14 



SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



three times that amount." Of course, split chestnut stakes 

 look the neatest and last the longest ; but a raspberry bush 

 is not fastidious, and I utilize old bean-poles, limbs of trees, 

 — anything that keeps the canes from sprawling in the dirt 

 with their delicate fruit. Thus, in many instances, the 

 stakes will cost little more than a boy's labor in preparing 

 them, and they can be of various lengths, according to the 

 height of our canes. As they become too much decayed 



for further use, they 

 make a cheery blaze 

 on the hearth dur- 

 ing the early au- 

 tumn evenings. 

 There are stocky 

 growing varieties, 

 like the Cuthbert, 

 Turner, Herstine 

 and others, that by 

 summer pnming or 

 vigorous cutting 

 back would be self- 

 supporting, if not 

 too much exposed 

 to high winds. The 

 question is a very practical one, and should be decided 

 largely by experience and the grower's locality. There are 

 fields and regions in which gales, and especially thunder- 

 gusts, would prostrate into the dirt the stoutest bushes that 

 could be formed by summer pmning, breaking down canes 

 heavy with green and ripe fruit. In saving a penny stake, 

 a bit of string, and the moment required for tying, one 

 might be made to feel, after a July storm, that he had been 

 too thrifty. As far as my experience and observation go. 



a. Canes snugly tied. b. Canes improperly tied. 

 Right and Wrong Ways of Tying Canes. 



