Removing the Plants 109 



second in preventing the waste of that moisture. Tillage 

 and mulching have to do with the latter. 



Pruning may also influence the effect of drought. By 

 it the amount of fruit which the plant will carry is largely 

 determined. If given too heavy a load the plant is unable 

 properly to develop it all in a dry season. The method 

 of training used may also have some influence. 



DURATION OF PLANTATIONS 



The profitable duration of a blackberry plantation, 

 as with all other small fruits, depends much on care and 

 management. They generally last longer than black 

 raspberries, perhaps from five to ten years on the average, 

 longer in special cases. Attempts to lengthen the lifetime 

 of a fruit plantation of any kind are rarely profitable. 

 It is better to force the plants to do their best, get what 

 can be gotten from them before they begin to decline, 

 then let them go, to be replaced by others. If by one 

 system of management a plant can be induced to produce 

 as much in three years as it ordinarily would in five, 

 the three-year return is to be preferred, even if at the 

 end of that time the plant is exhausted and no longer 

 profitable. Others are ready to take its place, on other 

 ground, and to continue the high-pressure production. 

 The greater the yield, within limits, the greater the profit 

 and the more fun to be had from the business. 



REMOVING THE PLANTS 



When a plantation has passed its usefulness it may 

 become a difficult task to get rid of it. The capacity of 



