BLACKBERRY 



BLACKBERRY 



165 



drought, which is usually the greatest obstacle to suc- 

 cess with this fruit. For this reason a cool northern 

 exposure is always desirable, and in the region of the 

 Plains, a good windbreak on the south and west is very 

 beneficial. Fertilizers containing a liberal proportion of 

 potash are most suitable. Too much stable manure, or 

 nitrogen in other forms, will induce a rank growth of 

 canes at the expense of fruit. 



Plants are propagated either by root-cuttings, or by 

 means of the suckers which naturally spring up about 

 the parent plants. The latter are most commonly used 

 in commercial work. Root-cuttings may be made in the 

 fall and carried over winter in sand, or started under 

 glass toward spring, or the cuttings can be made in 

 spring and sowed in furrows, like peas. Planting is 

 best done in spring, as a rule. If set in the fall, each 

 plant should be covered with a mulch of earth or strawy 

 manure, which should be removed in spring. The rows 



pruning is the method of thinning the Blackberry, and 

 judgment must always enter into the question of thin- 

 ning fruit. In the region of the Plains, where moisture 

 is likely to be deficient, both in soil and atmosphere, it 

 is frequently found better not to cut back the growing 

 shoots in summer, but to let them develop one straight 

 cane, which is cut back to 2% or 3 feet in spring. This 

 will generally develop all the fruit which the plant can 

 carry to maturity under such conditions. A few grow- 

 ers in other parts of the country train to wires, and in 

 that case the shoots are also allowed to grow at will, but 

 are left much longer in spring and tied to the wires for 

 support. Close-pruned, stocky bushes may be covered 

 with straw as a protection against late spring frosts. 



The best of cultivation is always demanded. In a crop 

 in which so much depends upon an abundant supply of 

 moisture in the soil, none should be allowed to go to 

 waste. Hence, the cultivation should be frequent and 



238. Wild hybrid of Blackberry and Dewberry. 



should be about 8 feet apart, and the plants may be set 

 from 2 to 4 feet apart in the row. At the latter distance, 

 cultivation may be given in both directions for the first 

 year or two. With high culture, good results may be 

 obtained by planting in hills, 7 or 8 feet apart each way. 

 Pruning the Blackberry is not difficult, yet upon its 

 proper performance depends much of the success of the 

 crop. The old canes should be removed yearly, prefer- 

 ably in summer, as soon as they have borne their crop 

 of fruit. They then no longer interfere with the symmet- 

 rical development of the young canes, and if gathered 

 and burned at once, much is gained in keeping the field 

 clear of certain fungi and insects. The young canes 

 should be clipped off when they reach a height of 18 

 inches or 2 feet, in order to induce early branching and 

 a stocky bush with well developed laterals, capable of 

 producing and holding up a heavy crop of fruit. It is 

 very important that the shoots be not allowed to get 

 higher than 2 feet before this clipping is done. They 

 will then elongate and make the bush high enough. If 

 neglected, and later cut back to 2 feet, the buds will be 

 weak, the growth poor, the bush low, and the crop small. 

 The laterals are usually cut back to about 18 inches in 

 length the following spring, but varieties differ in their 

 habit of bearing fruit-buds, and it is not safe to cut by 

 measure. It should be remembered that this spring 



constant, but always shallow, for deep cultivation dis- 

 turbs the roots and induces increased suckering. In 

 small garden patches mulching may be substituted. 

 Growers in the middle West have found mulching with 

 green clover in the row, and cultivating between, very 

 beneficial. 



In many parts of the country winter protection is abso- 

 lutely essential to success, and often adds greatly to 

 the yield in other regions, where not considered a neces- 

 sity. This protection is by no means always called for 

 by reason of extreme cold. The winters of Nebraska 

 and Kansas are nearly always milder than those of cen- 

 tral New York ; yet during one of the mildest of these, 

 when the mercury reached zero but once, and was then 

 only five degrees below, Taylor Blackberries were killed 

 to the ground, while the succeeding winter, which was 

 decidedly colder, they came through unharmed. It may 

 be as much a matter of moisture as of temperature. The 

 needed protection is best given by loosening the earth 

 on both sides of the plant, carefully turning it down and 

 covering the tips with soil, laying the next plant upon 

 the roots of this, and so on. In mild climates, covering 

 the tips is sufficient ; in especially unfavorable ones the 

 whole plant must be covered. The cost of this need not 

 exceed $5 to $8 an acre. 



The fruit of the Blackberry should be left upon the 



