134 



SUCCESSFUL PliUlT CULTURE 



while many dead ones would be left, if the pruning were 

 done before growth began. 



Training — While many growers do not give their 

 blackberry plants any support, it is often much better 

 to have some way of holding them up from the ground 

 in cases of heavy foliage and crops of fruit during wet 

 weather. A very good and inexpensive support consists 

 in stretching No. 14 or 16 galvanized wire on each 

 side of the row and holding it in place on a crosspiece 

 from one to two feet, according to the width of the 

 row of canes, nailed to stakes set at intervals of from 



fifteen to thirty feet apart, as 

 shown in Figure 71. At the 

 end of each crosspiece is 

 driven a strong nail to catch 

 the wires. In putting up the 

 trellis • one wire is drawn on 

 the ground close up to the 

 row on each side and fas- 

 tened to one end stake. It 

 is then drawn as firmly as it 

 can be done without breaking, 

 and then fastened tempora- 

 rily at the other end, and 

 caught over the nail on each 

 stake, as seen in Figure 72. The wires are then drawn 

 together in as many places between each stake as may 

 be found necessary to bring the canes into an upright 

 position, after which they may then be drawTi more 

 tightly and only a few canes will be found that will 

 need tying. This support has the advantage that the 

 wires can be quickly taken off the crosspiece, drawn 

 along the middle of the row during the summer, again 

 caught on the nail, thus all new canes brought into the 

 row, so that cultivation may be carried on more com- 

 fortably and the fruit be more readily gathered. Only 



Fig. 71— Crosspiece in Black- 

 berry Trellis 



