110 BUSH-FBUITS 



the vigor of the plants. Roots have also been found 

 to throw up more suckers when in contact with 

 coarse manure. 



Although propagation hy suckers is by far the most 

 common method, and answers equally well for practical 

 purposes, yet root -cuttings are often used, and give 

 excellent results. This is especially true where a speedy 

 increase of choice varieties is desired. The blackberry 

 is particularly well adapted to this method of propaga- 

 tion, and all the work can be done out of doors. The 

 cuttings may be made either in fall or spring. All roots 

 three -sixteenths of an inch or more in diameter may be 

 used, being cut into pieces two or three inches long. 

 If taken in the fall, these should be stored in boxes of 

 moist sand, which should be kept in a cellar during the 

 winter, or be buried outside on dry ground, where no 

 water will collect about them. It is well to have holes 

 or cracks in the bottom of the boxes, to allow the 

 escape of surplus moisture. The cuttings should be 

 stratified in the boxes in the same way that seeds and 

 nuts are, with a layer of sand or soil, then a layer 

 of cuttings, another of sand, etc. 



If the conditions are favorable during the winter, 

 the whitish granular -looking excrescence from the cut 

 surfaces, kuown as the callus, wdll have formed before 

 spring, so that the pieces will be in good condition for 

 planting. For this reason cuttings taken in the fall 

 and properly treated during the winter, usually give 

 better success and a more vigorous growth than those 

 taken in spring. In spring the cuttings are planted out 

 in loose, mellow soil, in trenches two to three inches 



