The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-11-12
SMALL FRUITS.
How Young Plants and Bushes Can be
Wintered Most Successfully.

Wintered Most Successfully.
notice that the demand for small
fruits is constantly increasing. This is
especially the case in the West and
North where the natural conditions are
not the most favorable to tree growth.
, l am daily receiving orders from Iowa,
Missouri, Kansas. Nebraska, Dakota
and Minnesota. Most of these orders
are for small! fruits, such as blackbe err
ries. raspberries. gooseberries. currants,
grapes and the Ike.
The freight or express charges on
such small stock being very light. the
distance enters but little into consider
alton. Many small orders can be safe
" filed by mail. by which medium it
costs no more TO transport one thousand
miles than it does ten. BY the Use of
damp moss and oiled paper. small or
ders can be handled very cheaply and
safely by mail.
But what | wished to speak of par
ticularly is the method of winterinc
young small fruit plants and bushes.
l do not find fall planting of fruit trees
al
they make live of it. which is not at
all certain, see no gain in the fall
planting. The plants can do no more
than to sustain themselves through the
winter. They are in the ground ready
tor the earliest spring growth. and that
/ think, is all that can be said of the
fall planting. l like to have trees and
plants start early in the spring. and l
never find any difficulty in starting
them. l find that many planters wait
until about complaining time that the
ground may be in good condition. Now
l am very much addicted to the practice
of planting trees in the mud, oftentimes
in the first mud of spring. especially
with evergreens; l believe in having
them planted early.
To do early spring planting. the trees
must be on hand. Small fruits that are
to be planted next spring should be pur-
chased this fall, and buried or stored in
cellar over winter. that they NAV be on
hand for the earliest spring planting.
Young trees and roots can be safely
kept in cellar by burying the roots in
sand or moss. Most nurserymen now
practice this method largely in carving
over stock that will be wanted for
southern trade. before their nurseries
are thawed out sufficiently to take d.
rectly from there. Both deciduouS and
evergreen varieties can be safely handled
in this way.
1t often happens that those who pur-
chase of agents in the winter. for spring
delivery, do not get their trees and
MI hn =
This is often fatal. Unless they can get
established before the dry. hot we Their
comes on. there is but little hope of car
rying them through the summer. The
first summer is more to be dreaded than
the first winter. / find.
All small fruits that are already
planted should be laid down and COW
cred for winter. CUrrants and goose
berries. perhaps. seid I'M need this.
Blackberry and raspberry canes will
often live through without. but to be
safe should be covered: not too early.
however. 1t is not the freeing that
hurts them. 1t is the long-contiuued
alternate thawing and freezing that
PLAYS the mischief a good. hard freeze
before they are covered will do good
rather than damage. The mice will
have no chance 10 work about the roo
if the ground is well frozen before the
covering is laid on. 1t often happens
that the tops and stems are gnawed
where the ground so protected that it
can not freeze. The mice then have
unlimited range and chance to burrow.
In bending over stems and canes it is
a good plan to put shovelful or two of
earth up at the foot before bending, |
that they need not be sharply bent. but |
will have something to lay over. A lit
tie earth should also be used to weigh |
the tops down. The balance of the |
covering may be of partially-rotted
manure. After strawberry-beds have
frozen slightly they may be covered
with straw.-Cor. .imertcan GARDEN.