Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-23

as the blackberry, should be wholly neg
lected as a market crop by truck farmers
in the South? While it is cultivated and
sold at high prices in the North, and
much later in the season than it appears
in the markets of the South, no attempts
seem to have been ever made here to
improve by cultivation and develop one
of the most wonderful food resources of
our country. And it is no exaggera
ton to use the word wonderful.
All over the land at least
five millions OF people pull
through" one-twelfth Of the year
on blackberries, produced alone BY the
hand Of nature Ifsuch q bounty comes
free from all cost of labor, what would
If be from the hands Of intelligent Guilt
vation? The fruit is now gathered wild
in the fields and forests, where the soil
is not Only unbroken and often sterile to
a degree that fine berries are impossible,
but the same soil is crowded with weeds,
grass and other underground to such an
extent as to render it still more wonder
full that so great and valuable a crop is
ever produced at all.
In this wild state the different varie-
ties of berries are all found growing in
the same community, and the indis-
criminate picker mingles all together
in the basket preparing for mar
ket. In this Indifference to
variety and quality it iseasy to see that
common and highly esteemed as this
fruit is, we are yet scarcely acquainted
with its higher excellence. Those who
make the effort will, indeed. be able, in
almost every locality, to select very SUI
perior varieties both in size and flavor,
but it IS rare that this selection is made,
and hence the Indifferent quality of
large proportion of those seen in the
market This could be easily changed
by our truck farmers, who would not
only soon control the home market, but
in the short period of two or three years
open up a blackberry trade with the
Northern States not less important in
results than the melon trade, now on
boom such as the most sagacious did not
predict a few years ago.
As for cultivation of the blackberry,
the process is almost too simple to need
explanation. A plant that will spring
up in any neglected ground, in any
crowded fence corner. hedge row or
even densely shaded forest, grow in the
worn out soil of the broom-sedge fields
from three to ten feet high, as well as
in the rich damp lands of the swamps
and forests, will not need much coex-
ing to crowH our most inferior cult
waited soils with rich harvests of its
luscious fruit. In the North it is cult
waited in the same manner as the rasp-
berry, ard is propagated by planting
the roots, keeping out the weeds and
cutting away the old canes or stalks
to make room for the new growth. The
same process will succeed here, but our
climate is different and we have many
advantages over our Northern friends.
They cut away the old canes because
they bear but once, like the raspberry,
but our "briars" will bear for a series
of years, and we may leave them as long
as the size and quality of the fruit will
warrant, which will generally be three
or four years, if we do not allow the
growth to become too dense. This may
be prevented by keeping them in open
rows and chopping out the younger for
a year OF two, running plows between
the rows to keep them open. This is all
the cultivation necessary if we choose
to continue the old vines in bearing;
| but the finest berries are produced
by the new vines, and if our
object is to produce in their
highest excellence, we must follow
the plan of cutting out the old wood
promptly after each crop and making
room for the new. Sprouts running up
tall must be clipped to increase the crop.
In old fields already set with briars good
crops may be obtained by simply break
ing up the soil in the early spring. In
general the new growth bears the second
wear, but the finest field of berries we
have ever seen was produced by new
growth the first year, where the field was
broken up for corn and afterwards aban-
doned. 1t was old land, much worn, and
the briars did not grow that year above
two feet in height, but they bent to the
earth under the weight of fruit most
juicy and delicious.
For shipping, however. such a crop
would not be desirable, as the berries
are so near the earth as to be injured by
every shower bespattering them with
soil, and in a ripe state, too soft and
tender to bear shipment. They are not
so tender on older stems, and if not so
large, yet more firm and exempt from
grit. The vines here should be grown
three or four feet high, and for the best
results, we think, be allowed to bear
twice, and then give place to the new
growth. That they can be shipped fresh
as safely as strawberries admits of no
doubt, but if they could not 1t would
still be worth while to cultivate and dry
them for the markets of the world.
Our readers are already well acquaint
ed with the large profits derived from
the dried berries in a few localities of
the South, and it is unaccountable that
while farmers are straining every nerve
to make fortunes by vegetable and fruit
growing, the large profits on this valua
BILE fruit are left to the chance of old
fields that must soon be reclaimed to
agriculture by our rapidly increasing
population. Chatham county is admi
rably adapted to the cultivation of this
fruit, and the facilities for shipment en-
joyed by Savannah place her vicinity far
in advance of any other locality in the
State for profits from this source.
The wholesale system of assessments
upon oficeholders which the Republi-
can party has instituted for the
DurDOse of raising q czmnaipn