10 Bush-Fruits 



inches high. If much taller than this cut off the tops. 

 They should be well established by fall. All plants, and 

 especially red raspberries and blackberries, should be 

 carefully lifted. If carelessly pulled up, the plant is likely 

 to break at the connection with the root from which it 

 springs, leaving only a straight cane, with very few roots 

 attached. 



The individuality of the parent plant is worth con- 

 sidering when it is feasible to do so. Plants of the same 

 variety may vary widely in productiveness and size of 

 fruit. It is reasonable to expect some of these differences 

 to reappear in the offspring. This point has doubtless 

 been over-emphasized in some cases. Great claims have 

 sometimes been made for so-called "pedigree" plants. 

 Heredity through mere division of the parent plant does 

 not operate in the same way as it does in sexual reproduc- 

 tion of animal life. Many of the differences which ap- 

 pear in plants of the same variety are due to different 

 conditions to which the plant may have been subjected, 

 and may not reappear in the young plants taken from it. 

 Yet every practical grower would rather have a strong, 

 thrifty plant, from a vigorous and productive parent, than 

 the opposite. Vigor and thrift are essential. " Pedigree" 

 other than this is of doubtful value. 



Six feet apart is a common and convenient distance for 

 bush-fruit rows, with plants two to three feet apart in the 

 rows. Under some conditions check-rows may be pref- 

 erable, since their use reduces the amount of hand work 

 needed to keep the plantation clean. In that case plants 

 may be put four to five feet apart each way. Blackberries 

 and red raspberries, owing to their suckering habit, natu- 



