Harvesting and Marketing 207 



function has been completed and leave the room for the 

 young canes. The first year after planting two or three 

 canes will appear, which should have the growing tip 

 pinched out when the cane becomes about eighteen inches 

 or two feet high. This will cause the canes to send out 

 several lateral branches and make stocky plants. This 

 pinched out when they become about eighteen inches 

 after for the purpose of inducing the plants to send out 

 lateral branches, and thereby fncreasing the fruit producing 

 area of each plant. After the second year the pinching 

 should be done when the new canes become two or three 

 feet high, depending on the vigor of the plants. Some 

 growers practice cutting out the old canes just as soon as 

 the fruit has been harvested, while others will allow them 

 to remain until the following spring. Whether they are 

 cut out in the summer or the following spring seems to 

 make little difference, but in the spring the lateral branches 

 should all be cut back about one-third. This will make 

 the plants stockier and less liable to fall over when carry- 

 ing their fruit, and it will also thin the fruit, by removing 

 some of the fruit producing wood. 



Harvesting and Marketing 



For distant markets the blackberry should be picked 

 at just the time that it begins to color nicely, and while 

 the berry is still solid. But for local markets and home 

 use the fruit should be allowed to become more nearly 

 fully ripe. The fruit which is picked before it has reached 

 full maturity will be quite acid, and just as it is picked 

 from the plants it will not be suitable for use, although it 

 will soften up and take on a very good flavor in the course 

 of a few days, while it is going to market. Fruit which 

 has ripened on the pla'nts is by far the most delicious, but 

 on account of the very thin and tender skin such fruit will 

 not bear transportation, as it is very juicy and leaks badly 

 when even slightly crushed. 



Marketing is usually done in quart boxes, although 

 when the fruit is to be shipped for a considerable distance 

 the one pint cups will carry the fruit with less injury from 



