Page 54 



BETTER FRUIT 



April 



GROWING OF BLACKBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES 



BY W. S, THORNBER, HORTICULTURIST WASHINGTON AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 



THE soil, temperature and general 

 conditions of many parts of the 

 State of Washington are admirably 

 adapted to the commercial growing of 

 practically all kinds of small fruit. This 

 is particularly true of raspberries, black- 

 berries and loganberries. Several locali- 

 ties west of the Cascade Mountains have 

 already become famous as berry grow- 

 ing districts. Probably nowhere in the 

 United States do these fruits grow to a 

 higher degree of perfection than in these 

 districts. With the opening up of large 

 tracts of land for orchard purposes 

 comes the demand for an early yielding, 

 highly profitable crop that can be grown 

 among the trees without danger of injur- 

 ing them, and so for this reason large 

 acreages of these plants are annually 

 being planted in many parts of the state. 



While raspberries and blackberries are 

 more or less cosmopolitan as to their 

 likes and dislikes of soil, yet they prefer 

 a deep, rich, moist (but not wet), sandy 

 loam, abundantly supplied with humus 

 and nitrogen plant foods. However, they 

 can be successfully grown on basaltic 

 and volcanic ashy soils after humus has 

 been added, provided there is sufficient 

 moisture during the growing and fruiting 

 season. Some of the soils of the irri- 

 gated sections of the state are not 

 adapted to these fruits until one or more 



ONE WAY OF HANDLING TWELVE-FOOT 

 CANES OF RED RASPBERRIES 



crops of green manure have been plowed 

 under. 



One of the essential features of a good 

 berry soil is thorough drainage, not only 

 during the growing season, but also 

 during the winter months. Soil that 

 becomes saturated with water and so 

 remains for even a short time is not 

 adapted to berry culture, and should not 

 be used until artificial drainage has been 

 provided. Much trouble from root rot 

 and root fungus can be avoided by pro- 

 viding good drainage. The factor of air 

 drainage should also be considered in the 

 making of a berry plantation. Good air 

 drainage minimizes the danger of late 

 spring frosts and materially lessens the 

 injuries caused by some of our plant 

 diseases. 



Nothing can take the place of good, 

 thorough tillage in the berry patch. A 

 heavy mulch may keep down the weeds 

 and hold the moisture, but it does not 

 liberate plant food like cultivation. The 

 spring cultivation should start as snon 

 as the soil is dry enough to be worked, 

 and should be deep enough to loosen up 

 the soil, yet not so deep as to injure the 



feeding roots of the plants. The summer 

 tillage should be shallow, but frequent, 

 and continue regularly until the crop is 

 safely harvested, and afterwards only 

 frequent enough to maintain growth and 

 keep the suckers and weeds down. 



The perishable nature of berries make 

 them one of the most difficult fruit crops 



BEST FORM OF SUPPORT 

 FOR WINE-PRODUCING SORTS OF GRAPES 



to market that is commonly grown. 

 However, if they are picked just as they 

 are turning red, taken at once to the 

 packing or cooling shed and handled with 

 reasonable care they will be in their 

 prime in from twelve to twenty-four 

 hours. Berries picked in the morning 

 ship better than those picked in the heat 

 of the day, and under no circumstances 

 should fruit be picked when the leaves 

 of the plants are wet with dew or rain. 



Where berries are not grown in suffi- 

 cient quantities to warrant the use of 

 refrigerator cars the Pony refrigerator 

 should be used. Overripe fruit should 

 be consigned to the cannery, and, never 

 be permitted to be sent to any distant 

 markets. 



The diflference in the growth of varie- 

 ties makes it necessary to use different 

 plans to get the best results for all 

 varieties. 



For the convenience of this discussion 

 I group all of these fruits into two 

 classes, i. e. : "Upright growers," or such 

 plants as produce erect canes^ and "viny 

 growers,'' or such plants as the Logan 

 and Phenomenal berries, and Evergreen, 



GOOD WAY TO SUPPORT THE CANES OF 

 SMALL FRUITS IN WINDY 

 LOCALITIES 



Himalaya Giant and Early Mammoth 

 blackberries, which produce long pros- 

 trate vines or canes. 



The two general planting plans: "hill" 

 and "continuous row" systems are about 

 equally used in the commercial fields of 

 the state. Each has advantages as well 



STATION, PULLMAN, WASHINGTON 



as disadvantages, and if not crowded 

 either will give good results. The hill 

 system affords the best opportunities for 

 cultivation, air drainage, sunlight on all 

 sides of the plants and ease of harvest- 

 ing the crop, while the continuous row 

 system permits the planting of more 

 plants per acre without serious crowding. 



The "upright growers" may be profit- 

 ably planted according to either system, 

 but "viny growers" must be grown in 

 hills or they become a dense hedge, 

 making satisfactory harvesting an impos- 

 sibility. 



The one common fault of practically all 

 amateur fruit growers is the over-plant- 

 ing of their land. The fertility of the 

 soil, annual rainfall or irrigation, and 

 variety materially govern the distance 

 apart plants should be planted. On the 

 rich moist soils of Western Washington, 

 where heavy growth is a certainty, or 

 dry soils of Eastern Washington, where 

 the conservation of the moisture must be 

 practiced, the "upright growers" should 

 be planted not closer than six feet apart 

 each way in the hill system, or three by 

 eight in the "continuous row" system. 

 In irrigated sections, where moisture can 

 be supplied at will, the plants may be 



GOOD FRAMEWORK FOR SUPPORTI.XG 

 CANES OF RED RASPBERRIES 



planted closer. However, it is not advis- 

 able, since what may be gained in addi- 

 tional number of crates per acre is fre- 

 quently lost by the grade or quality of 

 the fruit. On similar soils the "viny 

 growers" should be planted in rows eight 

 feet apart, and the plants from sixteen 

 to twenty-four feet apart in the row, 

 using the alternate system, and thereby 

 affording a greater feeding area for the 

 roots of each plant. 



The "upright growers," where planted 

 in hills, can best be staked by a single 

 strong stake, from four to six feet in 

 height, and the canes loosely, but very 

 securely, fastened to the stake. Some 

 growers prefer to set two stakes about 

 fifteen inches apart at each hill of black- 

 berries with the idea of training the fruit- 

 ing canes on one and the growing canes 

 on the other. Where the "upright grow- 

 ers" are planted in a continuous row they 

 may be trained to and supported by a 

 two-wire trellis, consisting of a single 

 row of posts four to five feet high with 

 a single No. 10 wire stapled to the top, 

 and another from eighteen to twenty-four 



