Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-03-11
FRUITS OF NORTHERN IOWA.
BY j. B. MITCHELL.

Il
of twenty-five or thirty years ago that fruit
could not be grown in Northern Iowa, we are
growing fruit in Howard county, and in very
respectable quantity and va riety, and so abud.
antly of some kinds that our local markets are
overstocked at times yet a large part of the
families of our county are without fruit most, ii
not all the year. That this need not be true
there is now ample proof from success already
attained in growing fruit, not only in Northern
| Iowa, but also in Minnesota.
| With the small fruits there now seems to be
but little doubt among the majority of our citi-
zens that they can be grown. Every farmer
should grow strawberries. raspberries and
blackberries enough to keep their tables well
| supplied during the berry season, as this is not
an unnecessary and expensive luxury as many
may think, but is almost essential to good health
| in the warm summer weather.
With little knowledge in growing small
fruits, the table can be supplied with them as
cheaply as with other daily rations, and when
once you have grown the fruit IN plenty for your
own use, you will hardly think of doing ..wtlo 1t
| them. There are now plenty of tried sorts that
are known to do we'll with us and produce abud-
anty, and you do not have to buy high priced
| novelties to have good supply of berries.
| If you do not wish to lose both time and mon
| ey in experimenting with these high priced
novelties you should fortify yourself against
some OF these strangers that annu lily make their
visits among us-and to let them tell it-are the
| only ones who can furnish you with anything
worth growing.
You should plant such kinds as you find are
| doing well with your neighbors or in your near
locality; or such as have done we'll over wide
| extent OF territory. There are occasionally new
| things of value brought Out-your home nursery
men are always ready to try any new fruit that
| mas any promise OF merit, and they don't get
| fooled by having old worthless kinds put upon
them as something new and wonderful-so you
you better let them do the experimenting
Strawberries are of both perfect and imper.
feet blossom varieties. The imperfect blossom
| kinds are the most prolific fruiters when prop
erly mixed with the perfect blossom kinds for
polleniZers. TO Illustrate, the Crescent has an
| imperfect blossom and should have Old Iron
Clad, OF some other good pollen bearing sort
| planted with it-say one plant of Old Iron Clad
to two of Crescent. They may be mixed in the
| row, or you can plant two rows of the latter and
| then one of the former, and so on throughout
| the p antatiOn.
Strawberries when planted for fruit only are
generally mixed in the bed and plants for plant
ing should never be taken from an old bed. One
may sometimes succeed in getting the plants
from patch that has fruited, but it is risky, as
| the imperfect blossom kinds send out the most
numerous and strongest runners, and one is
very liable to get all all plants of the imperfect
Sort and, although your strawberry patch
would be full of blossoms, and apparently prom
Use well, you would only get a few berries, and
Of M all nd I'M arfa
Plants should be taken from new plantations
set the year before, and well cultivated and
which had not been allowed to fruit, for by
fruiting the strength of the plant has been
weakened and can not send out as strong run
| ners for new plants. By following this method.
| and having your plants once started, you can
grow your own plants as well as to buy them.
But to do this you must keep the varieties sepa-
| rate, which you can do by planting two rows of
the imperfect, and one row of the perfect bios
som Sorts as stated above This will insure the
necessary pollenizing of your fruiting bed when
it comes into bearing, and also leave you in
position to know what you are using for your
new fruit patch. You had better pay two prices
for good, reliable plants than to take from an
| old fruiting patch as a gift.
Your ground should be made rich and as free
long rows, SO you can cultivate with horse,
| and keep ground loose and free from weeds
pick the blossoms Off and let no fruit grow the
season you pant, and the following season your
berries oughr TO be the the best paying crop on
! the farm. After the fruit has been gathered,
clean out the weeds and cultivate or hoe be-
tween the rows. After taking off the second
crop of fruit plow up, as your later planted bed
I,r,Il l,pr n, 70 fr,,;t &c
cheaper to plant and grow new bed than to
clean out an old one after the second year.
For field culture. you should set the plants
eighteen Inches apart in the rows, and the rows
from three to three and half feet apart. For
garden culture, If ground is limited, you can in
crease the plants one-half each way. After
ground is frozen in fall, mulch with straw or
slough hay, free from seed, covering the plants
nearly out of sight. Uncover late in spring, and
leave the straw between the rows as mulch.
Raspberries and blackberries may be planted
from two and a half to six feet apart. The
blossoms of these fruits are perfect in them
selves and the plants do not need mixing.
There seems to have been less success at
tanned by many planters with the tree fruits
than with the small fruits. and the question
may well be asked why is this so, seeing that
abundance, and what one has done another
may do. The lack of confidence on the part of
most farmers in the adaptibility of our climate
and soil for the apple and other fruit trees has
done much to retard the progress that could
and should have been made in the growing of
these fruits. Many have paid out considerable
sums of money for trees for an orchard and yet
have nothing to show for their money, and their
failure has discouraged others. The cause of
this, in a large measure, can be charged to the
tender and unsuitable trees brought from the
Eastern States and from Southern localities,
where the test Of hardness we require is not
necessary. These trees have been recommend
ed to our planters as being hardy, by the party
selling them, and perhaps the vender in some
cases has been honest in his recommendations
as he may have known them to have been
hardy where he hailed from, and being I'M
acquainted Will the rigor of our winters and
the vicisitudes pf our climate, could see no
reason why they should fail here; but they
have failed, andour planters have paid their
bills.
Itseems that distance lends enchantment,"
for it is a fact thai many farmers and other
planters will believe the stories of the tree
yender from remote localities and suck their
taffy and swallow tleir statement that the local
one horse (?) nurseries of Northern Iowa do
not know their business. did not have this or
that variety, did not know how to grow trees.
could not bud, andmany other things too silly
to repeat; all of which has been as readily
swallowed as ever was Barnum's humbugs.
And this by peoplewho in other lines of farm
n N ,St