Milford chronicle., 1926-04-02

enough growth to produce many ber-
ries next year.
Staking.-Plants should be allow
ed to grow on the ground during the
first summer planted and should be
staked the following year during the
month of February or March. If you
have spruce pine, or cyprus this va
riety of wood will make stakes of
lasting quality. Where these varie-
ties of trees are available they
should be cut in nine foot lengths
and hauled to your local saw mill
and sawed up in planks IA" IA"
! x9'. They may then be sawed half
in two, making stake four and a
half feet in length.
This stake should be sharpened
and driven in the ground about one
foot, leaving three and a half feet
above ground level. 1t may be driven
near the plant, as near as possible
without being against it. The canes,
which have been allowed to cover
the ground should all be accumu-
lated in the hands and wrapped
around the stake, beginning at the
bottom and continuing to the top. At
the top an eight penny nail should
be half way driven in the center Oh
the stake. To this nail the canes
should be tied with some soft tying
cord and then allowed to drop about
half way to the ground again at
which point they should be cut en-
tirely off. Then the stalking OF the
plants is completed.
This is done during the months OF
February or March. The plants may
then be cultivated until fruitlng
time. 1 believe it pays to do it al
though a number of growers do not
cultivate until after the crop is har-
vested. I find that cultivation, es-
necially if weather conditions are
drv. will make larger berries and
Won are more certain of full crop
because you are bringing up the
moisture by cultivation.
Plants staked in this manner Of
ten produce two quarts of nice clean
berries to the plant. Ottentlmes
MANY more are produced. These
berries are gathered by experienced
berry pickers who follow this busl-
ness from south to neOrth each year.
They are glad to gather them from
the stakes for a price of two cents
per quart, whereas, if plants are left
on the ground without stalking the
price paid is usually around two ano
a half or three cents per quart
Hence one reason for stalking.
The variety Lucretia is one that
can be recommended as best, and II
is not an upright blackberry plant
The canes trail on the ground and
as the plantation grows in age q
number of canes also grow and Il
gets to be a network of canes IL
which the berry pickers do moi
search as carefully as they should tt
get all the fruit. 1t is often the case
that they miss one half of it or more
Hence another good reason for stalk
ing.
I have grown blackberries rather
extensively, not for fruit however as
much as for plants, and my expert
ence has led me to believe that al
acre of Lucretia Blackberries stakeC
will pay more profit than two o.
three acres without stakes. 1 finC
this also true all over the entire pen
) insula and in different sections o
New Jersey, which place I have of
ten visited to get information on thi
l subject.
= Fertilization for the plants afte
= they have been set. Use about fop
2 to six hundred pounds of rock an
= potash per acre, a mixture of 75@
l rock and 25% potash. This should b
, applied each year after you haY
/ harvested the crop of berries.
t Just as soon as possible after yo
have harvested the berries, driv
!, YOUR team down the five foot rows
r pull the stakes, place them on you
< wagon and take them to your bar
= or elsewhere and store in dr.
t place. They will be useful if care
i for this way all of your life if mad
o from the right kind of wood. Whe
|. speaking of making stakes I forge
S to mention that spruce pine, cyprus
etc, are rather scarce in some sec
: tions and in this instance l Woul
It suggest and recommend using tn
= native pine, having them hauled
= the saw mill and made up in siz
e IL" IA" X Az. This grade
d stakes will last you for a period
y three years.
e Now getting back to fertilizing til
/ plants again. After the stakes al
+ pulled, cut the plants off even wit
y the ground level with hoe. Haul o
these old canes and burn them. Us
u your rock and potash on the plant
d Spread about. Immediately cultivat
: if soil is not heavy. If it is heaV
b it might be necessary to bar plo
: before cultivating. This cultivatin
Il should extend well up into the ia
r months for in this period you g
: your new canes which produce you
: fruit the following year.
OF course, the better you cultivat
S the stronger and more numerous al
e the canes to produce your fruit til
u following year.
e Marketing. Berries should be pla'
k ed in quart baskets and packed
: thirty-two quart crates exactly th
S same as you do your strawberrie
a and delivered to your fruit broker
It who will buy them at auction th
d same as they do your strawberrie
You will find the packing of I'll
l. fruit not as complicated as straw
n berries because blackberries gro
u more uniform in size and quality
l. also more uniform.
l. Another matter Of vital impor
a ance which I think really wort