ITortlcultaral JVotes. 159 



The Black cap raspberry should be checked in its upward growth when about two 

 or two and a half feet high. The work may either be done by pinching or cutting. 

 If the patch be large, a convenient method is to clip the tops of the young canes 

 with a common corn knife, and the work can be done about as fast as a man can 

 walk along the rows. The upward growth being thus checked, the side branches 

 start out vigorously, and push out long and assume a drooping form. A new up- 

 ward growth will not usually begin again, but in case it should, the cutting or pinch- 

 ing must be repeated. We should not check the growth of the side branches, unless 

 they interfere with cultivation the first season, but shorten them early in the spring 

 of their bearing year. 



The Antwerps and their class should also be summer-pruned when the shoots are 

 about the same hight. It is an object to promote the growth of side branches, as on 

 these most of the fruit will be born. Thus shortened, the canes become stiff enough 

 to support themselves in an upright position without the use of stakes. 



Blackberries must be shortened in as above described, if the grower gets any 

 profit or comfort in trying to produce this fruit. It produces the same eifect as on 

 the raspberries, viz : causing the side shoots to grow with vigor, and these must be 

 severally shortened next spring. With this management, staking may be entirely 

 dispensed with, as indeed, it is in plantations where these fruits are cultivated on a 

 large scale for market. 



Too many new canes 'should not be allowed to grow in a hill. Three or four of 

 the Black caps are sufficient ; four or five of the Antwerps and this class, and two or 

 three of blackberries. If more appear they should be cut away. 



Cultivation of JVnt Trees. 



Little attention has thus far been given, says the Oneida Circular, in this country, 

 to the cultivation of nut bearing trees. It is, however, said by some, that the yield 

 of nut orchards in nuts and lumber would pay a good percentage on the capital 

 invested in them, especially if the trees were planted on rough, hilly land, suitable 

 for meadow and the production of crops requiring much hand culture. 



For the purpose of showing that those who may engage in the enterprise will not 

 necessarily have to wait a lifetime in order to see the fruits of their labor, I will 

 state a few facts in regard to an experiment on a small scale. Eighteen years ago, 

 one dozen trees each of the hickory nut and the black walnut of moderate size were 

 obtained from a nursery. The trees were mostly set out by the roadside, in rather 

 a hard, gravelly soil. They received no culture, and for a year or two success 

 seemed doubtful. However, all but one survived, and finally became established. 

 The hickory trees have grown nuts for the past two years. One tree, a year ago, 

 produced three and a half barrels of nuts, as they came from the tree. The 

 trunks of some of these trees measure one foot in diameter near the ground. 



About the same time that these trees were set out, some chestnuts were planted 

 in the seed bed. From these, trees have been produced that have borne nuts the 

 past two years, making about sixteen years from the seed to the bearing state. But 

 it is by no means necessary to wait even this length of time for results; trees can 

 now be obtained at the nurseries by the thousand, of suitable size for planting. 

 These, if the work has not already been done, may be grafted, taking cions from 

 bearing trees that are known to produce the largest and finest nuts. This process 

 would considerably shorten the time before bearing, also secure the all-important 

 end of producing the most valuable nuts. 



Now as to the market value of nuts : — It is known that the price of edible nuts 

 has steadily increased as they became more and more scarce, until at the present 

 time our native chestnuts sometimes bring in the market the sum of ten and twelve 

 dollars a bushel; hickory nuts, four dollars; while Spanish chestnuts, I am told, 

 are worth from fifteen to eighteen dollars a bushel. The latter variety may also be 



