A Californian Amateur's Berry Garden— By w. Almont Gates, 



Berkeley, 

 Cal. 



LUSCIOUS FRUITS IN CONTINUOUS SUPPLY FROM MAY UNTIL THANKSGIVING FROM THREE VARIETIES 

 THAT ALSO MADE A PERFECT SCREEN— FORTY POUNDS OF BLACKBERRIES FROM A SINGLE PLANT 



THE garden is of the usual kind, the rear 

 end of a small city lot, but the berries 

 that grow there are very unusual. The lot 

 (forty feet wide) faces the east, and the berries 

 occupy the west end. They were planted 

 in February two years ago, and last summer 

 was the first bearing season. 



The rear fence is of boards, four feet high 



A city backyard, with 40-foot rows of blackberries 

 which produce fruit for half a year 



and solid, with the rails on the inside. Next 

 to this fence are three plants of the Mammoth 

 blackberry, fifteen feet apart. These plants 

 require a partial shade for the best results 

 and this is an ideal place for them. Besides, 

 an unsightly board fence has been converted 

 into a beautiful evergreen wall. The canes 

 start very early and take on the running 

 habit, some of ours extending sixteen feet. 

 We train them on the fence, using the rails 



A cluster of Himalaya blackberry bearing 132 fruits. 

 The whole plant bore a crop of forty pounds 



as a trellis and fastening the branches with 

 staples. 



The berries are the largest blackberries 

 known, many of them exceeding two inches 

 in length. They are of good flavor and 

 unlike any other. We picked our first ripe 

 berries May ist and plants continued bearing 

 for two months. 



In the next row I set two plants of Phe- 

 nomenal berries and crowded in some plants 

 of Cuthbert and Wilson. These latter, 

 however, are to come out and the row will 

 be completed with two more of Phenomenal. 

 This row was set too close to the Mammoth. 

 The distance must be not less than six feet. 

 These must have a trellis and four plants 

 will be sufficient for a 40-foot row. Our 

 plants sent up three canes each the first 

 season which after harvest were cut away 

 to give room for the six new canes sent up by 

 each plant the last season. The canes are 

 of good size and some have reached fifteen 

 feet in length. This berry is a cross between 

 the red raspberry and the dewberry. In 

 color the ripe berry is bright crimson, border- 

 ing on purple. The flavor resembles the 

 raspberry but is more acid. The berries 

 are very large, many of ours last season 

 measured one and one-half inches in length, 

 and one inch in diameter. They commence 

 to ripen early in May almost as soon as the 

 Mammoth and continue in bearing about 

 sixty days. From two plants I gathered 

 thirty-six pounds of berries and I expect 

 an increase in the yield this coming season. 

 The Phenomenal is an excellent table berry 

 and has no superior for jams and sauces. 



The third kind which I have adopted 

 for my garden is the Himalaya blackberry. 

 I set three plants fifteen feet apart in the 

 40-foot row and the first season allowed 

 but two canes to grow from each plant. 

 These canes were trained on a trellis made 

 by setting 2x4 in. posts, extending six 

 feet above the ground and nailing on each 

 post, four feet from the ground, a cross piece 

 one foot long. On these cross pieces, on 

 each side of the posts, I fastened a board four 

 inches wide, laid flatwise. The canes were 

 trained on the top of these shelves and firmly 

 tied or the wind and weight of the crop 

 would have pulled them off. 



No laterals were allowed to grow. These 

 canes grew so very large and long that I 

 could not keep some of them from encroach- 

 ing upon my neighbors. Others I induced 

 to make a right-angle turn at the fence rail. 

 The longest of these canes measured thirty- 

 three feet. They were allowed to root at 

 the tips during the winter season and in the 

 spring were cut back to the length of the 

 trellis. The buds on these canes were eight 

 inches to ten inches apart, and in the spring 

 a bearing branch started from each bud 

 and grew to be from two to three feet long. 

 Many of these branches produced more 

 than one hundred berries each. Our trellis 

 20 



was now a solid wall of vine and berries. 

 New branches, blossoms and berries kept 

 right on growing. The last ones were 

 picked on Thanksgiving day and then we 

 made an end of it by removing all branches, 

 leaving only the bare canes. 



The canes that fruited this year do 

 not die like those of other berries, but 



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The Phenomenal blackberry. Four plants cover a 

 40-foot trellis. Berries one and a half inches long 



remain healthy for several years. This year 

 I had difficulty in providing for the two new 

 canes permitted to grow from each plant, 

 but it was accomplished by placing on the 

 same posts another pair of trellis shelves 

 thirty inches from the ground and training 

 the new canes on these. 



The berry is large, globular, dull black 

 in color, and of good flavor. When fully 

 ripe it is very sweet. Our first berries were 

 gathered June 20th and the vines continued 

 bearing until stopped by pruning. I kept 

 a record of the berries gathered until the 

 last of August, when over forty pounds had 

 been obtained. 



The Mammoth blackberry; an early variety, and the 

 largest-fruited. Fruits two inches or more long 



