STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 23 
RASPBERRY CULTURE. 
Secretary Minnesota State Horticultural Society : 
Dear Sir:—In compliance with your request, I send you a paper on Rasp- 
berry Culture, which will have, at least, the negative merit of brevity. 
Varieties. 
I have not tried all the varieties, but the only kinds I would plant largely, 
are the Doolittle and Seneca Black-caps, and the Turner and Philadelphia 
Reds. The Clark is not hardy enough, and the Kirtland is nov quite produc- 
tive enough; and, for the last two seasons, has been affected by a sort of 
blight, giving a portion of the fruit a slight bitterish taste. Davison’s 
Thornless has not been sufficiently productive with me, nor has the Mam- 
moth Cluster proved profitable, not being hardy enough, nor the fruit of 
first rate quality. 
I formerly had enormous crops of Philadelphias, but for some reason 
they have not done quite so well for a few years past. 
The Turner is fairly productive, entirely hardy, with me, and the quality 
is the very best. For two seasons past, it has done better with me than 
any other variety, red or black. 
Iam extremely fond of large, jucy, well-ripened black raspberries, such 
as the Senecas, or the Doolittles when the bushes are young and well culti- 
vated. But this is not ‘‘ Raspberry Culture.” I cannot write a treatise at 
present giving all the particulars of planting and cultivation, and, in fact, it 
seems hardly necessary. I will try to make a few strong points. 
Soil, Distance, Cultivation, &c. 
It is only by very high culture that raising raspberries for market can be 
made continuously profitable. They do best on a rich, deep, thoroughly 
drained soil. I observe that on low spots in the patch, depressions of a 
few feet only, they winter-kill worse thanelsewhere. Plant none but strong 
plants, especially of the Black-Caps. Plant tolerably early in the spring, 
and aim to get a good stand the first year. If you expect a full crop, you 
must have no blank spaces where bushes should stand. I plant Black-Caps 
six feet by four, plow them one way, and hoe between the bushes. After 
the first year nip the tops of the young canes when they are two or three 
feet high. Unless you have stout, thrifty, broad-topped bushes you cannot 
have a large yield. I plant the red varieties the same distance apart and 
let them spread along the rows hedge-fashion. The Turners will keep 
down all weeds in the rows as soon as they get a full stand. They sucker 
tremeneously, but the plow will keep them down between the rows. If 
they become too thick, run the plow a little closer on each side of the row 
and destroy part of them; but you must have a tolerably broad and con- 
tinuous row to get the largest yield. Cultivate early in the spring, and 
cultivate as soon as the fruit is gathered. You are not likely to cultivate 
too much. Mulching is a good thing, but it may be overdone. Thorough 
and frequent cultivation is better than mulching, in my opinion. 
