THE HOME ACRE. 



May, June, and July. The plants, having been 

 set out as I have advised in the case of raspberries, 

 throw up the first season strong green shoots. 

 When these shoots are three feet high, pinch off 

 the top, so as to stop upward growth. The result 

 of this is that branches start on every side, and 

 the plant forms a low, stocky, self-supporting bush, 

 which will be loaded with fruit the following 

 season. 



The second year the plants in the hill will 

 send up stronger canes, and there will be plenty 

 of sprouts or suckers in the intervening spaces. 

 When very young, these useless sprouts can be 

 pulled out with the least possible trouble. Left to 

 mature, they make a thorny wilderness which will 

 cause bleeding hands and faces when attacked, 

 and add largely to the family mending. That 

 which a child could do as play when the suckers 

 were just coming through the ground, is now a 

 formidable task for any man. In early summer 

 you can with the utmost ease keep every useless 

 blackberry sprout from growing. More canes, 

 also, will usually start from the hill than are 

 needed. Leave but three strong shoots, and this 

 year pinch them back as soon as they are four 

 feet high, thus producing three stocky, well- 

 branched bushes, which in sheltered places will 

 be self-supporting. Should there be the slightest 



