140 BUSH-FRUITS 



a greater distance between the rows will be needed. 

 One of the objections to this method is that more 

 space is demanded for training the plants than is 

 needed for their maintenance. 



The great tendency of the dewberries to fail to set 

 fruit altogether, or to produce small and imperfect fruit, 

 is a point which should always be taken into consider- 

 ation when planting. There is reason to believe that 

 this is often due to a lack of proper fertilization. 

 Whether this lack of fertilization comes from insuf- 

 ficient pollination, or from lack of potency of the 

 pollen which reaches the stigma, is uncertain. What- 

 ever the cause, the lack is apparent, and the most 

 feasible way of overcoming it is by planting different 

 kinds together in close proximity. It has been con- 

 clusively shown that the pollen of many varieties of 

 our larger fruit, notably pears and apples, has not 

 the powder to properly fertilize the pistils of the same 

 variety. The same may be true of the dewberries. 

 At any rate, better results seem to have come from 

 planting more than one kind together. Even black- 

 berries planted alongside have seemed to produce a 

 favorable effect in some cases. One instance is re- 

 ported* where dewberries blossomed full for several 

 years, but produced only a few imperfect berries. 

 Later a block of blackberries was planted beside 

 them, and when these came into bearing, the dew- 

 berries began fruiting, and continued to do so regu- 

 larly. This is an indication, though not proof, that 

 blackberry pollen may fertilize dewberries. 



"Trans. 111. Hort. Soc., 1886: 382. 



