LAYING-DOWN THE PLANTS 21 



laid down. The objection to this plan is that it 

 injures the roots, and with suckering varieties, causes 

 more suckers to spring up, so that the time saved 

 is lost again in fighting the suckers the following 

 season. Some plow a furrow along the row the first 

 thing, and turn the plants to the side, but that plan 

 is open to the same objection. 



This laying -down can be done at any time after 

 growth stops in the fall, but before the ground 

 freezes. In some instances no injury has followed 

 covering while yet in full leaf, with several weeks of 

 mild weather following. The time of taking them 

 up in the spring, however, is of greater importance, 

 for if lifted early, with severe weather following, they 

 are much more apt to be injured than plants which 

 have not been covered would be by the same tempera- 

 ture. If left too late, growth may begin while they 

 are still covered, rendering them very sensitive to 

 even light frosts when exposed. It is always bet- 

 ter, if the work can be so timed, that a few days of 

 mild weather shall follow the date of lifting. 



The cost of protecting in this way is variously 

 estimated. T. T. Lyon reports a large plantation 

 of Wilson Early blackberries bearing a bountiful crop, 

 which had been laid down at a cost not exceeding 

 $1.75 per acre. In Wisconsin, where much of it is 

 done, the cost of laying -down blackberries and 

 lifting them again in spring is estimated at about 

 $5 per acre. 



The verdict of all growers who have practiced lay- 

 ing-down is so unanimously in its favor that there can 



