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NEW BERRY CULTURE. 
Tying Up the Canes, 
Our system of growing the 
cane berries was originated 
in the Puget Sound country 
in western Washington, 
where some have accom¬ 
plished really wonderful re¬ 
sults. The writer takes no 
credit for it except that he 
assisted in perfecting some of 
the details. Those afraid of 
putting a lot of work on a 
small piece of land may as 
well stop here. There are 
plenty of ways of handling an 
acre of berries with less 
work. It is not less work 
that we want, but more ber¬ 
ries ; not cheaper acres, but 
cheaper bushels, and we think 
we have the proper method 
of producing them. While 
our experience with it here in 
the East is not very exten¬ 
sive, and as far as we know 
others have not tried it yet, 
it is certainly worthy a more 
extensive trial. We are grow¬ 
ing red raspberries and black¬ 
berries now; expect to handle 
blackcaps the same way. 
The soil should be well 
drained for any of the ber¬ 
ries, but especially for the 
red raspberry, as they posi¬ 
tively will not stand wet feet, 
and they are also more sen¬ 
sitive than the others to any 
lack of moisture. The lighter 
soils are usually recommend¬ 
ed for raspberries, but we 
find they do very well on 
our heavy clay, when well 
drained. The location is not 
so important except to avoid 
windy places. A southern ex¬ 
posure would produce ber¬ 
ries earlier, but in our mar¬ 
ket it would be of little ad¬ 
vantage. It is better to have 
the rows running north and 
south, that the sun may shine 
on both sides of the row. We 
grow the Cuthbert red rasp¬ 
berry and think it is hard to 
beat. We got Snyder black¬ 
berries, but there were some 
other kinds mixed with them. 
This was a serious mistake; 
the others were harder to 
care for and they do not 
ripen together. There are 
several good blackberries. We 
want a hardy variety that is 
adapted to our conditions, a 
good cropper and not too vig¬ 
orous a grower. We always 
get enough canes. Some va¬ 
rieties greatly increase the 
work by excessive growth. 
The rows should be full 
eight feet wide, and as 
FIVE-YEAR-OLD BLACKBERRIES READY FOR FIRST CROP. Fio. 213 
straight as possible, to facili¬ 
tate cultivation. With the soil 
well prepared set the plants 
three feet apart in the row, 
and cultivate close as soon as 
the job is finished. This is 
important, as the soil is 
much tramped while setting 
the plants, and the plants 
with their root system all 
broken up, struggling to keep 
alive and get a new start, 
need ideal soil conditions 
even more than they will 
later. About a foot of the 
old cane should be left to’ 
make a few leaves and assist 
in the development of the 
plant until the new cane is 
well started, when it is 
stripped to prevent its fruit¬ 
ing. A row of some low- 
growing crop may be grown 
between the berries the first 
year. Early the next Spring 
set a row of seven-foot posts 
in each berry row 18 or 20 
feet apart. Except at the 
ends we use posts a little 
smaller than the regular fence 
posts, and by using the dig¬ 
ger can set some posts that 
could not be driven. Then 
two No. 12 wires are stretched, 
one three and the other five 
feet from the ground. They 
need not be very tight. We 
stretch by hand and drive all 
the staples tight so there is 
no strain on the end posts. 
The sprawling branches of 
the first year’s growth are 
gathered together and tied to 
the wire with cotton twine, 
about twice the size the gro¬ 
cers use for tying packages. 
This takes longer than it will 
to tie the larger canes the 
next year, but it pays. Now 
with the canes all up in a 
straight narrow row the cul¬ 
tivator can be run close or 
two horses and the spring- 
tooth harrow may be used. 
The first canes to start iff 
the Spring, especially in the 
blackberries, are from the 
roots one to two or more feet 
from the crown. It requires 
some nerve to destroy these 
fine-looking canes when those 
from the crown have not yet 
made their appearance, but it 
is very important that the 
row be kept narrow at the 
bottom, never more than a 
foot wide, usually only a few 
inches. The rule is not more 
than six canes to the hill, and 
no canes between hills. Less 
than six canes will do very 
well with the blackberries. 
Too many canes produce the 
same result we would get by 
