PRUNING THE BLACKBERRY 407 



of the summer. It is also advisable to thin out the suckers with the hoe 

 while cutting out weeds, leaving only about as many as it is desired 

 to have for fruit the next season. This method gives stout canes, with 

 plenty of short side branches, well supplied with buds, which will send 

 out fruiting shoots the following spring. If supports are used, the four 

 to six canes which are left to each stool are gathered within a loosely- 

 drawn bale rope and tied to the stake ; or if a trellis is used, the branches 

 are brought up to the wire or slat so that the distance is about evenly 

 divided between the shoots. 



Mr. Claud D. Tribble of Elk Grove gives the following advice for 

 handling the Lawton, which is the chief upright variety grown in 

 California : 



Give the plants some support the first season by a stake, and the second season 

 the permanent stakes are put in, one on each side of the plant. In driving them, 

 allow the tops to be wider than the bottom so the berries can be picked easily. 

 Large wires or wooden cleats are used to support the vines or canes. The posts 

 are about six feet long and driven in the ground until solid, making the top 

 about five feet high. During the first season's growth there is very little pruning 

 except thinning to the desired number of canes. The second year the canes are 

 allowed to grow above the stakes and then tipped to cause laterals to form, 

 which are cut back to less than 12 inches to produce berries the following season. 

 The old wood is cut out each season and the new shoots trained as before. 

 If the old canes are cut out as soon as the crop is gathered, it is done more 

 economically and the young plants grow better. 



Though these systematic methods of summer pruning are practiced 

 and advocated by the most careful growers, it should be stated that 

 there are large plantations which are conducted upon a more simple 

 system. The pruning consists in cutting out old canes in the winter, 

 and the only summer pruning is slashing off these canes which interfere 

 with cultivation. The canes are sometimes held up by tying bunches 

 of them together with ropes. Of course this system costs less than the 

 more careful one which has been described, and yields profit enough 

 to induce adherence to it. No doubt quite as great weight of berries 

 could be had from a smaller area by a better system of growing. 



After the leaves fall, the canes which have borne fruit during the 

 summer are all cut off even with the surface of the ground with long- 

 handled pruning shears or with a short hooked knife with a long 

 handle, and all debris removed from the rows. 



Application of Manure. The blackberry loves very rich ground, 

 and plenty of well-rotted stable manure or compost, as described in 

 Chapter XIV, should be applied. It is a good plan to apply in a thick 

 covering all over the ground and between the canes as soon as the 

 patch is cleaned up in the fall. The early rains carry down the soluble 

 parts of the manure, and later in the season the whole is plowed in 

 between the rows, leaving a foot or more next the plants to be carefully 

 forked in, as the digging fork does not cut the roots like the spade. 



Mulching. The mulch, to keep the ground moist and to obviate 

 summer cultivation, is very satisfactory where it is thoroughly done. 

 Apply coarse manure or partially-rotted straw and the like, after the 

 last spring cultivation, and use the hoe to keep down weeds and suckers 

 which come up between the rows. Some growers use mulch close to 

 the canes, cultivating the remainder of the ground between the rows. 



