The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-07-26
HUMBLE BLACKBERRY.
"A Neglected Source Of Income.
By Helen Harcourt, in Sunny South.


| wild state is one Of the finest of ber-
res.
The experiment has been tried Of
bringing down into the far South,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Flor
ida, the best improved northern va
rieties, such as the Lawton, Kittatin-
ny: and others. They do we'll in the
more northern of the southern States,
but in those named, the transfer has
not been altogether satisfactory. We
can do better by selecting from among
our own plants. Among these, here
and there, are some that bear extra
fine berries, large, rich, and cxquisitcs
ly favored. These special bushes
should be carefully marked, so that
they may be known and trausplanted
to civilized regions when they become
dormant in the fall. There is also a
marked difference in the time of
ripening, even among the wild berries.
BY selecting the earliest and latest
varieties, as we'll as the between
times, and in all cases, the best in
quality, the season mag be greatly
prolonged.
! Blackberries will bear shipping al
most as well as strawberries. The
care and fertilizing required to bring
them to perfection is infinitely less.
They are one Of our most delicious
berries, very healthful also, aud gen
eral favorites. A strawberry grower
We know Of, having gathered a quart
of very fine blackberries, just as he
was packing crate of Strawberries
for shipment, concluded to try an ex-
pertinent, and placed his one quart Of
blackbcrrics in the crate with their
gaycr sister berries. To his surprise,
the returns showed that the
quart of blackbcrries sold for 33 &C nts,
while the strawberries brought only
from 20 to rs cents. Another Flori-
da man, who had carried out the sug-
gestions above, as to the cultivation
of the wild blackberry, made bust
ness Of SHIPPING the improved fruit to
Jacksonville. His berries were al
ways in demand, and brought $ cents
a quart more than the wild berries
offered at the same time, and side by
side with them.
A berry known as the Georgia
Mammoth is good example of the
value Of careful selection and cultiva.
ton of the wild varieties. This berry
originated in Georgia, and the first
plant in cultivation was one that had
been noticed as bearing ohoicer fruit
than the other wild bushes in that
vicinity. The quality, of course, i'm.
proved with cultivation and fertiliza.
tion, and now the fruit is large, ten.
der, juicy, and comparatively seed.
less. 1t ripens at the same time as
the wild berry, and continues in bear,
ing quite as long.
The Georgia Mammoth, and all
other tanned wild berries, make lux.
urious grewth of moderately rich
land, and needs sorae pruning TO keer
them low enough for convenient pick
ing of the fruit. In the fall, before
cold weather sets in, large numbe,
of shoots spring up all around the
plants. These mature apd harden anG
can be trsnsplanted at any time after
they become dormant. They should
be set three feet apart, and in rows
to 10 feet apart. During the 6rsl
summer they will send up a great
many shoots. These should be left il
the row, but not allowed to grow more
than or 8 feet high. The following
summer they will produce good cror
of fruit, and fully repay ell the work
that has been put on them.
One of the best fertilizers for black
berries, or for any others, in fact, il
hardwood ashes. The fall. winter and
early spring are the best times to ap
ply them. The experiment has been
made Of alternating several rows, Civ
ing one row plenty of ashes sId :hs
next row none. The next season, the
rows that had the dressing Of ashes
bore twice as much and finer frui,
than those that had not had any
} ashes, but plenty Of other kinds Of
fertilizer. The ashes may be applied
at any time, save midsummer and
early tel! A: :s:=ss periods, !. would oi;li
be likely to induce late growth, and
expose the bushes to injury from
sharp frosis.
| When the young shoots are 3 feet
high, the enaa ehnnld be pinched Of
to make the plants bushy and stocky.