42 BOAED OF AGEICULTUEE. [Jan., 



for several years quite successfully. If the matted row system is 

 followed it is easier to renew by setting out new beds each spring 

 and plowing under the old ones directly after fruiting. • 



Raspberries. — Following strawberries, or rather coming with 

 the last picking of them, are the raspberries, red, black, yellow, 

 and purple. Good crops may be grown on any soil, but the best 

 is a deep moist loam. October is the best time to plant, but 

 it can be done successfully any time in the fall, or very early in 

 the spring, and green sucker plants of the red varieties may be 

 transplanted much the same as cabbage or tomato any time during 

 May, June, or July, amd if shaded for a few days, will make a fine 

 growth and produce a crop the next season. Some years ago, 

 when good plants of the Cuthbert were scarce, we put out one-half 

 acre of these green plants in June, and the next year sold $360 

 worth of fruit. Soil properly prepared for strawberries will be in 

 good condition for raspberries ; open furrows with a light plow in 

 rows five to eight feet apart, the distance depending somewhat on 

 the varieties to be planted and the system of culture to be fol- 

 lowed. If to be grown in hedges, mark out rows seven to eight 

 feet apart and drop plants two feet apart in the rows, in soil that is 

 not too rough and stony. They may be set quickly and well by 

 taking the top of the plant in one hand, holding it in the fui-row 

 so that the roots will be about as deep as they had originally been 

 grown, then with the feet crowd in the earth, from each side of 

 the furrow, and tread it down firmly about the roots. In this way 

 one man can plant three hundred or four hundred plants in an 

 hour. After all are planted cut off the top level with the ground, 

 and fill irf the furrow with a plow. 



If planting is done early in the fall they will get well rooted 

 before winter, and will be ready to make a very early grov/th the 

 following spring; late fall planting should be protected through 

 the winter by a shovelfull of coarse manure, or a mound of earth 

 over each plant. Spring plantings should be made early, as the 

 young sprouts that come from the roots start as soon as the frost 

 begins to come out, and are liable to get broken in handling. If 

 planting has been done in the fall, and tops cut close to ground, the 

 first spring cultivation can be best and most cheaply done with a 

 common drag tooth-harrow going over the whole field. This will 

 kill all young weeds just started, and so loosen up the ground over 



