Miss Beecher's Housekeeper and Healthkeeper: Containing Five Hundred Receipes for Economical and Healthful Cooking; also, Many Directions for Securing Health and HappinessBeecher, Catharine Esther
General
Miss Beecher's Housekeeper and Healthkeeper: Containing Five Hundred Receipes for Economical and Healthful Cooking; also, Many Directions for Securing Health and Happiness
Beecher, Catharine Esther
Cooking; Home economics
_Raspberries_ do best when shaded during a part of the day. They are
propagated by layers, slips, and suckers. There is one kind which bears
monthly; but the varieties of this and all other fruits are now so
numerous that we can easily find those which are adapted to the special
circumstances of the case.
_Strawberries_ require a light soil and vegetable manure. They should
be transplanted in April or September, and be set eight inches apart,
in rows nine inches asunder, and in beds which are two feet wide, with
narrow alleys between them. A part of these plants are _non-bearers_.
These have large flowers with showy stamens and high black anthers.
The _bearers_ have short stamens, a great number of pistils, and the
flowers are every way less showy. In blossom-time, pull out all the
non-bearers. Some think it best to leave one non-bearer to every twelve
bearers, and others pull them all out. Many beds never produce any
fruit, because all the plants in them are non-bearers. Weeds should be
kept from the vines. When the vines are matted with young plants, the
best way is to dig over the beds in cross lines, so as to leave some of
the plants standing in little squares, while the rest are turned under
the soil. This should be done over a second time in the same year.
_To raise Grapes_, manure the soil, and keep it soft and free from
weeds. A gravelly or sandy soil and a south exposure are best.
Transplant the vines in the early spring, or better in the fall. Prune
them the first year, so as to have only two main branches, taking off
all other shoots as fast as they come. In November, cut off all of
these two branches except four eyes. The second year, in the spring,
loosen the earth around the roots, and allow only two branches to grow,
and every month take off all side shoots. When they are very strong,
preserve only a part, and cut off the rest in the fall. In November,
cut off all the two main stems except eight eyes. After the second
year, no more pruning is needed, except to reduce the side shoots, for
the purpose of increasing the fruit. All the pruning of grapes (except
nipping side shoots) must be done when the sap is not running, or
they will bleed to death. Train them on poles, or lattices, to expose
them to the air and sun. Cover tender vines in the autumn. Grapes are
propagated by cuttings, layers, and seeds. For cuttings, select in the
autumn well-ripened wood of the former year, and take five joints for
each. Bury them till April; then soak them for some hours, and set them
out _aslant_, so that all the eyes but one shall be covered.
Apples, grapes, and such like fruit can be preserved in their natural
state by packing them when dry and solid in dry sand or sawdust,
putting alternate layers of fruit and cotton, sawdust or sand. Some
sawdust gives a bad flavor to the fruit.
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