408 State Horticnlluval Society. 



The plants should be set about one foot apart in rows that are five 

 feet from each other. The first year, the canes should be allowed to run 

 at will, as it is onl}- during the late fall of the first year or spring of the 

 second or succeeding years that the suckers bother. In the spring of the 

 second year the cultivator should be run shallow, as close up to the 

 plants as possible, without breaking them ; and the remaining suckers cut 

 ofif with hoe in the hands of a skillful workman. I prefer to keep the 

 red raspberry row in a narrow continuous row, rather than to grow them 

 in hills. When the canes get about two feet high, they should be nipped 

 back. This causes them to branch and make fruit buds close to the 

 ground. If the canes are allowed to grow full length, the fruit buds 

 will be nearly all located on the end of the cane and if the bush be trimmed, 

 they will be cut ofif and the bush bear no fruit. This cutting back the 

 suckers as they spring up and nipping in the ends of the canes must be 

 resorted to every year, in order to get paying crops. The dead canes 

 should also be cut out at the close of each fruiting season. It is a very 

 good plan to mulch about the roots as far out as the cultivator goes, just 

 •before every fruiting season. This keeps the moisture in the ground and 

 prevents weeds from growing. 



The fertilization of the red raspberry has much to do with its yield 

 and ability to withstand winters. While it requires rich soil, the soil 

 should not be too rich in nitrogen. Nitrogen encourages the excessive 

 growth of canes or suckers. It is very well to use stable manure on the 

 crops that precede raspberries, but I should not use stable manure after 

 the plants were set, unless after they have been in fruit for several years, 

 they show a lack of vitality ; then, use a shovel full of rotted manure 

 about each hill, put on in the fall or very early spring when the plants are 

 not growing. Commercial fertilizers are the kinds of manures to use 

 in the raspberry patch. They may be put on just before \vinter sets in, 

 or early in the spring, on the last fall of snow. Scatter between the rows 

 and among the plants. Remember that the feeding roots of the raspberry 

 run all through the soil, filling every particle of the surface. Use high 

 grade fertilizers. They cost less in the long run. The raspberry needs 

 lots of phosphoric acid and potash. I would recommend a fertilizer 

 containing two per cent, nitrogen, ten per cent, phosphoric acid, and ten 

 per cent, potash, or, if the fertilizer is compounded at home, get the in- 

 gredients as close to these proportions as possible. 



There are many varieties of red raspberries, but few good ones. For 

 a very early variety the Miller is largely planted in the South. We pre- 

 fer the Marlboro in the North. Among late varieties, honors are about 

 equally divided between Cuthbert and Loudon. On our own soil, the 

 Loudon is best, because the Cuthbert is liable to winter kill. 



