104 HORTICULTURE LECT. vn 



Raspberries are always in demand, and any cot- 

 tager can grow them in good soil in his garden. 

 They grow well in moist and rather shaded positions, 

 and are extensively planted between fruit trees, 

 though if the land is rich and deep, the best crops 

 are obtained in the open. The canes may be tied 

 to stakes or wires, or grown, as hundreds of acres 

 are, without anything to support them. Small canes 

 with bushy roots should be planted in the autumn 

 and cut down 9 inches from the ground, then strong 

 growths will push up for bearing. Fair crops are 

 obtained the second year, good crops the third. Rasp- 

 berries are often as profitable as strawberries, and 

 good fruit is always in demand. 



An allotment holder in Sussex has a row of rasp- 

 berries which forms a hedge along one side and across 

 the end of his plot. It is 160 yards long, and gives 

 him between 3 and 4 worth of fruit a year, some- 

 times more, but the ground is rich and deep, the 

 growth strong, and the management good. 



On some field allotments in Kent, on which pota- 

 toes had been grown for years, the land became 

 known as potato sick, a labourer named Collins 

 planted his half acre with raspberries and straw- 

 berries, a quarter of an acre of each. Three years 

 afterwards he sold his strawberries for ,40 and his 

 raspberries for 35. The raspberries would go on 

 bearing for several years, but strawberries are gener- 

 ally at their best in three years. Assuming he got 

 nothing the first, and half a crop the second year, 

 then allow 25 for planting and all expenses, he 

 then had an average profit of 30 a year. This is 

 a splendid result from half an acre of land, and the 

 man ought to have had a medal. He used 16 tons 

 of manure, and thus made his soil productive. The 

 variety he grows is Carter's Prolific. Superlative 



