SMALL FRUITS 213 



to hold up the crop of the next season. If they 

 are allowed to grow to their full height they 

 will often sprawl all over the place and make 

 life miserable for every one who comes near 

 them. The fruit is always produced on one- 

 year-old canes. Those shoots which have once 

 fruited are of no further use and should be 

 removed as quickly as the crop has been har- 

 vested. 



It will be seen from this that the pruning of 

 the blackberry consists of only two operations, 

 cutting back the tips of the growing canes as 

 soon as they have reached the desired height 

 and removing the old canes as soon as they 

 have been relieved of their fruit. We might 

 add that the removal of excess suckers around 

 the roots constitutes another form of pruning, 

 but this usually is taken care of by the tools used 

 in cultivation. In time the row becomes a solid 

 mat of roots and the original plants lose their 

 identity. Carelessness in cultivating will soon 

 cause this condition to become general over the 

 patch and the rows will merge so as to form a 

 thicket through which "Brer Rabbit" can 

 wend his way in peace, but which effectively 

 excludes all but the most hardy pickers. The 

 fruit should be harvested when the berries 

 have reached a full black color and not before, 

 as the partly colored berries never develop the 

 perfect flavor of the ripe fruit. 



