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ond time. These directions apply specially to the Black-Caps. 

 The Antwerps will not require pruning so early. 



PRUNING OUT OLD WOOD. 



As soon as the fruit has been gathered, all the old canes may 

 be cut out close to the ground. Some varieties are very thorny, 

 and a pair of long-handled pruning-shears will be found most 

 convenient for this purpose ; but a grass-knife, corn-hook, or 

 sickle, will answer very well. It is not necessary that the prun- 

 ing should be done at this particular season ; it may be post- 

 poned till the leaves have fallen a more leisure season or even 

 till spring, before leaves appear. Reasons could be given for 

 choosing one time in preference to another, but most cultivators 

 will be governed by what they find most convenient. The old 

 canes, having fulfilled their mission, are somewhat in the way of 

 pruning and cultivation ; they may, in a measure, exhaust the 

 plant if suffered to remain, and if the new wood is to be bent 

 down and covered before winter they will be very troublesome ; 

 but if the plants are allowed to stand uncovered, the old canes 

 may serve as a slight protection and support against drifting 

 snows. 



WINTER PROTECTION. 



Many of the red raspberries, and some of the Black-Caps, 

 are killed back to the ground when no winter protection is given. 

 The foreign varieties are all tender, and their hybrid seedlings- 

 are not usually hardy. There are not more than two or three 

 varieties of marked excellence that can be safely exposed to our 

 Northern winters. The Turner and Cuthbert are seldom injured, 

 but even these will yield larger and finer fruit when protected. 



The covering of the raspberry need not be heavy only just 

 enough to keep the plants in place. Many are frightened when 

 told that the plants require protection ; but the labor is not half 

 as great as might be supposed. Soil affords the best covering, 

 and is always at hand. The method is as follows : 



First, run a furrow between the rows, to loosen the ground, 

 and let a shovelful of dirt be thrown by the side of each plant, 

 near its crown, so as to raise a small mound over which to bend 

 the canes. This will prevent breaking by too short a curve. 

 Let a boy bend the canes over the mound, all in one direction, 



