has been left to its own wild will, there is nothing left for us
but to attack it, well-gloved, in April, with the pruning-shears,
and cut out everything except three or four young canes in the
hill. These will probably be tall, slender, and branchless,
therefore comparatively unproductive. In order to have any fruit
at all, we must shorten them one-third, and tie them to stakes. It
thus may be clearly seen that with blackberries "a stitch in time"
saves almost ninety-nine. Keep out coarse weeds and grass, and
give fertilizers only when the plants show signs of feebleness and
lack of nutrition.

A rust similar to that which attacks the black-cap is almost the
only disease we have to contend with. The remedy is the same--
extirpation of the plant, root and branch.

After testing a great many kinds, I recommend the three following
varieties, ripening in succession for the family--the Early
Harvest, Snyder, and Kittatinny. These all produce rich, high-
flavored berries, and, under the treatment suggested, will prove
hardy in nearly all localities. This fruit is not ripe as soon as
it is black, and it is rarely left on the bushes until the hard
core in the centre is mellowed by complete maturity. I have found
that berries picked in the evening and stood in a cool place were
in excellent condition for breakfast. To have them in perfection,
however, they must be so ripe as to drop into the basket at the
slightest touch; then, as Donald Mitchell says, they are "bloated
bubbles of forest honey."

I fancy the reader is as impatient to reach the strawberry as I am
myself. "Doubtless God could have made a better berry"--but I