Success With Small Fruits

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The Works of E.P. Roe

VOLUME SEVENTEEN

SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS

ILLUSTRATED

1881

I Dedicate this Book

TO

MR. CHARLES DOWNING

A Neighbor, Friend, and Horticulturist

FROM WHOM I SHALL ESTEEM IT A PRIVILEGE TO LEARN IN COMING YEARS AS I
HAVE IN THE PAST

PREFACE

A book should be judged somewhat in view of what it attempts. One of
the chief objects of this little volume is to lure men and women back
to their original calling, that of gardening. I am decidedly under the
impression that Eve helped Adam, especially as the sun declined. I am
sure that they had small fruits for breakfast, dinner and supper, and
would not be at all surprised if they ate some between meals. Even we
poor mortals who have sinned more than once, and must give our minds
to the effort not to appear unnatural in many hideous styles of dress,
can fare as well. The Adams and Eves of every generation can have an
Eden if they wish. Indeed, I know of many instances in which Eve
creates a beautiful and fruitful garden without any help from Adam.

The theologians show that we have inherited much evil from our first
parents, but, in the general disposition to have a garden, can we not
recognize a redeeming ancestral trait? I would like to contribute my
little share toward increasing this tendency, believing that as
humanity goes back to its first occupation it may also acquire some of
the primal gardener's characteristics before he listened to temptation
and ceased to be even a gentleman. When he brutally blamed the woman,
it was time he was turned out of Eden. All the best things of the
garden suggest refinement and courtesy. Nature might have contented
herself with producing seeds only, but she accompanies the prosaic
action with fragrant flowers and delicious fruit. It would be well to
remember this in the ordinary courtesies of life.

Moreover, since the fruit-garden and farm do not develop in a
straightforward, matter-of-fact way, why should I write about them
after the formal and terse fashion of a manual or scientific treatise?
The most productive varieties of fruit blossom and have some foliage
which may not be very beautiful, any more than the departures from
practical prose in this book are interesting; but, as a leafless plant
or bush, laden with fruit, would appear gaunt and naked, so, to the
writer, a book about them without any attempt at foliage and flowers
would seem unnatural. The modern chronicler has transformed history
into a fascinating story. Even science is now taught through the
charms of fiction. Shall this department of knowledge, so generally
useful, be left only to technical prose? Why should we not have a
class of books as practical as the gardens, fields, and crops,
concerning which they are written, and at the same time having much of
the light, shade, color, and life of the out-of-door world? I merely
claim that I have made an attempt in the right direction, but, like an
unskillful artist, may have so confused my lights, shades, and mixed
my colors so badly, that my pictures resemble a strawberry-bed in
which the weeds have the better of the fruit.

Liberal outlines of this work appeared in "Scribner's Magazine," but
the larger scope afforded by the book has enabled me to treat many
subjects for which there was no space in the magazine, and also to
give my views more fully concerning topics only touched upon in the
serial. As the fruits described are being improved, so in the future
other and more skillful horticulturists will develop the literature
relating to them into its true proportions.

I am greatly indebted to the instruction received at various times
from those venerable fathers and authorities on all questions relating
to Eden-like pursuits--Mr. Chas. Downing of Newburg, and Hon. Marshall
P. Wilder of Boston, Mr. J. J. Thomas, Dr. Geo. Thurber; to such
valuable works as those of A. S. Fuller, A. J. Downing, P. Barry, J.
M. Merrick, Jr.; and some English authors; to the live horticultural
journals in the East, West, and South; and, last but not least, to
many plain, practical fruit-growers who are as well informed and
sensible as they are modest in expressing their opinions.

CORNWALL-ON-THE-HUDSON,
NEW YORK.

PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION

On page 315 of this volume will be found the following words: "To
attempt to describe all the strawberries that have been named would be
a task almost as interminable as useless. This whole question of
varieties presents a different phase every four or five years.
Therefore I treat the subject in my final chapter in order that I may
give revision, as often as there shall be occasion for it, without
disturbing the body of the book. A few years since certain varieties
were making almost as great a sensation as the Sharpless. They are now
regarded as little better than weeds in most localities." Now that my
publishers ask me to attempt this work of revision, I find that I
shrink from it, for reasons natural and cogent to my mind. Possibly
the reader may see them in the same light. The principles of
cultivation, treatment of soils, fertilizing, etc., remain much the
same; My words relating to these topics were penned when knowledge--
the result of many years of practical experience--was fresh in memory.
Subsequent observation has confirmed the views I then held, and, what
is of far more weight in my estimation, they have been endorsed by the
best and most thoroughly informed horticulturists in the land. I wrote
what I then thought was true; I now read what has been declared true
by highest authorities. I have more confidence in their judgment than
in my own, and, having been so fortunate as to gain their approval, I
fear to meddle with a record which, in a sense, has become theirs as
well as mine. Therefore I have decided to leave the body of the book
untouched.

When I read the lists of varieties I found many that have become
obsolete, many that were never worthy of a name. Should I revise these
lists, as I fully expected to do, from time to time? At present I have
concluded that I will not, for the following reasons:

When, between six and seven years ago, I wrote the descriptions of the
various kinds of fruit then in vogue, I naturally and inevitably
reflected the small-fruit world as it then existed. The picture may
have been imperfect and distorted, but I gave it as I saw it. With all
its faults I would like to keep that picture for future reference. The
time may come when none of the varieties then so highly praised and
valued will be found in our fields or gardens. For that very reason I
should like to look back to some fixed and objective point which would
enable me to estimate the mutations which had occurred. Originators of
new varieties are apt to speak too confidently and exultantly of their
novelties; purchasers are prone to expect too much of them. Both might
obtain useful lessons by turning to a record of equally lauded
novelties of other days. Therefore I would like to leave that sketch
of varieties as seen in 1880 unaltered. To change the figure, the
record may become a landmark, enabling us to estimate future progress
more accurately. Should the book still meet with the favor which has
been accorded to it in the past, there can be frequent revisions of
the supplemental lists which are now given. Although no longer engaged
in the business of raising and selling plants, I have not lost my
interest in the plants themselves. I hope to obtain much of my
recreation in testing the new varieties offered from year to year. In
engaging in such pursuits even the most cynical cannot suspect any
other purpose than that of observing impartially the behavior of the
varieties on trial.

I will maintain my grasp on the button-hole of the reader only long
enough to state once more a pet theory--one which I hope for leisure
to test at some 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 man and the world he trampled on rather
than cultivated, there was a class who in their dreams and futile
efforts became the unconscious prophets of our own time--the
Alchemists. For centuries they believed they could transmute base
metals into gold and silver. Modern knowledge enables us to work
changes more beneficial than the alchemist ever dreamed of; and it
shall be my aim to make one of these secrets as open as the sunlight
in the fields and gardens wherein the beautiful mutations occur. To
turn iron into gold would be a prosaic, barren process that might
result in trouble to all concerned, but to transform heavy black earth
and insipid rain-water into edible rubies, with celestial perfume and
ambrosial flavor, is indeed an art that appeals to the entire race,
and enlists that imperious nether organ which has never lost its power
over heart or brain. As long, therefore, as humanity's mouth waters at
the thought of morsels more delicious even than "sin under the
tongue," I am sure of an audience when I discourse of strawberries and
their kindred fruits. If apples led to the loss of Paradise, the
reader will find described hereafter a list of fruits that will enable
him to reconstruct a bit of Eden, even if the "Fall and all our woe"
have left him possessed of merely a city yard. But land in the
country, breezy hillsides, moist, sheltered valleys, sunny plains--
what opportunities for the divinest form of alchemy are here afforded
to hundreds of thousands!

Many think of the soil only in connection with the sad words of the
burial service--"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes." Let us, while we
may, gain more cheerful associations with our kindred dust. For a time
it can be earth to strawberry blossoms, ashes to bright red berries,
and their color will get into our cheeks and their rich subacid juices
into our insipid lives, constituting a mental, moral, and physical
alterative that will so change us that we shall believe in evolution
and imagine ourselves fit for a higher state of existence. One may
delve in the earth so long as to lose all dread at the thought of
sleeping in it at last; and the luscious fruits and bright-hued
flowers that come out of it, in a way no one can find out, may teach
our own resurrection more effectually than do the learned theologians.

We naturally feel that some good saints in the flesh, even though they
are "pillars of the church," need more than a "sea-change" before they
can become proper citizens of "Jerusalem the Golden;" but having
compared a raspberry bush, bending gracefully under its delicious
burden, with the insignificant seed from which it grew, we are ready
to believe in all possibilities of good. Thus we may gather more than
berries from our fruit-gardens. Nature hangs thoughts and suggestions
on every spray, and blackberry bushes give many an impressive scratch
to teach us that good and evil are very near together in this world,
and that we must be careful, while seeking the one, to avoid the
other. In every field of life those who seek the fruit too rashly are
almost sure to have a thorny experience, and to learn that prickings
are provided for those who have no consciences.

He who sees in the world around him only what strikes the eye lives in
a poor, half-furnished house; he who obtains from his garden only what
he can eat gathers but a meagre crop. If I find something besides
berries on my vines, I shall pick it if so inclined. The scientific
treatise, or precise manual, may break up the well-rooted friendship
of plants, and compel them to take leave of each other, after the
arbitrary fashion of methodical minds, but I must talk about them very
much as nature has taught me, since, in respect to out-of-door life,
my education was acquired almost wholly in the old-fashioned way at
the venerable "dame's school." Nay more, I claim that I have warrant
to gather from my horticultural texts more than can be sent to the
dining table or commission merchant. Such a matter-of-fact plant as
the currant makes some attempt to embroider its humble life with
ornament, and in April the bees will prove to you that honey may be
gathered even from a gooseberry bush. Indeed, gooseberries are like
some ladies that we all know. In their young and blossoming days they
are sweet and pink-hued, and then they grow acid, pale, and hard; but
in the ripening experience of later life they become sweet again and
tender. Before they drop from their places the bees come back for
honey, and find it.

In brief, I propose to take the reader on a quiet and extended ramble
among the small fruits. It is much the same as if I said, "Let us go
a-strawberrying together," and we talked as we went over hill and
through dale in a style somewhat in harmony with our wanderings. Very
many, no doubt, will glance at these introductory words, and decline
to go with me, correctly feeling that they can find better company.
Other busy, practical souls will prefer a more compact,
straightforward treatise, that is like a lesson in a class-room,
rather than a stroll in the fields, or a tour among the fruit farms,
and while sorry to lose their company, I have no occasion to find
fault.

I assure those, however, who, after this preliminary parley, decide to
go further, that I will do my best to make our excursion pleasant, and
to cause as little weariness as is possible, if we are to return with
full baskets. I shall not follow the example of some thrifty people
who invite one to go "a-berrying," but lead away from fruitful nooks,
proposing to visit them alone by stealth. All the secrets I know shall
become open ones. I shall conduct the reader to all the "good places,"
and name the good things I have discovered in half a lifetime of
research. I would, therefore, modestly hint to the practical reader--
to whom "time is money," who has an eye to the fruit only, and with
whom the question of outlay and return is ever uppermost--that he may,
after all, find it to his advantage to go with us. While we stop to
gather a flower, listen to a brook or bird, or go out of our way
occasionally to get a view, he can jog on, meeting us at every point
where we "mean business." These points shall occur so often that he
will not lose as much time as he imagines, and I think he will find my
business talks business-like--quite as practical as he desires.

To come down to the plainest of plain prose, I am not a theorist on
these subjects, nor do I dabble in small fruits as a rich and fanciful
amateur, to whom it is a matter of indifference whether his
strawberries cost five cents or a dollar a quart. As a farmer, milk
must be less expensive than champagne. I could not afford a fruit farm
at all if it did not more than pay its way, and in order to win the
confidence of the "solid men," who want no "gush" or side sentiment,
even though nature suggests some warrant for it, I will give a bit of
personal experience. Five years since, I bought a farm of twenty-three
acres that for several years had. been rented, depleted, and suffered
to run wild. Thickets of brushwood extended from the fences well into
the fields, and in a notable instance across the entire place. One
portion was so stony that it could not be plowed; another so wet and
sour that even grass would not grow upon it; a third portion was not
only swampy, but liable to be overwhelmed with stones and gravel twice
a year by the sudden rising of a mountain stream. There was no fruit
on the place except apples and a very few pears and grapes. Nearly all
of the land, as I found it, was too impoverished to produce a decent
crop of strawberries. The location of the place, moreover, made it
very expensive--it cost $19,000; and yet during the third year of
occupancy the income from this place approached very nearly to the
outlay, and in 1878, during which my most expensive improvements were
made, in the way of draining, taking out stones, etc., the income paid
for these improvements, for current expenses, and gave a surplus of
over $1,800. In 1879, the net income was considerably larger. In order
that these statements may not mislead any one, I will add that in my
judgment only the combined business of plants and fruit would warrant
such expenses as I have incurred. My farm is almost in the midst of a
village, and the buildings upon it greatly increased its cost. Those
who propose to raise and sell fruit only should not burden themselves
with high-priced land. Farms, even on the Hudson, can be bought at
quite moderate prices at a mile or more away from centres, and yet
within easy reach of landings and railroad depots.

Mr. Charles Downing, whose opinions on all horticultural questions are
so justly valued, remarked to me that no other fruit was so affected
by varying soils and climates as the strawberry. I have come to the
conclusion that soil, locality, and climate make such vast differences
that unless these variations are carefully studied and indicated,
books will mislead more people than they help. A man may write a
treatise admirably adapted to his own farm; but if one living a
thousand, a hundred, or even one mile away, followed the same method,
he might almost utterly fail. While certain general and foundation
principles apply to the cultivation of each genus of fruit, important
modifications and, in some instances, almost radical changes of method
must be made in view of the varied conditions in which it is grown.

It is even more important to know what varieties are best adapted to
different localities and soils. While no experienced and candid
authority will speak confidently and precisely on this point, much
very useful information and suggestion may be given by one who,
instead of theorizing, observes, questions, and records facts as they
are. The most profitable strawberry of the far South will produce
scarcely any fruit in the North, although the plant grows well; and
some of our best raspberries cannot even exist in a hot climate or
upon very light soils. In the preparation of this book it has been my
aim to study these conditions, that I might give advice useful in
Florida and Canada, New York and California, as well as at Cornwall. I
have maintained an extensive correspondence with practical fruit
growers in all sections, and have read with care contributions to the
horticultural press from widely separated localities. Not content with
this, I have visited in person the great fruit-growing centres of New
Jersey, Norfolk and Richmond, Va.; Charleston, S. C.; Augusta and
Savannah, Ga,; and several points in Florida. Thus, from actual
observation and full, free conversation, I have familiarized myself
with both the Northern and Southern aspects of this industry, while my
correspondence from the far West, Southwest, and California will, I
hope, enable me to aid the novice in those regions also.

I know in advance that my book will contain many and varied faults,
but I intend that it shall be an expression of honest opinion. I do
not like "foxy grapes" nor foxy words about them.

CHAPTER II

THE FRUIT GARDEN

_Raison d'etre_

Small fruits, to people who live in the country, are like heaven--
objects of universal desire and very general neglect. Indeed, in a
land so peculiarly adapted to their cultivation, it is difficult to
account for this neglect if you admit the premise that Americans are
civilized and intellectual. It is the trait of a savage and inferior
race to devour .with immense gusto a delicious morsel, and then trust
to luck for another. People who would turn away from a dish of
"Monarch" strawberries, with their plump pink cheeks powdered with
sugar, or from a plate of melting raspberries and cream, would be
regarded as so eccentric as to suggest an asylum; but the number of
professedly intelligent and moral folk who ignore the simple means of
enjoying the ambrosial viands daily, for weeks together, is so large
as to shake one's confidence in human nature. A well-maintained fruit
garden is a comparatively rare adjunct of even stylish and pretentious
homes. In June, of all months, in sultry July and August, there arises
from innumerable country breakfast tables the pungent odor of a meat
into which the devils went but out of which there is no proof they
ever came. From the garden under the windows might have been gathered
fruits whose aroma would have tempted spirits of the air. The cabbage-
patch may be seen afar, but too often the strawberry-bed even if it
exists is hidden by weeds, and the later small fruits struggle for
bare life in some neglected corner. Indeed, an excursion into certain
parts of Hew England might suggest that many of its thrifty citizens
would not have been content in Eden until they had put its best land
into onions and tobacco. Through the superb scenery of Vermont there
flows a river whose name, one might think, would secure an unfailing
tide from the eyes of the inhabitants. The Alpine strawberry grows
wild in all that region, but the puritan smacked his lips over another
gift of nature and named the romantic stream in its honor. To account
for certain tastes or tendencies, mankind must certainly have fallen a
little way, or, if Mr. Darwin's view is correct, and we are on a
slight up-grade, a dreadful hitch and tendency to backslide has been
apparent at a certain point ever since the Hebrews sighed for the
"leeks and onions of Egypt."

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