Raspbekkies and Blackbekkies. 209 



Hardiness of Immature Canes. — Some growers believe that canes 

 grown late in the season are hardier than those which have had the 

 whole season in which to grow. One Ohio grower reports that in two 

 season's trial, blackberry canes produced after the last of June by- 

 going through and pulling up all young shoots at that time, were 

 loaded with fine berries the following season, while those of the whole 

 summer's growth alongside bore but few. To test this, all the young 

 canes were cut from a portion of a row of Snyder blackberries and 

 Cuthbert and Shaffer raspberries, July 6, 1892. The canes thrown up 

 after that date were allowed to go unpruned until the following spring. 

 Upon examination in spring, the Cuthbert canes of late growth were 

 found to have come through the winter in better condition than 

 those which grew the whole season. They appeared to be farther 

 advanced in growth and were uniformly green. The late grown Shaf- 

 fers also came through in excellent condition. The row of blackberries 

 on which the experiment were tried were badly killed, the late grown 

 ones perhaps even more than the others. These later canes produce 

 fine fruit, but they are smaller, and, judging from their appearance, the 

 yield would be less than on those of longer growth. Whether such 

 canes are hardier because they are immature, or whether they are 

 really better matured is a question. It may be that starting late in the 

 season and making a less rapid growth, they make firmer wood which 

 is really in better cordition to withstand the ^nnter than the more 

 vigorous and succulent earliest growth. Or possibly the early canes 

 become somewhat weak and dry and lifeless before the approach of 

 winter. 



Memoving Young Canes from Old Plantations. — When a plantation 

 has reached the age at which it is decided to plow it up, the question 

 naturally arises whether it will pay to remove all the young canes in 

 the hope of giving more strength to those bearing the last crop. 

 Experiments to test this were made by J. H. Hale, on his farm at 

 South Glastonbury, Conn., and in a limited way at this Station during 

 the present season. Mr. Hale writes as follows concerning the results 

 of his own experiment with black-caps: "Regarding the new canes 

 pulled out of the raspberries in the field we visited, we went over the 

 whole field and took them out entirely with the exception of one row 

 on each of the four varieties. The result was, that the bearing canes 

 retained more life and vigor where the young sprouts were broken 

 away, and while it made no marked difference in the size and quality 

 of the fruit of the earlier pickings, the last two pickings were very 

 much greater in quantity and larger in size of fruit where the canes 



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