The Canadian Horticulturist. 



RAisixc, i!i.Ar'Ki!i;kkii:s. 



1 were lo recommend any variety it would be the Ancient Ikiton, 

 as i)referable in many respects to most of the otliers. It is a 

 lardy plant, and being of medium growth makes it quite easy to 

 ay it down in the fall, and the fruit, when properly ripened, is all 

 thai could be desired in a blackberry. It is an abundant fruiter, 

 and. as it is a little later than some of the other sorts, there is a 

 good demand for them at a good price. 



Blackberries need plenty of moisture, and it will not pay to plant them on 

 the top of some dry knoll : for the fruit will not grow to perfection in such dry 

 places, it will be hard and sour. Chose a place where the ground is of good 

 quality and where there is plenty of moisture. Prepare the ground thoroughly 

 by plowing and harrowing before planting, and make the ground mellow, down 

 (juite deep, where you set the plants. You cannot be too particular in this 

 respect — remember you are setting them out for profit and not simply to see 

 whether they will grow or not. I think they should be set about four feet 

 apart one way, and eight feet the other way. Keep the ground loose by constant 

 cultivation, and the sooner you can get a good large buf^h, the sooner you will 

 get fruit, and keeping the ground loose will help to keep it moist. 



. When the bushes get quite well started) .say three years after they have 

 been set), it will be some trouble to remove the old brush, this I do in the 

 following manner : I take a hooked knife, with a handle attached which is 

 about five feet long. The knife is made from a piece of old file welded to a hoe 

 shank in such a way that the knife stands at right angles with the handle. With 

 this kind of a tool I cut the brush out of an acre in eleven hours, and as I cut 

 them I pull them out of the row with the knife, so I can gather them easily. I 

 next hitch a horse to the side of one-half of a two-horse harrow, and drive over 

 the brush with the horse and harrow, which draws them together into piles, and, 

 if in a dry time, the harrow will break the brush so there will not seem to be 

 more than one-half as many of them after being harrowed as before. 



After the brush is piled, I hitch the horse to a sled made of wood without 

 any shafts, and with four stakes in it to hold the brush on : with this 1 haul the 

 brush out of the field. I think the old brush should be taken out as soon as 

 practicable after they have fruited, as it keeps the new shoots from making as 

 good a growth as they otherwise would if left in. 



}>lackberries, to be grown successfully in cold climates, must be covered in 

 the fall : if not covered, they should be put close to the ground and fastened 

 there till spring. I commence to put them down by digging the dirt away on 

 one side so as to let the bushes over : then I stand on the opposite side, and 

 with a fork, which I place in the top of the bush, I commence to i)ush with the 

 fork and at the same time push with my foot against the stumj) of the bush : 



