MISGELLANiJOUS. 605 



berries should be hoed and kept well cleaned from weeds the first two seasons 

 after setting. After that, a very good and easy way to tend them is to cover 

 the sm-face, between the vines, with some kind of coarse litter, (straw or marsh 

 hay is first rate), 5 or 6 inches in depth. That will prevent the weeds from 

 growing, and keep the ground cool and moist. I have treated a patch in that 

 way for 7 years past, (adding an additional light coating every spring), and see 

 no dimunition in quantity or quality of the fruit. They do equally as well in 

 the dryest season. I do not know that it would be practicable on a large plan- 

 tation, but for a small patch it is just the thing." 



Bemarks. — If it is just the thing for a small patch, 'tis just the thing for a 

 large one, if you desire to have it pay big. Undertake no larger field than you 

 can do well, then you may reasonably expect it to do well. If you have not 

 mulch enough to cover all the ground, let the hills be well mulched with man- 

 ure; and if considerable straw is in it, 'tis so much the better, for the roots 

 must be covered, if you expect large yields. 



3. The Kind to Raise.— The McCormick, also called the Mammoth 

 Cliister Raspberries, is becoming one of the leading varieties among the black 

 caps. T. T. Lyon says it is the largest, most vigorous and productive of them 

 bU. Charles Downing says: "It has stronger and more vigorous canes, has 

 fewer spines, and is the largest, best and most productive Black Cap we have 

 seen." 



Remarks. — There may from time to time be varieties brought out that will 

 eclipse the McCormick. Let everyone engaged in the business look well to 

 this in obtaining plonts or canes, as everyone wants the best. 



Even now, 1884, the Rural New Yorker in its brieflets suggests Shaffer's 

 Colossal as a large berry, combining a pleasant acidity with the true raspberry 

 flavor among the black caps; and the Crimson Beauty or Hansell as the earliest 

 red and the Sneider among blackberries to take the place of a part, at least, 

 of the Kittatinny's, being more fruitful, and far more hardy; certainly good 

 qualities to recommend it. And so may improvements go on, 



4. Pinching Off, or Cutting Back the Leaves, the Best Way 

 — Those that understand the cultivation of the raspberry consider it the best 

 way to pinch off when 3 or 4 feet high, according to the richness of the soil, 

 else to cut back as soon as they reach 5 or 6 feet high, which certainly tends tQ 

 make them more stocky, and to produce much stronger, lateral or side branches, 

 which should also be pinched off or cut back, to insure a larger berry, and a 

 larger yield of fruit. 



6. Blackberries — And red raspberries need much the same treatment 

 as the black caps. 



Gardening in a Hogshead.— Sometime ago Mr. G. L. Record, of 

 this city bored holes in rows around a hogshead, at a regular intervals, 6 inches 

 apart, filling the hogshead with earth, and set a strawberry plant in each one 

 of the holes, beside putting a number of plants on top. There are 100 plants 

 growing from the sides of this novel Garden, which are now in full beauty and 

 bloom, having a prolific growth of berries, and looking remarkably thriving 



