As a rule, complete success in blackberry culture consists in a
little judicious work performed in May, June, and July. The
plants, having been set out as I have advised in the case of
raspberries, throw up the first season strong green shoots. When
these shoots are three feet high, pinch off the top, so as to stop
upward growth. The result of this is that branches start on every
side, and the plant forms a low, stocky, self-supporting bush,
which will be loaded with fruit the following season.
The second year the plants in the hill will send up stronger
canes, and there will be plenty of sprouts or suckers in the
intervening spaces. When very young, these useless sprouts can be
pulled out with the least possible trouble. Left to mature, they
make a thorny wilderness which will cause bleeding hands and faces
when attacked, and add largely to the family mending. That which a
child could do as play when the suckers were just coming through
the ground, is now a formidable task for any man. In early summer
you can with the utmost ease keep every useless blackberry sprout
from growing. More canes, also, will usually start from the hill
than are needed. Leave but three strong shoots, and this year
pinch them back as soon as they are four feet high, thus producing
three stocky, well-branched bushes, which in sheltered places will
be self-supporting.
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