Vol. LVIII. No. 2602 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 9, 1899 
$1 PER YEAR. 
A PUZZLE OVER BLACKBERRIES. 
HARD TO EXPI.AIN STRANGE BEHAVIOR. 
What to Do Next Year. 
The hall came with such force as to break the bark on 
the young wood of the fruit trees, and the blackberry 
canes. It cut off some twigs and a large part of the 
leaves from the blackberries. I cultivated my berries 
thoroughly with the two-horse spring-tooth harrow, until 
they were ripe. I got a few berries on the poorest knolls 
On the rest of the lot there was a heavy growth of canes, 
but the berries did not fill out. What do you think was 
the reason? I sowed oats in them this Summer and these 
are now eight or 10 inches high, and thick right up to the 
roWs. What shall I do to insure a crop next Summer? 
My outside row now cultivated only on one side gave 
me the greater quantity of berries. Did the tillage, which 
was about once a week, blast the fruit, or is the ground 
too rich? The vines blossomed full and grew about as 
big as large peas, and then failed to mature. The canes 
that were tipped once have made from three to five feet 
of growth on laterals. I do not wish to invest much 
cash in them, as the lot, about three acres, has cost me 
a good deal now; but it seems a pity to tear them out. 
They are from four to six feet high, with laterals almost 
meeting between the rows at nine feet three inches wide. 
Shall I let them alone after cleaning 
out the sprouts in the Spring? 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. e. j. c. 
MR. WILLARD’S OPINION.— 
I am not prepared to say that con¬ 
stant tillage is an injury to the 
crop, still, at the same time we al¬ 
ways have a very heavy setting 
upon the various varieties we 
grow, and we do no cultivating 
after the Spring working is over. 
It is possible that varieties may 
have something to do with pro¬ 
ductiveness. The sorts I grow are 
Snyder, Bagnard and Agawam, all 
of which are very prolific, but a 
large portion of the crop withered 
and dried up on the bushes this 
year. I should hardly think it 
wise to sow oats between the 
rows, because I think that it 
would draw more or less moisture 
from the soil. As to what should 
be done with a patch of black¬ 
berries that did not produce, 
First, I would be satisfied that the 
variety was correct and of a nat¬ 
urally productive kind. Second, 
I would give them a test of an¬ 
other year, and then if they failed 
I would plow up and plant a new 
patch elsewhere, s. d. willard. 
THE OUTLOOK GOOD. — I 
would not disturb that blackberry 
patch. It is not easy to get the 
soil too rich for blackberries, nor the canes too large 
and thrifty. The stronger they are the better they 
bear, and the bigger the berries. It may be that the 
extreme cold weather of last Winter injured the canes 
in such a way that they could not perfect the fruit. 
If this was not so, and no insect pest or fungoid 
disease affected the canes or fruit, then I do not see 
why the fruit did not come to perfection, unless there 
was an untimely drought. The fact that some of the 
more poorly-cultivated patches in the neighborhood, 
and on the knolls in this patch, bore more fruit, is an 
intimation to me that the patch under question may 
have been too well cultivated late in the Summer of 
1898; the canes grew verv late, and were injured by 
the following Winter; although there may have been 
no outward signs. 
The sowing of oats to check Fall growth of the 
blackberries is very good, and it can do no harm to 
them late in the season. During the early Summer it 
would be a serious injury. There are no means, so 
far as I know, that will “insure a crop next Summer.” 
There are too many contingencies likely to arise. 
The chance appears to me to be in favor of a good 
crop. It will be well to prune back the laterals and 
main canes within reasonable limits, before the buds 
start next Spring. If the variety should be Early 
Harvest, it would be injurious more than just to tip 
them a little, for their fruit buds are well out on the 
branches. Other kinds are benefited by rather close 
pruning. Let us know the result in due time. 
ir. e. van deman. 
ALWAYS CULTIVATE.—The climate and soil in 
western New York are so different from that in the 
southeastern part of the State, that it is difficult to 
account for the failure of your correspondent’s black¬ 
berry crop, or to suggest future successful treatment. 
Here I should prune the bushes quite closely next 
Spring, leaving the laterals not more than a foot 
long; then plow shallow, turning the furrows towards 
the rows, and give frequent workings with cultivator 
run very shallow, or with an adjustable weeder. I 
have never found it a good plan to leave any fruit 
without cultivation. Last Winter was unusually se¬ 
vere, and these plants may have been more injured 
by the cold weather than they appeared to be. 
Orange County, N. Y. w. d. b. 
BLACKBERRY BLIGHT.—Should I attempt to tell 
the cause of the failure of this blackberry crop in 
western New York, it would be mere conjecture, as 
there are so many things that might cause the bloom 
to blight. In this case, the outside row that had but 
little culture produced the most fruit. On my grounds 
the Western Triumph nearly all blighted, while the 
Agawam bore a fair crop. Neither had any cultiva¬ 
tion. A neighbor had a heavy crop of the Snyder, 
while other varieties blighted. Culture was shallow 
and clean. It would seem to me that there is some¬ 
thing in variety, as well as culture. While the black¬ 
berries were in bloom we had three or four days of 
very warm weather, the thermometer ranging from 
80 to 100 degrees. The sun on the clean-cultivated 
ground might affect them more than on the unculti¬ 
vated. Then that theory is upset by the uncultivated 
on my own ground, where one variety blighted and 
another did not. I think that it is an injury to cut 
the roots to get them to sell or set out. It is better 
to cut off the suckers than to pull or dig them out 
and cut the side roots. I would give shallow culture, 
or dispense with it, and mulch the ground heavily 
with clean straw or flags from the swamps, which is 
better still, as there is no danger of seeding with foul 
weeds. If the ground is mulched, pull the weeds and 
cut a clean path with a scythe. chas. midls. 
Onondaga County, N. Y. 
TOO GOOD SOIL AND CARE.—Blackberries are 
somewhat fickle in yield, and it is hard to explain 
some things about them. They come to maturity in 
August, when it is likely to be very hot and dry, 
which may dry the fruit on the bushes. One year the 
canes were attacked by a fungous growth, which 
darkened the canes a little, not showing in any other 
way. This mildew would rub off and leave the cane 
clean, but it stopped the growth of the berries. It 
might not have been noticed by some. The canes 
are injured by the cold weather, and start slowly, 
and in such cases rarely give a good yield, although 
they may look well later. Too 
great a growth of canes usually 
gives a poor yield. 
Ground can easily be made too 
rich for good results, and thor¬ 
ough cultivation would only make 
the matter worse, as far as the 
growth of canes is concerned, but 
if the berries set thick and well, 
it should not have injured them, 
unless the cultivation was deeper 
than usual or too close to the 
canes. The growth of oats this 
dry season would show rich soil, 
as would laterals meeting in nine- 
foot rows. Our rows are six and 
seven feet apart, and the black¬ 
berries are thick as a hedge the 
other way. This prevents too 
great a growth. The new growth 
is topped at four feet, and kept 
down during the growing season 
The laterals on ground poor 
enough to grow good blackberries 
will not be very plentiful or long 
this Fall. We prune pretty closely 
in the Spring, cultivate early as 
possible, clean out all weeds, hoe 
in some mellow dirt around the 
canes to mulch, and abandon them 
till harvest time. A good coating 
of straw would be of value to pre¬ 
vent sun from burning the roots. 
I would prune down to four to 
five feet in the Spring, cultivate and hoe once, mulch 
with straw, and let them alone, except to prune new 
growth. C. E. CHAPMAN. 
A TWO-COW POWER FOR CREAMERY. 
On page 705 our old friend Mr. Fre Patton, of Ohio 
told us something about his farm ice-cream business 
Older readers will remember the story we told severa.’ 
years ago about the ice-cream business of E. Man¬ 
chester & Sons, of Connecticut. The Manchesters rur 
a milk dairy, and formerly made butter out of then 
surplus milk. They found, however, that the cream, 
when frozen, was far more profitable than when made 
into butter, and so they began to manufacture ice 
cream. During the Summer they rented a little place 
in the town, where ice cream was sold both whole¬ 
sale and retail, and the results were very gratifying. 
They used pure cream with nothing but pure fruit, 
and of course let this fact be known. Customers soon 
found that this pure frozen cream was very much su¬ 
perior to the mixture of corn starch, gelatin and 
“chemical extracts” that was being sent from the 
THE COW POWER OF A HOME ICE-CREAM FACTORY. Fig. 307. 
