296 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Pruning Blackberries 



ii O PEAKING from a commercial stand- 

 O point," says Mr. A. W. Peart, Bur- 

 lington, "the leading varieties of blackber- 

 ries are Agawam, Kittatinny, Ohmer, 

 Snyder, Stone's Hardy, Taylor and West- 

 ern Triumph. My blackberries are summer 

 pruned in early July. I cut back tht suck- 

 ers to three or four feet high, causing them 

 to send out laterals and form a stout sturdy 

 tree. In March or April I again prune back 

 the longer laterals. 



The; best raspberries. 

 ** Since 1895 I have tried 20 varieties of 

 raspberries, and find the Cuthbert and the 

 Marlboro the best. The Marlboro is ear- 

 lier and firmer and can be readily seen by 

 the pickers. The bushes are not so leafy 

 as those of the Cuthbert. 



" Both are large berries. The Marlboro 

 is about ten days earlier than the Cuthbert. 

 Give the Marlboro good well-drained soil, 

 with liberal manuring, and there is no better 

 berry in Canada." 



Picking Strawberries 



J. O. DUKE, OUNDA, ONT. 



A STRAWBERRY patch may be picked 

 twice ; sometimes a third crop is 

 profitable. My patches are usually run 

 out by clover, and the third year make a bet- 

 ter pasture than berry patch. 



I pick in quart boxes, each picker being 

 provided with a carrier holding six boxes. 

 The pickers are given a ticket, on which 

 they receive credit for fruit picked. The 

 number of quarts picked is punched in the 

 margin of the ticket. These tickets, when 

 the numbers have all been punched out, are 

 worth five dollars. 



THE BERRIES ARE PICKED CAREFULI^Y. 

 I pay two cents per quart for picking, and 

 have it done right. The pickers are re- 

 quired to exercise care both in h-.mdling the 

 fruit and in filling the boxes. The fruit is 



packed in crates holding 24 boxes, and ship- 

 ped to points north and east, wher ' I always 

 find a good market, my berry season being 

 over before they start to ripen even at Lon- 

 don. For varieties I plant mostly early 

 kinds, Bedar Wood, Crescent, Mitchell's 

 Early and Tennessee Prolific being good 

 standard early varieties, with Williams to 

 finish up on. Williams is the best bearer 

 and long distance shipper I have ever grown. 



Black Currants Unfruitful 



PROF. H. L. HUTT, ONT. \GRI. COLLEGE, GUELPH. 



I have about 20 black currant bushes, set out 

 four years ago. They were full of green cur- 

 rants the last four years, but all dropped off. 

 They were full of blossoms again this year. 

 Why do they not bear ? There are no insects 

 on them. — (A. S., Winger, Ont. 



I am somewhat at a loss to account for the 

 unproductiveness of your black currant 

 bushes. Your experience has been the 

 same as that of a number of others. In 

 speaking of this subject some time ago with 

 Mr. E. D. Smith, proprietor of the large 

 nurseries at Winona, he told me that he once 

 had a number of black currant bushes grow- 

 ing on heavy land on " the mountain " 

 which always bore an excellent crop, and, to 

 increase his plantation of them near at home 

 on what ne thought more genial soil, he pro- 

 pagated from these bushes extensively ; but 

 when planted in good rich soil below the 

 mountain they proved quite unproductive. 

 He was inclined to believe that it was very 

 much a question of suitability of the soil. 



One of the finest crops of black currants 

 I ever saw was growing on heavy clay soil 

 in Algoma. When the bushes are on rich, 

 loamy land they are inclined to produce 

 wood rather than bear fruit. Some have 

 attributed this lack of productiveness to lack 

 of fertilization of the blossoms. This may 

 be the case in some instances, but if this 

 were the cause in your case the green ber- 

 ries would hardly be formed, or, at least, 

 thev would not grow to^any extent. 



