134 SMALL FRTJ1T CULTURIST. 



come choked with grass and weeds, it will check their 

 growth, and not only the fruiting canes will suffer for 

 moisture, but those intended for the next season's crop. 



With varieties which produce no suckers from lateral 

 roots, but only from the crowns of the main root, greater 

 uniformity can be preserved in their cultivation. The 

 only precaution necessary is to see that too many canes 

 do not grow ; three or four are sufficient, all others should 

 be cut off when they first appear. 



PRUNING. 



Very little pruning is necessary with the Raspberry, and 

 in general field culture none is given, except to go over the 

 plantation after fruiting and cut out close to the ground 

 all of the old canes. Some defer this operation until whi- 

 ter or the following spring, but it is better to do it soon 

 after the fruit is gathered, so that the young canes shall 

 not be crowded by the old ones. Because no other pru- 

 ning is generally practiced, it is no sufficient reason why it is 

 not necessary, or that it would not be beneficial. The bear- 

 ing canes should be pruned in the spring by heading back 

 the leading shoots, and shortening the lateral ones. This 

 operation is particularly beneficial to the Black Raspberry, 

 Purple Cane, and others of this class, inasmuch as they 

 produce such long slender canes that they would be 

 broken or bent to the ground by the weight of fruit un- 

 less severely pruned. 



The principal canes, as well as the lateral ones, should be 

 shortened to about one-third their original length. When 

 pruned in this manner the fruit will be much larger, and 

 the plant will yield as many quarts as though the canes 

 were left their full length. Besides, the plants will very 

 often set more fruit when left unpruned than they can 

 mature, and all is lost. 



There are a few varieties in cultivation which produce 

 two crops in a season ; that is, the year old canes throw 



