1907. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
299 
Mr. Hitchings on Sod Culture. 
L. 8., Albion, N. Y .—I was much inter¬ 
ested in the article by .Mr. TTItChlngs on page 
58, and would like the privilege <>£ asking 
biin a few questions. Has he tried the 
Bod mulch with Bartlett pears, and Is It a 
success? Docs he fertilize bis bearing 
apple orchards with ashes, or in what way? 
Does he think Bismarck and Rome Beauty 
as desirable as Ilubbardston for this State? 
What power sprayer does he use? What 
dues lie prefer to use for - Insecticides npd 
fungicides? 
Ans. —The sod mulch method is suited 
to growing pears as well as apples. This 
method will not prevent the trees blight¬ 
ing, as I have learned from experience, 
although the blight is less severe than 
where the trees are cultivated. I have 
not used any fertilizer as yet in the or¬ 
chard, the growth of trees, condition of 
foliage and fruit being satisfactory with¬ 
out. If at any time trees show lack of 
vigor I shall use stable manure if avail¬ 
able, or sow clover seed on the sod, run¬ 
ning Cutaway harrow over it to insure 
a catch of clover. Bismarck and Rome 
Beauty arc both good in their season. The 
trade in our market does not want them 
until Spies arc gone. The Ilubbardston 
will sell in competition with the Spies. I 
use the Niagara gas sprayer. 1 have de¬ 
cided on the following formula for this 
year’s spraying: Four pounds sulphate 
of copper, two pounds Disparcne, six 
ounces Paris-green, six pounds lime, to 
50 gallons of water, spraying three times, 
holding nozzles farther away from foliage 
than is usually done. 
GRANT n. HITCHINGS. 
A Girl's Acre of Blackberries. 
W. J. It., LyndonrUlr, N. V.—<On page 10(i 
there Is a suggestion by M. Crawford to 
set nn acre of blackberries. Why so far 
apart? Here they wet berries about .'?xti feet. 
What is the nature of the Snyder berry? 
Does it keep sprouting from the root? 
Ans. —I am invited to tell why 1 ad¬ 
vised the girl on the farm to plant Snyder 
blackberries so far apart—8 x 8 feet. I 
am glad of a chance to explain. In my 
opinion many of our fruit bearing plants 
are deprived of sufficient room. By severe 
pruning and constant mangling of the 
roots with plow and cultivator they can 
be kept small, but at any time when they 
have an opportunity they will occupy a 
much larger space. The roots of a black¬ 
berry will only have to grow four feet 
to reach its next neighbor’s roots. I have 
had them make that much growth the 
first year from a root cutting. We must 
consider that while the canes of the 
blackberry are biennial the roots arc 
perennial. Anyone who has ever plowed 
an old blackberry plantation knows that 
every inch of the ground is occupied. 
This is the case whether the plants were 
set close or far apart. In the case af 
the girl on the farm there is this addi¬ 
tional reason for giving them more room: 
She will do most of the picking and per¬ 
haps all the pruning, and with her cloth¬ 
ing she needs more room to get among 
them. There was nothing said- about 
Summer pruning and we all know that 
a blackberry bush left to itself after the 
first year will send out laterals even more 
than fpur feet sometimes. In that case 
they would touch. Half of that growth 
cut off after the fall of the leaf would 
leave a four-foot space, but the fruiting 
branches would reduce this to three feet 
or less. A successful grower who told 
me that the blackberry was the greatest 
mortgage lifter he knew, said that if he 
planted any more they would be 10 x 10 
feet. In setting blackberries so far apart 
the plant is the unit, not the row. Suckers 
will come up so that each hill becomes 
a small plantation. 
Blackcaps are supposed to require less 
room than do blackberries. Many years 
ago I planted about an acre, with the 
rows ten feet apart, thinking T could 
raise a wide row of strawberry plants in 
each space. The second year the laterals 
reached from row to row. In the earlv 
Spring they were cut back severely, and 
the result was that the fruit stems were 
from 20 to 80 inches long. The crop was 
immense. Two bushels were picked from 
one side of a row 18 rods in length. The 
Germans used to plant grapes a yard 
apart each way, but we give them six to 
16 times that much room. I saw a ton 
grown on one vine in Cleveland, and 
Scuppernong vines with no care what¬ 
ever have yielded much more. About 50 
years ago I made my first asparagus bed. 
under the direction of a gardener, near 
where the Cleveland Central High School 
now stands. The rows were about 20 or 
24 inches apart, and the plants six or 
eight in the row. Now it is planted 
three bv six feet and the limit not yet 
reached. The girl on the farm will have 
the greatest obstacles to overcome the 
first year. It may not be easy to get an 
acre. Acres are hard to get on most 
farms, and the plowing and harrowing 
will come still harder. While the father 
works 15 hours a day to pay for battle¬ 
ships and to protect infant industries— 
for the drunkards’ families can’t do it all 
—and her brothers have gone to the city 
in search of easy work and plenty of 
money, she may have to do her own culti¬ 
vating. But, if she gets them planted and 
never cultivates them, weeds will grow 
ud and die down and then be followed 
by grass, clover and blackberries. T 
would now recommend the Eldorado in¬ 
stead of the Snyder. m. crawford. 
“I don’t see what you’re growlin’ at, 
sence you say you got treasure in heav¬ 
en?” “My fr’en,” said Brother Dickey, 
“treasure in heaven is one thing, en ten 
dollars in de bank is another!"—Atlanta 
Constitution. 
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m 
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