ture as fully as possible for the benefit of these people. Primarily, this bulletin is not intended for those who have been in the business for a number of years.

GENERAL DISCUSSION.

The dewberry is becoming an important crop in this State. It is being grown extensively in four or five different sections and on land which in most instances is not suited to many other crops. The profits realized have on the average been very good. In several sections this crop is bringing thousands of dollars into the community where formerly there was no horticultural industry. A plantation, when well established and cared for, will last for at least ten or fifteen years, and when properly handled will last for a much longer time. It requires only two years to establish a plantation, and a fair crop is obtained the second year. When once established, the yield should be at least one hundred crates per acre, and the profits during good seasons about one hundred dollars per acre. There are instances on record where the profits have been considerably higher than that, in some cases running as high as one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. There is considerable land in this State to be bought for five dollars per acre, which is yielding the owners very little profit, and which could be made more profitable by growing dewberries.

The dewberry industry, at the present time, is centered in Moore, Cumberland, Columbus and Warren counties, and a limited acreage is being grown in other portions of the eastern part of the State.

This crop can be successfully grown in any portion of the eastern part of the State, including the coastal-plain section, the sand-hill region, and portions of the lower Piedmont. The sandy soils seem to be especially well adapted to this crop. It cannot be successfully grown on low, wet or marshy soils.

The dewberry-picking season immediately follows the strawberry season, the bulk of the crop being shipped in June. This is an important matter, since it offers less competition on the market and there is little difficulty in securing refrigerator cars for shipping purposes.

While the dewberry is grown in this State principally as a commercial fruit, the fact should be emphasized that wherever possible it should also be grown for home use. It is an excellent fruit in its fresh state, splendid for canning purposes, and for jelly and jams is not excelled by any other fruit. Its season is earlier than the earliest blackberries, and continues for a long time. The blackberry is somewhat difficult to grow in the eastern half of this State, where the dewberry grows to perfection. It is a fact that altogether too little fruit is grown for home use in this State. This most excellent fruit should be found in every home garden.

ESTABLISHING A DEWBERRY FIELD.

SOILS.

Types of Soils.-The dewberry can be grown on a variety of soils. It does best on a soil that contains a large amount of sand. Even the poorest white sands of the sand-hill section, when properly handled, will yield excellent crops.

Usually, however, a sandy loam will give better results than a sandy soil. Sandy soils offer the drainage and warmth which seem to be essential to the dewberry, but such soils are very poor-that is, contain little plant food, suffer badly during a drought, hold very little water, and are less satisfactory than the sandy loams. A sandy loam contains sufficient sand to provide necessary drainage, enough clay and vegetable matter to make the soil richer in plant food, and at the same time hold more moisture.

The ideal soil is a sandy loam with a clay subsoil, not deeper than about two feet. In all the dewberry sections of the State the best crops are produced on sandy loams underlaid with a clay subsoil, which varies in depth from six to twenty-four inches. These soils contain more plant food, and the subsoil prevents it from washing down into the lower layers of soil, where it is out of reach of the roots. Large amounts of fertilizer are used in dewberry growing, and the soils which are most retentive are therefore best.

Moisture. The dewberry will not endure a very wet soil, yet the crop requires a large amount of moisture. This is especially true while the fruit is developing and ripening. It must always be kept in mind that the berry is composed largely of water, and this at once shows the necessity of plenty of moisture in the soil. On poor, open, sandy soils it is often difficult and sometimes almost impossible to supply the crop with enough moisture while the fruit is ripening. Thorough cultivation is, of course, the greatest remedy. Often the size of the fruit can be doubled by frequent cultivation at this time. A sandy loam soil underlaid with a clay subsoil is most retentive of moisture. Humus. Another important factor in retaining moisture is humus. Humus is decaying vegetable matter, such as leaf mould, compost, stable manure, and cowpeas. In an open, porous soil humus tends to fill up the spaces between the soil grains and helps to make such soils more compact. The humus itself acts like a great sponge, absorbing large quantities of water, and during a drought will help to retain it much better than a soil without humus. In many soils humus is quite as important as cultivation.

Drainage.-Dewberry fields should always be thoroughly drained. There are places in the State where dewberry plants are dying, and the only cause, as far as can be determined, is a soggy soil. A number of plants examined in these fields show that the roots are actually rotting. The water excludes air from the soil and tends to smother the roots. In the same fields where the soil is well drained this condition does not exist, and as the soil is rich and moist the plants are growing luxuriantly and yielding excellent crops. The remedy, of course, would be to drain thoroughly those portions of the field which are too wet. It is a waste of time and money to plant dewberries in a low, wet soil. Many of these soils, however, are excellent when well drained.

PREPARATION OF SOIL.

Most of the soils in this State which are well adapted to dewberry growing contain a very small amount of plant food and little or no humus. These soils must be greatly improved if the best results are to be obtained. Plant food and humus must be supplied in some form. If this can be done before the plants are set out, so much the better. In preparing the soil for the dewberry crop it is well to begin two or three years before planting. By a rotation of crops and by using legumes-for example, cowpeas or crimson cloverthe land can be very much improved, and if these crops are turned into the soil a large amount of humus is also added. Some of the poorest soils, when treated in this way, will yield good crops of dewberries.

The land is prepared every season for annual crops. The dewberry is a perennial plant and occupies the land for at least ten years; hence, the preparation of the land must be more thorough than that for annual crops, like corn and cotton. Plowing should be very deep, and if the land is underlaid with a clay subsoil which comes near the surface, it becomes necessary to use a subsoil plow to break up this hard layer. This is for the purpose of giving depth to the soil, so that it will supply a greater feeding surface to the roots, will offer better drainage, and during a drought will help to retain the moisture. If the soil is at all rough it should be thoroughly pulverized before planting; this can be done with a heavy roller. Usually, however, this condition does not exist in most of our dewberry sections.

PROPAGATION.

The dewberry is easily propagated, two methods being commonly employed. Tip Layers.-This method is generally employed in this State in propagating the dewberry, and usually it is the most satisfactory. It is quite easily performed. The tips of the long vines are covered with soil in the fall, and, as soon as they have formed a good root system, are ready to be cut off from the parent plant and planted in the field, where they are to remain permanently. Usually we have found it very satisfactory to cover them in September, and then transplant them in December. This gives a good opportunity for fall planting. Many growers do not transplant them until early the following spring-some time during March. In that case it is not necessary to cover them until later in the season-say October or early November. This has the advantage of allowing the vines to grow later in the fall before the tips are covered.

It is best for this purpose to select good, strong, healthy plants, and from these plants select the strongest vines, and also those freest from disease or bruises of any kind. This will give better results in the new plantation.

The importance of selection in growing dewberry plants is often overlooked. Many growers will cover up almost any vine, and the more vines that can be covered up, the better. This is a bad practice. We know that the offspring will be very much like the parent from which it came. If the parent produces little or poor fruit, is a poor grower and a sickly plant, the offspring in nearly every instance will possess these same characteristics. This is because the young plant comes from a portion of the old plant-a portion of the stem.

To secure the very best results it is necessary to go into the field while the fruit is still on the vines and mark in some way those plants that come nearest