326 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



great loss in last spring's planting. I think it best to prune 

 the top, cut clear back to the ground. I have found that 

 in transplanting black raspberries it must be done very early, 

 or when the new growtli has progressed from three to six 

 inches. I have had most satisfactory results in my own expe- 

 rience in planting before the tips were fully started. 



Pres. Underwood: Have you had any experience in setting 

 transplanted blackcaps? 



Mr. Kellogg: Transplanting is the only thing for black 

 raspberries in the fall, but for spring I think a well grown tip 

 is best. The great trouble the first two or three seasons, and 

 especially last season, was on account of the immaturity of the 

 roots in the fall. That has been the case more or less the past 

 three years. 



The Blackberry Tender from Summer Treatment.— At the 

 last annual meeting- of the Michig-an Horticultural Society a valu- 

 able paper on the cultivation of the blackberry was read by Mr. R. 

 M. Kellog-g. It is the common practice to stop cultivation of the 

 plant when fruit picking commences, the understanding being that 

 the canes will then ripen and harden better than if the working of 

 the soil is continued. Mr. K. shows very conclusively that such 

 practice is wrong, and that cultivation should go on vintil the crop is 

 harvested. Here follows what he has to say on the subject: " The 

 two chief difficulties in blackberry culture are the drought and win- 

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

 management 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 rain comes, when the autumn months should be used to mature 

 the wood. The cultivator should be kept going as soon as dr}^ 

 enough in the spring, and the priceless water should not be allowed 

 to get away. The whole surface should be covered with a fine, loose 

 earth all the time, and a crust should not be allowed to remain a 

 moment longer than necessary. Cultivate every week and after 

 every rain. 



"It is the greatest blunder to stop the cultivator when picking- be- 

 gins, just when the bushes need inoisture so much to fill their great 

 loads of berries with their rich juices. The feet of the pickers tramp 

 the ground down hard, and capillarity is perfect to the surface, and 

 water passes otf with the greatest freedom. The berries soon dr}^ 

 up, and the vitality of the bush is sapped by having its functions 

 suspended in hot weather. The plant goes through the same pro- 

 cess as if preparing for winter, buds form and foliage ripens. Later, 

 the fall rains come, and a new growth starts, and the early frosts 

 destroy the leaves, rendering the ripening of the wood an impossi- 

 bility, and winterkilling is sure to follow." 



