THE CANADIAN H0ETICULTURI8T. 



63 



am persuaded there is little fear of mil- 

 dew on a clay or clay-loam that has 

 l)een well drained, provided the plants 

 -r bushes are kept in a good healthy, 

 _a-owing condition, by being liberally 

 mulched with manure, and that care is 

 taken in digging or stirring the ground 

 :i round them not to injure the roots. 

 With kindest wishes for an increased 

 circulation for your valuable periodical. 



A. Morton. 

 Brampton, 16th January, 1886. 



RASPBERRIES- BEST MARKET 

 VARIETIES. 



Souhegan and Tyler are now the 

 leading early Black Caps. They are 

 strong growers, and probably more pro- 

 ductive than the older early kinds. 



Next comes the well known reliable 

 Mammoth Cluster for the medium sea- 

 son. The fruit is very good, though 

 not so large as some others. 



Last and largest comes the Gregg. 

 The fruit is very large, firm and dry. 

 As a fruit cannot well be firm and dry, 

 and at the same time melting and juicy, 

 the quality of the Gregg is not '* best." 

 It fills the basket and the can, and does 

 not shrink much in drying. So long 

 as the consumers do not object to its 

 quality,, the growers need not do so. 

 Although the Gregg is a strong grower, 

 it forms very wetik tip plants, many of 

 which must be rejected. Good plants 

 of this variety cannot, therefore, be pro- 

 l)agated as cheaply as those of most 

 other Black Caps. The fniit of the 

 Gregg adheres to the stem so firmly 

 that the whole crop can be gathered in 

 a few pickings. Some one has intimated 

 that the Gregg is unsuited to a sandy 

 soil. Upon such a soil I grow berries 

 that astonish experienced fruit dealers. 

 Many persons do not recognize them as 

 Black Caps. 



After growing many varieties of red 

 raspberries by the acre for some years, 

 I can only recommend the Cuthbert. 



I have an acre and a half of this variety 

 in full bearing. I never lost any Cuth- 

 berts by winter-killing, but a portion 

 of my patch was " shortened in " pretty 

 severely last winter. Enough wood 

 was left to produce a full crop of berries. 

 The Cuthbert is a strong grower and 

 transplants remarkably well. It pro- 

 duces a large crop of large, firm fruit, of 

 a good flavor and good color. It takes 

 several weeks and many pickings to 

 gather all the fruit. It extends the 

 raspberry season, and for ten days at 

 the end has no competing red raspberry. 

 An early raspberry as good as the Cuth- 

 bert is called for. 



The Highland Hardy is a small 

 grower and small bearer of small, soft 

 fruit. 



The Hansell is worse in nearly all 

 respects. 



The Marlboro' does not promise very 

 well in any respect, but we will know 

 it better after another year's trial. 



The Brandywine, Turner, Clarke, 

 Philadelphia, Herstine, and others, are 

 mid-season berries. 



The Brandywine is a dwarf grower, 

 hardy, and produces fair crops of very 

 bright, medium sized, firm fruit, of very 

 poor quality. 



The Turner is a fine grower, and one 

 of the hardiest kinds. It gives two 

 pickings of nice looking, medium sized, 

 softish fruit, of excellent quality. The 

 later pickings give softer and smaller 

 fruit, and less of it. 



The Clarke gives large, bright, soft 

 fruit, that produces prompt spontane- 

 ous jam. Sometimes the canes get dis- 

 couraged, and die just when the fruit 

 ought to ripen. 



The Philadelphia has several good 

 points. It does not incline to sucker. 

 It yields immense crops of dark- colored 

 fruit of good flavor. It is good for 

 canning and for raspberry vinegar, 

 though it cannot successfully compete 

 with the brighter kinds in the market. 



