IN REGARD TO PRICES. 
Some purchasers are surprised at the high prices of plants in the summef 
and early fall. We will explain: There is almost no waste in taking up plants 
in the spring, for then nearly every one is salable, but it is very different in th€ 
summer and fall. Just beyond the plant to be taken up, on the same runner; 
there is a younger plant not yet ready to sell, beyond this another still smaller^ 
and so on. In takmg up the only good plant on the runner the others are lost. 
We must charge for this loss. Not only this, but it is a slow process searching 
among young runners for plants old enough to sell, and this adds to the expense. 
Then, too, the plants that are near to the ones taken up are more or less 
disturbed. All these conditions make it necessary to charge more, and even 
then there is not much profit in it. The prices gradually diminish as the season 
advances and the waste becomes less, until, at the first of November, when 
nearly all the plants have taken root, they can be sold almost or quite as cheap 
as in the spring. 
We issued no July report last year or the year before. 
BLACKBERRIES. 
The blackberry should be planted in the fall or very early in the spring- 
It starts into growth at the first possible chance, and the young shoots are tender,- 
and liable to be broken off in handling. It is a profitable fruit to raise, requiring 
but little expense in the growing, and bringing good prices almost everywhere. 
The three varieties we offer are all highly recommended, and each is excellent irf 
its way. 
Blowers. — This is a luxuriant grower, and will climb to a height of ten or 
twelve feet, if supported, but it can be cut back and made to stand alone, lik^ 
other blackberries. Newly set plants start their shoots out laterally, and run 
along the ground the first summer, but these are shortened in the fall or winter, 
and the next year's growth makes upright canes, which are stiff and strong. 
The Blowers is very productive, having yielded seventy bushels on a quarter of 
an acre, and its season is remarkably long, about two months. The fruit is 
large and handsome, and the flavor excellent. Mr. E. P. Powell, the well-known 
horticulturist, said two years ago that it was the best he had ever tasted, and 
commended it for its small seeds and large amount of pulp. 
The plant has been counted perfectly hardy, and seems to merit the claim, 
so far as enduring cold is concerned. It has passed through many severe 
winters in Western New York, and two, at least, in Northern Ohio, without 
injury, but last winter gave it a trial of another kind, which was even harder to 
withstand than extreme cold. The months of December and January were mild, 
even warm, like spring, and under the influence of such a temperature vegetation 
began to wake up, but February brought winter, stern and severe, with the mer- 
cury at zero and down to ten below the most of the time for eleven days. 
Everything outside was frozen as hard as iron, and many plants which had 
endured the most rigorous winters to perfection were either damaged or killed 
outright. Even blackcap raspberries and Rambler roses went down in the 
ordeal, killed to the ground in many places. It was like a freeze in April, aftef 
vegetation has started into life. The Blowers endured it moderately well, but 
was more or less injured in some localities. In our home garden it was hurt, 
and also across the street, but a mile farther north, on land of about the same 
elevation, it came through with flying colors, and bore an abundant crop. The 
owner, a market gardener, is delighted with it, and intends t plant more this 
spring. 
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