August, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XV 



jurious to both the raspberry and the black- 

 berry, and I have become convinced that it is 

 provocative of root disease, possibly of rust. If 

 planted on sandy soil, I should spread mulch 

 very heavily among the canes. On the south- 

 ern lines of blackberry growing I would use 

 pine needles freely — to prevent the soil from 

 ever becoming dry. The object of this mulch 

 is not fertilization, but to equalize the tem- 

 perature around the roots. You know that the 

 wild blackberry grows in shady places and in 

 wet glens, and the cultivated likes the same 

 sort of soil and treatment. Bear in mind that 

 there are two sorts of blackberry canes; those 

 that stand sturdily erect, and these are fit 

 for cultivating with the horse; while those 

 that sprawl can only be grown by keeping 

 them sharply trimmed. I have no use for the 

 sprawling sorts, unless it be to grow in fences 

 and stone heaps or over stumps. For this 

 reason I would throw out Rathbun, and am 

 compelled to drop out Agawam. 



I choose those varieties which can be al- 

 lowed to take care of themselves after the first 

 two years, or mainly so. I grow the Snyder, 

 the King Phillip and the Eldorado all summer 

 without trimming. In October or during the 

 winter I cut them back to about six or seven 

 feet in height. Then I cut the passages open 

 through which the horse can draw a cultivator. 

 This cultivating is not absolutely necessary in 

 a small home patch, that is, after the roots 

 have absolutely filled up the ground. A well 

 cultivated field for market berries should be 

 cut back when two or three feet high, to induce 

 the growth of laterals. In this case your rows 

 must be narrow and the openings wide, so 

 that the cultivator can be in constant use. I 

 like the plan of growing blackberries, the very 

 thorniest sort, around the borders of my gar- 

 dens and orchards, where boys are liable to 

 crawl through and devour. They are just as 

 good as Growlers Teeth. 



The blackberry is frequently attacked by 

 rust, a fungoid disease that destroys large 

 stools very quickly. I have never been able 

 to understand why one plant will be taken 

 and another left while in close proximity. I 

 know no remedy but to dig up and burn. In 

 1907 I found that a large part of my black- 

 berry canes had been assailed by a scale, and 

 were practically dead. This mischief was 

 done in 1906, and I had not suspected it. I 

 cut out the affected canes and burned them, 

 and eradicated the nuisance with strong kero- 

 sene emulsion. I am going to give American 

 Homes and Gardens an article on these 

 remedies, and will not stop now to describe 

 the fight more fully. Borers are occasionally 

 found in blackberries, but I think they do not 

 generally make much trouble. The black- 

 berry is easily multiplied, and if it is desirable 

 to facilitate this multiplication, you can use 

 root cutting. Make them in the fall and plant 

 them in furrows like potatoes. You can plant 

 them in the spring if the ground is in good 

 condition. The blackberry is the only fruit 

 we have left that will not give up uncivilized 

 manners. Its thorns grow worse and worse 

 under cultivation. Possibly by and by we 

 shall get to a thornless sort of high value. 



The dewberry is simply a running black- 

 berry, and I do not grow it. I did give a 

 pretty fair test to the Lucretia, but finally 

 threw it out. I could not always get a good 

 crop, even after covering the plants heavily 

 through the winter, and tying them to trellises 

 or stakes. In Florida I grow the dewberry 

 with success. I think it can be recommended 

 for any section where it will not kill back in 

 the winter. The berries are of enormous size 

 and two weeks earlier than the common sorts 

 of blackberries. The Austin is another va- 

 riety that is peculiarly adapted to the South- 

 west. On the whole, notwithstanding its 

 thorns, we have few fruits that do more to 

 make home pleasant than the blackberry. 



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