THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



215 



also known by the names Mervei'le 

 des Quatre Saisons Rouge and Mer- 

 veille des Quatre Saisons Jauae. They 

 are the best of the late-bearing varie- 

 ties, and of great value in gardens 

 where fresh raspberries are in demand 

 so long as they are obtainable. In- 

 deed, the pity is that so few persons 

 will take the trouble to secure a suc- 

 cession of the be3t fruits, but, instead, 

 have during the height of the summer 

 a ghit of a few kinds, and after that 

 no more. How much better it would 

 be to have the table supplied with 

 fresh bush fruits till the middle or 

 end of November. Both raspberries 

 and currants might so be had if but 

 a few changes were made in the ordi- 

 nary routine of selecting and planting. 

 To grow these late kinds of rasp- 

 berries, you must not trust to canes 

 of the preceding year ; they bear their 

 best fruit on canes of the season. 

 Therefore, the way to manage, them 

 is to cut down to the ground in 

 March. In the month of May the 

 young suckers must be thinned to a 

 foot apart, and as the season advances 

 they will produce fine large berries 

 in plenty, and if the season is mild 

 will be in bearing till the end of 

 November. 



There are a few varieties of rasp- 

 berries that merit the special atten- 

 tion of those who take more than an 

 ordinary interest in their fruit gardens. 

 The Summer Black was raised half a 

 century ago at Netherfield. in Essex. 

 It is a hybrid between a blackberry 

 and a raspberry, the fruit being 

 purple, and the flavour partaking 

 both of the raspberry and the black- 

 berry. This is a fruitful and beautiful 

 variety, producing canes of immense 

 strength, dark in colour, and a leafage 

 that, like the fruit, combines the pe- 

 culiarities of both its parents. Mr. 

 Rivers has cultivated this largely, and 

 from it raised numerous seedlings, 

 some of which are of great value. 

 The Autumn Black is oue of these. 

 Mr. Rivers describes it as the fifth 

 generation from the Summer Black. 

 The fruit of the Autumn Black is of 

 excellent quality, dark purple in 

 colour, and it is in good bearing till 

 quite November. It has this pecu- 

 liarity, that it produces scarcely any 



suckers, and hence has to be propa- 

 gated from seed. By pegging down 

 the shoots it might, no doubt, be in- 

 creased in a more certain, though less 

 rapid manner ; but the seedlings are, 

 I believe, generally true, so that there 

 is no reason why this fine hybrid 

 should not be more generally known 

 and appreciated than it is. 



The Americans have presented us 

 with several species and varieties of 

 Rubus, but they do not appear as yet 

 to have succeeded in this country. 

 The best of them is the Lawton Black- 

 berry, also known as New Rochelle 

 and Seacor's Mammoth. It is of im- 

 mensely strong growth, and produces 

 an abundance of large, oval, jet-black 

 fruit, the flavour of which is very 

 agreeable. Had we not in our hedges 

 a species of Rubus which is so fruitful 

 and so good that every family in the 

 kingdom might have a share of its 

 produce, we should be glad of these 

 American importations ; but having 

 our o vn blackberry (Rubus fruti- 

 cosus), we scarcely need occupy our 

 limited and highly-rented garden 

 grounds by cultivating blackberries 

 in competition with the hedgerows. 



The habit of the raspberry is to 

 throw up from the root a certain 

 number of shoots, or as they are called 

 " canes." These grow one year, the 

 next year produce fruit, and after the 

 fruit has all been ripened they die, 

 and are succeeded by another lot of 

 canes that were growing while those 

 fruited. To prune the raspberry is 

 therefore a simple affair enough. In 

 winter or early spring cut away the 

 dead canes, and thin those that are 

 to bear to four or five to each plant 

 or "stool." It is well, also, to shorten 

 these canes according to their strength 

 and the nature of the variety ; five 

 feet may be considered a sufficient 

 length for the strongest canes, and 

 under the most favourable circum- 

 stances. Whenever raspberries are 

 taken up, it will be found that their 

 roots run freely in all directions very 

 near the surface ; in fact, after a few 

 years, the soil of a plantation of rasp- 

 berries becomea a complete felt of 

 fibres. From this we learn that to 

 dig amongst them must be very in- 

 jurious, aud iu practice the spade 



