THE RASPBERRY. 565 



spaces are left open for gathering the fruit. Where a large crop of 

 fruit is wanted, without regard to the size of the berries, half the 

 number of the canes on each plant may be bent over, so as to meet 

 the half of those of the adjoining plant, and a foot or more of the 

 points of the canes of each plant may be interwoven and made fast by 

 matting. A row of raspberries thus treated will present a series of 

 arches of fruit-bearing branches, alternately with columns of suckers ; 

 the bending of the bearing canes will cause every bud to break, the 

 fruit-benring laterals will be exposed to the sun and air without being 

 crowded by the suckers, and the latter will have more room for their 

 foliage, and hence grow stronger, and ripen their wood better. This, 

 being the easiest and most economical mode of training the canes, is 

 that most generally adopted in gardens. Some growers, however, 

 prefer neither to stake nor train the canes ; they simply shorten them 

 to about thirty- one inches in length ; they support themselves even when 

 laden with fruit without inconvenience. Where very large fruit is re- 

 quired, the whole or the greater part of the suckers may be destroyed as 

 fast as they appear, and the blossoms may be thinned ; but this prac- 

 tice, by destroying the plant, requires a double plantation, one for pro- 

 ducing suckers, and another for producing fruit ; and hence it should 

 only be adopted in gardens where there is abundance of room. To 

 obtain a successional crpp late in the season, the canes of the autumnal 

 varieties may be cut down to the ground in winter, and the suckers, 

 which will be produced with more than usual vigour, may be stopped 

 in the beginning of June, which will cause the buds to break and pro- 

 duce fruit late in the season, generally till it is destroyed by frost. 

 The suckers of the twice-bearing raspberry naturally produce a second 

 crop that is, they produce fruit the first year as well as the second ; 

 but for a full supply in the autumn, it is best to cut the whole of the 

 old shoots out, and concentrate the entire strength of the plant into 

 its autumnal produce. The ground between the rows should be 

 manured and dug every year, but no attempt should be made to grow 

 a crop between the rows after the first year. A new plantation may 

 be made every six or seven years, or oftener, if the plants should 

 show any symptoms of degeneracy ; or if their travelling roots should 

 grow out of bounds, which they are very apt to do from the outside 

 suckers always being the strongest, and consequently selected for bear- 

 ing in preference to the inside suckers. 



Gathering. The fruit begins to ripen in the end of June, and con- 

 tinues being produced till October. It should be gathered imme- 

 diately after it becomes ripe, which is known by every part of it being 

 equally high-coloured, and by the pulpy part separating readily from 

 the conical receptacle. If allowed to remain ripe on the plant for two 

 days, the eggs of a beetle, Byturus tomentosus, which had been depo- 

 sited in it when in flower, become maggots, and render it unfit to be 

 used. If gathered and kept two or three days, the same effect takes 

 place ; or the fruit becomes mouldy and unfit for use. 



Forcing. The raspberry forces equally well with the gooseberry 

 and currant, either in pots or planted in the free soil of a cherry- 



