The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-05-18
LUSCIOUS BERRIES,
Fruits That Give a Delicious
Finish to Meal.

10y not think OF it in time. Y GU did NOT
| know they wanted any at home. Your wife
never mentioned it to you the last thing be-
| fore you left home, and how could you be
| expected to burden your busy brain with
| such trifles when you had already more on
hand than you could manage?
Result-the family goes without berries a
hundred times over all through the hot
| summer days, when wise Mother Nature
! has put desire Tor acids in the system as
the corrective for the ILLS that flesh is heir
| to at this season of the year.
For lack OF these dainty bowls of fragrant
| fruit, which has added a cool delicious flu
J lsh TO every meal, the cook has to stew over
| the stove for weary hours connecting pud-
| dlDgs and pies that cost double price in
the hot summer time; first, for the mate
| rials consumed; secondly, In doctors bills
| to remove the disorders such unreasonable
food has occasioned, to say nothing of the
| loss and confusion which sickness in fam
| lily always brings.
| Had the home garden but been supplied
| with few Of the best varieties Of fine
| small fruits, which the children would have
| thought fun TO have gathered after school
| was out, or before the bell rang in the
| morning. all this might have been avoided,
and both pleasure and profit resulted from
| even small Investment in the plants,
| which yield so bounteouS q return for all
the care bestowed upon their cultivation.
1t doesn't cost much to begin, at least, a
| garden patch of all sorts Of berries for the
| home table. They are not much trouble to
| attend to after they are once started, and
| the reaping follows SO close on the heels of
| the sowing that the rewards for well-doing
| In this line are seif-evdent to all
just think of it moment. Where else
| In The whole range OF agriculture can one
| count their returns so quickly?
They bear fruit enough in the first season
| they are put out to more than pay back the
| cost OF the plants at the nursery, and after
that 1t is all clear gain. Straw berries,
| raspberries, blackberries, g0oseberries and
| currants, set out now, us soon as the ground
| is Ill proper condition to work, Will bear
| hne crops immediately, and all through the
| summer, with any kind of care, add their
| quota Of reireshment to every days repast.
That is all sop says some one. I'VE
| used to have lots OF berries at home in the
| East, and l have always meant to plant
| some of all sorts when we got settled out
| here, but, III declare, when one reads over
these fruit catalogues they hardly know
| what to do. There ale SO many kinds adj
yertised about which one knows nothing
| and, after pulling ones brains over the
| list, one feels like they had Louisiana lot
terry scheme before them and ends by con-
| Guiding not to draw at all"
| Very naturally Yet III this case, where
there are no blanks, the venture would, per-
| baps, have brought you prize, and would,
| at least, have done you no harm. The eX-
| perience would have helped you, and the
culture of the green things growing" is
| one Oh the hrst lessons IN looking from
| nature up to Natures God"
| There is, besides, simpler way ont of the
| difficulties that oeSet the amateur in hOrti-
| cultural matters.
| The best of all guides in this line is the
experience of good reliable growers, whose
| knowledge of what plants will suit given
| localities is attained on the spot, or, at
least under similar conditions. For in-
stance, it is a well-known fact to all Cali
n lnrx g
| small fruits which do wonderfully in the
| East (wnere the extreme heat of summer is
| modified by the oft-recurring showers fail
| utterly to endure the dryness of our seasons
| here, and become total loss to their im-
| poFters from this cause.
| This is no fault of the Eastern nursery
man. His report of what the plants have
| done with him has been correct one; his
environments had suited the plant. Change
| the conditions, however, and the results
| may change too.
The lesson to be derived from all this is
clearly that the best results may be ex-
| pecteu from an investment when the plants
| put out have been grown in the same State,
or, at least, subject to similar climatic intu-
ences as Will surround them in their new
position when planted, at last, in the home
| garden of the amateur. Plants so grown
undergo no setback of having to reacclim-
atlze themselves to their new conditions,
| and go right on TO grow at once.
Next 90 little slow. Do not try to
| plant all the varieties you find in the cata-
| logues. Try few first. If you have no
| experience at all the best results are some
times attained by stating your case-soil
and facilities for water-to some reli-
| able nurseryman, leaving him to fill out
| your order with the best early and late
| varieties he has on hand of all sorts of
| small fruits-strawberri raspberrieS etc
II stands to reason, If he knows anything
| about his business, that those varieties
| which are, In his mind, the most worthy
| are those OF which he will have the largest
| supply. and he can therefore be able to fur
nlsh you with good strong plants of them
| at more reasonable rates than if Won made
| your choice from his novelty lists, of which
| his stock Is limited and his prices neces-
| sarily high
He would send you, perhaps, the parry
strawberry for your earliest and "Cinder-
ella 1or your latest Strawberries, SO as to
continue the bearing season as long as
possible during the summer; the Cuth bert
raspberry, as both the earliest and latest
raspberry, bearing as it does in favorable
seasons Two grand crops year; the Souhe-
gan biackcap raspberry for an early black
raspberry. and tie Gregg for the
later kind; the new early harvest
blackberry for the earliest OF its
kind and the Lawton, Kittiny or grand new
wilson Jr. blackberry. as later varieties,
with which the fruit season might be pro-
l0nged far beyond what its limits would be
II no care were used in selecting these
sorts which were both early and late in
time OF perfecting their fruit.
But, how about the cultivation ?" asks
the amateur, "and the kind of soil these
fruits require?
Easy enough, if you will but bring your
common sense to bear upon the subject. and
remember that none of the berry family
must be planted too deeply in the earth.
The hne hbrous roots need to be near the
surface of the ground, so as to imbibe some
what more of the air, than most plants, and
as we gardeners express it, they are easily
smothered" If planted too deep.
As to the soil, any good land that will
grow corn and potatoes will grow berries,
and where there is chance to market the
products grown, the balance-sheet will be
in favor of the berries, ten to one, at the
end of the season, while the astonishing
difference in the flavor and delicious crisp
freshness of the fruit which has been brought
In fresh from the snnlit fields over that
which has been hawked about and grown
stale on the market stall is something that
no description can portray. The proof of
this is emphatically lin the eating" and
none who have marked this difference we'll
can ever afterward be quite content, until
they have become the growers of all tile
berries which they consume at thei tables.
Therefore, we repeat, liant plenty of
all sorts of berries. Plant the best you
can get 1t is no more trouble to hoe
around good plant than a bad one. The
only difference is, from one you get your
moneys worth, the other fools you every
time, when you come to gather the fruit of
your labor. Plant both the early and late
varieties of each sort, and plant them at
once, ii you would reap the reward of YOUR
planting in fruit for your families through
out the summer. L. U. M'CANN.
Santa Cruz Cal.