IN THESE papers last autumn we made some suggestions regarding the planting of small fruits. No imperative rule can be laid down as to the proportion of the area which should be devoted to such a purpose in a country place, but, in general, we should say "rather more than less." In some respects small fruit culture will have advantages over the kindred occupation of the vegetable garden. It does not require so much labor, or labor extending over so long a period, and the work is generally lighter, and hence, better adapted to our wants. In former papers we have given hints regarding planting the different fruits, and have laid out - on paper - experimental plots of each in order that we might become familiar with the modus operandi. There is more to be learned by the actual handling and planting of a hundred plants than by reading about planting ten thousand. So if our hints were followed last autumn, we shall now know how to go at this work, and how much of it we can safely lay out. In the spring time there is so much to be done that work is very apt to begin to crowd us before we are fairly into it. Especially will this be true if we do not perfectly understand the amount of labor that will be required for carrying out our plans.

This is one of the things I know from experience, and consequently I know it thoroughly. It is easy to plan more work than we can possibly accomplish, even upon the smallest of country places.

Knowing, then, the amount of labor and time that will be required, and having had opportunity during the winter to perfect our plans as to the disposition of our available ground, we should commence as early as possible this month and carry the work of fruit-planting directly to a finish. If even so little as two acres are to be planted we must get at it in good season, or the work will intrench upon the time which should be given to the vegetable garden.

The first point necessary for rapid and successful work will be that the soil should be in good mechanical condition. It is slow work trying to set strawberry plants in lumpy earth, and the plants might have a hard time trying to survive in it, if opportune rains should not come, and even the heavier and coarser rootlets of the currant and the raspberry cannot begin pumping life into the plant with much vigor unless fine, moist earth is close about them. Even in April the sun and wind will dry off the surface of freshly worked soil very rapidly, and if we have clay land, a few hours exposure will make the surface like a mass of small pebbles, a condition very trying both to the hands and the temper. The best way is to have but a small portion of the land worked at once, and have the work on this completed a little after the middle of the day. Then with as many hands as are available, set out the plants upon this portion during the latter part of the afternoon, and the early evening. If the planting is not all completed then, it will be found in the morning that the night's dews have freshened up the remainder of the plot so that it may be easily worked.

It may take a little longer to complete the work in this manner than if the ground were ail made ready at once ; but if that had been done and any delay then occurred from not having the plants ready, or through lack of sufficient help, or owing to the interference of a storm, the final result would not be so good. It is not our purpose here to give long technical instructions either in the work of planting or cultivating. For that, each beginner will consult the shelves of his own well-selected horticultural library. But there are a few common-sense rules that even if found there will bear repeating here.

First

Do not leave plants of any sort exposed to the withering influences of wind and sun. It is the fine roots, the delicate spongioles, that are of the greatest importance to a plant at any stage of its growth; but particularly so at the beginning of its new (transplanted) career. These are the only roots that can take the requisite food from the soil, and if these are destroyed no recuperation of the plant can take place until new spongioles are formed upon the larger roots. Thus one may understand how the loss of these will necessarily retard the plant horn starting into new growth.

An object-lesson, however, is of vastly more value than anything that can be said on paper. To see just how this operates, take a half dozen good strawberry plants, such as have long, fibrous, white roots, and expose them for a couple of hours merely by leaving them uncovered upon the surface of the ground. At the end of that time compare them with some similar plants which have been protected by their wrapping of sphagnum moss, or by being covered with loose soil. Even the most unpracticed eye can see the change that has been wrought. If this is not sufficient, and to get the fullest possible benefit from one lesson, plant the same roots with all the care and under the same conditions as the others. At the end of the three days, if the ground is moist, or at the end of a week if it is dry, take them up, and it will be seen that they are now just approaching the condition that they were in before the exposure.

What is true in this respect with the strawberry is equally true with all other plants. I have only taken the strawberry as an illustration because the destruction of the spongioles will be more easily apparent to the novice than upon the woodier roots of the cane fruits. But the effect is the same upon both.

When the plants are wrapped in moss it is best to keep this about them, and keep it moist until you are quite ready to put them in the ground. If they are not in moss, put them in boxes or baskets of moist earth, or bury the roots in the ground close by the point of operations.

Second

In the case of cane fruits, such as raspberry, blackberry, currant and gooseberry, do not leave a long cane when transplanting. We do not want the force of the plant expended in sending up one long, gaunt cane, but in producing a vigorous root-growth, and sending up from the crown a few new strong shoots. Only enough of the cane is wanted to mark the spot where the roots are; six inches is amply sufficient.

Third

These small fruit-plants, although they are to give us no return this season, must have just as good care and just as thorough cultivation as any portion of the vegetable garden. It is only by keeping them clean, thrifty and vigorous this year, that we may hope to get some reward for our labor next.

In determining what proportion of each small fruit to plant, we shall naturally be governed mainly by the question of prospective profit. This is contingent upon so many things that no very definite advice can be offered. All crops that we grow are subject to damage or total destruction from frost, drought, blight and insect depredations. When one meets with genuine success in strawberry culture, there are few possible crops which will give greater returns per acre. But to attain success one must have good soil, a constant and abundant supply of fertilizers, unfailing moisture from early spring until the crop is gathered, and good markets near by. I mean that these conditions are all essential to the highest pecuniary success. The crop requires rather more work than either raspberries or blackberries, but, on the whole, is ordinarily deserving of more space than either of the others. Especially would this be true at first, as they came into bearing earlier and will be repaying us something while the others are only getting ready to pay, and after two or three crops are taken off, the amount of space devoted to them can be curtailed, if it is found desirable to use it for other purposes, with less loss than if it bad been originally planted with slower-maturing fruits.

Our New Raspberry Plantation.