296 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
are almost sure to fail—but go to some reliable nurseryman and get plants 
that have been thoroughly tried in the latitude in which you live, and are 
of a good variety. If I were torecommend any variety it would be the 
Ancient Briton,as preferable in many respects to most of the others. It 
is a hardy plant, and being of medium growth makes it quite easy to lay,it 
down in the fall, and the fruit when properly ripened is all that could 
be desired in a blackberry. Itis an abundant fruiter,and as it is a little 
later than some of the other sorts, thereis a good demand for them at 
a good price. 
Blackberries need plenty of moisture, and it will not pay to plant 
them on the top of some dry knoll, for the fruit will not grow to 
perfection in such dry places, it will be hard and sour. Choose a place 
where the ground is of good quality and where there is plenty of moisture. 
Prepare the ground thoroughly by piowing and harrowing before plant- 
ing, and make the ground mellow, down quite deep, where you set the 
plants. You cannot be too particular in this respect—remember you are 
setting them out for profit and not simply to see whether they will grow 
or not. I think they should be set about four feet apart one way, and 
eight feet the other way. Keep the ground loose by constant cultivation, 
and the sooner you can get a good large busb, the sooner you will get fruit, 
and keeping the ground loose will help to keep it moist. 
When the bushes get quite well started (say three years after they have 
been set), it will be some trouble to remove the old brush; this I do in the 
following manner: I take a hooked knife, with a handle attached which 
is about five feetlong. The knife is made from a piece of old file welded to 
a hoe shank in such a way that the knife stands at right angles with the 
handle. With this kind of a tool I cut the brush out of an acre in eleven 
hours, and as I cut them I pull them out of the row with the knife, so 1 
can gather them easily. I next hitch a horse to the side of one-half of 
a two-horse harrow, and drive over the brush with the horse and harrow, 
which draws them together into piles, and,if in a dry time, the harrow 
will break the brush so there will not seem to be more than one-half as 
many of them after being harrowed as before. 
After the brush is piled, I hitch the horse to a sled made of wood with- 
out any shafts, and with four stakes in it to hold the brush on; with this 
I haul the brush out of the field. I think-the old brush should be taken 
out as soon as practicable after they have fruited, as it keeps the new 
shoots from making as good a growthas they otherwise would, if left in. 
Rlackberries, to be grown successfully, must be covered in the 
fall; if not covered, they should be put close to the ground and fastened 
there till spring. I commence to put them down by digging the dirt 
away on one side so as to let the bushes over; then I stand on the opposite 
side, and with a fork, which I place in the top of the bush, I commence to 
push with the fork and at the same time push with my foot against the 
stump of the bush; with this method I have no trouble in getting the 
bushes down, when they should be covered with enough dirt to keep them 
on the ground. I do not think itis of much advantage to entirely cover 
them with dirt, especially when there is plenty of snow. I think as a 
general thing, the bushes should be taken out of the ground as soon as 
the frost is out deep enough to allow of it, as being alate bloomer, 
there is not much danger from frost. It is better not to stand the bushes 
