TWENTY FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 147 



the potency of the pollen has been destroyed. That restriction, selection, 

 and high feeding are as essential to building up good qualities in plants 

 as they are in animals must stand unquestioned, and I believe the lack 

 of these essentials is the greatest cause of failure in fruitgrowing. A 

 plant over three years old should never be chosen for propagation. 



Find as many bushes as possible and give them high culture so as to 

 secure the highest development. At harvest time, count and measure 

 berries accurately and determine which possess the most points of excel- 

 lence. Now, early in the fall, or as soon as leaves are fallen and the 

 plant is entirely dormant, dig up every root, select those about the size 

 of a common lead pencil, cut into pieces three inches long, and bury them 

 in clean, sharp, fine sand, placing the boxes in a cold cellar kept just 

 above the freezing point so they will become callous and form wood 

 buds. If the cuttings are kept too warm, they will start and grow; if too 

 cold, the callus will not form. A "callus" is the bringing together of cer- 

 tain wood cells and formation of a gristly substance out of which a root 

 will grow. No root will start until this callus forms. This will form at 

 a low temperature, and if roots are kept in this condition several months 

 they will form at the ends, as well as all along the sides, of the roots. 



The following spring, prepare a piece of rich sand loam with plenty of 

 moisture, on a south incline, and plant the cuttings in nursery rows 

 about two or three inches apart and not over two inches deep. If 

 planted too deep, the shoots will damp off, and if too shallow they will 

 dry out. Some system of irrigation m case of drouth should be provided. 

 In the fall the plants should be taken up and roots cut back to about 

 eight inches, and again packed in fine sand, keeping them as before, until 

 spring, when they will be thoroughly callous and, when planted out in 

 well prepared soil, will fill the ground with a mass of feeding roots, all 

 near the plant, thus bringing the "food gatherers" near the organs of 

 assimilation. Each plant occupies its own feeding ground without tres- 

 passing on the others, so we know where to apply fertilizers and do the 

 cultivating. As already stated, every cutting possessing any weakness 

 has failed to grow, and we can not now have anything but the strongest 

 and most healthy plants. 



Blackberries will generally do well on low land if winter protection 5s 

 given, but if the hardy varieties are used without protection, they should 

 not be placed on either lightest sand or heaviest clay. In fertilizing, 

 bear in mind that ground rich in potash and phosphoric acid makes 

 strong, firm wood and greatly aids seed formation, while that excessively 

 rich in nitrogen makes the wood soft and succulent and easily winter- 

 killed, hence all the wood ashes should be used for the blackberry patch. 



Having our ground deeply worked and subsoiled, we plow furrows 

 about eight feet apart and six inches deep, and set plants about three 

 feet apart, taking care not to expose the roots, loaded as they are with 

 the calluses, but cover them at once and firm the soil, and cultivate shal- 

 low the same day of setting, so the water may draw up around the plant 

 and nourish it at this critical period. 



The two chief difficulties in blackberry culture are drouth and winter- 

 killing. These may be reduced to one difficulty, because the manage- 

 ment during the summer is often the chief cause of winter-killing. Every 

 possible effort should be made to force a vigorous growth early in the 

 spring, and this should proceed regularly until fall rains come, when the 



