Part 15

Even in field culture the runners have to be attended to as soon as they commence to form. Allowing several to develop from each plant will make the row a comparatively solid mass of from fifteen to eighteen inches wide at the end of the season. A field set out in June or early July will give a full crop the following year and be nearly as productive the second year if early cultivated and fertilised, but after that should be ploughed up and the ground used for potatoes, cabbage or some other crops before it is again used for strawberries.

The ground on which strawberries are to be grown should have been well enriched with barn-yard manure for previous crops, but commercial fertiliser should be used while berries hold possession of the ground, for barn-yard manure is apt to contain the spores of fungus diseases which attack strawberries. Any sign of these diseases should be instantly checked by spraying with Bordeaux mixture. One thing more. When purchasing plants, remember that there are what are called perfect and imperfect plants. The latter are just as good for all practical purposes if planted side by side with perfect plants, but not otherwise.

HOW TO GROW SMALL FRUITS

If gathered when ripe, and served at once, berries--in fact, all the small fruits--are undoubtedly luxuries. So the country home should always devote some space to them, no matter how small the garden may be; and when the home is a farm, expected to become self-supporting, the berry orchard should be established immediately after taking possession, for the outlay is little, returns quick, and necessary knowledge is very easily acquired. Therefore, small fruits are a permanent branch of husbandry to be recommended to the amateur of small means, who needs a marketable commodity to keep the pot boiling.

Like most old farms, our place had a few neglected currant bushes, a patch of half-wild black and red raspberries, and a strawberry bed in a most demoralised condition. But even these poor degenerates convinced us of the economy of growing small fruits for our own use, and the profit to be derived by supplying other people’s tables. Besides the luxury of having freshly-gathered fruit, there are preserves, jellies and cordials for winter use. At the end of the first year we thoroughly pruned and cultivated the old brambles, and planted half an acre with brambles and black and red currants. Afterward the space was enlarged, until we had a good-sized berry orchard, which has always shown a profit even in the worst seasons. Brambles will grow in almost any ground, but if well fed and given a congenial home they yield much better. The fruit is larger, better coloured and finer flavoured. So, when possible, select ground that is somewhat sandy in character, with a heavy subsoil. Ground that has been under cultivation for two or three seasons is best, because it will have been well worked, and so will be comparatively free from weeds. Commence with a small patch, say half an acre, divided equally between black and red raspberries, blackberries and black and red currants. Strawberries cannot be included in a general small-fruit orchard, because the beds are profitable for only three years, and it is better to take them into regular crop rotation, using ground that has previously been occupied by potatoes or corn. As space is somewhat limited, we will devote this chapter to brambles and currants.

There are new plants for favour each year in nursery catalogues, but we will cover only a few of the old stand-bys, such as the following list: Raspberries (red), Columbian and Cuthbert; (black) Gregg and Cumberland; blackberries, Wilson and Taylor; currants, Red Cherry and Fay’s Prolific; gooseberries, Industry and Pearl. The best plan is to purchase a few dozen plants of each variety from some good nursery for parent stock, and when they are once well set, do your own propagating from them. Raspberries should be set three feet apart, in rows five feet apart. Have the ground well dressed with stable manure, and mark off in rows. It is best to use a plough for the marking, as you then have a furrow about the right depth in which to plant. If the plants have travelled far, stand them in a shallow pan or half barrel, and cover the roots with water for ten or twelve hours before planting. Brambles that are kept well trimmed need no staking out, but when planting young stock it is well to have some stakes cut about four feet long and pointed at one end. Drive one every three feet along the rows, and then set the plant close up to it. Spread out the roots in the natural form, and firm the earth well around them, then tie the canes loosely to the stake, to prevent the wind from blowing them from side to side. Unless stakes are used at this time, brambles or small bushes sway from side to side in every light breeze, and the roots are loosened, thus preventing them from gaining any hold on the ground. Cultivation should be as thorough and constant as for corn until August, as it is required to keep down weeds and permit growth. After August, cultivation should stop, to check the growth and allow the summer wood time to ripen before frost.

To those who are new to gardening, the above may need some explanation. Cultivation--by which is meant stirring the surface soil with the cultivator or garden rake--prevents the moisture from escaping from the ground. Moisture releases and brings into consumable form the different properties of the soil which constitute plant-food. A bountiful supply of nourishment naturally promotes growth. Stop cultivation, and food decreases, growth stops, and the tender twigs at the extremity of branches have time to harden sufficiently to resist frost that would kill new growth.

Planting and general care are virtually the same with blackberries. Raspberries are of a weedy or spreading nature, and throw up new shoots from root beds, which must be kept down between rows, or the patch will become a tangled wilderness within a few years. Even during the first summer after setting out it is advisable to top-prune as fresh growth is made. Don’t allow the canes to grow to a length of more than twenty inches. The pinching off of the ends forces them to throw out side branches and more canes from the main root, a very desirable thing, as fruit is borne only on the extremity of branches grown the preceding year. After the first year all the old canes which have borne fruit must be cut out. In winter, when sap has returned to the roots, is the best time for this work; but as the amateur may find some difficulty in distinguishing the old canes from the new ones, it is safer to do the demolishing soon after the fruit has been gathered, when there can be no mistake. Each fall throw well-rotted stable manure around the roots of each plant, and fork it into the ground as early in the spring as the weather permits. At the same time run the plough between the rows, to destroy the undesirable root shoots. Blackberries do not form root beds that send up new shoots, so the ploughing need not be practised between the rows; otherwise, clearing and pruning are virtually the same as for raspberries.

When more plants are required of the raspberry family, allow some of the root shoots to develop during the summer, and early the following spring take them up with a sharp spade, which will sever the connection between the new and the old plant without injury to either. As blackberries do not throw up new plants in the same way, they must be created from seeds or layers. Allow one or two canes of old plants to grow long enough to fall over and reach the ground, and in August peg the tops to the ground with a forked stick, and draw up a little mould around each. They will soon throw out roots and top growth, and early the following spring can be cut from the parent branch about eight inches above the rooted end. Dig up a new plant, and set in rows the same as raspberries. All the brambles are very vigorous growers and remarkably free from disease, but it is advisable to keep a lookout for the anthracnose, which is a greyish-looking spot with a purple centre. They are most likely to make their appearance in summer on young canes, and if not checked, multiply and eventually kill the plants. Cut out any affected canes immediately after discovery, and burn. Spray the adjacent plants with Bordeaux mixture two or three times, allowing twelve or fifteen days between the applications. If old plants are affected, they don’t need any consideration--take shoots from them. Orange-rust is the yellowish-looking spot on the under side of the leaves. The only remedy is to dig up, and cremate, but I truly think, instead of talking about cause and cure of occasional diseases, it is better to set out new plants every five or six years, for fresh-grown youthful vigour invariably militates disease more than any amount of doctoring.

Currants, both black and red, should be in every small-fruit orchard; or if there is no special orchard, a few bushes should be planted in the vegetable garden. Bushes should stand five feet apart, in a partly shady position if possible, and in rich, moist soil. Currant bushes bear for many years if properly cared for, and in their case pruning need not be an annual occurrence, as the same branches will bear for several years; it is advisable, however, to cut out a few of the older branches every two or three years, and encourage new growth. Early in the spring spray well, and again after the fruit has formed, and yet again late in the summer, for borers. This is the worst and commonest enemy the currant has. It originates from a dark-blue moth with yellow bands across the body, which lays its eggs on the buds of the outer branches. The eggs hatch into small white caterpillars with dark heads. After destroying the appearance of the bush they bore to the centre of the stems, and remain there until the following year. Much disease and many insect pests will be averted if all dead leaves are raked up from under the bushes in the late fall, and burned. Mulch around the bushes in the early winter with stable manure, and fork into the ground the following spring. Stock can be increased either by dividing large bushes, which is really the quickest way, or by taking cuttings. If the latter method is followed--and when there are only young bushes on the premises, it will have to be--take about eight inches off the end of well-developed branches of the same season’s growth. Plant them so that all but the top leaf-bud is under ground. They need not be set more than three inches apart, and must be transplanted the following year. August is the best season to take the cuttings, as it gives them time to form roots before frost. In November protect them slightly with a mulch of straw or leaves. They should remain in the nursery bed for a year before being transplanted again to their permanent position.

Gooseberries are usually picked green and used for pies, but when the large-fruiting varieties are grown they are delicious raw when ripe. The soil should be rich, heavy loam well drained. Little pruning is needed for the first two or three years beyond the clipping back of the shoots to develop fruit spurs along the cane, but of course weak or broken branches must be removed.

Propagation is done by suckers and mound layers, though the American varieties grow easily from cuttings. To procure strong mound layers, cut the old bushes back in the late fall or early spring to encourage new shoots to spring up from the roots, and when they are from one to two feet high press them outward from the parent plant, covering the base of the shoot up to about four inches above the root with earth, packing it well down. Then in the fall or following spring sever the shoot from the parent plant and transplant to the permanent home. Let them stand about four feet apart each way.

HOW TO RAISE PERENNIAL PLANTS

The revival of the old-time hardy garden has become such a craze among fashionable folk that the country woman who desires to add to her income will find growing perennial plants for sale a profitable occupation, provided, remember, that there is a well-to-do community near at hand where she may find a ready market.

Like all occupations which have to do with Nature, it is folly to attempt it unless you have an innate love of the work, for it requires the comprehensive sympathy of a real affinity, as well as technical knowledge, to rear either plants or animals successfully.

The great advantage in raising bedding plants is the small space and capital required. A hundred square feet, and two or three dollars for seeds, will enable anyone to make a beginning, which can easily be worked up into a large business. The correct month for starting perennials from seed is June, but as that necessitates waiting about nine months for any returns, I am sure the beginner will agree with me in thinking it is best to start some in the house or hotbed, for then the varieties which flower the first season can be sold in May or June, and those which don’t flower until the second season will be large, strong plants in October, when many people set out hardy plants.

The sashes for hotbeds, glazed and painted ready for use, cost only three dollars and fifty cents each, and the walls of the beds can be made out of any old boards, so they do not add very much to the expense of starting, but if you do not care to undertake anything so professional as this at first, it is quite possible to manage with shallow boxes, if you have a south or southeast window in a room which averages from sixty to sixty-five degrees.

The first consideration is getting good potting mould for the seed-beds or boxes. It must be light and fibrous, a condition best arrived at by shaving off the under side of grass sods, and mixing with about twice the amount of ordinary garden soil and a little fine sand. But as you are not likely to have a store of sods, and the frozen condition of the ground will make it difficult to get them, you must substitute well-rotted cow manure. Have ordinary garden soil carried into some place warm enough to dissipate all frost, then mix thoroughly with the pulverised manure and sand. Pass through a fine sieve, and it will be ready for use.

Even when the hotbed is used, it is better to have small boxes for the different varieties of seeds, and stand them in the hotbed, instead of sowing the seed directly in the bed itself, for some varieties take longer than others to germinate, and it is a difficult problem to ventilate and water a bed containing a miscellaneous assortment, but when the seeds are in boxes, they can be removed from the bed during the warm part of the day, and the difficulty is militated. Boxes should be about two and a half inches deep, and have a few cracks or holes in the bottom for drainage. Cover the bottom with a layer of coal ashes, then fill to within a quarter of an inch of the top with the potting-mould. Smooth it off evenly, water and stand in a warm place.

Within a few days there will be a crop of weed seedlings. Demolish them, rewater and allow a few days to elapse on the chance of a second crop appearing, after which it will be safe to do the planting. It is a good scheme to use a flour or powdered-sugar shaker for very small seeds, instead of trying to sow them by hand. When seeds are large enough to handle individually, like hollyhocks, push them into the soil with the point of a pencil or a wooden-skewer, half an inch apart in rows one inch apart.

After the seeds have been placed, scatter mould over them. The amount has to be determined by the size of the seeds. The general rule is, twice their own depth; but with the very minute varieties it is better to put no covering at all.

No matter what the depth of covering, the soil must be pressed firmly down with a smooth piece of board, cut to fit inside the box. A desk-blotter or roller is very convenient, and does the work very evenly. Do not be afraid to press down firmly. The seeds must be closely imbedded in the soil, otherwise the air will dry up the first frail sprouts and kill them. After the rolling and pressing, sprinkle with water, then cover with a piece of glass or paper, and stand in the hotbed or window.

Covering the boxes with glass or paper is done to retard evaporation. Seeds must never be allowed to dry out during the time of germination; watering is so likely to disturb the soil around them that it is to be avoided if possible, but if it has to be done, use a very fine rose on the sprinkler, warm water and be very careful.

After the seedlings appear, remove the covering, and when the second leaves have developed, transplant into fresh boxes if you are depending on window culture. If you have a hotbed, they can be set in rows from one to two inches apart, according to the size of the plants.

During the bright warm days the sash of the hotbed should be raised or entirely removed, but be very watchful of the weather. Spring is such a treacherous time of year that the warm mornings may develop into frosty afternoons. Always replace the sash over the hotbed by three o’clock in the afternoon, and cover with mats before dusk. As soon as the ground is in condition for the outside nursery beds, dig and thoroughly cultivate, for the plants which are to be held over for fall sales must be bedded out as soon as all fear of frost is past, and seeds sown for the next year’s stock.

The seed-beds in the open ground must be well prepared and made very fine and fibrous. Sow the seeds in rows and transplant as with the house seedlings. Beds must all be kept free from weeds and under good cultivation during the growing season. When severe weather comes in the fall, cover lightly with leaves or soil, and the plants will winter safely and be ready for spring sales the following year. The house-raised seedlings which are to be sold for this year’s bedding can go into garden beds, but it is really better to put them into small individual pots, which should be partly submerged in soil or sand. Customers will usually pay a few cents extra for pot-plants.

There is such an endless variety of perennial plants that it is impossible to grow them all; in fact, it would be very foolish to try to do so. Select the best-known and most popular kinds, and have some of different sizes, so that you can make up selections for beds. Hollyhocks, foxgloves, golden glow, monk’s-hood all range from three and a half to five feet in height. After them come phlox, larkspur, false dragon’s-head, Canterbury bells and bergamot. A step lower are bleeding-heart, columbine, leopard’s-bane, asters, sweet-williams and wallflowers. Still lower are Iceland poppies, Japanese primroses, wake-robin and pansies.

The first year it would add to your profit to grow a few of the annual varieties in the hotbed collection: Hollyhocks, sweet sultans, sweet tobacco, asters, wallflowers, mignonette and salvia. Among the perennials which will flower the first season if seed is sown in boxes or hotbeds, are monk’s-hood (which is one of the most charming of the tall blue flowers and comes also in white, and blue-white mixed); larkspur; Chinese bellflower (large bell-shaped flowers of steel blue, white and violet); heliotrope and marshmallows (pink, rose colour, white with crimson spots, and golden yellow with maroon centres)--these are amongst the most valuable of the first-year bloomers, for they flower all through the summer. Three of the most fragrant annuals are sweet tobacco, sweet sultan and mignonette.