RASPBERRY. 



417 



RASPBERRY. 



before the plants begin to grow in the 

 spring, and great care should be taken 

 that the ground is not trodden in wet 

 weather. In staking, it is desirable to 

 plant the stools in rows, from four to six 

 feet apart. Drive in uprights along the 

 rows at intervals of six feet, and to the 

 uprights, which should be from five to six 

 feet in height, tie or screw horizontal slips 

 of wood about one-and-a-half or two inches 

 broad, and three-quarters of an inch thick. 

 Spread the canes along these strips fan 

 fashion, and tie in position with bast raffia 

 or tarred cord. 



Pruning. The pruning of raspberries is 

 an easy matter. In June the bushes should 

 be gone over, and all suckers removed, 

 except about six of the strongest, These, 

 at a later period, may be reduced to four, 

 and if the parent plant be weak, two or 

 three will be sufficient. There is great 

 benefit in cutting the canes of different 

 heights, for as the top buds grow strong- 

 est, the young fruit - bearing shoots are 

 more equally divided, and enjoy more air 

 and light. The ground in which rasp- 

 berries are grown should not be broken 

 up, but have a top dressing of good rotten 

 manure yearly. By a little management, 

 raspberries may be made to bear a crop of 

 fruit during autumn. For late bearing, as 

 soon as root suckers show themselves in 

 June, the old canes should be cut away 

 entirely, so as to prevent summer fruiting ; 

 and encouragement given during July and 

 August to such suckers as show blossom- 

 buds, for these will bear fruit in autumn. 

 Autumn-bearing raspberries must be kept 

 thin, or they will not prove successful. 

 The canes for this purpose should be 

 planted in single rows, and not in threes, 

 as recommended for summer fruiting. 

 They should stand about one foot apart. 



Raspberry, Varieties of. The most use- 



the Yellow Antwerp. The Antwerp Red 

 is a finely flavoured and highly productive 

 variety, and is still regarded as one of 

 the best ; and Antwerp Yellow or White 

 call it which you will is of delicious 

 flavour, and a most useful fruit for dessert. 

 Of more recent varieties, Baumforth's 

 Seedling is highly productive, and yields 

 a fine fruit of excellent flavour ; and 

 Carter's Prolific is a large and great 

 bearer, and highly fruitful. Lord 

 Beaconsfield is a particularly fine sort, 

 and from its robust habit stands continued 

 dry weather better than any other ; it 

 requires, however, high cultivation. The 

 fruit is immense, and appears on the canes 

 in the greatest profusion from the bottom 

 to the top of the cane, which sometimes 

 reaches the height of twelve feet. It is 

 said that as many as two thousand berries 

 have been gathered from a single stool. 

 Semper Fidelis is a free grower, but is 

 more useful for preserving than dessert, a& 

 it has a more acid flavour than most other 

 varieties. It is, however, a great and con- 

 tinuous cropper, and continues to yield 

 fruit when none can be gathered from any 

 other sort. Superlative is considered by 

 growers to be the best sort and heaviest 

 cropper of any, and is a perfectly distinct 

 variety. It is essentially a dessert rasp- 

 berry, having a large and very handsome 

 berry, attached by a long foot-stalk. It is 

 incapable of injury from drought, and the 

 canes are so stout that they need no arti- 

 ficial support. The fruit is large, conical, 

 and entirely free from watery juice, and it 

 is said that six good-sized fruit will together 

 weigh an ounce. White Magnum Bonum 

 is a very fine white fruit, of sweet and 

 palatable flavour, and large in size. Of 



be cut 

 summer 



autumnal 



down 



kinds which should 

 February, and the 



growth well thinned out Belle de Fonte- 



ful varieties of the raspberry are the Red j nay is recommended as a good red double- 

 Antwerp, Fastolf, Prince of Wales, and | bearing kind, occasionally yielding a good 



28 



