Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 240, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1912 — BLACKBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BLACKBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES

By JOSEPH OSKAMP, Horticultural Department, Purdue Experimental Btation. \ Purdue University Agricultural Extension.

/ Blackberries and raspberries should be more extensively planted In that state. They are practically a sure crop. Our home-grown berries, coming as they do after the bulk of the strawberries are off the market, command a ready sale. They are comparatively easy to care for and there is little actual hand labor connected wtih their cultivation. A patch will bear profitably seven or eight years without renewal. Soil. —The blackberry and raspberry can be successfully grown on almost any well-drained soil. The canes are not so apt to winterkill on the proper soils, but the fruit does not aitain its maximum size except on a deep, rich loam. Planting. —Previous to planting, the ground should be plowed deeply, turning under stable manure or some leguminous cover .crop, and then worked Sown to a file pulverized condition. Spring planting is to be preierred, for the plants get a good start and are better able to withstand the winter. The plants should be set three feet apart in rows seven feet apart. Thlß Is best done by plowing furrows seven feet apart to receive the plants. They should be Bet firmly and the dirt well tramped about their roots. Cultivation, and Mulching. —Cultivation should be shallow —two or three inches —and frequent so as to keep a dust mulch and conserve the moisture Cultivation should be kept up until after harvesting the crop, when cow peas or crimson clover may be planted and allowed to lie over winter. Where wheat straw is plentiful, mulching can take the place of cultivation. Frequent cultivation i^

given until the fruit Is nearly ripe and then a mulch supplied. In any case the plants should be protected by a mulch or cover crop during the winter. Pruning. —When the young Bhoots have reached a height of two feet they should be pinched back, causing numerous lateral branches to push out, making the bush more stocky and self-supporting and greatly increasing the fruiting wood. As soon as the crop is harvested the old canes should be cut out and burned. This will prevent the spread of anthracnose. In the spring, after danger of injury from freezing is past, the new canes can be thinned out, having in mind the probable crop. Propagation. —The red raspberry and the blackberry are propagated from suckers. Rdot sprouts one year old can be readily transplanted. Root euttings can be made in the fall and stored in sand in the cellar or buried outside in a well-drained spot. Roots no smaller than a lead pencil are chosen and cut three or. four inches long. In the spring these are planted out. The black raspberry is propagated from stolons. In the late summer the long canes, touching the groqnd, can be covered with a few shovelsful of dirt. They will soon take root and can be transplanted in the spring. Varieties.—The following varieties, named in order of their ripening, are recommended for commercial planting: Blackberries, Early Harvest, Snyder, Eldorado; black raspberries, Plum Farmer, Kansas, Cumberland, Gregg; red raspberries, Early King, Cuthbert, Loudon, Eaton.

Properly Cultivated and Pruned.