14 
BRIDGMAN NURSERY COMPANY, BRIDGMAN, MICHIGAN 
Blackberries 
Should be planted in light, dry soil about 4 
feet apart and with rows 7 feet, requiring about 
1.800 plants per acre. A great many mistakes 
are made in setting them on soils that are too 
cold and wet. The blackberry roots like to get 
down in the ground away from the surface, 
where it can gather these elements that are 
necessary for a crop of berries. If the soil is 
wet. its roots can only be on top, and a little dry 
spell cuts the crop. They can be grown without 
much trouble, are very easy to start. Simply 
make a hole with a spade and set the plant; put 
it in the ground fully as deep or a trifle more 
than it had been; it is not advisable to let them 
grow too high. When about 2 % or 3 feet high 
pinch out the centers. This will give you the 
frrowth in a stronger stock and help the plant 
about keeping up. Your laterals will also be 
nearer. We saw a patch of Snyder Blackber- 
ries in Missouri that looked like a hop field. 
The poles were 8 to 12 feet high. How they 
picked them we do not know. For nice, fancy 
fruit it is quite necessary that you do not leave 
too much wood; you will get more pounds of 
seed if the wood is too long:. A good picker 
can pick from 100 to 150 quarts per day, and 
the crop is a good paying one. The blackberry 
has many uses, is one of the rare gifts of na- 
ture. Blackberry Wine, Cordial, Blackberry pie 
are just a few of its uses. A nice large patch 
will bring you many friends. Who among you 
does not remember the time when Mary, Fan- 
nie or someone else went with you blackberry- 
ing, the briar in the finger, etc.? Yours for 
Blackberries. 
BIjOWKR BliACKBERRY. A very large 
blackberry of delicious flavor, jet black in color 
and a thrifty, upright grower. This variety is 
very hardy, very productive and we recom- 
mend it for the home garden. It is not quite 
so firm as some, still firm enough for shipment 
to near markets. A great many Blower Black- 
berry plants that are offered for sale are mixed. 
We guarantee ours to be true to name. 
EAKXiY HARVEST. If you want a black- 
berry that is sweet, ripens early and produces 
great crops, has the exact flavor and looks of 
the wild berry, which it resembles in growth 
and. size. Not very hardy. 
Mersereau Blackberry- 
Eldorado Blackberry. 
EIjDORADO stands at the head of the list. 
They never freeze back in Michigan, and we 
hardly know how cold it would have to be to 
kill them. They do well in the cold Northwest, 
where the cold is intense. They have replaced 
the Snyder, being twice as large and wonder- 
fully productive. Are of fine quality, firm and 
good shippers, and for cold regions have no 
superior, doing equally as well in warmer sec- 
tions. It needs no winter protection. We have 
a strain of Eldorado that will plea.se you in 
every way. The real genuine Eldorado can be 
depended upon to produce great crops of lus- 
cious, swpot blackberries wherever you may be. 
We have a large stock. 
MERSEREAIT. Mammoth Early ironclad 
Blackberry. Will .stand 1.5 to 25 degrees of 
cold; needs no winter protection. Free from 
blight, rust and other diseases. Exceptionally 
sweet, rich and luscious. Canes of strong, up- 
right habit, always strong enough to support 
the great crop of berries; bears reirularly every 
year in any climate. A midseason berry follow- 
ing Early Harvest; should be in every field. 
WILSON'S EARLY. The largest and most 
productive of the blackberry family, produces 
fruit in large clusters, holds its color better 
than any berry that is put upon the market, 
and brings the highest price at any and all 
times. It is a berry that can be shipped thou- 
sands of miles, and reach its destination in 
good shape. It is a berry that is always firm 
and can hang on the ljushes for eight or ten 
days after ripening. In localities where it is 
known and its culture understood it is preferred 
above all others. The Wilson blackberry plant 
is somewhat tender and needs to be protected 
from severe cold weaUier, its habit of growth 
being somewhat willowy, easily admits of its 
being bent close to the ground, where it can 
be (lulckly covered with some slight mulching 
for. the winter. We have fruited the Wilson 
for 25 years and find it our best money maker. 
