If gathered when ripe, and served at once, berries—in fact, all the small fruits—are undoubtedly luxuries. So the country home should always devote some space to them, no matter how small the garden may be; and when the home is a farm, expected to become self-supporting, the berry orchard should be established immediately after taking possession, for the outlay is little, returns quick, and necessary knowledge is very easily acquired. Therefore, small fruits are a permanent branch of husbandry to be recommended to the amateur of small means, who needs a marketable commodity to keep the pot boiling.

Like most old farms, our place had a few neglected currant bushes, a patch of half-wild black and red raspberries, and a strawberry bed in a most demoralised condition. But even these poor degenerates convinced us of the economy of growing small fruits for our own use, and the profit to be derived by supplying other people’s tables. Besides the luxury of having freshly-gathered fruit, there are preserves, jellies and cordials for winter use. At the end of the first year we thoroughly pruned and cultivated the old brambles, and planted half an acre with brambles and black and red currants. Afterward the space was enlarged, until we had a good-sized berry orchard, which has always shown a profit even in the worst seasons. Brambles will grow in almost any ground, but if well fed and given a congenial home they yield much better. The fruit is larger, better coloured and finer flavoured. So, when possible, select ground that is somewhat sandy in character, with a heavy subsoil. Ground that has been under cultivation for two or three seasons is best, because it will have been well worked, and so will be comparatively free from weeds. Commence with a small patch, say half an acre, divided equally between black and red raspberries, blackberries and black and red currants. Strawberries cannot be included in a general small-fruit orchard, because the beds are profitable for only three years, and it is better to take them into regular crop rotation, using ground that has previously been occupied by potatoes or corn. As space is somewhat limited, we will devote this chapter to brambles and currants.

There are new plants for favour each year in nursery catalogues, but we will cover only a few of the old stand-bys, such as the following list: Raspberries (red), Columbian and Cuthbert; (black) Gregg and Cumberland; blackberries, Wilson and Taylor; currants, Red Cherry and Fay’s Prolific; gooseberries, Industry and Pearl. The best plan is to purchase a few dozen plants of each variety from some good nursery for parent stock, and when they are once well set, do your own propagating from them. Raspberries should be set three feet apart, in rows five feet apart. Have the ground well dressed with stable manure, and mark off in rows. It is best to use a plough for the marking, as you then have a furrow about the right depth in which to plant. If the plants have travelled far, stand them in a shallow pan or half barrel, and cover the roots with water for ten or twelve hours before planting. Brambles that are kept well trimmed need no staking out, but when planting young stock it is well to have some stakes cut about four feet long and pointed at one end. Drive one every three feet along the rows, and then set the plant close up to it. Spread out the roots in the natural form, and firm the earth well around them, then tie the canes loosely to the stake, to prevent the wind from blowing them from side to side. Unless stakes are used at this time, brambles or small bushes sway from side to side in every light breeze, and the roots are loosened, thus preventing them from gaining any hold on the ground. Cultivation should be as thorough and constant as for corn until August, as it is required to keep down weeds and permit growth. After August, cultivation should stop, to check the growth and allow the summer wood time to ripen before frost.

To those who are new to gardening, the above may need some explanation. Cultivation—by which is meant stirring the surface soil with the cultivator or garden rake—prevents the moisture from escaping from the ground. Moisture releases and brings into consumable form the different properties of the soil which constitute plant-food. A bountiful supply of nourishment naturally promotes growth. Stop cultivation, and food decreases, growth stops, and the tender twigs at the extremity of branches have time to harden sufficiently to resist frost that would kill new growth.

Planting and general care are virtually the same with blackberries. Raspberries are of a weedy or spreading nature, and throw up new shoots from root beds, which must be kept down between rows, or the patch will become a tangled wilderness within a few years. Even during the first summer after setting out it is advisable to top-prune as fresh growth is made. Don’t allow the canes to grow to a length of more than twenty inches. The pinching off of the ends forces them to throw out side branches and more canes from the main root, a very desirable thing, as fruit is borne only on the extremity of branches grown the preceding year. After the first year all the old canes which have borne fruit must be cut out. In winter, when sap has returned to the roots, is the best time for this work; but as the amateur may find some difficulty in distinguishing the old canes from the new ones, it is safer to do the demolishing soon after the fruit has been gathered, when there can be no mistake. Each fall throw well-rotted stable manure around the roots of each plant, and fork it into the ground as early in the spring as the weather permits. At the same time run the plough between the rows, to destroy the undesirable root shoots. Blackberries do not form root beds that send up new shoots, so the ploughing need not be practised between the rows; otherwise, clearing and pruning are virtually the same as for raspberries.

When more plants are required of the raspberry family, allow some of the root shoots to develop during the summer, and early the following spring take them up with a sharp spade, which will sever the connection between the new and the old plant without injury to either. As blackberries do not throw up new plants in the same way, they must be created from seeds or layers. Allow one or two canes of old plants to grow long enough to fall over and reach the ground, and in August peg the tops to the ground with a forked stick, and draw up a little mould around each. They will soon throw out roots and top growth, and early the following spring can be cut from the parent branch about eight inches above the rooted end. Dig up a new plant, and set in rows the same as raspberries. All the brambles are very vigorous growers and remarkably free from disease, but it is advisable to keep a lookout for the anthracnose, which is a greyish-looking spot with a purple centre. They are most likely to make their appearance in summer on young canes, and if not checked, multiply and eventually kill the plants. Cut out any affected canes immediately after discovery, and burn. Spray the adjacent plants with Bordeaux mixture two or three times, allowing twelve or fifteen days between the applications. If old plants are affected, they don’t need any consideration—take shoots from them. Orange-rust is the yellowish-looking spot on the under side of the leaves. The only remedy is to dig up, and cremate, but I truly think, instead of talking about cause and cure of occasional diseases, it is better to set out new plants every five or six years, for fresh-grown youthful vigour invariably militates disease more than any amount of doctoring.

Currants, both black and red, should be in every small-fruit orchard; or if there is no special orchard, a few bushes should be planted in the vegetable garden. Bushes should stand five feet apart, in a partly shady position if possible, and in rich, moist soil. Currant bushes bear for many years if properly cared for, and in their case pruning need not be an annual occurrence, as the same branches will bear for several years; it is advisable, however, to cut out a few of the older branches every two or three years, and encourage new growth. Early in the spring spray well, and again after the fruit has formed, and yet again late in the summer, for borers. This is the worst and commonest enemy the currant has. It originates from a dark-blue moth with yellow bands across the body, which lays its eggs on the buds of the outer branches. The eggs hatch into small white caterpillars with dark heads. After destroying the appearance of the bush they bore to the centre of the stems, and remain there until the following year. Much disease and many insect pests will be averted if all dead leaves are raked up from under the bushes in the late fall, and burned. Mulch around the bushes in the early winter with stable manure, and fork into the ground the following spring. Stock can be increased either by dividing large bushes, which is really the quickest way, or by taking cuttings. If the latter method is followed—and when there are only young bushes on the premises, it will have to be—take about eight inches off the end of well-developed branches of the same season’s growth. Plant them so that all but the top leaf-bud is under ground. They need not be set more than three inches apart, and must be transplanted the following year. August is the best season to take the cuttings, as it gives them time to form roots before frost. In November protect them slightly with a mulch of straw or leaves. They should remain in the nursery bed for a year before being transplanted again to their permanent position.

Gooseberries are usually picked green and used for pies, but when the large-fruiting varieties are grown they are delicious raw when ripe. The soil should be rich, heavy loam well drained. Little pruning is needed for the first two or three years beyond the clipping back of the shoots to develop fruit spurs along the cane, but of course weak or broken branches must be removed.

Propagation is done by suckers and mound layers, though the American varieties grow easily from cuttings. To procure strong mound layers, cut the old bushes back in the late fall or early spring to encourage new shoots to spring up from the roots, and when they are from one to two feet high press them outward from the parent plant, covering the base of the shoot up to about four inches above the root with earth, packing it well down. Then in the fall or following spring sever the shoot from the parent plant and transplant to the permanent home. Let them stand about four feet apart each way.