PLANTING AND CULTIVATING RED RASPBERRIES. i Way 
If you wish to try a new variety, get twenty-five to one hundred 
plants and from them raise your own stock. You will then know 
what you are getting, and whether that variety will do well on 
your land. 
Red raspberries may be either cultivated or mulched to advant- 
age. I believe the most successful and profitable method is to cul- 
tivate the first year thoroughly and mulch thereafter, The young 
plants seem to needa thorough stirring ofthe soil. Mulching seems 
to conserve the moisture better and also prevents all growth of 
weeds, which sap the strength of the young plants. Besides, it is 
cheaper than cultivating. I have found flax straw best adapted for 
mulching, because it is more compact and holds together better, and 
it takes much less of flax straw than of wheat or oat straw. I have 
tried mulching around the plants and cultivating between the rows, 
but this method is not successful. Cultivating takes much time 
because the field must be cultivated often, and, in a wet season like 
our last one, it is almost impossible to keep the weeds down. 
In cultivating, also, the long, tender stalks are liable to be injured 
by cultivator and horse, especially near the fruiting season. 
The following is a good set of rules to go by in planting and 
cultivating red raspberries: 
First—Manure, plow and harrow thoroughly. 
Second—Clear of weeds. 
Third—Mark and furrow. 
Fourth—Plant fresh, rooty plants, and firm well. 
Fifth—Cultivate first year and mulch thereafter. 
STARTING PLANTS IN THE HOUSE. 
Almost every one tries to start a few plants early in the spring in 
the house, but has no end of trouble carrying them from window to 
a Viste eo pes eis a dee teeny stove shelf at night to keep 
them from chilling. The 
illustration shows a way to 
avoid all this trouble, and 
at the same time to grow 
more and better plants. A 
box of any size desired, and 
about two feet in height, 
is arranged according io 
V CQ A the design shown herewith. 
GLMMEL LL EE An opening is cut in one 
WINDOW PROPAGATING BENCH. side at the bottom so thata 
hand lamp can be setin. This opening should have a hinged door. 
Above the lamp is stretched a piece of sheet iron, while some dis- 
tance above this iron rods run from side to side across the box, for 
the support of smaller boxes of earth in which seeds are sown. A 
tight wooden cover can be made to shut down over the whole, to be 
opened each morning. A small opening is made in the top 
' of the lamp chamber and another in the bottom, to admit air 
and let out any gas from the lamp. The sheet iron should fit so 
closely that fumes from the lamp may not get up to the plant boxes. 
A very small flame will keep everything very warm at night. Set 
the box before the sunniest kitchen window.—O. J. Farmer. 
