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Success With Small Fruits

E >> E. P. Roe >> Success With Small Fruits




If this chance seedling, the Pride of the Hudson, is given a moist
soil in some half-shady location, it will yield fruit that will
delight the amateur's heart, but, like Brinkle's Orange, which it
resembles in flavor, only amateurs will give it the petting it
requires.

As suggested when treating the strawberry, so in seeking to originate
new varieties of raspberries, our aim should be to develop our hardy
native species, the _R. Strigosus_, and if we employ the _R. Idoeus_
class for parentage on one side, seek its most vigorous
representatives, such as the Belle de Fontenay and Franconia.

CHOICE OF LAND--ITS PREPARATION--PLANTING

All that has been said about the thorough preparation of the soil for
strawberries, by drainage, deep plowing, trenching, etc., applies to
raspberries, but differences should be noted in respect to
fertilizers. Land can scarcely be made too rich for any variety of
strawberries, but certain strong-growing raspberries, like the
Cuthbert, Herstine, and Turner, should not be over-fertilized. Some
kinds demand good, clean culture, rather than a richness that would
cause too great a growth of cane and foliage. In contrast, the feebler
growing kinds, like the Brandywine, and most of the foreign varieties,
require abundance of manure. Muck, sweetened by lime and frost is one
of the simplest and best; but anything will answer that is not too
full of heat and ferment. Like the strawberry, the raspberry needs
cool manures that have "staying" qualities. Unlike the former fruit,
however, the raspberry does well in partial shade, such as that
furnished by the northern side of a fence, hedge, etc., by a pear or
even apple orchard, if the trees still permit wide intervals of open
sky. The red varieties, especially those of the foreign types much
prefer moist, heavy soils; but the black-caps do quite as well on
light ground, if moisture can be maintained. The latter, also, can be
grown farther south than any other species, but below the latitude of
New York, those containing foreign elements begin to fail rapidly,
until, at last, a point is reached where even the most vigorous native
red varieties refuse to live. If the climate, however, is tempered by
height above the sea, as in the mountains of Georgia, they will thrive
abundantly.

[Illustration: SPRING AND FALL PLANTS]

I prefer fall planting for raspberries, especially in southern
latitudes, for these reasons: At the points where the roots branch
(see Fig. A) are buds which make the future stems or canes. In the
fall, these are dormant, small, and not easily broken off, as in Fig.
B; but they start early in spring, and if planting is delayed, these
become so long and brittle that the utmost care can scarcely save
them, If rubbed off, the development of good bearing canes is often
deferred a year, although the plants may live and fill the ground with
roots. The more growth a raspberry plant has made when set out in
spring, the greater the probability that it will receive a check, from
which it will never recover.

[Illustration: WINTER PROTECTION OF NEWLY SET PLANTS]

I have often planted in May and June, successfully, by taking up the
young suckers when from six inches to a foot high, and setting them
where they are to grow. Immediately on taking them up, I cut them back
so that only one or two laches of the green cane is left, and thus the
roots are not taxed to sustain wood and foliage beyond their power.
This can often be done to advantage, when the plants are on one's own
place, and in moist, cloudy weather. My preference, however, is to
plant the latter part of October and through November, in well-
prepared and enriched land. The holes are made quite deep and large,
and the bottom filled with good surface soil. If possible, before
planting, plow and cross-plow deeply, and have a subsoiler follow in
each furrow. It should be remembered that we are preparing for a crop
which may occupy the land for ten or fifteen years, and plants will
suffer from every drought if set immediately on a hard subsoil. On
heavy land, I set the plants one inch deeper than they were before; on
light soils two or three inches deeper. I cut the canes off six inches
above the surface (see Fig. C); for leaving long canes is often
ruinous, and a plant is frequently two or three years in recovering
from the strain of trying to produce fruit the first year. The whole
strength of the roots should go toward producing bearing canes for the
season following; and to stimulate such growth, I throw directly on
the hill one or two shovelfuls of finely rotted compost and then mound
the earth over the hill until the cane is wholly covered (as in Fig.
D). This prevents all injury from the winter's cold. When severe
frosts are over, the mound is levelled down again. Under this system,
I rarely lose plants, and usually find that double growth is made
compared with those set _late_ in spring. I have always succeeded
well, however, in _early_ spring planting; and well to the north,
this is, perhaps, the safer season. With the exception of mounding the
earth over the hill, plant in March or April as I have already
directed.

CULTIVATION

In cultivation, keep the ground level; do not let it become banked up
against the hills, as is often the case, especially with those tender
varieties that are covered with earth every winter. Keep the surface
clean and mellow by the use of the cultivator and hoe. With the
exception of from four to six canes in the hill, treat all suckers as
weeds, cutting them down while they are little, before they have
sucked half the life out of the bearing hill. Put a shovelful or two
of good compost--any fertilizer is better than none--around the hills
or along the rows, late in the fall, and work it lightly in with a
fork if there is time. The autumn and winter rains will carry it down
to the roots, giving almost double vigor and fruitfulness the
following season. If the top-dressing is neglected in the autumn, be
sure to give it as early in the spring as possible, and work it down
toward the roots. Bone-dust, ashes, poudrette, barnyard manure, and
muck with lime can be used alternate years, so as to give variety of
plant food, and a plantation thus sustained can be kept twenty years
or more; but under the usual culture, vigor begins to fail after the
eighth or tenth season. The first tendency of most varieties of newly
set red raspberries is to sucker immoderately; but this gradually
declines, even with the most rampant, and under good culture the
fruiting qualities improve.

In dry weather the fork should not be used during the growing or
bearing season. The turning down of a stratum of dry, hot soil next to
the roots must cause a sudden check and injury from which only a
soaking rain can bring full relief. But in moist weather, and periods
preceding and following the blossoming and fruiting season, I have
often used the fork to advantage, especially if there is a sod of
short, succulent weeds to be turned under as a green crop. If the
ground between the hills was stirred frequently with an iron garden-
rake, the weeds would not have a chance to start. This is by far the
best and cheapest way of maintaining our part in the unceasing
conflict with vegetable evil. An Irish bull hits the truth exactly:
the best way to fight weeds is to have none to fight; and raking the
ground over on a sunny day, about once a week, destroys them when they
are as yet but germinating seeds. At the same time it opens the pores
of the earth, as a physiologist might express himself. Unfailing
moisture is maintained, air, light, and heat are introduced to the
roots in accordance with Nature's taste, and the whole strength of the
mellow soil goes to produce only that which is useful. But this
teaching is like the familiar and sound advice, "Form no bad habits."
We do form them; the weeds do get the start of us; and therefore, as a
practical fact, the old moral and physical struggle must go on until
the end of time.




CHAPTER XX

RASPBERRIES--PRUNING--STAKING--MULCHING--WINTER PROTECTION, ETC.


Usually, there is no pruning either in the field or the garden beyond
the cutting out of the old canes and the shortening in of the new
growth. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the old canes
should be cut out immediately after fruiting, or left to natural
decay, and removed the following fall or spring. I prefer the former
course. It certainly is neater, and I think I have seen increased
growth in the young canes, for which more room is made, and to whose
support the roots can give their whole strength. The new growth can
make foliage fast enough to develop the roots; still, I have not
experimented carefully, and so cannot speak accurately. We see summer
pruning often advocated on paper, but I have rarely met it in
practice. If carefully done at the proper season, however, much can be
accomplished by it in the way of making strong, stocky plants, capable
of standing alone--plants full of lateral branches, like little trees,
that will be loaded with fruit. But this summer pinching back must be
commenced early, while the new, succulent growth is under full
headway, and continued through the busiest season, when strawberries
are ripe and harvest is beginning. It should not be done after the
cane has practically made its growth, or else the buds that ought to
remain dormant until the following season are started into a late and
feeble growth that does not ripen before the advent of early frosts.
Few have time for pruning in May or June. If they have, let them try
it by all means, especially on the black-cap species. It does not
require so much time as it does prompt action at the proper period of
growth. In the garden, summer pinching can transform a raspberry bush
into an ornamental shrub as beautiful as useful. It is much better
adapted to the hardier varieties than to those that must be bent down
and covered with earth. With the _R. Occidentalis_ species, summer
pinching would always pay well. The best I can do, usually, with the
red varieties, is to prune in November and March; it should be done
before the buds develop. Unless early fruit is wanted, I believe in
cutting back heroically. Nature once gave me a very useful hint. One
very cold winter, a row of Clarke raspberries was left unprotected.
The canes were four or five feet high, but were killed down to the
snow-level, or within eighteen inches of the ground; but from what was
left uninjured, we had as many and far finer berries than were
gathered from other rows where the canes had been left their full
length and protected by a covering of earth. The fruit was later,
however. I would remind careful observers of the raspberry how often
buds on canes that have been broken off or cut away back develop into
long sprays, enormously fruitful of the largest berries. I have
counted fifty, and even eighty, berries on a branch that had grown
from a single bud within one or two feet of the ground. These lower
buds often do not start at all when the canes are left their full, or
nearly their full length. In the latter case the fruit ripens much
earlier and more together; and since an early crop, though inferior in
quality and quantity, may be more valuable than a late one, the fruit
grower often objects to pruning. But in the garden, while the canes of
some early kinds are left their full length, I would recommend that
others, especially those of the later varieties, be cut back one-half.
Even for market purposes I believe that the superb fruit resulting
from such pruning would bring more money in most instances. At any
rate, the season of bearing would be greatly prolonged.

_Mulching_ on a large scale would not pay in most localities. In
regions where salt hay, flags, etc., can be cut in abundance, or where
straw is so plenty as to be of little value, it no doubt could be
applied profitably. On Staten Island I have seen large patches mulched
with salt hay. The canes were unstaked, and many of them bent over on
the clean hay with their burden of fruit. When there are no stakes or
other support used, the berries certainly should be kept from contact
with the soil. The chief advantage of the mulch, however, is in the
preservation of moisture. When it is given freely, all the fruit
perfects, and in a much longer succession. The weeds and suckers are
kept down, and the patch has a neat appearance. Moreover, mulching
prevents the foliage from burning, and enables the gardener to grow
successfully the finer varieties further to the south and on light
soils. In keeping down the weeds through the long summer, a mulch of
leaves, straw, or any coarse litter, is often far less costly than
would be the labor required.

_Staking_ raspberries is undoubtedly the best, simplest, and cheapest
method of supporting the canes of most varieties and in most
localities. I agree with the view taken by Mr. A. S. Fuller. "Chestnut
stakes," he writes, "five feet long and two or three inches in
diameter, made from large trees, cost me less than two cents each, and
my location is within twenty miles of New York City, where timber of
all kinds commands a large price. I can not afford to grow raspberries
without staking, because every stake will save on an average ten
cents' worth of fruit, and, in many instances, three times that
amount." Of course, split chestnut stakes look the neatest and last
the longest; but a raspberry bush is not fastidious, and I utilize old
bean-poles, limbs of trees--anything that keeps the canes from
sprawling in the dirt with their delicate fruit. Thus, in many
instances, the stakes will cost little more than a boy's labor in
preparing them, and they can be of various lengths, according to the
height of our canes. As they become too much decayed for further use,
they make a cheery blaze on the hearth during the early autumn
evenings. There are stocky growing varieties, like the Cuthbert,
Turner, Herstine and others, that by summer pruning or vigorous
cutting back would be self-supporting, if not too much exposed to high
winds. The question is a very practical one, and should be decided
largely by experience and the grower's locality. There are fields and
regions in which gales, and especially thunder-gusts, would prostrate
into the dirt the stoutest bushes that could be formed by summer
pruning, breaking down canes heavy with green and ripe fruit. In
saving a penny stake, a bit of string, and the moment required for
tying, one might be made to feel, after a July storm, that he had been
too thrifty. As far as my experience and observation go, I would
either stake _all_ my bushes that stood separately and singly, or
else would grow them in a loose, continuous, bushy row, and keep the
fruit clean by some kind of mulch. Splashed, muddy berries are not fit
either to eat or to sell.

[Illustration: a. Canes snugly tied. b. Canes improperly tied. RIGHT
AND WRONG WAYS OF TYING CANES]

In many localities, however, stakes are dispensed with. In the garden,
wires, fastened to posts, are occasionally stretched along the rows,
and the canes tied to these. The method in this section, however, is
to insert stakes firmly in the hill, by means of a pointed crowbar,
and the canes are tied to them as early in spring as possible. Unless
watched, the boys who do the tying persist in leaving the upper cords
of the canes loose. These unsupported ends, when weighted with fruit
and foliage, break, of course. The canes should be snugly tied their
whole length. If bushes made stocky by summer pruning are supported,
let the stake be inserted on the side opposite that from which heavy
winds are expected.

WINTER PROTECTION--TAKING UP PLANTS FOR SPRING USE--STORING THEM

Nearly all foreign varieties and their seedlings need winter
protection, or are the better for it, north of the latitude of New
York City. Many of the hardier kinds, like the Herstine and Clarke,
will usually survive if bent over and kept close to the earth by the
weight of poles or a shovelful or two of soil; but all of the Antwerp
class need to be entirely covered.

To many, this winter covering is a great bugbear, even when only a
small patch in the garden is involved. There is a constant demand for
"perfectly hardy" varieties. It should be remembered that many of the
best kinds are not hardy at all, and that perhaps none are "perfectly
hardy." The Turner has never been injured on my place, and the
Cuthbert is rarely hurt; but occasionally they are partially killed,
more by alternations of freezing and thawing than by steady cold. What
are termed "open winters" are often the most destructive. I find that
it pays to cover all those kinds that are liable to injury, and, as
the varieties are described, this need will be distinctly stated. The
difficulties of covering are chiefly imaginary, and it can be done by
the acre at comparatively slight cost The vast crops of the Hudson
River Antwerp were raised from fields covered every fall. In the
garden, I do not consider the labor worth naming in comparison with
the advantages secured. Those who find time to carefully cover their
cabbages and gather turnips should not talk of the trouble of
protecting a row of delicious Herstine raspberries. Still, Nature is
very indulgent to the lazy, and has given us as fine a raspberry as
the Cuthbert, which thus far, with but few exceptions, has endured our
Northern winters. In November, I have the labor of covering performed
in the following simple way: B is a hill with canes untrimmed. C, the
canes have been shortened one-third--my rule in pruning. After
trimming, the canes are ready to be laid down, and they should all be
bent one way. To turn them _sharply_ over and cover them with
earth would cause many of the stronger ones to break just above the
root; so I have a shovelful of soil thrown on one side of the hill, as
in Fig. C, and the canes bent over this little mound. They thus
describe a curve, instead of lying at right angles on the surface,
with a weight of earth upon them. A boy holds the cane down, while a,
man on either side of the row rapidly shovels the earth upon them. If
the work is to be done on a large scale, one or two shovelfuls will
pin the canes to the earth, and then, by throwing a furrow over them
on both sides with a plow, the labor is soon accomplished. It will be
necessary to follow the plow with a shovel, and increase the covering
here and there. In spring, as soon as hard frosts are over--the first
week in April, in our latitude, usually--begin at the end of the row
toward which the canes were bent, and with a fork throw and push the
earth aside and gently lift the canes out of the soil, taking pains to
level the ground thoroughly, and not leave it heaped up against the
hills. This should not be done when the earth is wet and sticky. Keep
off the ground at such times, unless the season is growing so late
that there is danger of the canes decaying if not exposed to the air.
The sooner they are staked and tied up after uncovering, the better.

[Illustration: PRUNING AND LAYING DOWN CANES]

For market or other purposes, we may wish a number of young plants, in
which case there is much room for good sense in taking them up. Many
lay hold upon the canes and pull so hastily that little save sticks
comes out. A gardener wants fibrous roots rather than top; therefore,
send the spade down under the roots and pry them out. Suckers and
root-cutting plants can be dug in October, after the wood has fairly
ripened, but be careful to leave no foliage on the canes that are
taken up before the leaves fall, for they rapidly drain the vitality
of the plants. It is best to cut the canes down to within a foot of
the surface before digging. I prefer taking up all plants for sale or
use in the latter part of October and November, and those not set out
or disposed of are stored closely in trenches, with the roots a foot
or more below the surface. By thus burying them deeply and by leaving
on them a heavy covering of leaves, they are kept in a dormant state
quite late in spring, and so can be handled without breaking off the
buds which make the future canes. But, as we have already said, the
earlier they are planted after the frost is out, the better.




CHAPTER XXI

RASPBERRIES--VARIETIES OF THE FOREIGN AND NATIVE SPECIES


This chapter will treat first of the imported kinds, which usually are
more or less tender, and then, by way of contrast, of the hardy
varieties of our native _R. Strigosus_.

I shall speak of those only that are now in general cultivation,
naming a few, also, whose popularity in the past has been so great as
to entitle them to mention.

As was true of strawberries, so also varieties of raspberries that won
name and fame abroad were imported, and a few of them have adapted
themselves so well to American soil and climate as to have become
standards of excellence. Among the best-known of these formerly was
the Red Antwerp of England. Few old-fashioned gardens were without it
at one time, but it is fast giving way to newer and more popular
varieties. The canes are vigorous, stocky, and tall; spines light-red,
numerous, and rather strong. Winter protection is always needed. The
berries are large and very obtuse, conical, dark-red, large-grained,
and covered with a thick bloom, very juicy, and exceedingly soft--too
much so for market purposes. They made a dainty dish for home use,
however, and our grandmothers, when maidens, gathered them in the
lengthening summer shadows.

The Hudson River Antwerp, the most celebrated foreign berry in
America, is quite distinct from the above, although belonging to the
same family. It is shorter and more slender in its growth, quite free
from spines, and its canes are of a peculiar mouse-color. Its fruit is
even larger, but firm, decidedly conical, not very bright when fully
ripe, and rather dry, but sweet and agreeable in flavor. Mr. Downing
says that its origin is unknown, and that it was brought to this
country by the late Mr. Briggs, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "As this
gentleman was leaving England" (thus the story is told, Mr. Downing
writes to me), "he visited a friend to say good-by, and solicited this
new raspberry. Since he was leaving the country, and could cause no
injury to the sale of plants, his friend gave him a few in parting,
although three guineas had been refused for a single plant hitherto,
in the careful effort to secure a large stock before putting the
variety on the market." Its name suggests Belgium as its original
home.

This Antwerp continues long in bearing, and the berries begin to ripen
early. The good carrying qualities of the fruit, combined with great
productiveness, made it at one time the most profitable market berry
in this section; but its culture was chiefly confined to a narrow
strip on the west shore of the Hudson, extending from Cornwall to
Kingston. For some obscure reasons, it did not thrive in other
localities, and now it appears to be failing fast in its favorite
haunt. A disease called the "curl-leaf" is destroying some of the
oldest and largest plantations, and the growers are looking about for
hardier and more vigorous varieties. But in its palmy days, and even
still, the Hudson River Antwerp was one of the great productions of
the country, sending barges and steamers nightly to New York laden
with ruby cones, whose aroma was often very distinct on the windward
shore while the boats were passing. This enormous business had in part
a chance and curious origin, and a very small beginning; while the
celebrated variety itself, which eventually covered so many hundreds
of acres on the west bank of the Hudson, may be traced back through
two lines of ancestry. An English gardener, who probably obtained the
plants from Mr. Briggs, gave some of them to a Mr. Samuel Barnes, who
resided in Westchester County. From him, Mr. Thos. H. Burling, of New
Rochelle, N.Y., secured an abundant supply for his home garden. Here
its value was observed by Mr. Nathaniel Hallock, who transferred some
of the canes to his place at Milton, N. Y. From his garden they spread
over many fields besides his own.

In respect to the other line of ancestry of this historical berry, I
am indebted for the following facts to Mr. W. C. Young, of Marlboro',
N. Y.: Many years ago a bundle of raspberry plants was left at a meat-
market in Poughkeepsie, and Mr. Watters, the proprietor of the place,
kept them several days, expecting that they would be called for. As
they remained upon his hands, he planted them in his garden, where,
like genuine worth, they soon asserted their superiority. Mr. Edward
Young, of Marlboro', a relative of Mr. Watters, received a present of
a few roots, which supplied his family with the largest and most
beautiful berries he had ever seen. Good propagates itself as well as
evil if given a chance, and Mr. Young soon had far more fruit than was
needed by his family, and he resolved to try the fortunes of his
favorite in New York market. "For this purpose," his son writes, "my
father procured imported fancy willow baskets, holding about one pint
each, and carefully packed these in crates made for the purpose. This
mode proved a success, both in carrying them securely and in making
them very attractive. The putting up such a fine variety of fruit in
this way gave it notoriety at once, and it brought at first as much as
one dollar per quart. My father was so well satisfied with his
experiment that he advised his sons, Alexander, Edward and myself, to
extend the culture of this variety largely. We entered into the
business, and, pursuing it with diligence, were well compensated. Our
success made others desirous of engaging in it, and so it spread out
into its large dimensions." Mr. Alexander Young estimates that in the
year 1858 1,000,000 pint baskets, or about 14,700 bushels, were
shipped from Marlboro'; but adds that "since 1860 it has decreased as
fast. From present appearances, the variety must become extinct, and I
fear will never have its equal." Milton, Cornwall, New burgh, and
other points competed in the profitable industry, and now, with
Marlboro', are replacing the failing variety with other kinds more
vigorous in growth, but thus far inferior in quality.

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