DEWBERRY 885 
plantation. Good stable manure is one of 
the best fertilizers. It maybe applied in 
early spring before uncovering the plants 
and the uncovering process as well as 
early cultivation will help incorporate it 
with the soil. Frequent light applications 
are preferable to heavy and irregular 
ones, as they tend to promote more uni- 
form growth and yields. 
Pruning 
In most sections dewberries are al- 
lowed to grow prostrate; growers say it 
is too expensive to trellis them and it 
might be added that the present system 
seems highly satisfactory. No doubt, un- 
der certain conditions, trellising would 
be advisable but surely could not increase 
the yield any considerable amount. Where 
the plants are grown on a trellis, they 
receive no summer pruning as a rule; 
the new canes are allowed to trail on the 
ground under the trellis while the fruit- 
ing canes are tied to the wires. The only 
pruning the plant requires—unless it be 
a clipping back in August to induce early 
maturity—is cutting out the old canes in 
the fall or spring and shortening the 
new ones to three or three and one-half 
feet. A two-wire trellis is generally used, 
the top wire being about three feet from 
the ground. The training of the dew- 
berry without the trellis requires a little 
more care in pruning but saves the labor 
of tying up and allows of early cultiva- 
tion either way. The first pruning con- 
sists in tipping the new growths when 
they have attained a length of 12 or 
18 inches; the canes then stand up- 
right above the old wood and the tips 
may be mowed off with a sickle or large 
knife. It is important that this pruning 
be done at the right time: do not wait 
until the canes are longer and then cut 
back to eighteen inches or weak lateral 
canes will be the result. This early 
pruning forces out lateral canes and thus 
increases the bearing surface as well as 
stiffens the lower part of the cane, making 
it support itself better. The general 
practice is to prune the second time 
just before picking begins. The main 
object of the pruning seems to be to get 
the new wood out of the way of the 
pickers. At this time the lateral canes 
forced by the first pruning are cut back 
to two or two and one-half feet; they 
should be left long enough to shade the 
old wood and the fruit, yet short enough 
to be easily lifted by the pickers. This 
pruning must not be delayed too long 
as it starts new growth which should 
have time to mature. At its best it is 
not satisfactory and it is probable that 
the growers will yet learn to avoid this 
pruning. The third pruning is admin- 
istered the following spring, and consists 
in removing all old canes and shortening 
in the new canes that may have grown 
too long. There seems to be no reason 
why this pruning may not be done before 
covering in the fall other than that the 
foliage makes the pruning more difficult. 
Picking 
In growing dewberries on a large scale 
one of the serious problems is that of 
securing pickers. The average picker 
will pick from five to seven crates a day, 
and this means that it will take from 
eight to ten average pickers to pick an 
acre per day. The general practice is to 
pick every third day, and the large 
patch may be divided so as to furnish 
the pickers employment every day. 
The pickers must at least wear a glove 
on the hand used to lift the vines and 
most of them wear a glove with the tips 
of the fingers removed on the picking 
hand. Some growers supply the pickers 
with a twelve-basket carrier, or two if 
the pickers are fast and able to carry 
them. Others advocate the use of the 
regular shipping crate holding twenty- 
four baskets. A bale may be made of 
heavy wire bent in a way to clamp into 
the grooves that serve as handles in the 
end of the crate. Of course crates used 
to pick in cannot afterwards be used as 
shipping crates. The deck boards and 
baskets for the second tier are carried 
along and placed in position when the 
first tier is filled. In this way the picker 
carries a full crate in one hand and at 
the same time does not expose them to the 
sun for any length of time. A piece of 
heavy cloth large enough to cover half 
the crate may be tacked by two corners 
