22 BUSH-FRUITS 



be little doubt that in all regions where the winters 

 are especially severe or trying, it will certainly pay 

 to lay down both raspberries and blackberries. A 

 writer in American Garden in 1890 makes the state- 

 ment that he can insure a quart of blackberries a 

 minute, for the time spent in laying them down. 

 Some growers advise less vigorous summer pruning, 

 or none at all, where plants are to be laid down. 

 Others who practice laying -down very extensively 

 also prune severely. 



Bailey writes* as follows on this subject: "Black- 

 berries and raspberries are extensively laid down in 

 cold climates, and it may be well to relate the method 

 here for the benefit of those who occupy bleak loca- 

 tions. Late in fall, the bushes are tipped over and 

 covered. Three men are generally employed to per- 

 form this labor. One man goes ahead with a long- 

 handled, round -pointed shovel and digs the earth 

 away six inches deep from under the roots. The 

 second man has a six-tined or four-tined fork which 

 he thrusts against the plant a foot or so above the 

 ground, and by pushing upon the fork and stamping 

 against the roots with the foot, the plant is laid over 

 in the direction from w r hich the earth was removed. 

 The third man now covers the plant with earth or 

 marsh hay. Earth is generally used, and if the va- 

 riety is a tender one the whole bush is covered two 

 or three inches deep. Hardy varieties may be simply 

 held down by throwing a few shovelfulls of earth 



*" Principles of Fruit-Growing," 98. 



