they had not been overdrawn. They
should have been made to represent berries of medium size.
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF VARIETIES.
Atlantic. [Fig. 14.] New;
not yet generally dissemina-
ted ; large, handsome, well-
flavored, productive where it
originated ; good size and
color ; firm, bright red ; qual-
ity good. Origin, Atlantic
County, N. J., with a Mr.
Potter.
Bidwell. Very large, coni-
cal ; glossy crimson ; firm,
good ; early to medium ; vig-
orous, thrives on all soils ;
foliage light green, and some-
times scorched by sun in the
spring ; very productive. ^t'mr
Boy den No. 30 (Seth Boy-
den). Large, late; obtuse conical; firm, sweet. Plant in
moist soil, and keep all runners cut. Productive with good cul-
tivation. Originated with Seth Boyden, of Newark, N. J.
Captain Jack. Late ; size
medium, round ; light scarlet ;
quality second-rate; firm, pro-
ductive. Popular and profita-
ble in some localities. Origina-
ted with S. Miller, of Blufton,
Mo. A seedling of Wilson.
Champion ( Windsor Chief).
[Fig. lo.] Of good size, round-
ish ; dark crimson ; medium to
late ; good when fully ripe ;
foliage very hardy. Plant in
rich land. Originated by J.
C. Neff, of Carlisle, Penn.
Pistillate.
Fig. 15.
Charles Downing. [Fig. 16.]
One of the best standard varieties.
Succeeds on all soils and in all lo-
calities. May be grown in hills or
matted rows. Large, of good form
and color, firm, productive ; very
good ; season medium. Originated
with J. S. Downer, of Fairview,
Fig. 16.
Crescent. [Fig. 17.] Medium
to large ; very productive ; quality
rather poor ; moderately firm ;
early to late ; bright scarlet ;
roundish conical, and more regular
than in the cut ; plants small, but
vigorous succeeds on all soils,
and will bear more neglect than
Fig. 17. any other variety. Originated
with William Parmelee, of New Haven, Conn. Pistillate.
Cumberland. Very large, regular, firm, but hardly firm
55
enough for market ; bright scarlet ; season medium ; very desir-
able ; quality good. Originated by Amos Miller, of Carlisle, Pa-
Downer's Prolific. Medium to large ; light scarlet ; roundish
conical; rather soft ; early, good ; plant vigorous. Originated
by J. S. Downer, Ky.
Dutchess. Round, uniform; moderately firm; fine flavor;;
early, but continues long in bearing ; productive. Originated
with D. H. Barnes, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Glendale. Large, conical, late ; dingy scarlet ; firm ; plant
vigorous and productive ; calyx too large ; color unattractive ;
quality only second-rate. Originated with Mr. Storer, of Ohio*
Great American. Large, roundish conical ; firm ; dark red ;
season medium ; requires heavy soil and high culture ; produc-
tive, but fails in light land. Originated with E. W. Durand, of
Irvington, N. J.
Hervey Davis. New. Large, obtuse conical ; bright, glossy
scarlet ; firm ; very good ; season medium ; productive. Orig-
inated by J. B. Moore, of Concord, Mass. A seedling of the
Wilder.
Fig. 18. Fig. 19.
Hovey. Large, roundish, firm : bright scarlet ; season medi-
um ; very good ; vines hardy and vigorous ; moderately produc-
tive. Originated by C. M. Hovey, of Boston, Mass. Pistillate.
James Vick. [Fig. 18.] New. Medium ; roundish conical ;
moderately firm ; bright scarlet ; good ; very prolific ; vigorous,
Originated with Samuel Miller, Mo.
56
Jersey Queen. [Fig. 19.] Very large ; solid; roundish con-
ical ; very good ; crimson; season medium. One of the best ;
moderately firm. Pistillate.
Kentucky. Large; late; bright scarlet; roundish conical;
moderately firm ; prolific ; fine flavor ; succeeds on light soil.
Originated by Mr. .1. S. Downer, of Ky.
Manchester. [Fig. 20.]
Large ; moderately firm ; scar-
let ; productive ; obtuse coni-
cal ; season medium to late ;
succeeds in light soil; quality
good. Leaves blight in some
localities. Originated with Mr.
Jesse Beatty, of Ocean Co.,
N. J. Pistillate.
Miner's Prolific (Miner's
Great Prolific). Very large ;
glossy crimson ; moderately
firm ; roundish conical ; good ;
ig. 20. a strong grower ; very pro-
ductive; season medium; colors unevenly. Originated with
T. B. Miner, of New York.
Monarch ( Monarch of the West). Very large; irregular;
plant vigorous ; pale scarlet ;
tips white until fully ripe. Plant
in hills, removing all runners.
Originated with Jesse Brady, of
Piano, 111.
Mount Vernon (Kirkwood).
Large, late; light scarlet; round-
ish conical ; moderately firm ;
good ; plant vigorous and pro-
ductive. Pistillate.
Mrs. Garfield. [Fig. 21.]
New. Described by the orig-
inator as a seedling of Crescent.
Medium to large ; good form,
color, and quality. Season me-
dium. Plant healthy and productive. Originated with a Mr.
Crawford, of Ohio.
5T
Pioneer. Early, scarlet, moderately firm ; plant vigorous ;
quality good, sweet, perfumed. Originated with E. W. Durand,
of Irvington, N. J.
Prouty (Prouty's Seedling). Large; bright, gloss} 7 scarlet;
long conical ; moderately firm ; season medium ; very produc-
tive ; good. Originated with Lewis, Ellsworth, 111. '
Sharpless. [Fig. 22.]
Very large ; bright red, often
with light tip ; firm, good,
productive ; obtuse conical ;
plant vigorous ; medium to
late. A most desirable va-
riety. Originated with J. K.
Sharpless, of Pennsylvania.
A mammoth berry.
Triomph de Gand. An
old favorite. Large, and
often irregular ; firm ; bright
crimson ; sweet and rich.
Requires high cultivation, Fig. 22.
and to be grown in hills. Continues long in bearing,
eign origin.
Wilder (President Wilder). Large; deep scarlet; roundish
obtuse conical ; firm ; season medium ; very good. Originated
with Marshall P. Wilder, of Boston, Mass., in 1861. A hy-
brid of the La Constane and Hovey.
Recommended for amateur cultiva-
tion.
Wilson (Wilson's Albany). [Fig.
23.] Large, but runs small at the
close of the season ; dark crimson ;
very productive ; acid ; firm ; roundish
conical ; early. Requires good soil
and culture, and renewing of beds
once in two years. A profitable mar-
ket variety. Originated with John
Wilson, Albany, N. Y.
Fig. 23.
Of for-
58
A LIST FOR TRIAL.
To those who are inclined to test other varieties, I would
suggest a trial of any of those named below, some of which are
new, while others have a fair reputation, and prove valuable in
certain localities. Those marked P. are pistillate.
Black Defiance, Longfellow,
Col. Cheney, P., Old Iron Clad (Phelps),
Crystal City, Park Beauty, P.,
Daniel Boone, Piper's Seedling,
Duncan, Primo,
Finch (Prolific), Ray's Prolific,
Forest Rose, Russell's Advance,
Green Prolific, P., Seneca Queen,
Golden Defiance, Shirts,
Jumbo, Triple Crown,
Jucunda, Warren.
RASPBERRIES.
SOIL AND PLANTING.
The raspberry is second only to the strawberry in importance
among the small fruits. There are two kinds, the red (rubus
strigosus) and the black (R. occidentalis ) . The root is peren-
nial, while the canes are biennial. Nearly all fruit is borne on
wood of the previous year's growth and its branches, and, after
bearing one crop, the canes die. They may be at once cut out
close to the ground, new plants having in the mean time sprung
up from the root to take their place. Some allow the old stalks
to remain till late in the fall, and others till spring, thinking
that they afford protection and support to the new growth during
winter.
The canes are usually not always covered with spines more
or less wicked, admonishing the cultivator and picker that the
plants are to be respected, and handled with due caution. The
different species tire found growing wild over a large part of the
western continent, and the improved varieties are the result of
selection, cultivation, and crossing.
59
The Black-Cap and Red species of the raspberry require
somewhat different treatment, though the soil and preparation
may be much alike. A good sandy loam, or clay loam, is pref-
erable to any other, and, if somewhat elevated, the flowers will
be more exempt from frost. It must be so located that standing
water will not at any time accumulate and remain on the sur-
face, especially during the winter.
Whether the plot is large or small, let the rows run lengthwise
for convenience in cultivation. For Black-Caps, open furrows
with a plow, six feet apart, and set the plants three feet apart
in the row, which will require 2,420 plants for an acre. The
red varieties may be set somewhat closer, say rows five feet and
plants in the row two feet apart, or 4,356 plants to an acre. In
this way hedge-rows may be formed sooner than when set at a
greater distance. Some prefer to set in check-rows, four feet
apart, so as to run the cultivator both ways. But the Black-
Caps require more room, and the distances first named will be
found none too great.
The roots should be spread out in the furrows, and carefully
covered with fresh soil, making it firm over the stems, but exer-
cising great care in placing the dirt around the germ or bud that
is to form the new plant. These buds are exceedingly tender,
and if broken off, some weeks will be required for new ones to
form. In case of the Black-Cap, the destruction of the germ is
fatal.
I use a garden line to ensure straight rows at equal distances.
Choose a still, damp day for transplanting. If the weather is
dry and windy, the plants may be taken to the field in a basket,
mixed with damp moss, and dropped no faster than they are set.
It would be well to open the furrows no faster than they can be
filled.
Clean culture should follow transplanting. Let the cultivator
pass through the rows as often as once in ten days, up to the
last of August. Late cultivation will cause a late growth that
will not mature sufficiently to endure the winter. Not much
fruit need be expected until the second year, and, when the rows
are six feet apart, strawberries may be grown half way between,
giving one or two crops, when they must give way to the rasp-
berries, as they will require all the space. After three or four
60
years the raspberry plants will begin to fail, unless some stimu-
lating manures are applied and worked into the soil. If this is
seasonably attended to, and repeated as often as required, the
plants will yield profitable crops for eight or ten years. The
wide-awake fruit-grower will not forget to have new plantations
in fresh soil coming forward, in the mean time, to supply the
places of those that are to be rooted out.
PROPAGATING THE RASPBERRY.
The red raspberry propagates itself rapidly by sending up
numerous sprout-suckers, as they are often called, from their
roots, while the Black-Cap, when allowed to grow without prun-
ing, produces long, slender canes too slender to support them-
selves in an upright position, and droop so much that by August
or September the ends will be found trailing on the ground. If
at this season the ends are weighted with small stones or clods
to prevent their being agitated by the wind, they will take root
in a few days, and form what are known among nurserymen as
"tip plants." These plants are also formed on the lateral
branches that push out on all sides of the main cane as soon as
the tips touch the ground. Fig. 24 represents a plant of the
Fig. 24.
Black-Cap raspberry that has been cut back at a, a, while one
cane has been allowed to grow without pruning or " pinching
in," as it is usually termed, to show its habit under neglect.
The branches of the central canes have been covered and taken
root, as shown at c, and the germ of a new plant is seen at the
surface of the ground. When these plants have beceme rooted,
which may be easily determined by a slight pull on the branch,
they may be cut from the mother plants, as shown by the marks
61
of cancellation, leaving eight or ten inches of the old wood at-
tached for convenience in handling. When planted out, this old
wood may be allowed to remain till the new plant has made suf-
ficient growth to mark its locality. Fig. 25 shows the plant as
located in its new
home, d d represent-
ing the surface of the
ground; b, the numer- ._ni _JSl!LL ^ -JL
ous roots ; c, the bud,
or germ, just com-
mencing growth ; and Fig. 25.
a, the piece of old branch that was cut at e. The parent
plant was cut back, or pinched, when the canes were about three
feet high, as shown at a a, and the cross-marks indicate the
point at which the lateral branches should be cut, to leave the
plant in best form for withstanding wind and snow, and for the
production of the largest crop of fruit. A plant pruned as
here shown will require no stakes or trellis for support.
Fig. 26 represents a plant
of the red raspberry that
multiplies by suckers
springing up from the
roots, often in such num-
bers that it becomes neces-
sary to treat them as weeds.
This is alwavs done when
Fig. 26.
new plants are not wanted for setting or for sale.
GREEN SUCKER PLANTS.
Some varieties produce very few suckers, and it becomes neces-
sary, when large numbers are desired, to adopt methods to encour-
age their growth. This may easily be done by thrusting down a
sharp spade a few inches distant from the old plant in such a way
as to cut its roots into pieces only three or four inches long. The
roots being filled with latent buds, will send up numerous suck-
ers forming plants of the best quality. By taking advantage of
the weather, selecting a time when it is wet or cloudy, these
green suckers may be successfully transplanted in summer,
when five or six inches high, and a j^ear gained in the produc-
62
tion of fruit. It will be well to remove most of the leaves when
transplanting green suckers, and filling the holes with water
when setting will prevent excessive wilting.
It is a good practice to trim the plants as fast as they are
dug, and immerse the roots at once in thick, muddy water.
They may be taken to the field in a bucket, and dropped out no
faster than they can be set in a freshly opened furrow. Such
plants will be found better furnished with fibrous roots than
when they have become older.
ROOT CUTTINGS.
Plant dealers increase their stock of new and desirable varie-
ties with great rapidity by digging up the roots in autumn, cut-
ting them into two or three inch lengths, and packing them in
boxes mixed with damp sand or soil. They may be kept in a
frost-proof cellar, or buried in a locality where neither frost nor
water will reach them. Select a dry place, having a porous
sub-soil, and cover the surface of the ground over the cuttings
with a thick mulch of leaves or straw before freezing weather
sets in. If frost and an excess of moisture are excluded, these
root-cuttings will callous during winter, and emit rootlets early
in spring. Before this occurs, however, the cuttings should be
planted three inches apart in drills, opened in a rich, sandy
loam, and covered two inches deep, making the soil firm with
the back of the spade or by pressure with the foot. On no ac-
count let the soil over them become dry ; neither should stand-
ing water be tolerated on the bed for an hour. A very light
mulch of straw, just enough to shade the surface, but not
so much as to exclude the sun's heat, will check evaporation,
and prevent drying.
Let the cuttings when dropped in the trenches be immediately
covered with fresh soil, as exposure to sun or wind, or placing
them in contact with dry dirt, greatly endangers the experiment.
They will soon send up shoots, which, with clean and careful
cultivation, will attain a size suitable for transplanting in the
fall or following spring.
It should be borne in mind that the Black-Caps never sucker,
and it would be useless to attempt the growing of plants from
their roots. They form " tip" plants, and these, if not planted
63
out in fall or spring, may be safely moved in May or June, after
they have made a growth of six inches. This, however, is not
recommended as the best time to set them, as their growth will
be checked, and they will not make as strong plants the first
year as those transplanted early in spring. The practice may
be adopted in filling vacancies, or when, for any reason, spring
setting has been delayed.
PRUNING THE RASPBERRY.
This important operation is often neglected, or performed, if
at all, too late in the season, after the canes have made their
growth, and become hard and woody. The object of pruning,
or "pinching back," as it is called, is to cause the plants to form
a stocky growth, well furnished with lateral branches, rather
than tall, naked canes. The latter are too much exposed to
high winds the force of which they cannot resist, and require
stakes to keep them in place. Such canes will give but a small
amount of fruit as compared with plants that have been clipped
earl} 7 , when two or two and a half feet high. Pinching while
the plant is growing causes it to send out numerous lateral
branches that will greatly increase the crop and size of fruit.
Such low, bushy plants will require no stakes or wires as a
support.
If the pinching is neglected until the canes become hard, but
few side branches will be formed, and such as do form will not
have time to mature so as to endure the winter. The process
requires that each shoot should be stopped when it has reached
the proper height, say two or three feet, according to the
strength of the cane. As all the canes will not attain the proper
height at once, it will be necessary to go through the rows two
or three times during the season of growth, commencing about
the middle of June. The lateral branches should be clipped
when eighteen inches long. In this way the plants may be
trained into a hedge-row, so as to admit of more convenient
cultivation and picking of the fruit. If allowed to grow at will,
cultivation and picking will be well-nigh impossible. The neg-
lected raspberry patch soon becomes a mass of tangled brambles
that no picker or cultivator would be persuaded to enter a sec-
64
ond time. These directions apply specially to the Black-Caps.
The Antwerps will not require pruning so early.
PRUNING OUT OLD WOOD.
As soon as the fruit has been gathered, all the old canes may
be cut out close to the ground. Some varieties are very thorny,
and a pair of long-handled pruning-shears will be found most
convenient for this purpose ; but a grass-knife, corn-hook, or
sickle, will answer very well. It is not necessary that the prun-
ing should be done at this particular season ; it may be post-
poned till the leaves have fallen a more leisure season or even
till spring, before leaves appear. Reasons could be given for
choosing one time in preference to another, but most cultivators
will be governed by what they find most convenient. The old
canes, having fulfilled their mission, are somewhat in the way of
pruning and cultivation ; they may, in a measure, exhaust the
plant if suffered to remain, and if the new wood is to be bent
down and covered before winter they will be very troublesome ;
but if the plants are allowed to stand uncovered, the old canes
may serve as a slight protection and support against drifting
snows.
WINTER PROTECTION.
Many of the red raspberries, and some of the Black-Caps,
are killed back to the ground when no winter protection is given.
The foreign varieties are all tender, and their hybrid seedlings-
are not usually hardy. There are not more than two or three
varieties of marked excellence that can be safely exposed to our
Northern winters. The Turner and Cuthbert are seldom injured,
but even these will yield larger and finer fruit when protected.
The covering of the raspberry need not be heavy only just
enough to keep the plants in place. Many are frightened when
told that the plants require protection ; but the labor is not half
as great as might be supposed. Soil affords the best covering,
and is always at hand. The method is as follows :
First, run a furrow between the rows, to loosen the ground,
and let a shovelful of dirt be thrown by the side of each plant,
near its crown, so as to raise a small mound over which to bend
the canes. This will prevent breaking by too short a curve.
Let a boy bend the canes over the mound, all in one direction,
65
and in line with the row, and hold them while the shovellers, one
on each side, throw on dirt enough to keep them down, as rep-
resented in Fig. 27. In this way pass along the rows rapidly,
and complete the
covering more at
leisure. The il-
lustration shows
at a glance the
method of bend-
ing down the
canes, a repre-
senting the
mound, and b a Fig> 27.
shovelful of dirt thrown on the tips as a weight. The mark of
cancellation at c indicates the point at which the canes should
be pruned to give the plant a bushy form. In the way here
described a large " patch " may be gone over in a day, and no
labor will be better rewarded, whether the variety be tender or
half-hardy. Slight protection will bring the plants through the
winter uninjured, and ensure larger and better fruit. Some rec-
ommend turning a furrow up to the plants on either side, but
this cuts and exposes the roots too much.
As soon as the frost leaves the ground in spring the plants
should be uncovered and tied up to stakes. For removing the
dirt from the bushes a fork is preferable to a hoe or shovel.
The treatment of the raspberry should be such as to secure
mature wood before winter. For this reason the application of
manure in mid-summer, and cultivation early in autumn, thereby
causing a late growth, should never occur. Top-dressing after
the leaves have fallen will do no harm, and the whole ground
should be thoroughly cleaned before winter sets in.
GROWING NEW VARIETIES.
The raspberry, like the strawberry, may easily be grown from
seeds, and this is the method where new varieties are desired.
Let the fruit be gathered when perfectly ripe, crushed, and the
pulp separated by washing. Always use seeds of the best varie-
ties, and from the best specimens of that variety. Select the
5
66
fruit from healthy and vigorous plants under high cultivation.
If two varieties have been grown near each other, the seedlings
are likely to be a cross, and some of them may prove superior
to either parent.
The seeds are more safely planted in fall, if the operation is
properly performed, and the young plants carefully protected ;
but they may be preserved in sand in a cool cellar until spring,
and planted as soon as the ground is in suitable condition. The
seed-bed should be well fertilized, finely pulverized, and so
located that partial shade can be given. The young plants are
exceedingly tender, and are likely to be injured, if not entirely
destroyed, by hot suns when fully exposed. Boards six or eight
inches wide, placed around the bed so that it can be covered
by a screen made of laths an inch and a half apart, will be
found convenient, as it may be removed for cultivation, or in
cloudy weather, when full light and air are desirable.
By all means plant in rows for convenience in cultivation
say in drills one foot apart and let the seed be covered not
more than half an inch deep. The soil over the rows should be
made firm with the back of a spade, or otherwise. If sown in
the fall, the young plants will appear early the next spring, and
if in spring, they will germinate in a few weeks. The seeds of
the raspberry retain their vitality for several years if kept dry
and cool, and may be sent by mail to any part of the country.
Seedlings will require some care the first winter, as the wood
is not likely to be sufficiently matured to bear exposure to the
cold, and the roots are almost sure to be drawn out by frost and
injured. Protection may be given by mulching with straw, or
covering with evergreen boughs, care being taken that the
mulching is not so thick and heavy as to injure the plants.
Some prefer to take up the plants in autumn, and heel them in
in some dry, sheltered place, to be planted again in spring into
trial beds, at suitable distances for future development.
The growing of seedlings is like a lottery where most of the
tickets draw blanks. Only a small percentage of the plants
will prove to be of any value. Some will prove tender ; others
wanting in vigor, or unhealthy in growth ; still others will be
found unproductive, small, soft, of poor quality, form, or color,
and so be soon rejected ; while a few may be thought worthy of
67
further trial. When all inferior to the variety from which the
seeds were taken have been weeded out, the trial bed is not likely
to be much crowded.
In growing seedlings, as before intimated, select as the parent
a variety as nearly perfect as possible ; that is, sow the seed of
the best variety attainable. If you want hardy plants, sow the
seeds of hardy varieties ; if size is desirable, with superior fla-
vor, color, &c., then select from varieties possessing all these
characteristics, if such are to be found.
If crossing or hybridizing is attempted and it should not be
neglected let it always be between varieties or species of
the highest merit. The method of crossing may be found in the
section entitled " Crossing the Strawberry."
The flowers of some very desirable varieties of the raspberry
are imperfect, and such will yield a much surer and better crop
when planted by the side of other kinds as a fertilizer.
MULCHING THE RASPBERRY AND BLACKBERRY.
The practice of mulching has heretofore been confined mainly
to the strawberry, to protect the plants from frost in winter, and
the fruit from becoming soiled by sand. But mulching secures
other valuable ends, if seasonably and properly applied. If at-
tended to before the heat and drouth of summer, it keeps the
soil not only moist, but loose, and aids in suppressing the
growth of weeds. No matter how heavily rains may beat, nor
how hot the sun may shine, there is never any compacting or
baking of the soil under a mulch. Raise the mulch at any
time, and the ground will be found loose and mellow beneath.
This condition of the soil is desirable whether the season be wet
or dry, while any surplus of water will leach rapidly from such
a soil ; instead of washing the surface, there will always be
moisture enough retained for a vigorous and healthy growth of
the plant.
The mulching of the raspberry, blackberry, currant, and
gooseberry, or even fruit trees, large and small, will be followed
by good results. The fruit will be more fully and uniformly
developed, and of superior quality, the conditions being more
uniform and favorable.
The raspberry crop is often ruined by a sharp drouth during
68
its season of growth and ripening, especially on a sandy loam,
and the same is true of the blackberry. The currant not infre-
quently sheds its leaves prematurely, and before the crop has
fully matured. These fruits commence to ripen in July, and
extend into August a season peculiarly liable to drouth and
extreme heat, and the loss from imperfect development is often
very heavy. It is doubtful if irrigation, were it practicable,
which it seldom is, being expensive, would answer as good a
purpose as mulching.
RASPBERRIES VARIETIES.
Brandywine (Susqueco). Hardy, productive, very firm, bright
crimson, dry and insipid. Suckers immoderately. It will ship
long distances, but its popularity is on the wane. Origin un-
known.
Caroline. Large, yellow. Season medium. Very good.
Hardy, vigorous, productive. Thrives where Brinckle's Orange
Fig. 28 (Cuthbert).
often fails. One of the best yellow varieties. Originated with
E. W. Carpenter, of Rye, N. Y.
Clark. Size, medium to large ; red, quality good, early. A
strong, upright grower. Very productive. Half hardy. Raised
from seed by E. E. Clark, of New Haven, Conn.
69
Crimson Beauty. New, large, bright scarlet, roundish, coni-
cal, hardy. Very early, productive, and of very good quality.
Originated with Dr. Stay man, of Kansas.
Outhbert (Queen of the Market). Large, round, obtuse coni-
cal, red, hardy, and healthy. Vigorous, productive. Medium
to late. The best red raspberry for general cultivation. Suc-
ceeds everywhere. Originated from seed in the garden of
Thomas Cuthbert, at Riverdale, N. Y.
Franconia. Large, roundish conical, purple. Very good.
Not perfectly hardy. Continues long in bearing. Origin,
France, and introduced by S. G. Perkins, of Boston.
Hansell. One of the earliest red varieties. Very good.
Fig. 29 (Hansell).
Medium to large. Hardy and healthy. Productive. Intro-
duced by J. T. Lovett, of New Jersey.
Herstine. Large, obtuse conical. Red. Very good. Season
medium. Canes strong, but not quite hardy. Should be picked
as soon as colored, if to be sent a long distance. A hybrid of
the Allen and Philadelphia. Originated with a Mr. Herstine, of
Philadelphia.
Marlborough. New. Large, bright red. Firm, quality fair.
Plant hardy and a vigorous grower. Productive.
Rancocas. New, early, and prolific. A strong grower. Size
medium. Lacks firmness. Origin same as Hansell.
Reliance. A seedling of the Philadelphia, which it resembles
in color. An improvement on its parent. Reliable for family
use.
70
Superb. Large, very good. Season medium. Dark crimson.
A medium grower, and hardy. Productive. Crumbles in pick-
ing, and color too dull for market.
Turner (Southern Thornless.) Size, medium. Early. Qual-
ity good. Season medium. Very productive. Absolutely hardy.
One of the best for family use at the North. Originated with
Prof. J. B. Turner, of Illinois, in 1833.
The following are varieties of the Black-Cap ( Rubus Occiden-
talis) :
American Black (Doolittle). An old standard variety. Plant
vigorous and thorny. Rather small. Quality good. Very pro-
ductive. Season medium. Found growing wild by Leander
Joslyn, of Phelps, N. Y.
Gregg. Very large. Plant a strong and rapid grower. Pro-
ductive and hardy. Quality very good. Season medium to late.
Fig. 30 ( Gregg).
One of the most popular and profitable black raspberries in cul-
tivation. It requires heavy soil. Found growing wild on the
Gregg farm in Ohio county, Indiana.
McCormick (Mammoth Cluster). Large, late, very good.
Hardy, and a strong grower. Productive. One of the best for
market and family use.
Ohio. Size medium. Quality good. Late, hardy. A strong
grower. Season medium. Productive. One of the best for
evaporating.
71
Shaffer's Colossal. Very large, purple, good. Season medium
to late. A rank grower, and very prolific. Owing to its unat-
tractive color, it is not popular in the market, but good for home
use, and one of the best for canning.
Souhegan. Charles Downing said of it, "I am much pleased
with the Souhegan, it being quite early, of large size, very pro-
ductive, quite firm, of a deep black color, sweet flavor, and a
very promising variety for market." Plant vigorous and hardy.
Originated with a Mr. Carleton, of Mont Vernon, N. H.
EXTENDED LIST OF RASPBERRIES.
Some of the varieties here given have been superseded by
others supposed to be more valuable ; some have merely a local
value, and quite a number of them are new, and have not been
widely disseminated. The cap varieties are marked thus, C.
u F" indicates a foreign origin :
Centennial. C. New, large. Flavor fine. Early. Produc-
tive.
Chapman. C. New, large, early, hardy.
Fastoljf. Large, quality good, for home use, soft. F.
Florence. C. Yellow, large, good, productive, and hardy.
Fontenay (Belle de Fontenay). Large, good, late. F.
Four Seasons Red (October Red). Large, very good.
French. Medium, very good, season medium.
Golden Thornless. C. Yellow. Superseded.
Hiland Hardy. Medium, good, early.
Hopkins. C. New. Resembles McCormick. Early, good.
Hornet. Large, very good, season medium. F.
Hudson River Antwerp. Large, quality best, season medium.
Imperial Red. Size and season medium, quality best.
Kenevett (KeneveWs Giant). Large, season medium, quality
best. F.
Lost Rubies. Said to succeed on heavy soil, if fertilized by
a staminate.
Miami. C. Medium, season medium, quality good.
Montclair. Large, very good, season medium.
Miller's Woodland. New, large, hardy, productive.
Nemalia. C. New. From Nebraska. Large, hardy, and
productive.
72
Ohio Everbearing. C. Late, size medium, quality good.
Orange ( Brinckle' s ) . Large, yellow, quality best.
Philadelphia. Size medium, purplish, productive.
Pride of the Hudson. Very large, -quality very good, tender.
Purple Cane. C. Size and season medium. Good.
Smith's. C. Very large, good, season medium.
Thwack. Large, purplish red, season medium, good.
Tyler. Medium, early, very good.
BLACKBEEEIES.
The cultivation of the blackberry does not differ much from
that of the raspberry. Unfortunately most varieties are tender,
and the canes are so strong that they cannot easily be bent
down and covered in winter. The fruit is borne on wood of
the previous year's growth, and fails entirely when the canes
are killed by frost.
On low land, especially if much manure is applied, the black-
berry makes a rampant growth, and for this reason high land in
only fair condition is preferable. The plant is naturally a
strong grower, and requires more room and not as close pruning
as the raspberry. Seven feet between rows, and plants four
feet apart in the rows, is not too great a distance on strong soil.
Strawberries, or some low-growing annual crop, may be planted
half way between the rows for two years.
Pinch back the growing canes at three feet, and the laterals
at two feet, and cut out the old wood, as in case of the rasp-
berry. If the leaders are stopped at three feet, the laterals will
add one or two feet more, and this will be quite high enough for
convenience in gathering the fruit. The berries are often picked
as soon as colored, and before they are fully ripe. They will
improve on the bushes if allowed to remain several days, and,
as a rule, twice a week will be often enough for picking. The
fruit should never be exposed to the sun after picking, as it
will spoil the color.
The hardiness of the Snyder and Taylor has been fully tested
on my ground for a number of years. They have never been
73
injured, though the thermometer has more than once dropped to
twenty degrees below zero. The plants have been in an exposed
location, and have never received any protection. Summer
pruning has been practised to give the plants a compact, bushy
form, and prevent a late growth. In this way tender plants can
almost be changed into those that are hardy.
Blackberries will yield good crops for six or eight years, but
for the last two or three years a top-dressing of manure should
be given late in the fall.
A description of only a few varieties is here given :
BLACKBERRIES - DESCRIPTION OF VARIETIES.
Early Harvest. New, very early, hardy, and prolific ; firm ;
size medium ; quality very good ; plant healthy ; requires good
soil. Origin, Illinois.
Kittatinny. Very large and fine, plant vigorous, but rusts in
many places ; productive ; continues long in bearing ; season
medium to late. Requires protection north of New York.
Found growing wild in New Jersey.
Snyder. Season medium, very productive ; hardy as an oak,
quality very good, size medium. Valuable for a northern lati-
tude.
Taylor's Prolific. [Fig. 31.] Large, very
hardy and productive ; a vigorous grower ;
sweet, and of fine flavor. Larger and a little
later than Snyder.
Wachusett. Size, medium ; hardy ; very
good. A strong grower ; season medium to
late. Requires high culture. Nearly thorn-
less.
Western Triumph. New. Size medium ;
very good. Not yet fully tested. Said to be
- 3L
very hardy and productive.
EXTENDED LIST.
Origin
Illinois.
Bonanza. New. Large, productive, hardy.
Brunton's Early. Size medium. Not entirely hardy.
Dorchester. Early, hardy, flavor fine, size medium.
Missouri Mammoth. Large, sweet. Midseason.
74
New Roclielle, or Lawton. Very large, late, tender.
Stayman's Early. New. Very early, hardy, good.
Stone's Hardy. Size medium, productive, hardy.
Wilson's Early. Large, early, productive, tender.
Wilson Junior. New. Large, early, productive, tender.
RED OR ORANGE-RUST ( Uredo rubrum).
This disease attacks both the blackberry and raspberry, and
in some parts of the country is very destructive, so much so
that growers are forced to root out and burn entire plantations.
It is of a fungus nature, and if not checked, spreads rapidly
from one bush to another till all are affected. The wild plants
breed the fungus, and it spreads to the cultivated varieties,
some of which, such as the Kittatinny blackberry, appear to be
more susceptible than others. The raspberries of the black-cap
family are often affected, where the red (rubus strigosus) suffers
comparatively little.
No successful attempt has been made to restore the plant to
health after it has once become diseased. The only remedy is
to dig out and burn every affected plant as soon as the rust
appears. If the disease is liable to be spread by the wind,
bees, pruners, and pickers, as some suppose, the importance of
prompt action will be manifest.
All plants in a feeble condition, from any cause, fall an easy
prey to both insects and disease. It is recommended to set
plants on virgin soil, well drained, fertilized, and carefully cul-
tivated, as tending to keep them robust, healthy, and exempt
from the attacks of insects. Because no remedy has yet been
discovered for rust on the raspberry and blackberry, in does not
follow that nothing can be done to check the spread of it.
There can be no danger of injuring the diseased plants, and
experiments may be safely tried, and should not be neglected.
One writer says that after other remedies had failed, he used
strong soapsuds, adding a handful of salt to a pailful of water.
The plants were almost entirely covered with rust, and were
sprinkled thoroughly, and the application repeated after two
days. In less than a week the plants were bright, and growing
finely, showing no signs of the disease. Mr. A. S. Fuller says
that u an application of lime, salt, or some similar substance
75
may check the disease, but I know of no remedy except that of
rooting up every affected plant and burning it." Mr. Charles
Downing recommended the same course.
The rust has only occasionally attacked a single plant on my
grounds, but if it should make its appearance to any extent, I
would try the following preparation : Place one peck of quick-
lime and two pounds of sulphur in a tight cask, and slack the
lime with hot water, covering the cask with an old rug to pre-
vent the escape of steam. After cooling off, fill up the cask
with cold water, and stir the contents thoroughly. The sedi-
ment will soon settle, leaving a clear yellowish liquid at the top.
If thought too strong, the lime and sulphur mixture may be
reduced, using only one or two quarts to a bucket of water.
Apply this to the diseased plants with a small hand force pump
or syringe, and repeat the application within a week.
This has proved a most effective remedy for rust on the ver-
bena and other green-house plants, and sulphur alone is known
as a specific for rust or what amounts to about the same thing,
mildew on the grape. It may be well to experiment with car-
bolic acid, or sulphate of iron, in weak solution. The cultivator
should bear in mind the maxim that every wrong has a remedy,
and take it upon himself to discover, if possible, what the
remedy is.
MULBERRIES.
This fruit is attracting some notice at the present time, as
what is known as the Russian mulberry is being unduly puffed
by unscrupulous nursery men, and pushed at extravagant prices
by tree peddlers equally unscrupulous. The mulberry-tree
grows forty or fifty feet high, and sometimes three feet in
diameter, furnishing a beautiful lawn or street tree. It is hardy,
and should be more generally introduced for ornamental purpo-
ses. The white variety is well known where the silk industry
has been introduced, as the leaves are used for feeding the silk-
worms. Except for shade, it is otherwise of no value.
All the varieties make rapid growth, and produce fruit when
not more than four or five feet high. For quality the Downing
76
is the best, and yields an abundance of fruit for more than three
months. The berries fall as they ripen, and if the ground under
the trees is not in turf, it should be covered by a clean mulch to
prevent their becoming soiled.
Thousands of the Russian mulberry plants are annually sold,
many of which are grown from seeds, and of course are in every
grade of quality. They can be grown from cuttings as easily
as the willow, and the best only should be propagated. Tree
agents are taking orders for small plants at from one to two
dollars each, but reliable nursery men offer them at twenty-five
and fifty cents. Birds are very fond of the fruit, and it might
be more extensively grown for their especial benefit.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher says, " I regard it as an indispen-
sable addition to every fruit garden ; and I speak what I think
when I say I had rather have one tree of Downing's ever-bear-
ing mulberry than a bed of strawberries."
CURRANTS.
Plants of the currant are easily multiplied by cuttings. These
are made from one-year-old wood as soon as the leaves have
fallen in autumn, and at once planted out in a good sandy loam.
The soil must be well drained, as a surplus of water on the sur-
face, or at the base of the cutting, will prove fatal. The cur-
rant sheds its leaves quite early, and if the cuttings are put in
immediately, they will callous over and send out small roots, so
as to make strong plants the next year. If to be grown in tree
form, all buds below the surface should be removed before the
cuttings are set. Cuttings are usually made from six to ten
inches long, but in case the wood is of some scarce and choice
variety, it may be cut into lengths of three or four inches.
Those having facilities for propagating under glass sometimes
cut to single buds, and plant half an inch deep in boxes of
sand.
When planting in trenches, set the cuttings three inches apart,
and make the soil around them very firm. If many are to be
propagated, they may be placed in double or triple rows, and in
77
this way will occupy much less land. Only a sufficient number
of buds are to be left above the surface to form a well balanced
top. Some allow only a single shoot to grow the first year, in
which case the branches will be higher from the ground. When
cuttings of any kind are planted in trenches in autumn, they
will require mulching to prevent their being thrown out by frost.
The advantage of growing the plants in tree form is that it
admits of clean and convenient cultivation around and under
them, while if suckers are allowed to spring up from the ground,
as they will when the buds are not removed from the base of the
cutting, grass and weeds are sure to take possession and hold
their ground in spite of the cultivator's best efforts to suppress
them. Too many of the shoots that spring up are weak and
worthless, and they cannot be as
easily pruned out in forming the
top as when trained in the tree form.
Fig. 32 is a good representation
of a cutting when planted in the
trench, and Fig. 33 of the same
when rooted. If properly made
and managed, not five per cent, of
such cuttings will fail.
The currant should be pruned in
autumn, and the wood may be util-
ized for propagating purposes. It
may be preserved in good condition
if packed in damp sand or moss
Fig. 32. and kept during winter in a cool
cellar, to be planted out early in spring. Some propagators-
prune in spring, and use the cuttings as taken directly from the
old plants ; but a larger per cent, will fail, and those that root
will make a comparatively small growth. A few evergreen
boughs set on the southerly side of the rows, so as to give par-
tial shade in summer, will enhance success.
For field-culture, plant in rows five feet apart, with the bushes
four feet distant in the row. Cultivation in spring is not rec-
ommended, but if it is given early, and so shallow as not to dis-
turb the roots, no injury will result. Mulching between the
rows and under the plants will do much to suppress weeds,
Fig. 33.
78
while it will keep the ground cool and moist, a condition per-
fectly suited to the wants of the currant. A thorough cultiva-
tion should be given in autumn, when the plants have become
dormant, working in at the time a liberal quantity of manure.
Pruning the currant consists in thinning out all immature and
superfluous wood, shortening the leading shoots, and removing
all decaying and mossy branches as the plant grows old. The
object to be aimed at is to admit light and air, and at the same
time reduce the bearing wood somewhat, thereby increasing the
.size and quality of the fruit.
As the currant flourishes in partial shade, it may be planted
in line with rows of pear or plum trees, and yield very profitable
returns. As has been before stated, it must have a generous
application of manure spread broadcast annually. Ground bone
and wood ashes make a good fertilizer, and even coal ashes are
supposed to be of some value as a mulch, if in no other way.
The borer sometimes injures the plant, but among its insect
enemies the currant-worm, known in England as the larva of the
magpie moth (Abraxas agrossulariata), is most destructive. It
is equally injurious to the currant and gooseberry, and such has
been its ravages that the growing of these fruits has, in many
localities, been abandoned. It is an imported pest, and, accord-
ing to Mr. Roe, made its appearance at Rochester, N. Y., in
1857. This is the insect figured by Mr. Fuller and Mr. Roe,
but Mrs. Treat, in her valuable work on "Injurious Insects,"
speaks of the imported currant-worm (^Ematus ventricosus) as
" the larva of the saw-fly, of the order Hymenoptera, called false
caterpillars, as they never have less than six, sometimes as
many as eight, pairs of pro-legs, while the true caterpillars never
have more than five pairs. "
The insects appear almost as soon as the currant and goose-
berry are in leaf, and lay their eggs upon the under side of the
leaves in regular rows. The books say that the worm appears
in June rather indefinite ; but I am assured by an intelligent
observer that they appear in the vicinity of Boston from the
12th to the 16th of May, the second brood about the 25th of
May, and a third from the 15th to the 20th of June. I found
them full grown this year (1885) on gooseberry bushes in my
grounds, June 1.
79
Fig. 34 shows the perfect
insect, a being the male and b
the female, the lines repre-
senting the size with wings
expanded. The eggs hatch in
from six to ten days, and the
worm immediately commences
feeding upon the leaves. The
caterpillars increase in size rap-
idly until they are three fourths
of an inch long. When full
grown they pass down into the
ground and spin brownish co-
coons, and assume the pupa
state. They again leave the
Fig. 34.
ground in about two weeks in the form of perfect insects, and
lay a second crop of eggs from which a second brood is hatched,
which pass the pupa state in the ground, where they remain till
the following spring. It is said that the fly lives about nine
days. The worms
when first hatched are
of a pale color, soon,
however, becoming
green, with a black
head and shining black
spots on each side of
the body. Fig 35 rep-
resents the worm in
different stages of de-
velopment feeding
upon the leaves of the
gooseberry, and b rep-
resents the spots on a
magnified joint of the
body. The worm is not often discovered until its work of de-
struction attracts attention, and its work is so rapid that a plant
may be entirely divested of foliage in forty-eight hours. The
importance of a daily examination of currant and gooseberry
bushes, at the season when the worm is likely to appear, is quite
apparent.
Fig. 35.
80
But if the worm disposes of our currant crop in a summary
way, it is fortunate that we are able to rid ourselves of the
worm in an equally summary manner. A tablespoonful of
powdered white hellebore (veratrum album) to a pailful of
water, well mixed, and applied with a watering can having a
fine sprinkler, will end the career of the currant-worm in a very
short time. The powder may be dusted over the bushes when
wet, and will prove equally effective. It should be understood
that this article is a poison, and should be used with care, and
kept beyond the reach of children and valuable animals. It is
not as dangerous as Paris green, and as it soon loses strength
it is often quite harmless when first purchased, and of no value
as a destroyer of insects. Be sure to get a pure article from
some reliable druggist, and keep it excluded from the air. It is
washed from the plants by the first rain, long before the fruit
will be fit to use.
There are but few varieties of the currant in cultivation, and
only one of any note of American origin. It is fortunate that
we are not obliged to make a selection from a hundred sorts, as-
in case of the strawberry.
The old Red and White Dutch are very productive, and are
standard varieties as to quality, but they are not equal in size to-
the Cherry, Versailles, and White Grape.
These last named are more extensively
grown at the present time than any other.
The Cherry and Versailles are hardly dis-
tinguishable, and whoever has either need
not go to the trouble and expense of pur-
chasing the other. The Cherry is thought
by some to give the
larger berries, while
the Versailles pro-
duces the larger
bunches. Fay's
Fig. 36. Prolific, Fig. 36, is
a new American currant, and claimed to be twice as productive
as any other variety. It is undoubtedly very promising, but
the plants have always been held at too high a price to admit
of its being extensively planted. Dana's Transparent is one
81
of the finest white currants. The Belgian is late and con-
tinues long in bearing, and as it lengthens the season two or
three weeks it is valuable for this purpose. The Black Naples
and Lee's Prolific are the only two black currants named in the
catalogues, and what use any civilized being can make of either
it is impossible to imagine. But the rank and musky odor of
the leaves, wood, and fruit, that is so disagreeable to me, is
thought by others to be delightful. Truly there is no account-
ing for tastes culinary.
No fruit will pay better for the care bestowed in its cultiva-
tion than the currant. It meets with less competition in market
than most other small fruits, and there is not the same occasion
for haste in gathering and disposing of the crop as in case of
the strawberry and raspberry. The fruit may remain on the
bushes for weeks after coloring, if not stolen by the birds, and
thereby be improved for all uses except for jellies, for which
purpose it should be picked before it becomes over-ripe. The
same is true of the grape and other fruits, and for want of this
knowledge many a good housewife fails to make the jelly
" come."
The currant does not require to be renewed every five or six
years, as some suppose, but with proper treatment, such as
pruning, cultivation, and manuring, will continue to yield good
crops for a long time. The plants may be set in fall or spring.
The buds push early, and if transplanting is delayed till late in
May, but little growth will be made ; while if set in autumn, as
soon as the leaves fall, they will become well established before
the ground freezes, and be ready for an early growth.
The proper age for plants is one or two years from the cut-
ting. I should prefer plants of one year, if of first quality, to
those of two years of second quality. There is little danger in
transplanting the currant, even though the plant contains but
few roots, as new roots form readily under favorable conditions.
The work of setting requires less skill than with many other
plants, though extra care will be well repaid, and should never
be neglected. As every part of the plant will emit roots when
placed in contact with the soil, there is no objection to planting
the bush three or four inches deeper than it stood in the cutting-
bud.
6
82
The currant may easily be grown from seeds ; but this is not
advisable, except for the purpose of obtaining new and better
varieties. There is a wide field for improvement in this direc-
tion. A large per cent, of seedlings will be inferior to the old
standard varieties, but this should not deter us from making an
effort for something better. Some bushes will be found to pro-
duce finer fruit and more abundant crops every year than others
near by of the same variety, and seeds should always be selected
from the best bunches of fruit produced by these plants. Wash
out the seeds when perfectly ripe, and pack them away in a cool
place, treating them the same as any small vegetable or flower
seeds should be treated. Sow them in spring as soon as the
ground is in suitable condition, cover about half an inch deep,
and make the soil over them firm with the back of a spade.
When the seeds have been kept diy for several months, they will
vegetate sooner if soaked in tepid water for forty-eight hours
before planting. The seeds may be mixed with sand as soon as
washed out, and placed in pots or boxes and buried in some
cool shady place. They should be allowed to remain frozen up
until the proper time for planting out in spring. The young
seedlings should be carefully cultivated, and transplanted the
second year into trial beds for testing their value.
GOOSEBERRIES.
(Ribes grossularia. )
Having given pretty full directions for growing the currant, it
will be unnecessary to say much under this head, as the condi-
tions required for the successful cultivation of the one apply
with equal force to the other. They both thrive in a strong,
rather moist soil, and in a cool, half-shady location. Both
demand a liberal application of manure, and protection from
the same insect enemies.
The gooseberry is not as easily propagated as the currant, in-
asmuch as the cuttings do not strike root with the same facil-
ity. For this reason the plants are usually increased by layers.
Layering consists simply in bending down and covering the
83
branches with soil, and mulching to preserve moisture during
the season of growth. In this way they root easily, and the
rooted branches may be cut from the parent plant in the fall, or
allowed to remain until the following spring, when they may be
at once planted out.
Most varieties are inclined to form very low, almost trailing,
bushes, sending out branches near the ground. As roots push
wherever the wood comes in contact with moist soil, nursery
men take advantage of this peculiarity of the plant to increase
their stock. They have only to bank up their bushes above the
intersection of the branches, when each will send out roots, and,
when cut loose, form a strong, independent plant.
We have but few varieties of native gooseberries, and such as
we have are much inferior to foreign sorts. Great attention has
been given in European countries to the improvement of this
fruit by growing new varieties from seeds, so that they can now
count them by the hundred, while we have only five or six worth
naming. Here, then, is even a wider field open for improve-
ment than with the currant. There is the greater occasion for
effort in this direction as the foreign varieties can seldom be
successfully grown in this country, owing to their liability to
mildew. We are forced, however unwillingly, to rely upon
natives, poor as they are, as the seedlings of foreign sorts,
though grown in this climate, have thus far proved entirely un-
reliable.
The American Pomological Catalogue for 1883 names only
six native gooseberries worthy of cultivation, Downing, Hough-
ton, Mountain, Orange, Pale Red, and Smith's ; and only three
from the long list of foreign sorts, Crown Bob, Roaring Lion,
and Whitesmith. These last named will only succeed in skilful
hands under the most favorable conditions.
As before intimated, mildew is the great obstacle to the culti-
vation of the foreign gooseberry : neither the foliage nor the
fruit will endure our climate. A cool, moist, half-shady situa-
tion, close pruning, high manuring, and the free use of sulphur,
are the only conditions under which success is sure. Like the
currant, all gooseberries delight in a spot where they are pro-
tected from the direct rays of our scorching sun and drying
winds. Set on the north side of buildings or fences, or in pear
84
or plum orchards, where the shade is not too dense, they seem
to be at home. In such locations some of the English varieties
have been successfully grown. Mr. Benjamin G. Smith, who
has often been a successful competitor for the prizes offered by
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, names as the best of
the English gooseberries, Woodward's Whitesmith, Wellington's
Glory, Glenton Green, and Yellow Amber : and of native vari-
eties, Downing and Smith's Seedling. The Houghton originated
in Lynn, Mass., with Mr. Abel Houghton. It is very hardy and
productive, but rather small for a popular market sort.
Gooseberries should be set in rows five feet apart, and the
plants three feet apart in the rows. If any cultivation is given
in spring, it should be shallow and very early, as any disturb-
ance of the roots at this season is thought to be injurious, and
all cultivation later than August has a tendency to cause a
growth of immature wood that is liable to be injured in winter.
To avoid the same result, no manure should be applied in the
fall until the plants have ceased to grow. Coal ashes have been
recommended for currant and gooseberry bushes, and when
mixed with about ninety-nine per cent, of wood ashes, they are
undoubtedly of great value.
THE CEANBEEEY.
( Vaccinium macrocarpon . )
Few fruits will better repay the enterprise and skill of the
intelligent cultivator than the cranberry. It grows and thrives
best on land entirely worthless for any other purpose. A
natural peat-bog, wet meadow, or morass, if properly prepared,
and kept clean until the vines become established, will continue
productive for an indefinite period. Instances may be found of
bogs planted thirty, and even fifty, years ago, on Cape Cod and
in New Jersey, that still yield profitable crops.
The vines require no manure, though fertilizers have, in a
few cases, been applied with apparent benefit. The gradual and
constant decay of the vegetable substances of which such soils
are composed, with the sediment precipitated by the annual in-
85
undation which the plants require, will furnish an abundant
supply of nutriment for both foliage and fruit.
There are thousands of acres in sections of the country
adapted to this fruit, lying worse than idle, that could be easily
transformed into cranberry meadows, and made to yield a
greater profit than the best upland in other farm crops. A
swamp covered with alders, dogwood, laurel, water-bushes, and
brambles, or almost any wet meadow, will answer for cranberries,
except those where clay and drift abound. On such soil, fail-
ure is almost certain to follow the best efforts for success.
In selecting a plot for a cranberry meadow, the facilities for
flowing must be carefully observed. Water is one of the first
requisites. The owner of a bog having complete control of
water, may feel reasonably sure of a paying crop, while his
neighbor, having all the other requisites, may fail three times in
four for the want of it. If the cranberry could be grown in
localities exempt from frost, and where the cranberry worm is
unknown, flooding the bed might be dispensed with ; but peat-
bogs are always found in low, frosty localities, and the vine
worm is as sure to find a cranberry meadow as is a Colorado
beetle the potato field. If the bog is so situated that a reservoir
can be constructed above, from which water can be let down
suddenly, it will be of great advantage in case of early frosts in
autumn.
Much has been said and written in years past about growing
cranberries on high land ; but all of the so-called successful
experiments have turned out failures. It would be difficult to
find an instance where any one has been able to produce profit-
able crops on upland for a series of years. The crops have
been destroyed by insects and frost. Those who wish to en-
gage in cranberry culture, will find a tract of low, level ground,
and an abundant supply of water, indispensable.
If the meadow or swamp is filled with water, the first work
after clearing the surface will be to cut ditches through the
middle and around the margin, with cross ditches at suitable
intervals, so that the surplus water can be drawn eighteen
inches below the surface at pleasure.
A dam will be required at the lowest point of the meadow,
with flood-gates high enough to raise the water eighteen inches
86
over the entire surface. A much more shallow covering of
water would suffice for most purposes, but, if only a few inches
deep, the vines would be frozen into the ice in winter, and, in
case of freshets, the ice might lift and break the vines, and dam-
age the meadow.
A third requisite will be a good and convenient supply of pure
sand or gravel with which to cover the surface of the bog from
three to eight inches deep. The depth of sand required will
depend upon the depth of the peat the more peat the more
sand. In some instances as much as twelve inches has been
applied, but in most cases from three to five inches will be suffi-
cient. A meadow thinly sanded will give a crop of fruit
sooner, but it will continue productive longer when the applica-
tion is thicker. For this reason, some cover only two or three
inches at first, and repeat the application as required. In the
first instance, the sand is moved from the margin or bank to the
bog on small flat cars and movable wooden tracks, if the area is
large, but barrows and plank runs answer very well for small
plots. The most convenient method, however, is to flow the
meadow, and spread the sand evenly on the ice in winter.
Occasionally a meadow may be found that can be turned with
the plow, and harrowed after it has been drained. This will
save much expense in the preparation ; but if the land is filled
with stumps, or covered with bushes, plowing will be found im-
practicable, and grubbing a much more expensive method
must be adopted.
All elevations must be cut down, and the sods and soil used
for filling depressions, so as to make the whole surface as level
as possible. The brush, and all combustible substances, may
be piled and burnt on the ground, while bogs and tussocks may
be utilized in the construction of dikes and dams. If removed
and piled on the margin of the upland, they will soon decay
and become valuable for use in the compost heap and as an
absorbent. Their value for this purpose will repay, at least in
part, the cost of removal.
In order that the bog may be covered with water in winter to
a uniform depth, it must be graded to a level, or so as to hare
only a slight inclination towards the ditches. If there is much
slope the upper portions could only be covered by constructing
8T
a high and expensive dam. The object of flowing is to protect
the plants in winter, the flowers from late frosts in spring, the
immature fruit from early frosts in autumn, and both plants and
fruit from the ravages of the worms that injure and sometimes
destroy the crop.
To prevent destruction by the vine-worm, or fire- worm as it
is sometimes called, the meadow must be kept flowed in New
England till near the first of June. This worm is the larva of a
moth (Anchylopera vacciniana) which feeds upon the foliage,
and gives it the appearance of having been scorched by fire :
hence the name, fire-worm. The egg is deposited in autumn, or
early in spring, on the underside of the leaf, and hatches in
Massachusetts about the 20th of May. The larva is effectually
destroyed by flooding the vines. The fruit-worm is also the
larva of a moth, but of a species not yet fully identified. It
enters the berry and eats out the inside, leaving nothing but a
thin shell. Its presence is indicated by the premature coloring
of the fruit.
As there are but few bogs that can be flowed at short notice,
the cranberry culturist will often find his efforts baffled by insect
enemies, and his hopes disappointed. In flowing for protection
from insects, and spring and autumn frosts, the depth of water
Fig. 37.
need be only sufficient to cover the plants. It should be borne
in mind that water must not be allowed to remain on the vines
when in flower for more than twenty-four hours, as it will injure
the pollen, and in consequence the crop may be ruined.
SELECTING PLANTS.
There are three varieties of the cranberry distinguished by
their form as shown in Fig. 37 the bell, bugle, and cherry, the
last named being the most common. On Cape Cod, where this
88
fruit is extensively grown, they have two varieties differing in
size and season, one early, but rather small, and the other larger
and later. The small berry is heavy, being mostly solid, while
some of the larger and more showy fruit is hollow, and shrinks
more in cooking. The Cape cranberry is high-colored, keeps
well, and commands the highest price in market. The extra
color is probably owing to climatic influences peculiar to that
particular locality more than to any difference in variety. The
American cranberry is larger than the European, of much supe-
rior flavor, and of a darker color.
It is very important in selecting plants to obtain those that
are productive. Many bogs yield very little fruit, and that of
an inferior quality, being wanting in size and color. All such
plants should be rejected. It will pay to examine different
meadows in the fruiting season, and make a selection of plants
from such as produce large crops of the most attractive fruit.
The first inquiry of the purchaser is sure to be, Are the berries
large and high-colored?
SETTING THE PLANTS.
The best time for transplanting is in May or June. The rows
should be straight, and some are particular to have them run
both ways, and mark off the bed into check-rows, with a com-
mon garden-marker. The plants are set from one to two feet
apart each way : the nearer they are set the sooner they will
cover the ground.
The bed should be kept clean for at least three years, by
which time the vines will have become so thick as to choke out
all other vegetation. The labor of cultivation will be somewhat
expensive, but when the rows are straight, a small hand cultiva-
tor or slide hoe can be run very close to the plants, and save
much hand-weeding.
The vines strike root from every joint that touches the ground,
and in setting, the plants are simply pressed into the sand, quite
down to the peat, by any blunt implement, and the sand made
firm around them. Pieces of vine, only a few inches long, may
be planted, three or four in a hill, at each angle where the check-
rows cross, and will take root and grow as well as entire plants.
As the cranberry is inclined to trail, it should be set at an incli-
89
nation rather than perpendicularly, as it will sucker up better
and sooner cover the ground. Some bogs are set in a hap-
hazard way, without regard to distance or rows ; but all such
planting is likely to be followed by careless cultivation, and is
properly known as the slipshod method.
But little fruit need be expected before the third year from
planting, after which it will increase rapidly if all the conditions
are favorable. In many experiments it has been found that the
expense and income account will just about balance the fourth
year.
The first cost of preparing a cranberry bog will depend very
much upon the condition in which it is found at the commence-
ment. If covered by a growth of trees, or if filled with stumps
where wood has been recently cut, the work of fitting up will be
expensive. But if it is merely necessary to turn the sod with a
plow, or remove it with heavy hoes made for the purpose, and if
located near suitable sand deposits, the cost will be compara-
tiveh' small. It is safe to say that the expense will vary from
two to five hundred dollars an acre ; and that, under favorable
circumstances, the cultivator may reasonably expect a return of
his investment in four or five years.
PROFITS OF THE CROP.
Cranberry culture, when conducted intelligently, is no longer
a speculative business. In many localities it has become per-
manent and profitable. A good meadow, in a bearing condition,
is readily worth $1,000 per acre. A bushel to a square rod is
not an uncommon yield, and a single rod has been reported as
yielding more than six bushels, or at the rate of over nine hun-
dred bushels to an acre. One hundred bushels per acre is called
a good average crop. But there will be many failures in grow-
ing cranberries, as with all other fruits.
PICKING THE FRUIT.
The fruit was formerly gathered by rakes, but is now mostly
picked by hand. The work is done mainly by women and chil-
dren, at a cost of about fifty cents per bushel. When the rows
are visible, each picker is confined strictly to his row ; but if the
bed has become one solid mat, plots are staked off containing
90
only a few square rods, one of which is assigned to each per-
son employed.
COLORING AND CLEANING.
Of course all fruit will be unfit for packing as it comes from
the field, as there will be more or less imperfect berries, and
also grass and leaves, that must be removed. The fruit is usu-
ally spread five or six inches deep on some floor in a shady
place, where it remains for a few weeks to color. It should be
stirred occasionally, so that all the berries may be at some time
exposed to the air. When well colored they are passed through
a fan-mill to remore all light substances, and finally all imper-
fect berries are removed by hand-picking. All sound fruit will
assume a fine color by keeping, and will command a ready sale
and the best prices. As it is always in demand for exportation,
there is little danger of overproduction and an overstocked mar-
ket.
IMPLEMENTS.
It would be useless to give illustrations of, or even describe,
the numerous plows, cultivators, and harrows in common use.
There are so many, any one of which will do good work, that it
is only necessary to visit some agricultural warehouse and make
a selection. Inventors gladly send out their plows for trial, to
be returned in case they prove imperfect or unsuitable.
Unless the land is so flat as to require laying up into beds, the
reversible plow is preferable to a land-side. The lifting sub-
soiler is very serviceable for running in the furrow of the sur-
face plow, loosening but not bringing to the surface the subsoil
to the depth of from five to ten inches, as may be thought advis-
able. This will save much labor with the spade and fork. Plant-
ing on soil made deep in either way will often protect a crop
from the effects of a sharp drought in July and August, just
when it is coming to maturity.
For pulverizing rough ground, and for cutting and covering
coarse manure applied to the surface, there is nothing equal to
the Acme and Disc harrows. If, however, the manure has been
91
applied with the Kemp manure spreader, it will be in very fine
condition, however lumpy it may have come from the stable.
In taking up plants of the raspberry, blackberry, etc., where
the roots must be cut at a proper length, a heavy spade, ground
sharp, will be required, but for loosening the soil around plants,
and in spots that cannot be reached by the plow or cultivator,
the digging fork is the best of all implements. If the tines
come in contact with roots, they slide by without doing injury ;
but if the spade is used, the roots are cut at every thrust.
The pronged hoe, slide or scuffle hoe (Fig. 42), and steel garden
rake are all serviceable. For loosening the surface soil and des-
stroying small weeds, and large weeds ought not to be tolerated,
Fig. 39
any one of them is preferable to the common blade hoe. When
deep cultivation is not required, much more and better work can
be done in the same time than
with any other implements.
In cleaning out weeds around
small plants, just as they are Fig. 4i.
breaking through the surface, the hand-weeders (Figs. 38, 39,
and 40) are very effective; and in transplanting strawberry
plants, the garden reel and line (Fig. 43), trowel, and strawberry
fork (Fig. 41) are indispensable. Hedge shears are best for
shortening the new growth of the raspberry and blackberry, and
long-handled primers to cut out the old canes.
92
The enterprising cultivator of small fruits will find it for his
interest to keep his workmen well supplied with the best labor-
saving implements, and require that they be handled with care,
and returned to the tool-room clean when not in use.
As a last word, I would say that a judicious selection of va-
rieties, the adaptation of soil and] situation, thorough cultiva-
tion, high manuring, and proper training are the secrets of suc-
cess in growing small fruits.
Fig. 42.
Fig. 43.
GRAPE CULTURE.
Many entertain the opinion that grapes cannot be success-
fully grown, except it be a single vine, here and there, in some
favored locality. Certain they are that it is useless to attempt
to grow grapes for market in the Eastern and Northern states.
Both these notions are erroneous, having been formed some
years ago, when the Isabella and Catawba were the only hardy
out-door grapes to be found in the catalogues. The Isabella
originated in South Carolina, and is seldom grown to perfection
in the latitude of New England, and the Catawba requires too
long a season. Those who judge of the possibilities from what
they know of these varieties, are not up with the times. They
forget, if they ever knew, that the new varieties have shortened
the required season at least a month.
A knowledge of the best treatment for bringing the fruit to
early maturity will aid the grower still more, and a selection of
a proper soil and exposure will also tend to insure success. In
favorable localities, with suitable varieties and intelligent cult-
ure, the grape crop is as certain as a crop of Indian corn. The
conditions best suited to each are nearly identical. There are a
few fruit-growers who are already masters of the situation, and
are making the grape and the peach crop very remunerative.
Inquirers and converts are rapidly increasing.
New England is on the extreme northern limit of grape cult-
ure, and the grower, to succeed, must study and observe the
conditions of success carefully. Almost any man can find spots
on his farm that are practically a hundred miles north or south
of his dwelling-house. For the grape, choose the spot farthest
south a warm, sandy loam, with a gentle slope, and southern
94
exposure. If protected by hills or belts of timber, all the bet-
ter ; if not, artificial protection may be furnished by planting
evergreens at intervals to break the force of winds and storms.
Heavy clay loam, and what is called strong, moist soil, are
unfavorable for early maturity, and the finest quality of the
grape. A soil that will absorb and retain the sun's heat is
much to be preferred. There must be natural or artificial
drainage.
Fruit-growing seems to have been one of the earliest occupa-
tions of man, and, although a little unpleasantness arose from
the first use of the apple, it has always been an attractive pur-
suit since that time. There is good reason to believe that the
grape was born at the same time as the apple, as Eden could
not have been the model garden that it was, before the devil
got in, in the absence of this most delicious fruit. Noah was
the first in the vineyard business, and appears to have had no
scruples about sampling the wine of his own manufacture.
There is no fruit more desirable for home use, or more easily
and cheaply grown, than the grape, with possibly the exception
of the strawberry ; but the vine has one advantage over any of
the small fruit-bearing plants that require frequent renewal,
when once planted it becomes a permanent institution. It will
live and flourish, with decent care, to a very great age.
Many, doubtless, are deterred from attempting to grow
grapes by reading the foolish directions, formerly so common,
for preparing a grape border trenching three feet deep, and
the bewildering rules for pruning and training the vines. I
contend that it is better to grow fruits in a " slip-shod" way
rather than not grow them at all.
Vines may be planted in various localities on the farm, where
they will occupy little or no valuable space, and often such
spots will be peculiarly adapted to their wants. I have known
of instances where the soil on the south side of ledges in the
open field has been prepared, and along the sides of stone
walls forming division fences, and grapes grown in great abun-
dance. The sides of unsightly farm buildings may often be
utilized for this purpose. True, the clusters and berries thus
grown will not compare favorably in size with those produced
on a carefully trained vine, and their market value would be
95
less, but for home use such fruit is always acceptable, and of
considerable value.
The radiation of heat from a ledge, fence, or building, will
effectually protect a vine from early frosts. While nothing
less than a freeze will injure the fruit, yet repeated dew frosts
will affect the foliage so as to check the process of ripening ;
and, as we often have one or two frosty nights, followed by
weeks of fine "Indian-summer weather," any available means
by which we can bridge over these cold waves becomes of vital
importance.
When a vine is planted by the side of a ledge, any rude
trellis that will hold the fruit a few inches above the rocks is all
that will be required. Of course, no skilful pomologist would
think of growing grapes for the market in the way here indi-
cated, but I want to encourage every farmer to grow at least
a few grapes in some way. His sous will soon learn, and adopt
the best methods.
PROPAGATION OF THE GRAPES BY BUDS.
The vines of hardy varieties are easily propagated by single
buds, cuttings, or layers. Single buds are cut from well
ripened wood of one year's growth in form represented by Fig.
44. This cut is so perfect that no
description seems necessary. The
fall and winter prunings of the
vine are reserved for cuttings,
and only require to be kept from Fig. 44.
drying until the season arrives for planting them out.
Cut the canes into convenient lengths, say two or three
feet, tie in bundles carefully labelled, and place them on the
cellar bottom. If your cellar is dry, cover with a damp cloth.
Keep them as near the condition they were in when cut from the
vine as possible. Some pack the wood in damp moss or sand,
which prevents drying and heating. These prunings will
answer equally well for one, two, or three bud cuttings.
Single buds are most successfully started under glass, in the
green-house or a hot-bed, in February or March. Cut out the
buds, as many as are wanted, and place them quite thickly in a
96
box of pure sand. Cover the buds about half an inch deep, and
press them down, so as to make all compact. These boxes
may be packed away under the benches of the
house, and will require no care for several weeks,
except an occasional watering, just enough to
keep the sand moist. Do not expose them to
much heat, as the process of root-formation, as
with all hard-wooded cuttings, will be slow. If
kept too warm, the heat will excite the bud into
growth before roots are formed to sustain it, and
when they have pushed one or two inches, and
exhausted the small amount of vitality which
they contain, they will perish. Any attempt to
hurry a hard-wood cutting will result in disap-
pointment. With skilful management, ninety-
five per cent, of the buds will grow, and make
good plants.
As there is little or no plant-food in sand to
sustain the growing vines, they should be trans-
planted into flower-pots, or boxes filled with
good soil, as soon as they have formed roots,
and turned out into the open border as soon as
the season will admit.
PROPAGATING VINES BY CUTTINGS.
Two-bud cuttings are made as represented in
Fig. 45, as soon after the fall of the leaf as con-
venient, and planted out in any well drained
sandy loam at once. Select a spot where no
water will collect in winter. The base of such
cuttings will callous over, and sometimes form
roots before the ground freezes, and make a
good growth the next year ; or, the wood may
be stored in the cellar, as directed above, and
the cuttings planted out early in the spring. The
fall is to be preferred, for the reason stated, and
because the ground is in better condition at that
season of the year. Late planting of cuttings in
Fig. 46. spring is liable to prove a failure.
97
In planting out two or three bud cuttings, draw a garden line
the required length, and, with the back of the spade, to the
line open a V-shaped trench to receive them as represented in
Fig. 46. Set the cuttings in the
trench, three or four inches apart,
sloping from the sun, observing that
the top bud comes just even with the
surface of the ground at the line.
Fill the trench a little at a time, com-
pacting the soil firmly about the cut-
ting, especially at its base, by pres-
sure with the foot. If the wood of rig. 46.
which the cutting is made is in good condition, and these sim-
ple directions are followed, a large per cent, will take root, and
make plants of the best quality as good as those sold by tree-
tramps at $1 each. They will be fit to plant out by the stake
or trellis to which they are to be trained, in autumn or the fol-
lowing spring, as may be most convenient. When cuttings or
young vines are set out in the fall, the ground about them
should be covered with strawy manure, or evergreen boughs,
before severe weather arrives.
PROPAGATING VINES BY LAYERS.
In layering the vine, a cane of well ripened wood of the pre-
vious year's growth is chosen, containing eight or ten buds,
more or less. Open a trench, as directed for cuttings, only
commencing near the parent vine. Stretch the cane in the bot-
tom of the trench, and fix it in place with weights or pegs.
This is to be done in spring before the buds swell, and the
trench is to remain open till the shoots have made a growth of
four or five inches. The young wood will take an upright
direction, and the trench must be filled with care, covering the
cane, and pressing the dirt down firmly. The shoots had bet-
ter be tied to small stakes, from time to time, as they will often
grow four or six feet high if not checked by pinching, which is
recommended when they have attained a height of three or four
feet. This will cause the shoot to " stock-up," and form a more
valuable vine. Stronger plants will be obtained if every alter-
7
98
nate bud is rubbed off at the time of layering. Fig. 47 repre-
sents the cane
of a vine, lay-
ered as d e -
scribed, during
the growing
season, the soil
being removed
Fig. 47. so as to show
the root-formation. As layering seems to exhaust
the parent vine, too many plants should not be at-
tempted iu one season. A layered cane mav be lifted
with the spade in autumn, and severed from the vine
and between the buds, making as many plants as there
were buds allowed to grow. Fig. 48 represents such
a plant after the leaves have fallen.
Fig. 48.
TRANSPLANTING THE GARPE.
Vines may be safely set in the fall, at any time after shedding
their leaves, the earlier the better, and in spring as soon as
the soil has become mellow and warm. If vines are received
from a distance early in spring, while the ground is still cold
and heavy, unpack them at once, and heel them in in some cool,
shady place, and wait till the season moves on a little. Trees
and plants must never be allowed to remain in the package a
single day longer than is necessary, and never drench them with
water while thus packed. Even if dry, it is better to trench
them in, first loosening the bundle, and mixing damp soil well
among the roots. Such trees or vines will be safe for weeks, if
not received late, and be more likely to do well than when set
out very early. It is always pleasant to have the birds for
company when planting out small fruits.
The soil having been judiciously selected and put in good
mechanical condition, vines of suitable age and size, not more
than two years old, may be planted out quite rapidly. The
roots of a vine, after having been set out for a few years, will
be found almost entirely near the surface, unless they have been
destroyed by too deep cultivation. Very few roots will be
found more than five or six inches from the top. In case of a
99
protracted drouth, there would be a tendency to strike down in
pursuit of moisture, but usually nearly the whole system of
roots will not be more than six inches deep. This is just where
we want them. The vine needs the full force of the sun's heat
to push on the annual wood growth, and to ripen up the fruit in
autumn.
Let the roots be cut back at transplanting to ten or twelve
inches in length. The fibrous roots, about which we hear so
much, are of but little or no account. Their vitality is destroyed
on comparatively slight exposure. Take up a vine that has
been planted a year, and the fibrous roots which it contained
will have all disappeared. They are short-lived, annuals, like
the leaves. They serve a purpose while undisturbed, but are of
no value after exposure, and may as well be pruned off as to
remain.
Let the canes be reduced to one, and cut that back to two or
three buds. One bud is all that should be allowed to grow, but
it is not safe to remove them till they have made a growth of
some inches, as they are extremely tender, and liable to be in-
jured in various ways. Always retain the lowest shoot, pro-
vided it is strong and healthy.
The transplanting of trees and vines can be done by two per-
sons, working together, much more conveniently than by one.
The man with the spade removes the soil five or six inches deep,
where the vine is to be planted, in a circle as large as the roots
will occupy, while another prunes the roots and top, as above
described. The vine is at once placed in position, with the
roots radiating equally on all sides. The soil is to be at once
thrown over them by the man of the spade, while the other
makes all firm with his foot ; and the thing is done in less time
than would be required to read the directions here given. Take
the vines to the field with the roots in a bucket of water, or in a
basket packed in damp swamp moss. Only one need be ex-
posed at a time, and that only for a moment. Two men who
use no tobacco can set out one thousand vines in a day.
Vines may be tied up to a stake the first year, or allowed to
sprawl. I prefer to tie up, because it is more convenient for
pinching back laterals, and they are less in the way of the cul-
tivator. Almost any hoed crop may be grown on the land for
100
two or three years ; but never attempt to grow two crops where
you apply only plant-food for one. Some grow strawberries be-
tween the rows while the vines are making wood ; but it is a
practice of doubtful expediency, as the strawberry plant is a gross
feeder, and will soon exhaust the soil.
PRUNING AND TRAINING.
The aim of the propagator must be to get as strong growth as
possible the first year. When the wood of the plant has become
mature, cut it back, leaving only two
buds. Two buds are allowed to re-
main for safety, one of which is to be
rubbed off when both start, leaving
only one to grow the first year after
transplanting. What is wanted is a
strong root and cane at the outset,
whatever system of training may sub-
sequently be adopted. Fig. 49 will
give a good idea of a well grown vine
at the end of the first year after plant-
ing out. Repeat the cutting back till
the preponderance of the root over the
top is such as to give a single strong
cane, such as the cut represents. When
this is secured, whether the vine is one
or five years from the bud but not be-
fore cut back to two buds at the time
of pruning, and allow both to grow and
form canes the next season.
There are numerous ways of pruning
Fig. 49. and training the vine, practised with ap-
parently equal success by those engaged in grape culture, each fol-
lowing some peculiar notion of his own. To be convinced of the
truth of this statement, one has only to look over the various works
on this subject, published from time to time, and compare the
illustrations and directions given as a guide to the novice.
Many of the methods are ingenious, some simple, and others so
complex as to mystify rather than enlighten or aid the amateur.
101
They give us the spur method, the renewal
method, and a score of others, all well enough,
perhaps, if the gardener has the ability to master
them, and the time and skill requisite to carry
them out in practice. It would be useless for me
to describe more than two or three of the most
simple methods, such as may be easily under-
stood and adopted by any one of fair intelligence.
It is presumed that the gentleman of wealth will
employ an expert, and intrust the business
wholly to him. I am not writing specially for
that class, but rather for thousands of farmers
and mechanics, owning small tracts of land,
where they may grow a succession of fruits for
the entire year.
To recapitulate, Fig. 48 represents a small vine,
grown from a single bud, cutting, or layer, in the
autumn of its first year, after the leaves have
fallen. A plant grown from a layer would usually
be stronger than is represented by this cut. This
is of suitable size and age, however, for planting
out. Cut back to one or two buds at time of
transplanting in spring, and allow but one shoot
to grow. Tie up to a stake from time to time,
and, if laterals make much growth, check them
by pinching off. the tender ends occasionally.
The vine should present the appearance at the
close of the second season as represented in Fig.
49. Before growth commences the next spring
(see best time to prune hereafter), this cane, as
it is now called, is to be cut back to two buds*
and a cane grown from each, tying up and pinch-
ing in laterals as before. The vine at the end of Fig. 50.
the third season is shown by Fig. 50, divested of its foliage.
Two marks of cancellation will be observed, showing where
each cane is to be cut back at time of pruning. The length of
the canes should be as nearly equal as possible, and three or
four feet long, for reasons that will soon be obvious.
This vine is intended to be fixed to a permanent trellis at the
102
commencement of its fourth year. It is of the utmost impor-
tance that the wood forming these canes should be mature, and
the buds well developed, and that they remain uninjured during
the winter. In the spring the canes are to be bent in opposite
directions, in line with the rows, and retained in the position
represented in Fig. 51 till the buds have expanded and growth
V
Fig. 51.
has fairly commenced. The question will be asked, "What
occasion is there for this treatment at this particular season ?"
The answer is, that the buds at the end of the cane will always
push earlier and stronger than any others ; in fact, those lower
down on the cane will often remain perfectly dormant. Bend-
ing the vine will check the rush of sap to the top ; this causes
the buds to "break" uniformly. As soon as this object is as-
sured, the canes are extended horizontally, as in Fig. 52, and
tied to the lowest wire or slat of the trellis.
Fig. 52.
It will be found that the different varieties vary much in
their manner of growth, in this, that the internodes are much
greater in some kinds than in others. The wood is spoken of
as short- or long-jointed, as the case may be. For example,
the Hartford Prolific will have two buds where the Diana has
but one. A knowledge of the habit of each variety in this par-
ticular is important, as every other bud on the horizontal arms
of short-jointed canes had better be rubbed off, choosing those
on the under side (see Fig. 53, a, a, a, a, a, a,) to prevent too
103
Fig. 53.
much crowding on the trellis. In Fig. 53 I have endeavored to
represent in a single illustration what might have been better
shown in three or four.
It will be understood without saying, that each cane is to be
trained up, and tied as each wire is reached. It matters not
what material is used for tying, whether bass-wood bark, as
found in furniture mats, cotton twine, or the ravellings of an
old stocking. None of these will affect unfavorably the size or
flavor of the fruit. If any of the shoots grow more freely than
others, pinch them back, so that all may reach the top of the
trellis at nearly the same time. The marks of cancellation
show where these upright canes are to be cut at the fall pruning,
leaving but two buds on each spur. Another year will give us
two upright canes where now there is but one ; and, as each
cane will set its two or three bunches, the crop of fruit, if not
removed, will be doubled. The subsequent treatment of this
vine will be quite simple. Cut back at each annual pruning to
two healthy buds, which will give two fruit-bearing canes to
each spur, cutting away the upper spur entirely ; and this may
be repeated indefinitely.
In practice it will occur that small buds will push near the
horizontal arms, or the buds intended to grow will appear to be
double, and two shoots will appear where but one is wanted.
Let all such superfluous shoots be removed at once, and all lat-
eral branches kept short by frequent pinching.
104
Grapes are always borne on the new wood, and each upright
cane of a vine of the age and condition here represented will
be likely to set two or three bunches of fruit. Not more than
two bunches are allowable, unless the vine is unusually strong
and vigorous, for a first crop. The danger is that too much
fruit will set, and the temptation is strong to allow all to ma-
ture. When the matter of thinning is reached, this subject will
be more fully discussed.
Vines trained in the
way here described are
to be planted out in
rows, from eight to
twelve feet apart, and
the horizontal arms
cut of such a length
that those of different
vines will just meet,
and cover the trellis.
But vines may be set
as near as six feet
even, and by a slight
variation in the method
of training give good
crops. Take the vine,
as represented in Fig.
^_^ 50. and instead of cut-
j ting back both canes
I t o f our or g ve feet,
shorten one only, and
cut the other back to two or three buds. Train the shoots from
these buds to a stake planted near the root, and the long arm
horizontally, as in the first method. Fig. 54 will show this
method without further description. Vines thus trained may be
set five or six feet apart, and this distance may do for those
that make but a feeble growth ; but strong-growing varieties,
such as the Concord and its seedlings, will require ten or
twelve feet each way.
A method of training having some advantages is represented
in Fig. 55. A part of the canes ma} 7 be tied up to a stake set
105
Fig. 55.
near the root faj, and others trained to a pole resting one end
on the ground (b), and the other made fast by a slip-knot (c) to
the top of the next stake. This gives the fruit and foliage the
full benefit of the sun and air, thereby avoiding rot and mil-
dew, and insuring early maturity. By simply slipping the
knot, the canes trained at an angle may be dropped down, and
covered during winter, and taken up and placed in position
again in the spring. Tender varieties require this protection,
and experience has shown that the fruit of the more hardy sorts
will ripen a week or ten days earlier when the vines have been
thus protected. Instead of training two of the canes to upright
stakes, as at d, poles may be placed so as to form an X between
the stakes, as at e in the cut, in which case all the canes may
be dropped to the ground, and protected.
I trust that no one will conclude, from the descriptions here
given, that any one of these methods of training the vine is ab-
solutely indispensable in order to grow grapes for home use, or
even for the market. Better, a thousand times, to discard them
all, and plant your vines, simply tying them up to the roughest
stakes you can find, and neglect pruning entirely, rather than
oblige your boys to scour the hills and swamps for wild grapes
that are unfit to eat after they have been stolen. There are
many tons of grapes grown in the South and West every year,
both for the table and for wine, where the vines are trained to
stakes in the simplest manner, and some of the largest grow-
ers in New England practice the same method. Just plant
two stakes on opposite sides of each vine, eighteen inches from
the root, and train one cane around each stake spirally, pinch-
ing the end of the vine when the top of each stake is reached,
and pinching the laterals occasionally. Vines thus trained may
106
be set six feet apart. Cut back the laterals to two buds in
autumn, for bearing wood the next season.
TRELLISES AND STAKES.
Trellises may be constructed with posts and slats, or wire
stretched from one post to another, and made fast by staples.
Numbers 12 to 15 galvanized or annealed wire will be found of
suitable size, and the staples may be readily made of the same.
Cedar posts, set eight feet apart, five inches in diameter, are
durable, and cheapest in the end. Stretch the bottom wire
twenty inches from the ground, and three others about thirteen
inches apart, making the trellis five feet high. Such a trellis
will require no renewal or repairs for many years. Wooden slats
soon become tender, and are almost a constant source of annoy-
ance. Stakes are also of cedar, and may be somewhat smaller,
and should be, when set, at least six feet high.
BEST TIME FOR PRUNING THE VINE.
The annual pruning may be done at any time from the fall of
the leaf till early spring. Pruning vines or trees when frozen
is not thought to be a good practice, and hence the autumn and
pleasant days in winter are to be preferred. If the wood re-
moved is to be used for propagating, let the pruning be done
and the cuttings planted out in the fall, as before described.
Winter pruning will be very inconvenient, if not impossible,
where the vines are dropped on the ground, and covered with
evergreens or snow, as is strongly recommended where practi-
cable.
I am fully aware that some successful vine-growers say,
"Prune at any time," and claim that bleeding, which is sure to
follow spring pruning, is not injurious. It is quite certain, how-
ever, that bleeding can do the vine no good, and equally certain
that wounds made when the wood is frozen do not readily heal.
Because the sugar-maple is not seriously injured by the escape
of sap from a small hole made with a bit, it does not follow that
the same tree would not be injured by cutting away numerous
large branches at the same season. This is precisely the treat-
ment that is given the vine when the grower cuts back to one or
two buds annuallv.
107
There is but a short time in spring, just before the buds
unfold, when a vine will bleed. There is little or no movement
of the sap in winter, nor when the ground is frozen ; and, as
soon as growth commences, the sap is absorbed and evaporated
through the leaf in large quantities. Why, then, choose the
spring, the worst time in the whole year, for pruning? There
is no objection, however, to pruning at transplanting, as the
roots having been cut or broken in digging, there is not a suffi-
cient flow of sap to result in bleeding. Severe pruning during
the growing season will give the vine a shock from which it will
take a long time to recover, but the pinching in of laterals and
the ends of canes, to check a too rampant growth, is always in
order.
MANURE FOR THE VINE.
Some extensive grape-growers have contended in the past
that vines require little or no manure ; that land in good con-
dition for any of the hoed crops is quite rich enough to insure
the best results. They outgrow this notion after a few years'
experience. The removal of a large growth of wood at the an-
nual pruning, with a crop of fruit in addition, will exhaust the
fertility of the soil as rapidly as most other crops. While this
is true, caution should be exercised in the use of unfermented
nitrogenous manures. The tendency of all such applications
would be to cause an excessive and late growth of wood,
entirely unfit to endure the extreme temperature of our winters.
Fine old compost, say half muck, is much to be preferred.
Rather coarse ground bone, mixed with wood ashes or commer-
cial potash, will give good results on most soils. Such a mixture
contains very little nitrogen, while the percentage of phosphoric
acid, potash, and lime is large. It seems to meet the wants of
the vine perfectly. An application, once in two or three years,
of three hundred pounds of bone, one hundred pounds of pot-
ash, or fifty bushels of wood ashes to the acre, will be sufficient
to maintain the vines in a thriving, healthy growth, and, other
conditions being favorable, insure an annual yield of the best
fruit. The bone and ashes should be mixed and moistened some
weeks before using. This may be done on the stable floor,
where it can remain till the odor arising from the mass indicates
108
the presence of heat, when it should be shovelled over, and, if
too dry, more water applied. This may be done two or three
times, at intervals of a few days, using caution in applying
water, as, if the mixture once becomes pasty, it cannot be prop-
erly or conveniently applied. Gypsum, or dry soil, will effect-
ually check and preserve the ammonia that will otherwise be lost
during the process of fermentation.
The application of clay, or well seasoned muck, will be useful
on very light, sandy land, by absorbing and retaining moisture
in a dry season. The grape, however, seldom suffers from
drouth. Southern California is reported to have but two inches
of rain annually, and there the grape is perfectly at home. The
preference of our American grapes for rather dry situations is
well known and recognized by all successful vineyardists.
CULTIVATION OF THE GRAPE.
After what has been said relative to the growth of roots near
the surface, it would seem unnecessary to caution the grape-
grower against deep tillage in the vineyard after the vines have
become established. The surface soil being filled with a perfect
network of roots, it follows that the cultivation must be of the
most shallow kind. The vineyard is no place for the plow or
the spade, and the common cultivator, even, may do a vast
amount of mischief in unskilful hands. A light harrow with
numerous small teeth, set sloping backwards, ma} 7 be used with-
out detriment ; but the best implement I have ever seen for this
purpose is a cultivator from which all the teeth have been re-
moved, run simply with the wheel and a broad knife attached,
from which not a weed can escape. The depth of cultivation
may be regulated with perfect ease. There should be no piling
of the soil, or throwing it into furrows, but let it be simply
raised, loosened, and left as mellow as possible. The harrow
may be run through the vineyard every week, or as often as
small weeds appear, or the surface becomes crusted, till Au-
gust, when all cultivation should cease. Late manuring or late
tillage causes late growth of immature wood, which is always to
be avoided. The harrow, scarifier, slide hoe, and the steel rake
are the only implements required to keep the soil of the vine-
109
yard in perfect condition. The best time to kill weeds is the
day they are born.
AMOUNT OF FRUIT.
u How much fruit can a vine safely be permitted to carry ?'*
This is a question often put by the novice, and suggests a mat-
ter of vital importance. The answer depends on a variety of
circumstances. Be careful never to ask too much of your vines,
especially when young. An overcrop is sure to be followed by
no crop at all, as in the case of the apple, pear, and other
fruits. The most successful growers never allow their vines to
ripen more than a few bunches (say four to six) before they
are four years old, the number depending upon the vigorous
character and strength of each vine. As the vine attains age,
the quantity may be gradually increased, till six or eight pounds
are reached, and this crop may be repeated every year. Some
allow their vines to retain twelve or fifteen pounds, or even
more, without serious injury ; but, as a rule, excessive cropping
will work ruin in the end.
Thinning the fruit cannot be done too early. The best time
is as soon as the berries have formed. Remove ail small clus-
ters, and with small pointed scissors take out all inferior ber-
ries from the bunches that are to remain. Some varieties set
their berries too closely on the bunch, and may be improved by
thinning, both in size and quality. Fruit thus carefully grown
will give much greater satisfaction to the consumer, and com-
mand a ready sale at a high price in the market. The effect of
premature, excessive bearing is often to destroy or greatly to
impair the vigor, health, and productiveness of whole vineyards.
It should also be borne in mind that reducing the crop by thin-
ning insures early maturity.
It may be suggested that the number of pounds to a vine
above named, will give but a light crop to the acre ; but vines
planted six by eight feet will give more than nine hundred plants
to an acre, and more than three tons of fruit. This would give
a profitable return if failures were not too frequent. From two
to four tons to an acre is regarded as a fair crop of grapes,
while ten tons, it is said, have been grown. But the grower
must bear in mind that the larger the crop a vine is allowed to
110
bear, the poorer the quality is likely to be, and the later it will
be in maturing. Hence the more unfavorable the locality or the
season, the greater the necessity for thinning the fruit.
WHAT VARIETIES SHALL WE PLANT?
The list of profitable market grapes that can be grown in a
northern latitude is very short. We can only select varieties
ripening about the same time, as the earliest will be none too
early to escape our autumn frosts. Till the Worden, Moore's
Early, and other new varieties have been more extensively
grown, so as to lower the price of vines within our reach, the
list must begin and end with the Concord. I know of but few
instances in New England where any other grape is being ex-
tensively grown for market. If the expectations of those
engaged in bringing out new seedlings are realized, we shall not
long be limited to two or three varieties. When we recall the
fact that in other sections of the country, where the brevity of
the season is no obstacle, there are very few profitable market
grapes grown, we shall be more content with our lot and locality.
For the table, we may extend the list almost indefinitely.
New candidates for favor are presented every year, and the dis-
position to give them a fair trial should be encouraged. It is
not difficult to name a dozen sorts of good quality, any one of
which we may ripen, where it would have been impossible to
name one fourth that number a few years ago. The demand
has insured a supply, and still they come. We may name as
varieties, some of which are well established in public favor, and
others worthy of trial, the following : Concord, Hartford Pro-
lific, Delaware, Worden, Moore's Early, Isabella, Martha, Lady,
Wilder, Brighton, Prentiss,Pocklington, Dutchess, and Agawam.
Here we have a baker's dozen, and the list might easily be ex-
tended. It is by no means certain that it might not be greatly
improved.
As all are not acquainted with the older varieties, and know
little or nothing of the new, a brief description may be found
convenient for reference. Interested parties will pardon me if
I abbreviate somewhat descriptions found in their catalogues,
use less expressive adjectives, and occasionally hint at the faults
of their pets.
Ill
ADIRONDAC. Bunch medium ; berry black, round, large ;
skin thin ; flesh tender, scarcely any pulp ; sweet, but not rich.
It seldom succeeds.
AGAWAM (ROGERS' No. 15). Bunch medium, somewhat
loose, shouldered ; berry large, roundish oval ; skin thick,
brownish red ; flesh tender, juicy, free from pulp ; flavor rich
and pleasant, having a peculiar aroma ; vine very vigorous and
hardy ; a hybrid between a native and a foreign species ; ripens
with Concord ; a little subject to mildew ; does not bear close
pruning. Origin, Salem, Mass.
ALLEN'S HYBRID. Bunch medium, compact; berries medium,
round ; skin thin, pale, amber ; flesh tender, without pulp, ex-
cellent ; early ; not hardy ; requires protection. Origin, Salem,
Mass.
BARRY (ROGERS' No. 43). Bunch rather short, broad, com-
pact, shouldered ; berries black, roundish, oval, large ; flesh
delicate, sweet, tender ; skin thin ; early as Concord ; one of
the best black grapes ; vine vigorous, hardy, and productive.
Origin, Salem, Mass.
BRIGHTON. Bunch large, shouldered ; berry large, Catawba-
colored, but little pulp ; flavor fine, rich ; vine vigorous, hardy,
and productive ; a week earlier than Concord ; a cross between
Concord and Diana Hamburgh. Origin, Brighton, N. Y.
CONCORD. Bunch large, compact, shouldered ; berries black,
round ; skin thin, tender ; flesh juicy, sweet ; pulp tender when
fully ripe ; vine very hardy and vigorous ; leaves thick and en-
during ; very productive ; ripens from 10th to 20th of Septem-
ber ; the most popular and profitable grape grown. Origin,
Concord, Mass.
CREVELING. Bunch loose, straggling, shouldered ; berries
medium, black, sweet, and juicy, good ; vine hardy and healthy,
and good grower ; ripens with Concord. It is not very valuable
or reliable ; fertilizes imperfectly.
DELAWARE. Bunch small, compact, often shouldered ; ber-
ries small, round ; color red ; skin thin ; flesh tender and juicy ;
scarcely any pulp ; sweet, with a brisk, vinous flavor ; vine hardy,
112
slender grower when young; requires good soil and cultiva-
tion ; moderately productive ; ripens in September ; a standard
in quality. Origin, New Jersey.
DUCHESS. Bunch medium to large, shouldered, compact ;
berries medium, round, greenish white ; skin thin ; flesh tender
without pulp ; quality good ; rots and mildews in some locali-
ties ; ripens with Delaware. Origin, New York.
EMPIRE STATE. Bunch medium, long, narrow shouldered,
compact; berries round, green, sweet, juicy, and nearly free
from pulp. It has a distinct Frontignau flavor, and is free from
any foxy quality. Vine said to be hardy, healthy, productive,
and a vigorous grower ; early ; a cross between Hartford and
Clinton. Origin, New York.
HARTFORD PROLIFIC. Bunch medium, compact, shouldered;
berries black, medium, roundish oval ; skin rather thick ; flesh
sweet, juicy ; pulp somewhat foxy ; vine vigorous, short-jointed,
and productive ; berries often drop if not thinned ; ripens early
in September. Origin, Hartford, Conn.
HAYES. Bunch medium to large; berries medium, round,
greenish white, changing to amber yellow when fully ripe ; skin
firm ; flesh tender, juicy, of fine flavor, and free from foxiness ;
vine moderately vigorous, hardy, and productive ; a week earlier
than Concord, of which it is a seedling. Origin, Massachu-
setts.
ISRAELLA. Bunch medium, shouldered ; berries black and
slightly oval ; skin thin ; flesh tender, sweet, nearly free from
foxiness ; vine a good grower, hardy, healthy, and productive.
Season, September 1. It fails in many localities. Origin, New
York.
JEFFERSON. Bunch large, compact, shouldered ; berries large,
roundish, oval ; light red, with lilac bloom ; flesh meaty, tender,
juicy, sweet, and spicy ; vine vigorous, hardy, and productive ;
wood short jointed ; a little later than Concord ; a cross of Con-
cord with lona. Origin, New York.
LADY WASHINGTON. Bunch large, compact, shouldered ; berry
medium, round, deep yellow ; white bloom ; flesh soft, tender,
juicy, sweet, and good ; vine vigorous, hardy, productive ;
113
leaves large lobed ; ripens later than the Concord. Origin, New
York.
LADY. Bunch medium to large ; berries round, large ; color
white ; quality good ; hardy and healthy ; skin tender ; vine a
moderate grower at first, but becomes as strong a grower with
age as the Concord, of which it is a seedling ; ripens two weeks
before the Concord. Origin, Ohio.
MARTHA. Bunch short, compact ; berries white, large, round,
sweet, juicy, a little foxy and pulpy ; quality good ; vine a
strong grower, healthy, hardy. A seedling of the Concord, and
two weeks earlier. Origin, Pennsylvania.
MERRIMACK (ROGERS' No. 19). Bunch short; berries round,
large ; skin black ; flavor sweet and rich ; quality good ; vine
very vigorous ; a good bearer. Season, medium. Origin, Salem,
Mass.
MOORE'S EARLY. Bunch and berry large ; black, with heavy
bloom ; quality better than Concord ; vine healthy, hardy, vig-
orous, and productive. A seedling of the Concord, and nearly
two weeks earlier. Popular and profitable. Origin, Concord,
Mass.
NIAGARA. Bunch large and compact ; berries large, round,
light greenish-white ; skin thin and tough ; quality good ; little
pulp, melting and sweet ; vine a strong grower, hardy and pro-
ductive ; ripens early, with Hartford Prolific. Origin, New
York.
POCKLINGTON. Large and showy ; skin white, thin, but tena-
cious ; a little foxy, but as good or better than the Concord ;
keeps a long time. Not as early as the Concord, of which it is
a seedling. Healthy and productive ; a fair grower. A prom-
ising new variety in some localities. Origin, New York.
PRENTISS. Bunch large, not often shouldered, compact ;
berry medium, tender, sweet, melting, juicy, with pleasant
aroma ; free from foxiness ; little pulp ; seeds few and small ;
vine hardy and a good grower ; very productive ; foliage not
always healthy ; color yellowish green ; a good keeper ; ripens
about with the Concord. Origin, New York, from seed of
Isabella.
8
114
SALEM (ROGERS' No. 22 OR 53). Bunch rather large, broad;
berry inclined to oval; skin thin, black; flesh tender, sweet,
and delicate ; vine vigorous and productive. As early as the
Concord. Origin, Salem, Mass.
VERGENNKS. Bunch medium to large ; berries large, round,
light amber ; flesh meaty, tender, rich ; vine vigorous, hardy,
productive ; a good keeper. Early as the Hartford Prolific.
Origin, Vermont.
WHITE ANN ARBOR. Bunch and berry very large, white ;
quality good ; vine hardy and productive ; ripens earlier than
the Concord, of which it is a seedling. Sometimes drops from
the stem. Origin, Michigan.
WILDER (ROGERS' No. 4). Bunch large and showy, resem-
bling Black Hamburgh ; berries large, round ; color black ; flesh
tender, with a slight pulp ; very good ; vine hardy and product-
ive. Later than Concord. Origin, Salem, Mass.
WORDEN. Bunch large and compact ; berries black, larger
than Concord, and of better quality ; less pulp ; few and small
seeds ; vine hardy, healthy, vigorous, and productive ; a seed-
ling of the Concord, and a week or ten days earlier. Becoming
very popular. Origin, New York.
I have here given a description of twenty-five varieties of the
grape, embracing most of the kinds claimed to be hardy, and
early enough for a Northern latitude. Some that might well be
included may have been inadvertently omitted, while others may
have been named not entitled to consideration. I have had
under cultivation at different times more than fifty varieties,
foreign and native, highly recommended, but most of them prov-
ing of no value. The vines and foliage of some varieties, other-
wise desirable, prove tender ; the fruit of others is spoiled by
rot and mildew ; and still others require too long a season to
mature. It may be well to name the faults and virtues of some
kinds here omitted.
CHAMPION (TALMAN, BEACONSFIELD) . The same grape sailing
under different names. The Champion is quite early, and for
this alone is it to be commended. The average tree agent will
urge you to purchase one of each kind. Profitable for market,
but unfit to eat. Iron clad. Origin, New York.
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DIANA. Too late ; vine tender ; ripens, if at all, very un-
evenly, and often has a musky flavor, and odor exceedingly
offensive ; sometimes excellent. Origin, near Boston.
IONA. A very showy grape, of the best quality where it will
ripen ; too late for New England, except in very favorable
localities. Origin, New York.
BLOOD'S PURPLE. Early, sweet, but a shy bearer, and does
not set its fruit well on the bunch. Origin, Massachusetts.
ISABELLA. A good grape when ripe, but requires a favorable
locality and long season ; tender. Origin, South Carolina.
CATAWBA. Has been a famous grape ; too late for the East ;
rots badly. Origin, District of Columbia.
REBECCA. Vine a feeble grower, and tender ; leaves mildew ;
fruit very good.
THE MAIN GKAPE. The Concord under another name. Price
as the "-Main," three dollars; as the Concord, twent} 7 -five
cents.
COTTAGE. Early ; succeeds well in some localities, and fails
in others ; inclined to drop from the stem. A seedling of the
Concord.
ESSEX (ROGERS' No. 41). Excellent quality, poor bunch;
otherwise almost identical with Barry, Wilder, and Herbert.
HERBERT (ROGERS' No. 44). Recommended for trial. Large,
black, very good.
MONROE. " Early and delicious," says Mr. Wilder.
EUMELAN. One of the best in quality, but does not always
succeed. A poor grower, and sets its fruit poorly owing to im-
perfect blossoms.
HILAND. One of Rickett's seedlings, not fully tested ; later
than Concord.
LINDLY (ROGERS' No. 9). One of the best of Mr. Rogers'
hybrids " the best of the reds." " I denominate it the Muscat
of America. It is a most valuable grape every way." So says
Col. Wilder.
MASSASOIT (ROGERS' No. 3). Seems to succeed with all who
have tested it. The earliest of Rogers' hybrids.
116
EARLY DAWN. A new grape recommended by reliable par-
ties, who have tested it in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
EARLY VICTOR. Good in Massachusetts, and promising in
other states.
FOREIGN GRAPES UNDER GLASS.
The number interested in foreign grapes is small ; still there
are occasional inquiries by those about to erect glass structures.
I have had no experience with such as require a long season and
artificial heat, only having grown about twenty varieties in a
common cold grapery. The Black Hamburgh is the standard
foreign grape, and its progeny is about as numerous as that of
the Concord. Among these the Gros Blue, Victoria Hamburgh,
and Wilmot's Black Hamburgh, have given good satisfaction.
The Golden Hamburgh is a shy bearer, and not recommended.
The Sweetwaters, both the Buckland and the White, have failed
to set their fruit evenly, and hence have given very imperfect
bunches. The Lady Downes and White Nice require fire heat
to bring them to perfection. White and Grizzly Frontignan
both succeed well, and the same is true of Bidwell's Seedling
and Bowker. Directions for preparing borders, the erection of
cold graperies, and for the training and management of Tines
under glass, are here omitted for obvious reasons.
DISEASES ROT AND MILDEW.
The rot and mildew are the worst enemies in the form of dis-
ease with which the grape-grower has to contend ; and yet, like
diseases in animal life, they are to a certain extent under his
control. I have only been troubled by mildew. It often de-
stroys both the foliage and fruit, as the fruit cannot mature in
the absence of healthy foliage.
I have not been careful to keep the date of its appearance,
and doubt whether it is governed by any time-table. Dr. Fisher,
of Massachusetts, says, " It usually appears about July 10,
after a wet June. A wet June followed by a dry July causes
mildew, while a dry June followed by a wet July gives us free-
dom from this disease." Dry, powdered sulphur, though not a
specific for mildew in the open air, is perhaps the best remedy
at present known. Half an ounce volatilized on a warm sur-
117
face in a grapery checks the mildew without fail. Sulphur scat-
tered on the ground on the sunny side of a grape trellis will
sometimes ward off mildew, or retard its progress.
If rot and mildew are of fungus origin, as is generally admit-
ted, it is easy to understand why they become more prevalent
and fatal under certain climatic and other conditions. Of course
no one can control the elements, and we can only escape the
consequences of adverse conditions of the season by planting
out such varieties as are usually exempt from mildew, and by
the selection of a soil and location best adapted to a healthy
growth of the vine. We want a warm, well-drained soil, with a
" south side" exposure, and so far elevated as to admit of a
free circulation of air ; and in this way we may escape the fogs
and frosts that are peculiar to and prevalent in the valleys.
Mr. William Saunders, a very intelligent horticulturist, says
the best grape climates are those where there are least dews,
and wherever we find specially favored localities we will find
this partial or total exemption from heavy dews. This has long
ago been demonstrated, and new grapes emanating from favored
regions will fail to give entire satisfaction when grown in local-
ities less favorably situated, and thus lead to disappointment.
This is the reason for so many seemingly conflicting opinions
regarding the merits of varieties, and it is unfortunate that
these considerations are not better understood and recognized.
When a young grape-vine loses its foliage by midsummer, and
the green shoots remain unmatured till frost, that variety might
as well be discarded at once. No known methods of pruning,
fertilizing, or care in cultivation will help it. The only known
remedy is shelter, arranged so as to arrest radiation of heat
from the foliage during nights.
The next most important matter will be to supply plant-food
of a kind and in such quantity only as will produce a moderate,
healthy, annual growth. This subject has been sufficiently dis-
cussed on another page.
Frequent and rather close pruning of laterals will cause a
more full and healthy development of foliage on the leading
canes, and such foliage will be usually able to withstand the
attacks of disease. Dry, hot days, succeeded by cool, foggy
nights, are trying to all varieties having delicate leaves. A vine
118
badly located, badly pruned, and improperly fertilized, whether
starved or overfed, will be in a condition to invite rather than
ward off disease and mildew.
The microscopist has discovered that mildew, rust, and other
fungi are vegetable growths, propagated by spores, and the
practical observer has learned that these will only germinate at
a certain temperature, and under other favorable conditions.
The wild, thick-leaved, native vine is usually exempt from mil-
dew, while the delicate foliage of the foreign species, and many
of the hybrids, and some others that have been " bred too fine,"
cannot, owing to their susceptibility, be grown successfully ex-
cept under glass.
Now there is no doubt that at certain seasons the air is filled
with the spores of fungoid growths, unobserved because so mi-
nute. The common " puff-ball," which is a species of fungus,
when compressed fills the air with its spores as with smoke, and
if each one should find a favorable lodgment, would seed a
whole township. These and other spores are not likely to ad-
here to dry, smooth surfaces, but are caught up by leaves mois-
tened by rain, fog, or dew. It has been found that vines, the
foliage of which is kept dry by a coping, are almost entirely ex-
empt from mildew and rot. This protection may be given,
without great expense, by boards or cloth fastened to the tops
of the trellis posts.
The rotting of the grape has within a few years, in some sea-
sons and localities, nearly ruined the crop. We know little of
the cause, and less of the cure. It is believed by most growers
of the grape to be of fungus origin. One vineyardist, who has
suffered severely by this disease, says he has found out the cause,
and that " it is all cussedness, every bit of it." He does not
claim to have found any remedy.
" Bagging the grape '' has proved to be a preventive wherever
practised. This is simply enclosing the clusters in rather thin
paper bags when the berries are about the size of pease. Per-
forated bags have been invented for this purpose, but the com-
mon two-pound bag used by grocers answers every purpose.
The end of the bag may be folded around the stem of the clus-
ter, or brought up over the cane and fastened with a pin. The
fruit thus protected is secure from attacks of birds and insects,
119
and also from mildew and the rot. But the practice in large
vineyards would require an almost endless amount of labor, and
is not likely to be generally adopted.
INSECTS.
There are but few insects that give us much trouble. That
scourge of the French vineyardist, the phylloxera ( P. vastatrix),
has not yet favored us with a call. It may be advisable for
congress to pass an act suspending its immigration for twenty
years.
Prof. Riley says, " The insect presents itself under several
different forms, all of which belong to two types. One of these
is the Leaf -gall type (gallicola, R.), and the other is found upon
the roots of the vine (radicola, R.).
The first form of the insect produces a gall or excrescence on
the under side of the leaf of the size of an ordinary pea. On
carefully opening one of them, we shall find the mother louse
diligently at work surrounding herself with pale yellow eggs of
an elongated oval form, scarcely .01-inch long, and not quite
half as thick. She is about .04-inch long, generally spherical
in shape, of a dull orange color, and looks not unlike an imma-
ture seed of the common purslane. The eggs begin to hatch
when six or eight days old. The number of eggs in a single
gall averages about two hundred, and every egg brings forth a
fertile female. Laying and hatching continue during the sum-
mer, until the fifth or sixth generation. The insects and galls
multiply to such an extent that the leaves become completely
covered. The autumnal insects, gallicola, descend to the roots,
and there hibernate.
41 As to the phylloxera (Radicola) that destroys the roots of
the vine, little need be said, as it is now admitted to be iden-
tical with the type already described. Galls may be produced
upon the leaves by the same insects that work such mischief to
the roots. The puncture of the roots produces enlargement,
that usually commences at the tip of the rootlets, resulting in
decay, as the supply of sap to the plant and the entire root sys-
tem eventually wastes away, and the vine dies. There are but
slight indications of the presence of the insect the first year of
the attack, and not until the second year are the outward mani-
120
festations of the disease observed. At this stage the leaves
assume a yellowish, sickly appearance, and the canes make but
little growth. The vine usually dies the third year, when cir-
cumstances are favorable for the multiplication of the insect.
The lice desert the plants before they are dead, and of course
are not found on examination of the roots.
" The phylloxera spreads from one county and from one sec-
tion of the same county to another, by the sale and transmission
of vines from infected districts, and great care should be taken
in the purchase of vineyard stock on this account. At particu-
lar stages of their development the winged insects are able to
fly to considerable distances, and undoubtedly spread in this way
from vine to vine and from vineyard to vineyard, but proper
precautions will do much to retard their progress.
'As in case of mildew and rot, some varieties are peculiarly
susceptible to the attacks. The slow-growing and tender varie-
ties are more likely to suffer than those that are hardy and vig-
orous. The Southern Fox-grape ( Vitis vulpina) is said to be
entirely free from attacks in any form, and many of our North-
ern varieties are but little affected. For this reason thousands
of vines and cuttings have been exported, to be used as stocks
on which to graft foreign kinds that are more susceptible.
Roots of our native vines otherwise worthless become valuable
for the purpose here indicated.
"There has yet been discovered but one remedy for this
insect drowning out by irrigation."
The steel-blue beetle ( Haltica chalybea) causes some damage
by eating the buds just as they are swelling, making a hole in
the bud so that it does not develop. The insect lays an egg on
each leaf, and that produces a slug which feeds upon the foli-
age. Examine your vines when the buds are swelling, and
warn them off. They are not very numerous, and can be
quickly seen and destroyed.
Then we have the leaf-roller, a few of which turn up every
year. They roll themselves up in the small, tender leaves at
the end of the growing shoots. Finch off the end of the shoots
containing the small caterpillar, about half an inch long, and
rub it beneath your foot.
The rose-chafer, or rose-bug (Melolontha sub-spinosa), has
121
been seen in some parts of New Hampshire in small numbers,
and occasionally may be seen on the grape-vine when in flower.
Their visits are often quite sudden and informal. Harris, in
his work entitled " Insects Injurious to Vegetation," says " they
are common in the vicinity of Boston," and hence we may regard
them as emphatically Boston bugs. The writer also says, "It
is, or was a few years ago, unknown in the northern and west-
ern part of Massachusetts, in New Hampshire, and in Maine."
Dr. Harris does not claim to be the author of this interesting
little insect, simply its biographer and natural historian. It
moves out into the country in June, to avoid the hay fever, un-
doubtedly, and, like other summer boarders, takes a great inter-
est in small fruits. Dr. Harris says the Melolontha lives forty
days, but its habits of fasting are not in the least like those of
Dr. Tanner.
I am confident that those writers who tell us that the rose-
chafer attacks the flower-buds just before they expand are mis-
taken. I have never seen them on the vine except when in full
flower. They are undoubtedly attracted by the delicate odor of
the blossom. This insect does not trouble flowers that are des-
titute of fragrance. The fragrant varieties of the rose may be
alive with them, while the Prairies by their side will be unmo-
lested. The beetle abandons the grape as soon as out of flower.
I think a smudge, or neighborhood slander, well circulated and
supported in a vineyard during the flowering season, would
overcome the odor of the vine and repel attacks.
My practice has been to jar the insect into a shallow basin
having a small quantity of kerosene at the bottom. This must
be done early in the morning, or when the weather is very cool.
At such times they drop at the slightest touch, but in the mid-
dle of a sunny day they are both lively and shy.
GRAFTING THE VINE.
The vine comes so soon into bearing from cuttings or layers,
and young vines are so cheap, that grafting on to large roots of
inferior varieties is little practised. Still we may gain a point
by grafting the feeble-growing kinds on to the roots of hardy,
strong-growing, native vines. The extra root power of the
stock will insure a more rapid and healthy growth than can be
122
otherwise obtained. Grafts will often make from ten to twenty
feet of wood the first season, and are quite likely to bear the
next year.
Practical vineyardists disagree as to the best time for graft-
ing the vine, but all agree that cleft-grafting below the surface
of the ground is the most successful method. Husmann, of
Missouri, grafts about the middle of March ; others prefer May,
after the leaves have expanded. Fuller performs the operation
in the fall, covering the graft with an inverted flower-pot, and
then with litter, to prevent freezing. He claims that the scion
and stock will form a junction during winter, and will start
sooner in spring. I have had no experience in grafting the vine.
RINGING THE VINE.
This process consists merely in removing a ring of bark from
a cane early in June, when it parts readily from the wood,
below one or more branches of fruit. The effect is to check the
return of sap from the leaves, and cause an enlargement of
the cane and fruit above the ring, and hasten maturity. The
clusters will be so changed in size and season as hardly to be
recognized, unless the cause should be suspected. Fruit thus
produced is always ruled out on the exhibition table, and ring-
ing is seldom practised, except as a matter of curiosity. It
seems now to be admitted, though formerly denied, that the
quality of the fruit is equal to that grown in the ordinary way.
A similar effect may be produced by winding the cane below the
cluster tightly with a wire or strong cord, or even bending the
vine back on itself, making the bow as short as we may without
breaking. The effect of ringing is said to continue for several
years, causing no injury to the vine.
GRAPE-VINES FROM SEED.
There is no skill required in growing vines from seed, but
whoever embarks in this business will find it a lottery, where
the prizes are extremely rare. As in case of other fruits, not
one seedling in a thousand will prove superior to its parent ;
but prizes have occasionally been drawn, and it may pay for
any one taking an interest in grapes to invest a little time in
this scheme.
The question will arise as to the best method to pursue in
123
growing seedlings. Of course no sane person would think of
sowing the seeds of our wild frost and fox grapes, when we
have varieties greatly superior from which seeds may be ob-
tained. The Concord has produced more good seedlings, prob-
ably, than any other hardy variety known. It counts among
its descendants the Cottage, Worden's Seedling, Lady, Moore's
Early, Martha, Pocklington, Hayes, and White Ann Arbor.
Other new varieties of good repute are the result of crossing
or hybridizing with the Concord, namely, Brighton with Diana
Hamburgh ; Hiland with Jura Muscat ; Irving with White Fron-
tignan ; Triumph with a foreign variety ; Jefferson with lona ;
and the Duchess, a cross of a white seedling of the Concord,
with the Walter ; Monroe, a cross of Concord and Delaware.
Here we have a family of children of which any father or mother
might well be proud. Why not erect a monument at Concord,
Mass., the place of its origin, to the Concord grape, and E. W.
Bull, who introduced it?
Dr. Fisher, of Fitchburg, in an address on Grape Culture
before the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, says, "I last
year set two thousand vines nineteen hundred and seventy-
five Concords, and twenty-five other varieties for playthings.
If the Concords were blotted out, after twenty years' experi-
ence I would not grow a grape to sell." J. F. C. Hyde agreed
with Dr. Fisher, and stated that he had never made a dollar on
any grape except the Concord. It is undoubtedly a grape which,
more than any other, adapts itself to a great variety of soil, and
to all situations and conditions. Notwithstanding its fruit
ranks as only second or third rate in quality, yet it is more pop-
ular and profitable than any other variety grown in the country.
This is owing to the healthy, hardy, and vigorous character of
the vine, enabling it to bear neglect, ill treatment, and no treat-
ment at all, and still yield an abundance of good fruit. It is a
better grape for the table or for wine West and South than at
home. Worden and Moore's Early are pressing the Concord hard
for first place.
After what I have written, I will only suggest that in planting
seeds of the Concord we may have a reasonable expectation of
obtaining new varieties of high merit. The fruit should be well
ripened, and selected from perfectly healthy vines. Crush the
124
berries, wash out the seeds, and pack them away in damp sand,
in a cool cellar. Be sure and guard against mice, otherwise the
seeds will come up before they have germinated. Plant out the
seed early in the spring, in fertile, well drained soil, sowing in
drills from one to two inches deep. Others prefer to plant the
grape whole, as soon as it is perfectly ripe. Either method may
be adopted, the latter requiring the least trouble and care. Al-
ways select the best berries from the best clusters, and from
well ripened wood. It will be noticed that sometimes a vine
produces much finer and earlier fruit than most others of its
kind, and no matter whether this is owing to its locality, better
cultivation, or any other cause, it is likely to transmit its superior
merits to its offspring.
Give the young plants partial shade till they have made two
or three leaves, when they may be safely exposed to the sun.
In some cases not more than half the seeds will germinate the
first season. These are the strongest growers, but often prove
sterile and of no value ; while those that grow the second year
will give a larger percentage of valuable seedlings. For this
reason it is advisable to disturb the seed-bed as little as possi-
ble in taking up the vines in the fall, and take good care of such
as grow the second year. If the ground is saturated with
water, seedlings may be pulled up without using a fork or spade.
They require no tying up to stakes the first year, and only the
usual cultivation of a garden crop need be given.
The young vines are likely to be injured by the action of
frost on the roots and tops, if allowed to remain in the ground
over the first winter, and for this reason had better be taken up
and heeled in, in a safe place, where there is no danger from
standing water. The second spring, shorten the roots and top
by a clean cut of the pruning-knife, and plant out in good soil,
two feet apart in the rows, with rows wide enough to admit a
horse and cultivator. Tie up to a stake set by each vine, a
lath will answer, and cultivate as occasion may require. As
the vine reaches nearly to the top of the stake, pinch it off. It
will cause the cane to " stock up," and the leaves will thicken
up and enlarge. By closely observing the foliage and wood,
you may judge of the future character of the seedling. Let the
vines stand exposed during the second winter, because, if any
are likely to prove tender, the sooner we know it the better :
125
they should be condemned at once. Look out for mildew the
second year as well as the first, and, unless the season and lo-
cality are peculiarly unfavorable, reject all those that show un-
healthy foliage.
Cut back the vines the following spring to two buds, and tie
up the shoots, as they grow, to the stakes. Some of the strong-
er vines may show fruit, and a single cluster may be permitted,
as, if it prove worthless, we wish to spend as little time on that
particular specimen as possible. But do not condemn hastily,
as the fruit of the vine often improves as it attains age. Cut
back one of the canes in autumn to two buds, and shorten the
other to three or four feet, to be layered in the spring. The
object of layering before we know more about the seedling is to
obtain vines for early fruiting, as the plants from layers will
often fruit before the parent vine. Seedlings will fruit in from
three to ten years, and any that are slow must be hurried up.
The treatment need not vary much from year to year, till we
learn what is the measure of our success. If in ten years we
could produce a single vine in all respects better than the Con-
cord, our reward would be ample. If one or more seedlings of
value should be obtained, the manner of pruning and training
them in the vineyard will be found explained on another page.
CROSSING AND HYBRIDIZING.
The seedlings above described are not what may properly be
called chance seedlings ; for we have been careful in selecting
good seed from a good variety. But we may do better than this,
there being a shorter road to success. There are numerous
varieties of marked excellence, now well known, that are purely
the result of skill in crossing and hybridizing. These terms are
often used indiscriminately ; but crossing properly applies to the
union of two varieties of the same species, while hybridizing is
the mixture of two species. For example, our native grape
( Vitis Labrusca) and the foreign grape ( Vitis vinifera) are dis-
tinct species ; and it was contended till within a few years that
species could not be mixed. But there is no longer any doubt
of its entire practicability. Allen's Hybrid, Rogers' hybrids,
Rickett's seedlings, and many others, are the results of success-
ful efforts in this direction. No one pretends to doubt that
varieties may be crossed, and most of the so-called chance seed-
126
lings are the result of crossing without our aid. It is now well
known that all perfect flowers have what are termed male and
female organs. As these are found in the same flower, self-
fertilization is constantly taking place. But in crossing we
must prevent self-fertilization, by removing the male organs and
impregnating the germ by a flower of another variety.
Now the flower of the grape is very minute ; so minute that
its several parts can hardly be seen without the aid of a micro-
scope of small power. As this subject is of so much impor-
tance and so exceedingly interesting, I here present magnified
views of the grape flower, so that the operation of crossing may
be clearly understood.
In Fig. 56, 1 represents the flower-bud before it has expand-
ed, and just at the time when crossing must be attempted if we
would be successful. The calyx (A, 1), forming as it does a
sort of cap to the organs beneath, is being raised up by the
elongation of the stamens as seen fully expanded at B, 2, and
is just ready to be thrown off, leaving the pistil, which is the
large central organ, exposed. That part of the pistil resem-
bling a blunt perforated point, as seen at 2 or 3, is the stigma.
The fine, small organs projecting from every side of the pistil
are the stamens, and consist of the anthers (B) and the fila-
ments (D) by which they are supported. The anthers are filled
with an exceedingly fine powder called pollen, which is shaken
out by every movement of the wind, and carried by
insects from flower to flower. It finds its way to,
and lodges on, the stigma, which contains a viscid
substance, by which the pollen is made to adhere.
The pistil contains the rudimentary seeds, and. when
fertilized, enlarges and becomes the fruit.
I do not propose to go at length into botany, but
suffice it to say, that, in the absence of pollen, no
such thing as fertilization could occur, and no fruit
could be formed. In a few days the entire flower
would drop off, " blight," as it is termed, and
the vine would be barren. The pistil is fertilized
by the pollen from the anthers (B) through the
stigma (3). Now if the anthers are removed as at
(D), no fruit would form for want of fertilization,
127
unless pollen was received from some other flower. This might
occur, as insects are constantly flitting from flower to flower
with their downy coats covered with pollen, and, as it is very
subtile, the air is filled with it when the vine is in flower. Cross-
ing is constantly taking place in fruits, flowers, and vines, when
two or more varieties are in blossom at the same time. The ef-
fect is not manifest in the fruit the same year, but only when
we plant the seed and grow fruit therefrom.
Now, unfortunately, we have no perfect fruits or flowers.
Some are very near perfection in one or two particulars, but
fail to fill the bill in others. We find another variety that ex-
cels, and fails in just the opposite requisites. If we can but
unite the surpassing excellence of both in one variety, we shall
have arrived almost at the end of our journey. We want a
grape as large in bunch and berry as the Black Hamburg ; as
hardy, healthy, and productive as the Concord ; at least two
weeks earlier than the Hartford Prolific ; that will bear handling
as well and keep as long as the Diana ; and in quality, equal to
the Delaware in its best condition. This would not give us a
perfect grape ; but to enumerate other requisites might tend to
discourage all efforts for improvement.
If the ideal grape is ever produced, it is likely to be by cross-
ing or hybridizing varieties and species having the characteris-
tics that we wish to combine. The desired result may be at-
tained when least expected. But, while in crossing we may hope
to unite the best qualities of two varieties, it may happen that
we get only the faults of both ; yet our chances of success are
enhanced by breeding from ancestry having the best blood.
The question, How shall we proceed in crossing so as to ob-
tain a new variety having the characteristics of both parents?
has already been hinted at, but may require a more minute ex-
planation. The cut (2, Fig. 56) shows a perfect flower after
the calyx has been removed. The pollen from stamens sur-
rounding the pistil will be sure, under favorable conditions, to
fall upon the stigma, when fertilization will occur. We say that
such a flower is self-fertilized ; but, if we remove the calyx as
soon as it can be done, before the flower expands, and clip off
the anthers with pointed scissors, as shown at Z), Fig. 56,
self-fertilization cannot occur. Then gather the pollen from
128
some other variety on a small camel's-hair brush and apply it
to the stigma of the flower to be fertilized. If the pollen and
the stigma are in the right condition, we are reasonably certain
of success, and this will be indicated in a few days by the swell-
ing of the fertilized berry. It may happen, that, owing to differ-
ence of a few days in the time of flowering, the pollen may be
in its best condition before the variety to receive it is sufficiently
advanced. In this case we have only to collect and " bottle
up " the pollen, as a physician treats his vaccine matter, till
wanted for use. It may, in this way, be preserved for many
days, and sent long distances perhaps around the world by
mail. It may, at no distant day, become an article of com-
merce, along with Irish potatoes, or oleomargarine and other
soap-grease. To make sure that the prepared flower is not fer-
tilized by insects, or pollen floating in the air, it should be cov-
ered with gauze or oiled silk for a few days, both before and
after the pollen is applied.
Of course, no one will confine his efforts to a single cluster,
or a single cross ; but the bunches should be carefully labelled,
and a record kept for future reference. The seeds or berries
are to be preserved and planted, and the seedling vines treated
and trained according to the directions before given. It will be
found in plant as in animal life, that the offspring resulting
from a cross will in some instances resemble one parent more
than the other, that having the strongest blood, or a character
more firmly fixed, prevailing. Here we have the doctrine of
prepotency in vegetable life.
It is well known that the foreign grape ( Vitis vinifera), while
it is of superior quality, cannot endure exposure in our climate.
Our native vine (Vitis Labrusca) is as hardy as an oak, sour,
pulpy, and foxy to the last degree. To unite the hardiness of
our native grape with the almost perfect quality of the foreign
species is what Mr. Rogers and others have attempted ; and the
numerous seedlings they have given us, which are almost if not
quite equal to the best foreign varieties, attest their wonderful
success.
In 1852 the American Pomological Society only recommended
two varieties of grapes the Catawba and the Isabella for gen-
eral cultivation ; and in 1858, three others the Diana, Concord,
129
and Delaware were added. Now, purchasers are confused by
the long lists in the catalogues from which to select. This
shows what science and skilful practice, when working in har-
mony, accomplish.
GATHERING AND KEEPING GRAPES.
The grape is not, like most of the small fruits, a luxury that
can be enjoyed only for a few days. However early it may
ripen, it will improve by hanging on the vine till there is danger
of severe frosts. It will not improve after being gathered.
Some varieties keep for months, retaining their flavor to the last,
while others become insipid in a short time ; a few dry into a
raisin.
The grape should be gathered when in its best condition, on
a perfectly dry day, and handled with the utmost care. Look
over each bunch, and remove all unsound and imperfect berries.
Pack in clean boxes, in layers, between sheets of cotton batting,
and store in a cool room or dry cellar. The Diana is one of the
best keepers, while the Concord and its seedlings soon become
worthless. This is undoubtedly owing to their thin, tender skin,
that is easily ruptured in handling. Some pack in leaves, and
others in dry hard wood saw-dust. Avoid any substance that
will impart an unpleasant flavor to the fruit.
A FEW LAST WORDS.
I wish to impress upon the mind of whoever may take the
trouble to read what is here written, some of the most important
conditions in successful grape-culture in our northern latitude.
Never set a vineyard except with hardy varieties, such as will
endure the extreme changes of our climate in winter on the stake
or trellis, without protection.
Plant out only the best vines, not more than two years old,
grown from well ripened wood, of vigorous and healthy parents.
Select rather light but warm soil, naturally or artificially
drained, having an inclination to the south, southwest, or south-
east. Avoid heavy clay or muck on the one hand, and a hungry
sand on the other.
Plow not more than one foot deep, and never turn the sub-soil
to the surface.
9
130
Manure with fine old compost, as for a good crop of corn,
say ten cords to the acre. This preparation may be followed by
mineral manures ashes, ground bone, and gypsum once in
two or three years.
The Delaware and other slow growers will endure and require
higher fertilization.
High manuring with rank nitrogenous manures causes a lux-
uriant growth of immature, spongy wood, in no condition to
withstand disease and exposure, or to produce the best results
in fruit. You want fruit, not barren canes.
Never select a spot for a vine where the soil or the foliage
will be shaded. What is wanted is heat, especially at the root.
Ten degrees of heat will hasten maturity at least ten days.
Plant in situations protected by buildings, belts of evergreen
trees, hedges, or high fences, when practicable. These will
break the sweep of violent winds, that would otherwise drive off
the heat so important to the vine. A hill-side is preferable to a
valley.
Heavy, wet soil is to be avoided, as the temperature will be
reduced by constant evaporation. The vine seldom fails for
want of moisture.
Do not plant too many kinds for the market ; but for the gar-
den, let the varieties be such as to suit all tastes, and the quan-
tity abundant.
Be cautious how you invest largely in new, high-priced varie-
ties. Wait a little, and such vines will be as cheap as any, and
you are not likely to want them at any price. They will have
proved their entire worthlessness, or that they are no better than
the old standard kinds.
Never divest a vine of its leaves to let in the sun, thinking
thereby to hasten ripening. The exposure of the fruit to our
hot suns by day, and cold winds and foggy air at night, will re-
sult in mildew and all manner of mischief. The foliage affords
a natural shade and protection to the fruit ; and the more luxu-
riant the foliage, other conditions being equal, the larger the
fruit and the richer the flavor.
INDEX.
BLACKBEKRY 72
Cultivation of 72
Descriptive list of 73
Diseases of 74
Distance of plants 72
Hardy varieties 72
Mulching 67
Picking the fruit 72
Pinching back 72
Red or Orange rust 74
Remedies for rust 74
Training 72
Varieties of 73
Bonanza 7-'5
Brunton's Early 73
Dorchester 73
Early Harvest , 73
Kittatiuny 73
Lawton 74
Missouri Mammoth 73
New Rochelle 74
Snyder ' 73
Stayman's Early 74
Stone's Hardy 74
Taylor's Prolific 73
Wachusett 73
Western Triumph 73
Wilson's Early 74
Wilson Junior 74
CRANBERRY. 84
( 'oloring and cleaning . 90
Cost of a bog 89
Cultivation of 88
Distance for setting 88
Ditches and dikes 85
Duration of meadows 84
Flooding bogs 85
Insect enemies 87
Picking the fruit 89
Preparing the bog 85
Profits of the crops 89
Sand, importance of 86
Selecting th-^ plot 85
Selecting plants 87
Setting the plants 88
The fruit-worm 87
The vine-worm 87
Upland culture 85
Varieties of 87
American varieties 88
Bell Kf
Bugle 87
Cape Cod 88
Cherry 87
132 INDEX.
CURRAXT 76
Cultivati-n of 77
Insect enemies 78
Mulching 77
Propagation by seeds 82
Propagation by cuttings 77
Pruning and training 78
Shade for 78
Soil for 76
Transplanting 81
Varieties 80
Belgian 81
Black Naples 81
Cherry 80
Dana's Transparent 80
Fay's Prolific 81
Lee's Prolific 81
Red Dutch 80
Versailles 80
White Dutch 80
White Grape 80
GOOSEBERRY 82
Cultivation of. 83
Close pruning 84
Distance for planting 84
Grow in the shade 83
High manuring 83
M ild.-w of. 83
Propagation of 82
Native varieties 83
Downing. 83
Houghton 83
Mountain e3
Orange 83
Pal e Red 83
Smith's.. 83
English varieties 84
Crown Bob 84
Glenton Green 84
Roaring Lion 83
Wellington's Glory 84
Whitesmith 84
Yellow Amber 84
GRAPE 93
At the North 93
A few last words 129
Bagging the fruit 118
Bleeding of vines 106
Bone and ashes for 107
Climate for 117
Compost for 107
Concord for market 123
Cropping 109
Crossing varieties 125
Cultivation of 108
Cuttings 96
Descriptive lit Ill
Diseases of.... 116
INDEX. 133
GRAPE
Distance to plant 104
Exposure 93
Foreign vines 116
Fungus, how spread 118
" protection from 118
" sulphur for 116
Gathering and keeping 129
Grafting the vine 121
Growing seedlings 122
" in waste places 94
Heeling in 98
Hybridizing 1-.5
Insects 119
" Leaf-roller 120
" Phylloxera 119
" Rose-chafer 120
" Steel-blue beetle 120
' remedies 120
Layering the vine 97
Manures for 107
Mildew 116
Northern limit of 93
New from seeds 122
Over-cropping 109
On fences and ledges 94
Pinching in 97
Plauting cuttings 97
Propagation 96
" from seeds 122
" by buds 95
" by cuttings 96
" by layers 97
Pruning, time for 1 06
' ' and training 1 00
Ringing the vine 122
Rot and mildew 116
Selection of varieties 110
Seedlings of Concord 123
Soil for 93
Starting under glass 95
Sulphur for mildew 116
The ideal grape 127
Thinning fruit 09
Tools required (8
Training and pruning .100
Transplanting 98
Tying to stakes 97
Trenching 94
Trellises It 3
" and stakes 106
Vines from a distance 98
Winter protection 105
DESCRIPTIVE LIST, 111
Adirondac Ill
Agawam Ill
Allen's Hybrid Ill
Barry Ill
9*
136 INDEX.
RASPBERRY
Hiland Hardy 71
Hopkins 71
Hornet 71
Hudson River Antwerp 71
Imperhd Red 71
Kenevett 71
Lost Rubies 71
Marlboro 69
McCormick 70
Miami 71
Miller's Woodland 71
Nemaha 71
Ohio 70
Ohio Everbearing 72
Orange (Brinckle's) 72
Philadelphia 72
Pride of the Hudson 72
Purple Cane 72
Raiicocas 69
Reliance 69
Shaffer's Colossal 71
Smith's 72
Souhegan 71
Superb 70
Thwack 72
Turner 70
Tyler 72
Wilson's Early 74
Wilson Junior 74
STRAWBE RRY 7
Advice to the novice 10
Adaptation of soil 24
Adaptation of varieties 24
Crossing arid hybridizing 32
Crossing, method of 35
Crates and baskets 50
Cultivatio n 38
Cutting runners 38
Drainage 14
Distance for plants 22
Directions for planting 19
Early and late flowering 43
Exhibition fruit 46
Fertilizers 15
Field notes 43
Growing in hills 22
" in matted rows 21
" in beds 22
Hastening maturity 46
Insect enemies 40
Imperfect flowers 32
Leaf-roller 41
Manure 15
Mistakes in planting 21
Mulching 39
New varieties from seed . 30
INDEX. 137
STRAWBERRY-
Ordering new varieties 25
Over-praised fruits 27
Packing fruit 50
Picking and pickers 48
Packing plants 37
Plants by mail 37
Plants from a distance 36
Protecting from frosts 42
Planting for home use 47
Planting on sod 14
Perfect flowers 32
Potted plants. 18
Preparation of soil 12
Rapid propagation 29
Retarding maturity 46
Kunner plants 20
Sexuality of flowers 32
Size of berries 45
Season for setting 16
Shipping plants 37
Substitutions 26
Table of distances 23
Treatment of seedlings 31
What to plant 23
White grub 40
Winter protection 39
Varieties, list of. 53
Atlantic 53
Bid well 53
Boyden No. 30. 53
Captain Jack 54
Champion 54
Charles Downing 54
Crescent 54
Cumberland 54
Downer's Prolific 55
Dutchess 55
Glendale 55
Great American 55
Hervey Davis 55
Hovey 55
James Vick 55
Jersey Queen 56
Kentucky 56
Manchester 56
Miner's Prolific 56
Monarch 56
Mount Vernon 56
Mrs. Garfield 56
Pioneer 57
Prouty 57
Sharpless 57
Triomph de Gand 57
Wilder 57
Wilson 57
List for trial 58
138 INDEX.
STRAWBERRY-
Black Defiance 58
Col. Cheney 58
Crystal City 58
Daniel Boon 58
Duncan 58
Finch 58
Forest Rose 58
Green Prolific 58
Golden Defiance 58
Jumbo 58
Jucunda 58
Longfellow 58
Park Beauty 58
Old Iron Clad 58
Piper's Seedling 58
Primo 58
Ray's Prolific 58
Russell's Advance 58
Seneca Queen 58
Shirts 58
Triple Crown 58
Warren 58
STAMPED BELOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
,'J U
DUE SEP 3 1971
AUG23REC'D
UCD LIBRARY
DUE JAN 11
JAN 12
NOV24 1980 RE
LIBRARY, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DAVIS
UNIVERSITY OP CALIFORNIA
Book Slip-10m-9,'46(A302s4)458
Small frulits.
;
.
H*
