HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
5
Growing of
S33KS$4i$$
. '
The following instructive arti- '
cle on berry growing, by W. S.
Thornber, Horticulturist, Wash- $
ington Agricultural Experiment
$ Station, Pullman, Washington, $
was published some time ago, but $
not generally circulated. The $
$ Farm Magazine Section prints it $
by requeBt,
HE SOIL, temperature and genoral
conditions of many parts of the
State of Washington are admirably
adapted to the commercial growing of
practically all kinds of Bmall frqit. This
is particularly true of raspberries, black
berries and loganberries. Several locali
ties west of the Cascade mountains have
already become famous as berry grow
ing districts. Probably nowhore in tho
One Way of Handling Twelve-Foot
Canes of Red Soapberries.
TJnitod State do these fruits grow to a
signer degree of perfection than in these
districts. With the opening np of large
tracts, of ' la ad for orchard purposes
comes the demand for an early yielding,
liighly profitable crop that eaa be grown
among the trees without dangor of in
juring them, and so for this reason large
acreages of these plants are annnafly be
ing planted in many parts of the slate.
Soils Preferred.
"While raspberries and blackberries are
more or less cosmopolitan as to their
likes and dislikes of soil, yet they prefer
deep, rich, moist (but not wet), sandy
loam, abundantly supplied with humus
and nitrogen plant foods. However, they
can bo snoeosefully grown on basaltic
and volcanic ashy soili after humus has
been added, provided there is sufficient
moisture during the growing and fruit-
ins season. Some of tha soils of the irri
gated sections of the state are not adapt
ed to these fruits until on or more
crops of green manure have been plowed
nmler.
One of the essential features of a good
berry soil is thorough drainage, not only
during tho growing season, but also dur
ing tho winter months. Soil that bo
comes saturated with water and so ro
mainB for even a short time is not adapt
ed to berry culture, and should not be
used until artificial drainngo nas Dccn
provided. Much trouble from root rot
and root fungus can be avoided-by pro
viding good drainage. Tho factor of air
drainage should also be Considered in the
making of A berry plantation. Good air
drainage minimizes the danger ol late
Best Form of Support for Wine-Producing
Sort of Grapes.
' spring frosts and materially lessens the
injuries caused by sotne of .our plant
diseases.
Thorough Tillage Necessary.
Nothing can take the placo of good,
thorough tillage in the berry patch. A
heavy mulch may keep down tho weeds
and hold the moisture, but it does not
liberate plant food like cultivation. Tho
spring cultivation should start as soon
as tho soil is dry enough to be worked,
and should be deep enough to loosen up
the soil, yet not so deep as to injure the
feeding roots of the plants. Tho sum
mer tillage should be shallow, but fre
quent, and continue regularly until the
crop is safely harvested, and afterwards
only frequent enough to maintain
J
Blackberries and Raspberries
growth and keep the suckers and weeds
down.
The perishable nature of berries make
them one of the most difficult fruit
crops to market that is eommonly grown.
However, if they are picked just sb they
are turning red, taken at once to the
packing or cooling shed and handled
with reasonable care thoy will be in
their prime in from twelve to twenty
four hours. Berries picked in the morn
ing ship better than those picked in the
heat of tho day, and under no circum
stances should fruit be picked when the
leaves of tho plants are wet with dew or
rain.
Where berries are not grown in suffi
cient quantities to warrant the use of
refrigerator ears, the Pony refrigerator
nhould be used. Overripe fruit should be
consigned to the cannery, and never be
permitted to be sont to any distant mar
kets. How to Get Beet Results.
The difference in the growth of va
rieties makes it necessary to use differ
ent plans to get the best results for all
varieties.
For the convenience of this discussion
I group all of these fruits into two
classe?, l. c.: "Upright growers, ' or
such plants as produce erect canes, and
"viny growers," or such plants as the
Logan and Phenomenal berries, and
Evergreen, Himalaya Giant and Early
Mammoth blackberries, which produca
long prostrate vines or canes.
The two general planting plans:
"hill" and "continuous row" systems
are about equally used in the eommer
cial fields of the state. Each has ad
vantages as well as disadvantages, and
if not crowded either will give good
results. The hill (system affords tha
best opportunities for cultivation, air
drainage, sunlight on all sides of the
plants and ease of harvesting the crop,
while tho continuous row system per
mits the planting of more plants per
acre without serious crowding.
The "upright growers" may be
Good Way to Support the Canes of Small
Fruits In Windy Localities.
profitably planted according to either
system, but "viny growers" must be
grown in hills or they becomo a flense
hedgo, making satisfactory harvesting
an impossibility.
A Common Fault.
The one common fault of practically
all amateur fruit growers is the over
planting of their land. The fertility of
the soil, annual rainfall or irrigation,
and variety materially govern the dis
tance apart plants should be planted.
On the rich moist soils of Western
Washington, where heavy growth is a
certainty, or dry soils of Eastern Wash
ington, where the conservation or Me
moisture must be practiced, the "up
right growers" should bo planted not
closer than six feet apart each ray
in the hill system, or three by eight
in tho "continuous row" system. In
irrigated sections, where moisture can
be supplied at will, the plants may be
planted closer. However, it is not advis
able, since what may bo gained in addi
tional number of crates per acre :s fre
quently lost by the grade or quality of
tho fruit. On similar soils the "viny
growers" should be planted in rows
eight feet rpart, and tho plants from
sixtoen to twenty-four feet opart in the
row, using tho alternate system, and
thereby affording a greater feeding
area for the roots of each plant
Staking Vines.
The "upright growers," where plant
ed in bills, can best be staked by a
single strong stake, from four to sis
feet in height, and the canos loossly,
but very securely, fastened to tho stake.
Somo growers prefer to set two stakes
about fifteen inches apart at each hill
of blackberries with the idea of train
ing the fruiting canes on one and ,he
growing canes on tho other. Where th
"upright growers'' are planted in a
continuous row thoy may bo trained to
and supported by a two-wire trellis,
MT7T
eonsisting of a single row of posts four
to five feet high with a single No. 10
wire stapled to the top, and anothsr
from eighteen to twenty-four inches
from the top. The mora common meth
od, however, is to set a single. line of
posts four or five feet high in the row,
nail an eighleen-inch cross-arm three
feet from tho ground and another at the
top of the posts, and to the ends of
these arms staple heavy wires, thus
forming firm lateral supports for the
canes.
Tho Trellis Sapport.
The four-wire trellis, with the addi
tion of notched cross pieces to lay on
the lower wires, makes an excellent
support for the "viny growers," the
purpose being to suspend the growing
canes by means of small cloth strings
an easy system to work and keeps the
growing and fruiting eanes separate,
thereby simplifying the picking
In sections where there is aangpr oi
winter injury the old fruiting canes
should be left until spring, while in
other sections they may be removed and
under the upper wires for the first 'year,
and at pruning time lower them to rest
Good Framework for Scroorting Canes
of Bed Raspberries,
en the notched pieces on the lower wires
for their fruiting period. This 'makes
the plant cleaned up immediately after
they are through fruiting. The cutting
back of the tops and final thinning of
tho canos should bo done late in the
winter or early in the spring, after all
danger of winter injury is past. The
"upright growers" should be cut back
to sound wood from three to five foot in
height, while tho "viny growers"
should be cut back to eanes from six
to twelve feet in length, depending
upon their condition and strength.
The number of eanes to be left per
plant must bo determined largely by
tho variety and tho vigor of each plant
Strong upright plants will support from
four to seven canes, while weak onos
should not be expected to support more
than two or three. Four canes per plant
is the most satisfactory number for ths
"viny growers."
' ' "''leiii-f;
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