CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE BLACKBERRY. 



There is no bush fruit which is capable of yielding 

 greater profit. PROF. I,. H. BAILEY. 



WHILE anybody may grow blackberries, nobody 

 should do so who does not intend to take care 

 of them, for a neglected blackberry patch is 

 as much of a wilderness as a piece of wild thicket 

 land. Besides, disease hostile to good fruit lurks in 

 decaying canes and dead leaves. The patch must be 

 pruned, cleaned and cultivated, and kept in good order. 



The blackberry has a true place and a high place 

 in the list of small fruits, for if picked only when fully 

 ripe it is a grand table berry, and if grown properly 

 the yield per acre will reach two hundred and fifty to 

 three hundred bushels, which means anywhere from 

 $200 to $300. 



There should be an unbroken succession of the 

 several kinds of marketable table berries from the 

 first of June until the middle of August, beginning 

 with the strawberry and ending with the blackberry. 

 These dates refer to the latitude of Philadelphia, but 

 the same period of ten weeks or more may be covered 

 in almost any latitude in the United States with these 

 three berries, the strawberry, raspberry and black- 

 berry. 



Blackberries are adaptable to many soils, but do 

 best in a deep, mellow loam } abundantly supplied 

 with humus. A good plan is to plow down a very 

 liberal coat of stable manure, and to cultivate a year 



