JUNE. 175 



more space there is for the foliage. There is, therefore, less danger of 

 the fruit-bearing branchlets crowding each other than there is of the 

 interference of the young shoots which spring from the root for 

 succession. In the second season the tied-up canes will require no 

 further attention. Lateral shoots will push from them ; and these, as 

 already remarked, bear the fruit. At the same time, shoots for 

 succession spring up, and frequently in too great abundance. When 

 such is the case, they must be thinned out more or less, as in the 

 preceding season ; only, as the plants are now established, from four to 

 six shoots may be allowed to grow. In autumn three, or, if strong 

 enough enough, four, from each stool should be pruned and tied as 

 already directed. When Raspberries are intended to be trained to a 

 rail, the latter may be constructed of stakes and strips of deal about one 

 inch thick. The stakes should be driven in line at every five or six 

 feet, and the strips of deal nailed along their tops, which may be three 

 or four feet from the ground, according to the length of the canes ; and 

 other strips may run along at eighteen inches or two feet from the 

 surface, or a wire may be stretched at that height. To these horizon- 

 tals the canes should be trained, so as to leave room for a succession 

 shoot between each. The weak points of the bearing canes ought to be 

 cut off, and superfluous shoots removed at an early stage of their growth. 

 Dr. Neill, in his ' Fruit and Kitchen Garden,' suggests a modification 

 of training to a rail, which deserves to be noticed. He says, ' Perhaps 

 the best support is obtained by fastening the points of the shoots to a 

 slight horizontal rail or bar, about 4 feet high, and placed 1| foot on 

 the south side of the rows. By this means the bearing shoots are 

 deflected from the perpendicular to the sunny side of the row, and are 

 not shaded by the annual wood.' Raspberries are sometimes trained 

 by arching, and for this mode they are planted about four feet apart in 

 the rows. A stake is driven in midway between the plants ; half the 

 canes belonging to one plant and half of those of the adjoining plant are 

 bent towards each other, and their ends are tied together, so as to form 

 an arch, which is secured to the stake in the centre. There are some 

 varieties of Raspberry, such as Rivers' Large Fruited Monthly, which 

 naturally produce fruit late in autumn ; but other varieties may be 

 induced to do so by cutting down the canes to within one foot of the 

 ground. The shoots which push from these shortened canes grow 

 vigorously, and usually produce fruit late in the season. Another mode 

 is to shorten the canes rather more than usual ; then, when the laterals 

 push, and before they flower, they are cut back nearly to their bases, 

 and from these fresh shoots are produced, which fruit late in the season. 

 In order to obtain very large fruit, so far as this depends on pruning 

 and training, few bearing shoots should be left to each plant, or, in 

 particular cases, some plants, or a row or two, may be sacrificed by 

 permitting no suckers to grow. Of course, no fruit can be obtained in 

 the following season from plants so treated, the formation of shoots for 

 future bearing being prevented, but in consequence of this the fruiting 

 canes will be better nourished and the fruit larger. 



" Other Culture. — This consists in keeping the surface stirred and free 

 of weeds. Manure should be applied in autumn, and ought to be 



