The Portland daily press., 1880-04-28
AGRICULTURAL.



The time for planting strawberries, rasp-
berries, currants, gooseberrieS and black
berries is now at hand. They add so much
TO the attractions and associations Of home
lie In the country, and are so easily and
surely productive that none should be with
out them. If there is a choice of land for
the fruit garden, choose deep, rich, well
drained land, with northern exposure. If
nothing but poor, dry land can be had, then
we must choose our kinds to plant; for not
many will thrive on poor land.
Strawberries may be planted on the same
land with currants, raspberries or blackber-
RES, since they come into bearing the year
after they are planted, and can be dug up
when the bushes make much growth. 1t will
be two or three years before we can realize
a 1ull crop from the bushes, but with good
care they will continue in bearing eight
years or more. The land should be deeply
plowed, and well MANFRED, except for black
berries, and the black caps or thimbleber-
ries; these latter do well ON rather poor, dry
land with moderate dressing of muck,
ashes and bone dust
Blackberries and thimbleberries should
have eight feet between the rows, and if the
hardy sorts are planted, such as SNYDER and
Britton blackberries, and the Gregg and
Mammoth Cluster thimbleberries, they can
be grown best without stakes or covering,
pruning the young growth severely in Sum-
mer, so as to make it stocky and self-sup-
porting. The Wilson's Early and Dorches-
ter and Kittatinny blackberries are all excel
lent sorts, but are too tender to give a sure
crop when left standing, and SO difficult to
cover that few undertake 1t.
Raspberries require good, strong, rich,
moist, but well drained land. The best ia
BILE berry is the Brinkle's Orange; it is a ten
der nlant hOxyavar hot tao eoft Co.
marketing. The best market berries that
have been well tested here are the Herstine
and Brandywine. The newer sorts of prom
Use are the Cuthbert and the Queen of the
Market. Set them six feet by three, stake
them and cover them if you wish the best
results; many nurserymen advertise "per-
fectly hardy raspberries, some of them will
endure our winters partially, have never
yet seen one that it would not pay to cover.
There is good deal of comfort in growing
these fruits, since the cultivation, wedding
and picking is all done standing up. not re-
quiring, as strawberries do, to grovel on our
knees in repentance of sins we hope we are
not guilty of.
Strawberries coming the first of all the
fresh fruits of Summer, and being much the
most important of all the market fruits, and
being withal the quickest in their returns of
profit, they are the general favorites of the
marketman and gardener. No fruit is so
varied, however, in its needs, some kinds
like the LUCINDA, Triomphe and La Con-
stante, demanding the best of heavy land,
while others, like the Chas. Downing, Ken
lucky, and Crescent Seeding, do almost as
well on land comparatively poor.
Strawberries do well on land that was ma
nured the year before for vegetables, and
then simply dressed with ground bone and
ashes, 25O pounds per acre each. They
should be set in rows % feet apart, if on
poor land, and cultivated so as to keep a
path foot wide open, always running the
cultivator the same way, so as not to drag
out the runners. Others set them in rows
four feet apart; this is better for strong land
and the strong growing kinds.
1t is not often good practice to keep over
an old bed OF strawberries; after one crop.
the wedding costs more than the growing
new bed.
The best Winter covering for strawberries
is strawy manure that has been heated and
turned over just enough to kill the seeds it
contains, but not enough to make it fine or
heavy. Sedge, eel-grass, and blue-joint bog
hay. are all good.
Currants require good, strong, heavy land.
such as will grow onions and celery. They
will repay liberal manuring, and need prun-
ing yearly. The best sorts are the cherry
and the Imperial Belgian; the Cherry is the
largest and the standard sort in market, but
less productive than the Belgian, which also
will hang on late in Summer without injury.
The Red Dutch is good sort, but not large
enough to sell well in market. Currants
will bear about eight pounds per bush when
in best order, but half this amount is a fair
average. They should be set five feet by
four. Mulching them in Summer is good
for them, and is about as cheap as hoeing.
Nothing among the whole list of fr,,;te 10 60
indispensable for jelly; it is also one of the
most refreshing of all fruits, eaten raw with
plenty of beet sugar, and should be popular,
therefore, about Portland and Franklin
among the sugar beet growers.-W. d. Phil
brick, in New England Farmer.