FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 385 



-energies on the young plant, and the best way then is to let the new plant re- 

 main. One objection to cultivating in hills is, that the hills arc sometimes 

 destroyed by worms, leaving large vacant spaces. 



Another and equally good method is, to allow the runners to remain 

 and form new plants, only cutting the runners between the rows. In the fall 

 the plants should again be slightly covered, especially on heavy soils. In the 

 spring this mulching should be raked oiT and tiie ground well stirred, but be- 

 fore the berries begin to ripen the mulching should be returned, in order to 

 keep the fruit clean, and also to afford protection in dry weather. If it is de- 

 sired to raise another crop from this bed the mulching should be removed as 

 soon as the fruit is gathered, the ground cultivated, and the runners kept off 

 during the summer. The following spring they should be treated as they were 

 the previous spring. A fair crop will be produced but the berries will be 

 smaller. In the meantime another bed should be on the way to take the place 

 of this next year. If it is desired to have only the finest fruit every year, only 

 cue crop must be taken from the same bed, unless they are cultivated in hills. 



Immedia.tely after the strawberry comes the raspberry. Good corn ground 

 will raise good raspberries; provided, always, that for all kinds of small fruits 

 the soil must be dry and as high as possible. Early si:)ring is the best time to 

 set raspberries. The proper plants to set are, of the red varieties, suckers of 

 the previous year; and of the black caps, the jilants produced at the end of 

 the tips the previous summer. The black caps may be set about four by six 

 feet apart, and the red varieties a little closer. These young plants should be 

 cultivated like corn, but not later than July. The young canes should be 

 pinched off when about a foot high, in order to produce branches. The fol- 

 lowing spring the laterals or side branches should be cut back to eight or 

 twelve inches in length. The ground should be kept loose by cultivation until 

 "the fruit ripens, and should again be cultivated after the fruit is gathered. 

 The voung canes should now be allowed to errow two or three feet high before 

 they are pinched off. The following spring the old canes should be removed 

 and the branches shortened to eighteen inches or two feet. The same treat- 

 ment should be practiced every year so long as the plants remain productive, 

 which may be six or eight years. 



Mulching with straw or coarse manure is of great advantage. It will keep 

 weeds down, keep the soil loose, moist, and rich, and dispense with much cul- 

 tivation. 



Of the red raspberries the Philadelphia and Purple Cane are leading varie- 

 lies. Among Black Caps, Davison's Thornless, Doolittlo and Mammoth Cluster 

 are leading varieties, the last being the best. 



To the able-bodied women of the farm I would say, that when the men are 

 so engrossed by the labors of the farm that they cannot attend to the fruit 

 garden, it would add to your health, beauty and usefulness, occasionally to 

 engage in the noble profession which mother Eve adorned in"the days of her 

 innocence. 



After the adoption of resolutions of thanks to the professors, and others, 

 who had contributed papers and lectures, the institute was declared adjourned. 



