STATE HORTICITLTURAL SOCIETY, 321 



to the soil and climate of Minnesota, besides possessing many of the 

 ^ood qualities desirable in a market berry — I would recommend Sny- 

 der, Taylor and Ancient Briton, for a succession from early to late, as 

 likely to succeed as any I could name. Stone's Hardy is small, but 

 well liked in some places. Western Triumph is hardy, and that is all 

 the good I know of it. But if God should decree that I should pass 

 my life in Minnesota, I shall endeavor to grow the Wilson's Early, 

 Wilson's Junior and the Lucretia dewberry, as the largest, earliest 

 and best of all the l)lackberry kind. Still they are all tender, and 

 knowing they are tender we propose to take care of them. Who 

 would think of succeeding in dairying if they left a herd of fine Jersey 

 cows to " rustle " for themselves through the winter around a straw 

 stack. 



The best plants for setting may be obtained from root cuttings by 

 dividing the roots into sections of two or three inches in length and 

 planting in soil the spring before we want to use them. These make 

 roots freely if the soil is moist and pressed firmly around them, and 

 are far preferable to plants obtained from suckers in an old bearing 

 field. If you are obliged to buy them, they will cost from $3 to $10 

 per 1,000, standard varieties. 



The profit of blackberry culture depends entirely on our success in 

 protecting them through the winter; for they have no insect enemies 

 and but small liability to disease to cut short the crop. Yet I well 

 remember how a fine field of the " ironclad " Taylor, which my 

 brother and I rented last year in Michigan, failed to give us a single 

 case; and our Western Triumph were no better, while cur ^'tender" 

 Lautons and Wilsons, that were laid down on both sides of them, were 

 very fine. 



I have known the Snyder, which is best adapted of all kinds to a 

 heavy, strong soil, to produce as high as six hundred cases of sixteen 

 quarts each per acre, but one-half of this is a large yield under the 

 most favorable conditions, while fifty cases was more than the average 

 last year in Michigan. 



In exposed locations on our prairies, where the wind would be lia- 

 ble to break over the bushes and injure the fruit, we may protect 

 them by sticking posts about thirty feet apart in the row, and draw- 

 ing a wire on each side, tight, %bout two feet above the ground. One 

 of the wires can be easily removed when we want to lay them down; 

 or the dewberries may be trained to these wires. But these precau- 

 tions may be unnecessary if we trim back more, and make a low thick 

 bush, instead of a taller and more slender one. 

 21 



