this limit that any profit lies. As an illustration, sup-
pose that by ordinary methods of cultivation an acre of
blackberries produces seventy bushels, and that sixty
bushels are required to repay the cost of production.
Now, if by judiciously increasing the cost of production
to seventy bushels by more liberal fertilizing or better
cultivation, we can increase the yield to ninety bushels,
the profit is doubled. Nor does this fully express the
difference, for with an additional expense equivalent to
ten bushels, we have secured an additional profit of ten
bushels, and the additional outlay has paid a return of
THE MARGIN OF PROFIT 127
one hundred per cent on the investment, while the first
ten bushels only pay sixteen and two -thirds per cent on
the investment. In other words, one acre under the
second management is much better than two acres under
the first, for it is equivalent to growing the second acre
with an outlay equal to only ten bushels, instead of an
outlay equal to sixty bushels. This reasoning may
sound theoretical and visionary, but it is just the
kind of operations which are being carried on all the
time. It is just this sort of differences, too, which dis-
tinguishes the man who is making a success of farming
or fruit-growing from the man who only keeps even or
runs behind. We should realize that only in the last
bushels of the crop the profit lies.
PROFITS
Reliable figures as to the cost and profits of farm
crops are very difficult to obtain, for the reason that so
few growers keep any records, or know what their crops
cost them. Of the few who do keep accurate accounts,
not many put the results in print, where they may be
accessible to others. Anything said on this subject,
therefore, must be very largely in the nature of esti-
mates. For ordinary farm conditions the cost of pro-
duction per acre may be roughly estimated somewhat
as follows:
FIRST YEAR
Bent of land $5 00
Plants 15 00
Fertilizers *. 20 00
$40 00
128 BUSH-FRUITS
The other expenses of the first year, including set-
ting and care of the plants, should be offset by the
return from the crop which may be planted between the
rows to utilize the ground not yet occupied by the
berry plants. We may at least expect the plantation
to bear four profitable crops of fruit, so that dividing
the first year's expense by four, the cost for subsequent
years, exclusive of picking and marketing, may be
estimated somewhat as follows:
Proportion of first year's expense $10 00
Rent of land 5 00
Fertilizers 20 00
Cultivation and hoeing 10 00
Pruning 5 00
Eemoving old canes 5 00
Add to cover deficiencies 10 00
$65 00
The second year, the crop, which is but a partial one,
should about meet expenses. After that, let us place
the yield at the average obtained from the replies
already referred to, which is 3,158 quarts. If these can
be made to net five cents a quart after deducting the
cost of picking and marketing, the net return will be
$157.90, leaving a net profit of a little more than $90
per acre. If they can be made to net only four cents,
the net return will be but $126.32, leaving a profit
of but little more than $60 per acre.
In connection with this, for the purpose of seeing
what can be done by a thorough -going, energetic man,
let us compare the following close estimate made by
M. A. Thayer, of Sparta, Wisconsin:
ROW THATER DOES IT 129
ONE ACRE FIRST YEAR
Plowing ground $1 50
Harrowing five times 2 50
Rolling and marking 1 00
2,000 Ancient Briton plants 40 00
Setting plants 7 50
Cultivating ten times 3 75
Hoeing six times 6 00
Laying down for winter 2 50
First year's expense $64 75
SECOND YEAR
Taking up plants in spring $1 25
400 new plants to replace dead ones 8 00
Setting 400 plants 2 00
60 posts at six cents 3 60
270 stakes at two cents 5 40
380 rods No. 12 wire . . 12 60
Setting posts and stakes 5 00
Stringing wire 2 50
Cultivating ten times 3 75
Hoeing four times 4 00
Two loads clover mulching 8 00
Placing clover mulching 3 15
Pinching-back 2 50
Laying down for winter 7 50
Use of tools, etc 6 00
Total for two years $140 00
After the second year the annual expense is esti-
mated as follows;
130 B VSH-FR UIT8
Taking up plants in the spring ....... $2 50
Cultivating and hoeing ........... 8 00
Mulching .................. 12 00
Nipping-back and trimming ......... 5 00
Laying down for winter ........... 7 50
Tools, etc .................. 5 00
$40 00
The estimates for labor are made on the basis of
paying $1.25 per day for men and $2.50 per day for a
man and team. The system of mulching, as elsewhere
explained, consists in growing clover on separate pieces
of ground, cutting and spreading it green along the
rows, and cultivating the center. The expenses of
gathering and marketing, Mr. Thayer places as fol-
lows:
Picking per quart ............. $0
Boxes and cases .............. 01
Packing and selling ............ 01
Total expense per quart ........ $0 03%
Mr. Thayer admits that these figures show a high
cost of production, but feels confident that any reduc-
tion means diminished profits, therefore is not to be
permitted. This method of treatment gave over 2,000
bushels from ten acres of the Ancient Briton variety in
one year. This is, of course, a remarkable yield, but
the average on those farms is unquestionably far above
that of most growers. Mr. Thayer concludes that
under their conditions at that time, a yield of 200
bushels per acre gave a net profit of nearly $250 per
acre, while 100 bushels per acre would give about
PROBABLE PROFITS 131
$80 profit, and fifty bushels per acre little or no profit
at all.
Instances are common of admirable yields during a
single season. One grower in a small town in central
New York sold $500 worth of fruit from half an acre
in a recent year. It should be firmly fixed in mind that
all such results are exceptional, and no one should use
them as a basis for average profits.
I think it may safely be said, however, that with a
good market, good management, intelligence and skill,
both in growing and marketing the fruit, a profit of
$100 per acre can be expected with a fair degree of
certainty.
CHAPTER V
THE DEWBEEEIES
The dewberry as a cultivated fruit has been such
a recent introduction to American horticulture that
as yet it can scarcely be said to have a history.
At the summer meeting of the Fruit -Growers'
Society of Western New York, held June 24, 1863,
James Vick described the dewberries grown by Dr.
Miner, of Honeoye Falls, N. Y., and his method of
training them. This was the same as the present
method of tying the fruiting canes to stakes about
five feet high, and allowing the new growth to run
at will, most of which will root at the tips. He was
growing two varieties, one of which was some ten
days earlier than the other. Mention is made of the
fact that the berries of the earlier variety were some-
times imperfect, "a common fault with the dewberry."
The other variety appeared to bear uniformly perfect
berries.* From a later mention of these varietiest it
seems that they were sent out by Dr. Miner to some
extent, but there is no evidence that they ever received
varietal names, and therefore they were probably
soon lost to cultivation.
It appears that the Bartel was the first named va-
"Hovey's Mag. of Hort. 1863, p. 319.
tlbid, 1868, p. 286.
(132)
DEWBERRY HISTORY 133
riety introduced. The originator's account of this,
together with directions for its management, were
given in Purdy's Fruit Recorder for 1875, p. 182.
It does not appear to have become very generally
known at that time, for in 1879 the editor of "The
Gardener's Monthly" writes,* "Of true dewberries, no
improved kinds are known under culture." In a pre-
vious number of the same volume, however, N. H.
Lindsay, of Bridgeport, Conn., is reported as having
cultivated two kinds of wild dewberries in a small
way for home use, taking plants from the woods.
It seems that even he did not know how to propa-
gate them, although a nurseryman and presumably an
experienced propagator.
Even as late as 1884 the editor of "The Country Gen-
tleman" says (page 329) : "We are not aware that the
dewberry (or running brier) is cultivated for sale by
any nurseryman. * * * The wild dewberry is often
found along neglected fence -rows or in rocky or sterile
fields, from which, if desired, it may be transplanted
to gardens, and treated like garden raspberries." These
statements serve to show how recent is the cultivation
of the dewberry in anything like a commercial extent.
It was not until the introduction of the Lucretia, which
was brought into general notice about 1886, that the
dewberry began to occupy any prominent place in
American horticulture.
So much for the history of the dewberry. But what
of its future? Is there a place for it among our garden
*Gardener 1 s Monthly, Vol. 21, p. 150. See Bailey, Bui. 34, Cornell Exp. Sta.,
for a sketch of dewberry history.
134
fruits; and if so, will it prove equal to the occasion and
able to fill it properly ! Coming, as it does, so early in
the season, before the first blackberries are ripe, the
first question may be fairly answered in the affirmative.
It is to be feared, however, that as we find it, the dew-
berry is unqualified to fill properly the place which its
co -laborers in the garden are ready to accede to it, and
unless it can be induced to correct some of its bad
habits and overcome its failings, the place is even yet
likely to be taken by some young, vigorous and early-
ripening blackberry. One serious though excusable
fault of the dewberry is its rough exterior and uncul-
tured behavior. It will wound a friend upon the
slightest provocation, with no thought of an apology.
Yet, bad as its thorns are, this is not its most serious
failing. Like many other young people, it is not given
to steady, industrious habits. It makes large arid
glowing promises, but too often fails to fulfil them. It
must be said in palliation of its shortcomings, however,
that the dewberry has not had fair treatment. The
energetic, industrious and aspiring ones have been
compelled to associate with the idle and thriftless.
While lack of fertilization and consequent production
of imperfect fruit can hardly be denied as a family
trait, it is no doubt true that the more productive mem-
bers have suffered unjustly, owing to the behavior of
the rogues of the household. There is no disputing the
fact that stock of the Lucretia dewberry, as sold about
the country, has been badly mixed. As received and
grown at the Cornell gardens, it comprises two distinct
sorts, one with small blossoms, more delicate growth,
IMPROVEMENT NEEDED 135
and small, imperfect and worthless fruit; the other
with large blossoms, vigorous growth, large, plump and
glossy fruit. The cuts (Figs. 26 and 27) well illustrate
the difference between these two types, which is in itself
a ready explanation of many of the conflicting opinions
regarding the Lucretia.
By taking the best of what we already have as a
basis for future improvement, there seems to be no
reason why the dewberry may not be brought to such
a state of perfection as shall render its place as-
sured. In the Wilson's Early and Wilson Junior
blackberries we have a type intermediate between the
dewberry and the blackberry. This form may sug-
gest lines of breeding which in time shall produce off-
spring far superior to anything which we now have,
either in the blackberry or the dewberry. We need
more careful and skillful breeders, who shall breed
plants as understandingly as animals are bred, and
who shall give us in the results of their toil the fruit
treasures which ought ere this to have been ours.
SOIL FOR DEWBERRIES
The dewberry is very largely found on poor or
sandy soils the country over. This in itself is a
decided indication that comparatively light, sandy
soils will prove best adapted to its cultivation, and
the general experience of growers throughout the
country seems to substantiate the supposition. It is
true that instances are -reported of success from nearly
all kinds of soils, but the best results nearly always
Fig. 26. Lucretia from a good plant. The separate fruit is full size.
SOIL AND LOCATION
137
Fig. 27. Lucretia from a poor plant. One-half natural size.
come from planting on comparatively light, sandy
ground.
LOCATION
The location will probably prove to be fully as im-
portant as with any other fruit, when the culture of
138 B USH-FR UITS
dewberries comes to be better understood. In parts
of the West, the Windom has been found to give
better results in shady locations, the finest berries
being found even in dense shade. Because of its
habit of growing on dry, sandy ground, location to
avoid drought may not be so important as with the
blackberry, but any location, like a cool northern ex-
posure, which will tend to mitigate the hot, scorching
sun, will undoubtedly prove beneficial.
FERTILIZERS
Thus far the necessity for fertilizers has hardly
been made apparent, and it is doubtful whether at
the time of planting they are ever advisable. Still, if
plants are as productive as they should be, a judicious
application of fertilizers, after they have borne two or
three crops of fruit, can hardly fail to be of advan-
tage. This will be especially true, of course, if they
are growing on light, poor soil. Probably the same
materials will be found satisfactory for them as for
other members of the genus. The kind used, and the
proportion of the different fertilizing elements needed,
as in all cases, can best be determined by individual
experiment. Suffice it to say that a large amount of
nitrogen is not likely to be required.
PROPAGATION
As before stated, the dewberry propagates naturally
from tips, like the black raspberry. If it is desirable
to propagate them to any extent, attention must be
PROPAGATION AND PLANTING 139
given to burying these tips in the ground at the
proper time, which is when they have about completed
their growth. I am not aware that it is ever recom-
mended to cover the whole cane, to induce it to throw
out roots along the entire length, but this could un-
doubtedly be done, and the cane cut into pieces to
form plants, if desirable to propagate as speedily as
possible. The prostrate habit of the plant would
favor such a method, but it is hardly to be recom-
mended in ordinary cases.
Dewberries can also be propagated by root cuttings,
the same as blackberries. The method for doing this
is explained in the chapter on blackberries. Since it
is a general rule, however, that those plants which
naturally propagate by suckers also propagate most
easily by root -cuttings, a little more care may be de-
manded, and a larger percentage of failure may be
expected than with blackberries.
PLANTING
The same general rules given for the planting of
the blackberry will also apply to the dewberry, except
that the furrow to receive the plants need not be quite
so deep. The question of the distance apart at which
they are to be placed will be largely determined by
the method of training to be employed. If to be
trained to single stakes, four feet apart each way will
be found satisfactory; if to wire trellises, six feet by
perhaps three feet in the* row will be more convenient.
If to be trained on low, flat, slat or wire trellises, even
140 B USH-FR UITS
a greater distance between the rows will be needed.
One of the objections to this method is that more
space is demanded for training the plants than is
needed for their maintenance.
The great tendency of the dewberries to fail to set
fruit altogether, or to produce small and imperfect fruit,
is a point which should always be taken into consider-
ation when planting. There is reason to believe that
this is often due to a lack of proper fertilization.
Whether this lack of fertilization comes from insuf-
ficient pollination, or from lack of potency of the
pollen which reaches the stigma, is uncertain. What-
ever the cause, the lack is apparent, and the most
feasible way of overcoming it is by planting different
kinds together in close proximity. It has been con-
clusively shown that the pollen of many varieties of
our larger fruit, notably pears and apples, has not
the power to properly fertilize the pistils of the same
variety. The same may be true of the dewberries.
At any rate, better results seem to have come from
planting more than one kind together. Even black-
berries planted alongside have seemed to produce a
favorable effect in some cases. One instance is re-
ported* where dewberries blossomed full for several
years, but produced only a few imperfect berries.
Later a block of blackberries was planted beside
them, and when these came into bearing, the dew-
berries began fruiting, and continued to do so regu-
larly. This is an indication, though not proof, that
blackberry pollen may fertilize dewberries.
*Trans. 111. Hort. Soc., 1886: 382.
TILLAGE AND TRAINING 141
TILLAGE
Nothing special need be said concerning the tillage
of the dewberry. Some growers even advise letting
them grow entirely without cultivation or care. This
method can hardly recommend itself for any systematic
culture for profit, unless it be on some rough, unculti-
vable and otherwise unutilized piece of ground. As
the season advances, the young canes spread out over
the ground and tend to interfere with cultivation. It
is only necessary to direct them along the row, like
strawberry runners, however, and continue the cultiva-
tion but one way, if the plants are so set as to admit
of cultivation both ways earlier.
PRUNING AND TRAINING
Very little pruning is required. Simply to shorten
the canes when they are tied up in spring, if too long,
is all that is necessary, unless there is a tendency to
produce too many canes, when all but four or five
should be removed. With any careful system of culti-
vation some method of training is essential. Various
plans have been recommended from time to time, only
part of which it will be necessary to mention here.
One plan consists of a low, flat trellis, of greater or
less width, eight or ten inches from the ground, on
which the plants are allowed to run. This may be a
narrow one of wire, made by driving stakes into the
ground, ten or twelve -feet apart, and nailing strips of
boards a foot or more long, across the top. On these
142 BUSH-FRUITS
cross -strips wires are drawn tightly, one at each end
and usually two between. Another way of reaching
the same end is to fasten pieces of boards to stakes,
running the boards lengthwise of the row, one on
either side, and nailing slats across between them.
Such a low, flat trellis raises the fruit off the ground
and keeps it clean, but picking is inconvenient and
cultivation is more difficult.
A second plan consists in training to an upright
wire trellis, after the manner of grapes. The young
canes are allowed to run on the ground, and are tied up
to the wires the following spring. This is a very satis-
factory method, although it admits of cultivation only
one way.
A most simple and satisfactory plan is the one
which was recommended by A. J. Caywood as early
as 1888.* Let his own words explain it:
"I plant them as I do red raspberries, four feet apart
each way, cultivating both ways until the fore part of
June, when the renewals get too long to do so. We
then direct the renewals of each row along the bottoms
of the hills, and cultivate the other way as long as
required, and one man has done the directing of our
patch in a day. The old canes are taken from the
stakes any time after the fruit is off, before tying up in
the spring. The renewals are left on the ground all
winter, which is sufficient protection here, but if it is
necessary to protect them in colder regions, their pros-
trate position facilitates the work.
"In the spring, one draws the entire hill from under
^Popular Gardening, vol. iv,, p. 33,
GATHERING THE FRUIT 143
the other hills in the row, and holds them to a stake,
while a boy ties them tightly. This can be done as
rapidly as tying red raspberries. I think my patch was
the first managed on this plan. We have tried the
windrow system, but like staking the plants better."
If the old canes are cut away as soon as through
fruiting, the young ones can then be tied to the stake
until winter, and cultivation go on unimpeded. This
may favor a better development and maturity of the
canes than when they are allowed to run on the ground.
HARVESTING AND MARKETING
Whatever applies to the harvesting and marketing
of blackberries will apply equally well to dewberries,
except that, coming in earlier, they have the market
more nearly to themselves. The vines are viciously
thorny, and the fruit apt to be so concealed within
them as to render the picking difficult and painful.
Training the plants to a stake or trellis will in part
obviate this difficulty.
The fruit carries well, and can be put into market in
good condition. Like many of the blackberries, though
perhaps in a more marked degree, it has the habit of
turning black before it is ripe. If picked then it is
sour and undesirable, so that for home market it should
be allowed to get thoroughly ripe before being gathered.
DURATION OF PLANTATIONS
Dewberries persist -well in the soil, in fact, too
well, for after they have served their purpose, and it
144 BUSH-FRUITS
is desirable to get rid of them, they still persist with
a tenacity worthy of a better purpose. They seem
often to be unproductive for the first two or three
years, afterward coming into more uniform and pro-
lific bearing, and continuing in many cases for a
number of years.
KILLING OUT THE PATCH
When it becomes necessary to rid a plot of ground
of them, vigorous measures must be adopted. While
they do not propagate naturally by suckers, yet when
the roots are torn and broken, pieces which are left in
the ground have a remarkable ability for bursting forth
into plants. The method advised for destroying the
blackberry is the best that can be recommended for
killing off dewberries ; namely, mowing and plowing
directly after fruiting, frequent cultivation afterwards,
and replowing before winter.
HARDINESS
The inherent hardiness of the dewberry may not
be equal to that of many varieties of the blackberry,
yet its habit of growth tends to afford it protection
which enables it to withstand the cold of winter, in
most cases, as well as the blackberries. If not en-
tirely hardy in some localities, the ease with which it
can be protected in winter is certainly a point in its
favor. The older canes will naturally be cut away
before winter, and in any event the protection of
them is of no benefit, The young canes, which lie
POSSIBLE RETURNS 145
directly on the ground, and which have been trained
along the row in cultivating, are in the most con-
venient position possible for being covered with soil
or mulch. In parts of the country where all kinds
must be protected to give profitable results, this is
really a point in favor of the dewberry which is well
worth considering.
YIELD OF DEWBERRIES
The yield to be expected is one of the moot points
in dewberry culture. There is the greatest possible
diversity in reports, some growers finding it highly
satisfactory in this respect, while others are disgusted
with it. Of thirty -eight growers who have grown
dewberries, and who replied to the question, "Have you
grown dewberries, and, if so, with what success?"
twenty -three report good or fair success and fifteen
poor success. Much of this diversity of opinion, and
much of the failure to secure good results is, without
doubt, due to the mixed and inferior character of many
of the plants which have been sold. Even where they
succeed, however, they have not been grown very ex-
tensively, as a rule, and any reliable estimate of an
average yield can hardly be formed.
PROBABLE PROFITS
With the question of yield so much in doubt, the
question of profit must also be unsettled. It may be
said, however, that those who succeed in obtaining a
good yield nearly always" find them profitable, owing to
their season of ripening and consequent high price.
CHAPTER VI
MISCELLANEOUS BRAMBLES
While raspberries, blackberries and dewberries of
the types which we have described in the foregoing
chapters are the only brambles of much commercial
importance in this country, there are nevertheless a
few outlying types to which we may profitably give