The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-05
Small Fruits on the Farm.


Farmers Review: Hundreds or arti-
cles have been written on the advis-
ability of farmers raising small fruit
Tor their own use, but there is room
Tor hundreds more of articles if they
VIII in any way tend TO bring about
TINS desirable end, says the New York
Ledger As a rule, farmers live we'll,
Dut their tables show little variety,
ana they rarely have any of those de-
hghtfully wholesome sub-acid fruits,
even during the hot summer months
Wnen such fruits are most craved. In
the fall and winter they have apples;
and occasionally there is a farm that
mas few pear trees; but where one
farmer has strawberries and currantS
and go0seberrieS, there are ten that
do not If the children are too small
10 be of much use on the farm, they
are sent after huckleberrieS and black
berries, and the older members of the
family eat them with a relish that
ought TO be an inducement for them
TO have fruit of their own But as
soon as the berries are gone, they go
back alphabetically to their diet of
bread and meat and milk, in its vari-
Gus combinations. 1 am convinced that
1t is not from distaste of the work or
expense involved that they neglect the
small fruits so systematically. But
the farmer, perhaps more than any
other person, is a creature of habit. He
seldom complains of his own work,
but finds it almost impossible to step
beyond certain accustomed limits. He
will work from early morning till late
night, day after day, and year after
year, and not feel it any special griev-
ance; but if he is brought face to face
with a half-hour's work "out of his
line" in the house, or the flower gar
den, or anywhere, he Will pay ten
n 2 ,1.O,,A f1,.,1 4,
II himself. 1T is easy to raise straw
berries and other small fruit you tell
MIN, and he agrees with you, but says
that he don't know much about en-
and is too old to learn" And that is
all there is to it. You may talkstO him
until the end of time. and he will
agree with you in everything, but he
does not set any fruit, just the same.
! have known farmer leave his work,
tramp all day over the fields, and re-
turn at night with a quart or two of
wild Strawberries that fruit dealer
would have rejected with scorn. He
exhibits them triumphantly and it is
scarcely worth while to tell him that
one-half his labor would have set out
a strawberry bed that would have
furnished him with fine berries every
day for weeks. Now and then farm
er is induced to give them trial, but
the chances are that his interest will
@1Ob 81 DSyOHu the setting. ana mat the
vines viii become choked with grass
and weeds and be plowed up at the end
of year or two with the remark that
they turned out just as he expected
And here lies one of the great diff
culties. To a certain extend the apple
trees and pear trees and peach trees
take care of themselves, but the small
fruit is not quite so accommodate ting 1t
is ready to yield an abundant return. |
but must be understood and have some /
care. Perhaps the best method is to /
let the straw berries bear once and |
then pillow them up. I have tried most /
OF the methods advocated, and like /
this best. Set the vines in the spring, |
and keep them hOed the first year go |
ing over them three or four times if |
necessary 1t will not take more than |
half an hour to hoe bed large enough !
TO raise 10 or 90 bushels. The next |
spring take some of the fresh runners
and set a new bed. and after the old |
one is through bearing pillow it up It
is easier than keeping the grass and |
weeds out, and 1 am convinced gives
better results A half days work in
preparing ground and setting plants.
and another half day in hoeing. and
the compensation in all the delicious
Strawberries your family can possibly
eat, and a generous quantity for your
neighbors or to sell if you so wish.