Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-12

/ varieties the "Chautauqua Climbing"
| is the most wonderful currant have
ever grown. 1t is enormously pro-
ductive, punches larger and longer
than Fay's, and the individual ber-
3ries are much larger. l have 3-year-
old bushes of this variety over six
feet high and still climbing. 1t is
| a regular skyscraper. When loaded
with their large, bright red fruit they
| are sight worth going miles to see.
The new English currant, Comet, is
| also a great success here, being un-
usually large and productive and has
| many advantages over most other
varieties, not the least of these being
| it's ability to hang on the bushes and
keep in good condition longer than
any other variety, not even excepting
Pres. Wilder. The best of the older
varieties of strawberries are Man
well, Crescent, Warfeld and Beder-
wood, though have discarded most
of these varieties and am growing
Seedlings Of my own originating, as
I find them much better adapted to
our trying climate.
have ben asked by the Dakota
Farmer to give an account of my
methods Of planting and cultivating
| small fruits. I hesitate to do this,
as ! fear i have not the faculty of
expressing myself clearly on paper.
If have achieved a small measure
of success under trying circum-
stances it has been through hard Ia
Dor and a determination to succeed
at allshazards, combined with ma
turalk love for the business, rather
THANH through any special mode of
cultivation. / always plow my
ground in the fall, using small one
horse pillow among trees; and among
strawberries and other small fruit
where not convenient to use the pillow
I use a cultiyator, stirring the. ground
thoroughly to as great depth as pos
sible My idea is that stirring the
ground in the fall helps retain more
moisture than if the ground were
left hard and bare till spring.
i II plant my sraspberries, currants,
etc., six feet apart between the rows
and about four feet apart in the
4 rows! If had an abundance of land
i would make the rows not less than
ten feet apart and plant some low
| growing crop of vegetables between
| the rows; or, better still, lay the
i ground off in hills five or six feet
apart and cultivate both ways. This
is the best way to grow all manner
Of small fruits, with the exception of
Strawberries. For growing straw.
berries prefer the matted row to
the hill system, as the plants are not
so liable to winterkill. I usually
plant strawberries in rows six feet
apart with the plants about one foot
apart in the row, allowing the
plants to form matted row from
two to three feet wide by fall. Straw.
berries should be protected in win
ter by covering them to depth of
two or three inches with straw, or
some other light material This ray
I be kept from blowing off by throw
4 ing an occasional shovelful of dirt
onto it. AS winter approaches, COW
er raspDerries with soil; this should
not bedone until the canes are thor
oughly ripe In other words, not
until after the leaves are dead and
the sap has gone down out Of the
canes. Covering is not hard task
| if one goes about it right. First
throw couple or more burrows with
! a pillow towards the row; then, be-
ginning at one end of the row, bend
the canes over, always in the same
direction. To prevent breaking the
canes, throw shovelful Of earth
! agalrs! the foot of the canes, then
i bend them gradually over this
mound of dirt. This is best done by
taking hold of the canes with both
hands and with a drawing motion,
as if trying to pull the plants up by
the roots, gradually bend them over
until the tops touch the ground
Place one foot on top of canes to
hold them down, draw dirt with a
hoe on top of the canes to depth
of six inches or more, and the job
is complete.
In growing small fruits, the water
| supply is an important point to be
considered. Most seasons a fairly
good crop of small fruit may be
grown without irrigation, but it is
4 useless to conceal the fact that we
occasionally have seasons in which
without irrigation we may expect at
least partial failure of the crop, /
irrigate my own little experimental
orchard and find that it pays to do
So Water can be obtained on the
i ma joritys of farms in this vicinity at