PRUNING THE EASPBERRY. 337 



The Itaspherry. At planting, the cane is cut down 

 to six inches, and will throAV up shoots which are 

 to bear fruit the next year. These are sometimes 

 fastened to stakes driven in the ground, or a trellis 

 is built on which the canes are laid. The latter is 

 not upright, but generally at an angle of about sixty 

 degrees. This encourages the buds to burst every 

 eye, and to throw the little shoots upon which 

 the fruit is produced. Some tie one-half of the tip 

 of one plant to that of another, and the remainder 

 to that on the opposite side, which answers the 

 same purpose. The summer pruning consists in 

 cutting out the old canes after they have finished 

 fruiting, and the superfluous and weak young shoots. 

 This strengthens the buds upon the new canes. By 

 a judicious winter pruning the season of bearing 

 can be extended through six weeks. 



Dr. Warder, of Ohio, published an excellent 

 article upon this subject in the report of the Agri- 

 cultural Department. He thought it a great mis- 

 take to leave the canes so long as they are generally 

 seen. The tendency of the sap is always upwards, 

 and therefore the weak buds at the top are those 

 which push, producing inferior fruit compared with 

 that below, which would have been borne on those 

 had they not been smothered. The finest raspber- 

 ries are always borne by the laterals which start 

 from the strong buds at the base. The black-cap 

 varieties should be pruned to three feet at least, and 

 29 



