THE BLACKBERRY 133 



the first summer, one or two canes, and perhaps one or 

 two sprouts from the roots. These may be expected to 

 bear a few berries the next season, but the fruit, being 

 so near the ground, will not be worth the trouble of 

 protecting from the spatter of dirt during heavy rains. 

 The second summer more numerous new shoots, from 

 three to six feet long, should be produced, that may be 

 expected to bear a crop of considerable value the third 

 season. After the canes begin to bear, the work of 

 pruning consists in cutting out the old canes that have 

 borne a crop, thinning out the small, weak shoots, and 

 heading back the new ones so that, as seen in Figure 70, 

 when they are loaded with leaves and fruit they will 

 not be bent down to the ground. 



The old fruiting canes are cut away by some growers 

 in the late summer or early fall, but are left by most of 

 them until the leisure days of winter. Some growers 

 summer prune by heading back the new canes when they 

 have made about three feet of growth, which causes a 

 stocky and branching condition, as seen in Figure 70. 

 while others let the canes grow to their full length and 

 do not head back until after growth ceases in the fall, 

 or until the winter or spring pruning. After many 

 trials of the different methods and under many varying 

 conditions and soils, we conclude that the single un- 

 branched cane with numerous strong buds along it will 

 give more fruit than the summer pruned canes with 

 buds that mature later on the branched growth resulting 

 from this summer pruning. Another objection to the 

 branching canes is that with a heavy fall of wet snow 

 or heavy accumulation of ice, the laterals are liable to 

 be broken from the main canes. Pruning is often 

 delayed by many until after the buds have begun to 

 grow in the spring, that it may be definitely known 

 what canes are winterkilled and what are not, otherwise 

 many canes that perhaps were alive would be cut out, 



