Success With Small Fruits | Page 3

future time. Far be it from me to decry the disposition to
raise new seedling varieties; by this course substantial progress has
been and will be made. But there is another method of advance which
may promise even better results.
In many of the catalogues of to-day we find many of the fine old
varieties spoken of as enfeebled and fallen from their first estate. This
is why they decline in popular favor and pass into oblivion. Little
wonder that these varieties have become enfeebled, when we remember
how ninety-nine hundredths of the plants are propagated. I will briefly
apply my theory to one of the oldest kinds still in existence--Wilson's
Albany. If I should set out a bed of Wilson's this spring, I would
eventually discover a plant that surpassed the others in vigor and
productiveness--one that to a greater degree than the others exhibited
the true characteristics of the variety. I should then clear away all the
other plants near it and let this one plant propagate itself, until there
were enough runners for another bed. From this a second selection of
the best and most characteristic plants would be made and treated in
like manner. It appears to me reasonable and in accordance with nature
that, by this careful and continued selection, an old variety could be
brought to a point of excellence far surpassing its pristine condition,

and that the higher and better strain would become fixed and uniform,
unless it was again treated with the neglect which formerly caused the
deterioration. By this method of selection and careful propagation the
primal vigor shown by the varieties which justly become popular may
be but the starting-point on a career of well-doing that can scarcely be
limited. Is it asked, "Why is not this done by plant-growers?" You, my
dear reader, may be one of the reasons. You may be ready to expend
even a dollar a plant for some untested and possibly valueless novelty,
and yet be unwilling to give a dollar a hundred for the best standard
variety in existence. If I had Wilsons propagated as I have described,
and asked ten dollars a thousand for them, nine out of ten would write
back that they could buy the variety for two dollars per thousand. So
they could; and they, could also buy horses at ten dollars each, and no
one could deny that they were horses. One of the chief incentives of
nurserymen to send out novelties is that they may have some plants for
sale on which they can make a profit. When the people are educated up
to the point of paying for quality in plants and trees as they are in
respect to livestock, there will be careful and capable men ready to
supply the demand.
Beginning on page 349, the reader will find supplemental bits of
varieties which have appeared to me worthy of mention at the present
time. I may have erred in my selection of the newer candidates for
favor, and have given some unwarranted impressions in regard to them.
Let the reader remember the opinion of a veteran fruit-grower. "No true,
accurate knowledge of a variety can be had," he said, "until it has been
at least ten years in general cultivation."
I will now take my leave, in the hope that when I have something
further to say, I shall not be unwelcome. E. P. R.
CORNWALL-ON-THE-HUDSON, N. Y. _January 16,1886._

CONTENTS
CHAPTER

I.
PRELIMINARY PARLEY
II. THE FRUIT GARDEN
III. SMALL FRUIT FARMING AND ITS PROFITS
IV. STRAWBERRIES: THE FIVE SPECIES AND THEIR HISTORY
V. IDEAL STRAWBERRIES VERSUS THOSE OF THE FIELD
AND MARKET
VI. CHOICE OF SOIL AND LOCATION
VII. PREPARING AND ENRICHING THE SOIL
VIII. PREPARATION OF SOIL BY DRAINAGE
IX. THE PREPARATION OF SOILS COMPARATIVELY
UNFAVORABLE--CLAY, SAND, ETC
X. COMMERCIAL AND SPECIAL FERTILIZERS
XI. OBTAINING PLANTS AND IMPROVING OUR STOCK
XII. WHEN SHALL WE PLANT?
XIII. WHAT SHALL WE PLANT? VARIETIES, THEIR
CHARACTER AND ADAPTATION TO SOILS
XIV. SETTING OUT PLANTS
XV. CULTIVATION
XVI. A SOUTHERN STRAWBERRY FARM, AND METHODS OF
CULTURE IN THE SOUTH
XVII. FORCING STRAWBERRIES UNDER GLASS

XVIII. ORIGINATING NEW VARIETIES--HYBRIDIZATION
XIX. RASPBERRIES--SPECIES, HISTORY, PROPAGATION, ETC
XX.
RASPBERRIES--PRUNING--STAKING--MULCHING--WINTER
PROTECTION, ETC
XXI. RASPBERRIES--VARIETIES OF THE FOREIGN AND
NATIVE SPECIES
XXII. RUBUS OCCIDENTALS--BLACK-CAP AND
PURPLE-CANE RASPBERRIES
XXIII. THE RASPBERRIES OF THE FUTURE
XXIV. BLACKBERRIES--VARIETIES, CULTIVATION, ETC.
XXV. CURRANTS--CHOICE OF SOIL, CULTIVATION, PRUNING,
ETC.
XXVI. CURRANTS, CONTINUED--PROPAGATION, VARIETIES
XXVII. GOOSEBERRIES
XXVIII. DISEASES AND INSECT ENEMIES OF SMALL FRUITS
XXIX. PICKING AND MARKETING
XXX. IRRIGATION
XXXI. SUGGESTIVE EXPERIENCES FROM WIDELY
SEPARATED LOCALITIES
XXXII. A FEW RULES AND MAXIMS
XXXIII. VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES
XXXIV. VARIETIES OF OTHER SMALL FRUITS

XXXV. CLOSING WORDS
APPENDIX
INDEX
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY PARLEY
In the ages that were somewhat shadowed, to say the least, when
Nature indulged her own wild moods in