instances, conditions suited to every variety can be found, and
reading and experience will teach the cultivator to locate his several
kinds just where they will give the best results. Moreover, by placing
early kinds on warm, sunny slopes, and giving late varieties moist,
heavy land, and cool, northern exposures, the season of this delicious
fruit can be prolonged greatly. The advantage of a long-continued
supply for the family is obvious, but it is often even more important
to those whose income is dependent on this industry. It frequently
occurs that the market is "glutted" with berries for a brief time in
the height of the season. If the crop matures in the main at such a
time, the one chance of the year passes, leaving but a small margin of
profit; whereas, if the grower had prolonged his season, by a careful
selection of soils as well as of varieties, he might sell a large
portion of his fruit when it was scarce and high.

Climate is also a very important consideration, and enters largely
into the problem of success from Maine to Southern California. Each
region has its advantages and disadvantages, and these should be
estimated before the purchaser takes the final steps which commit him
to a locality and methods of culture which may not prove to his taste.
In the far North, sheltered situations and light, warm land should be
chosen for the main crop; but in our latitude, and southward, it
should always be our aim to avoid that hardness and dryness of soil
that cut short the crops and hopes of so many cultivators.




CHAPTER VII