MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 397 



three years. I find that the first crop will cost two to three times as 

 much as the two succeeding ones. The fruit from my beds in '96 cost 

 me just five cents per quart, and this year the cost would not have 

 exceeded two cents if I had not had to sort. As it was, they cost two 

 and one-fourth cents. 



One advantage of the old beds is that the fruit will be a few days 

 earlier, and anything which will hasten maturity without increasing 

 the cost is quite an advantage to the progressive fruit-grower. — B. A. 

 Wood, Kalamazoo county, Michigan, in Epitomist. 



CULTURE OF RASPBERRIES. 



Raspberries prefer a deep loam that is rather moist than dry, there- 

 by keeping the roots cool. All the manure that can be worked into 

 the soil to advantage before planting should be used. It should not 

 be coarse, as such will not mingle with the soil properly. After the 

 ground has been thoroughly prepared by plowing and replowing, 

 harrow it smooth, mark it off in rows five feet apart each way, thus 

 enabling horse-cultivation to be done both ways. A block planted in 

 this way is easier and more economically worked than the row or hedge 

 system. Perhaps more berries can be produced by the latter, but the 

 fruit will not be so fine, and the fine fruit always brings the best prices. 



Purchase plants, grown from root-cuttings, from a reliable nursery- 

 man. Trench them in the ground as soon as received, and take out 

 only as fast as needed while planting. Pat two or three (according to 

 size) in each hill, and see that the soil is well worked among the roots. 

 After the hole is filled, tread the ground gently with the foot. Prepare 

 the ground and plant well, as this operation is to last for years. 



All that is necessary the first year is to keep the ground loose and 

 the weeds down by continued deep cultivation, which is easily done by 

 going through the rows both ways once a week or oftener, if necessary, 

 with the cultivator. This will help to keep the ground moist, too — a 

 point very important in a dry season. Pull out all weeds from the hills 

 that the cultivator does not reach. " Clean, thorough cultivation," is 

 the motto of the successful gardener, and the best results are not at- 

 tained without it. 



In the fall select five or six of the best canes in each hill for next 

 season's fruit, pulling out all others. Take these canes, one hill in 

 each hand, bend them down permanently. Five feet apart may seem 

 too great a distance for such treatment, but where they have had proper 

 culture no difficulty will be experienced in this point. After the first 



