424 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Trimmed Bush. 



previous year. In other respects the plant 

 is a perennial, and with good care a planta- 

 tion will last profitably ten or twelve years. 

 A deep rich and moist sand is the most suita- 

 ble soil for the red raspberry. The black- 

 cap will thrive equally well on a fairly heavy 

 clay loam, but in any case the soil must be 

 well underdrained and the reverse of com- 

 pact,. for, of all fruits, the raspberry is the 

 first to suffer from an excess of moisture 

 and from drought at the ripening period. 

 Vigorous shoots of the previous year's 

 growth are the best plants to set, and in all 

 cases they should be cut back to eight inches 

 high after planting. In June the young 

 shoots may be transplanted, if the work is 

 done carefully in damp weather, but the older 

 plants are preferable. If cultivation in rows 

 is desired the plants should be set three feet 

 apart and the rows six feet apart. The red 

 raspberry, however, throws up such a large 

 number of suckers, most of which have to 

 be cut away, that a good practice is to plant 

 five feet apart, and cultivate both ways. 

 In this way, not only are the superfluous 

 canes kept down more easily, but a finer 

 quali y of fruit, and just as much, will be 

 produced. If fall planting is done the plants 

 should be set out by the middle of Septem- 



ber, and well mulched on the approach of 

 winter. The question of pruning is an im- 

 portant one with the raspberries, and one 

 on which a great difference of opinion ex- 

 its. Great stress used to be laid on the 

 value of summer pruning, and for the black- 

 cap it is all right. The black-cap propa- 

 gates itself by rooting at the tip, and its ef- 

 forts are bent in the direction of making 

 strong canes. Pinching back the young 

 canes, therefore, when about two feet high 

 will have excellent results. The cane will 

 soon throw out a number of laterals, and a 

 self-supporting strongly-branched bush will 

 result (see Figs. 87 and 88). With the red 

 raspberry the case is different, the pinching 

 back of the young canes induces the plant 

 to produce more suckers, and the laterals, 

 which are eventually thrown out, are ofttfn 

 weak and get killed back during the winter. 

 Cultivate shallow and often during the sum- 

 mer, letting the canes grow their full length- 

 In the late fall cut out the old canes which 

 have fruited, and in the spring remove su- 

 perfluous canes, leaving only four or five in 

 a hill, and cut back the remaining canes to 

 a height of about three feet. The work of 



FIG.88 U.NTKiMMEP Bush. 



