22 NAT. ORDER. SENTlOOSiE. 



strong, will both yield a moderate crop the first season, and supply 

 yoimg steins for bearing in greater plenty and perfection the foUow- 



' ing season, and so from year to year the summer culture should be 

 repeated. As the plants get established, let all straggling suckers 

 between the rows, or from the extreme roots of single shoots, be cleared 

 out by hoeing, or twisted off, to admit the air and sun freely to the 

 fruit. Tlie fruit of the raspberry may be obtained of a very large 

 size, other circumstances being favorable, by destroying all the suck- 

 ^ t ers ; but in this way, the plant being destroyed, a double plantation 



is wanted, one to grow only suckers, and the other fruit. 



Pruning and Whiter Dressing. It is requisite every winter 

 or spring to cut out the dead stems, and to thin and regulate the suc- 

 cessional young shoots. This annual priming may be performed any 

 - time during open weather, from November till the beginning of April. 

 When kitchen garden crops are cultivated between the rows, it is 

 most convenient to do this as soon as the old bearers begin to decay. 

 As to prmiing indiscriminately in the open weather in winter, it 

 sometunes happens that severe frosts immediately foUow, and par- 

 tially kill the plants ; therefore it is safer to shorten the tender young 

 shoots early in the spring, but let it not be deferred till the buds are 



■ making new shoots, as that would weaken the roots. Cut out all 

 the old dead stems close to the bottom, and having selected from the 

 strongest young shoots on each main stool, four or five to be preserv- 

 ed for a succession of bearers, cut away the superabundant shoots 

 close to the ground. Let each of the shoots retained be pruned at the 

 top below the weak bending part, cutting tliem in smaller plants to 

 about tliree or four feet in length, and in the large sorts to the length 

 of five or six. feet. If any of the stems diverge irregularly, or strag- 

 gle much asunder, they may be tied together at the top, and thus the 

 strong ones will support the weaker, or the taller varieties may have 

 the support of stakes. Pnme plants against a wall or trellis, in the 



