210 State Horticultural Society. 



away tool. This consists of a working gang of three 20-inch cutaway 

 disks and a guide gang of three 16-inch fiat disks. There is a space of 

 about 10 inches between the gangs. This tool is drawn by two horses 

 in such a way that the space between gangs is directly over the row. 

 This tool pulverizes the soil thoroughly to the depth of five inches. It 

 ' does not invert the soil, but cuts it up fine. The work of the tool is re- 

 peated several times, varying with the hardness of the soil. When well 

 done it is slightly rigid and the surface soil thoroughly fined. This tool is 

 followed closely by a float, and garden tillage runs through the growing- 

 season. Men with hoes follow the cutaway, thoroughly working down the 

 soil in the row and hoeing the plants. • Hoeing is continued through 

 the season as needed. With respect to fruiting, one of two methods is 

 followed : Runner plants are established as soon as possible, after which 

 all runners are removed, or fruit-bud growth is forced about the axis of 

 the old plant by the removal of all runners and thorough tillage. Each 

 method has its strong and weak points. But neither, as I have already 

 said, has given satisfactory returns as compared with the one-crop 

 practice. In this, as in many other lines of operative horticulture, cir- 

 cumstances alter cases. For instance, there are some varieties of straw- 

 berrries that form fruit buds very slowly, and, therefore, are likely to bear 

 a light crop the first year. The Gandy is an example of this sort. Then 

 the fruit-grower or farmer may be very busy in the spring and may not 

 easily find the time for making annual spring plantings. There may be 

 more leisure in midsummer for renewal. But notwithstanding these 

 and other reasons that might be ofifered in behalf of strawberry bed re- 

 newal, the practice can hardly be classed as an instance of intensive hor- 

 ticulture. J. D. Nysewander. 

 Indiana. — Rural New Yorker. 



HORTICULTURAL TALK. 



(By Edwin H. Riehl.) 



Treatinent of Blackberry Plants. — D. S. P., Upland, Cal., writes: 

 "What shall I do with my blackberry vines? They have made a good 

 growth and will be a year old in February. How much shall I cut them 

 back, and when new canes come up in the spring, how many shall I 

 leave in a hill? (They are four feet apart.) And at what height shall 

 I cut them back, etc. ?" 



Answer: No positive rule can be laid down for the pruning of 

 one-year-old plants, but to give an idea of how the work should be done, 



