SMALL FRUITS. 31 



Cultivation should commence soon after the plants are set, and 

 the surface of the ground should be kept level, clean and mellow, not 

 allowing it to get banked up around the hills; a fine tooth cultiva- 

 tor and sharp hoe are the best implements for doing the work. 

 With the exception of from four to six canes to each hill and a like 

 number coming on to take their place the following year, unless 

 plants are wanted for extending the patch all sprouts should be 

 treated as weeds: this for the reds. With the blacks, pinch off 

 the terminal bud of each shoot as soon as it reaches a height of 

 one or two feet. In small gardens there is no better tool for killing 

 weeds and keeping the surface mellow than a common garden rake. 



Usually there is no summer pruning done in the garden or field 

 patch except cutting out the old canes after fruiting and shortening 

 in the new growth once early in the summer. 



There is a difference in opinion among growers whether the old 

 canes should be reinoved immediately after they have done bearing 

 or left to die and be removed the next spring. The advocates of both 

 have some plausable arguments on their side. The prompt removal 

 of them does not appear to weaken the plant, enables the growing- 

 cane to ripen up better and gives the plantation a much neater ap- 

 pearance; besides, where winter protection must be given, they are in 

 a better condition for laj'ing down. On the other hand, the old canes 

 would afford some protection against the young canes being broken 

 down by winds and have a tendency to hold the snows better in 

 winter; but this is offset by»the harbor they afford for insects, mice 

 and other vermin. 



Suirimer pruning is strongly advocated by some, but our most suc- 

 cessful growers do not practice it upon the reds, and we think it is of 

 doubtful utilitj^ if not positively injurious in inviting bacterial dis- 

 eases. With the blacks there is no doubt about the benefit of once 

 heading back, if it is carefully done at the right time. The object is 

 to make strong stocky plants capable of standing alone and full of 

 lateral branches like little trees, that will be loaded with fruit. It 

 consists in pinching off the ends of the canes when they have 

 reached the desired height. It should never be done after the canes 

 have partially made their season's growth, for the removal of foliage 

 and growth at that period will cause the starting of the buds that 

 have formed for next year, and at least partial loss of a fruit crop. 



Mulching is advisable for several reasons. It tends to keep the 

 fruit clean from sand and dirt, conserves moisture in the soil and 

 saves in cultivation; btit it is better to keep the patch cultivated and 

 clear of weeds until the plants have blossomed and the fruit is 

 formed before applying the mulch. Straw that has been trampled 

 in the j'^ards, marsh hay, cut or crushed cornstalks, crushed cane- 

 stalks or green clover cut when in bloom and applied at once, are 

 the best materials for mulching, and the latter best of all. With the 

 red varieties it appears to me best to do no summer pinching or 

 pruning and to cut them? back directly after all growth has ceased 

 in the fall or early the next spring. Various methods of trainiug 

 the raspberrj' are practiced. Perhaps the cheapest and most con- 

 venient is between two wires stretched upon stakes about eighteen 

 inches high upon opposite sides of the row, or the canes may be 



