22 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 



later than the other sorts. This fruit occasionally pays remark- 

 ably well. In very hot seasons the berries are apt to run off, espe- 

 cially if there is not much natural moisture in the soil. An 

 average crop would be about 2800 lbs. per acre, and the average 

 price '6d. per lb. Expenses of cultivation, picking, packing, 

 carriage, and commission upon an average crop would come to 

 about 111. per acre. This fruit always is in great demand for 

 jam, jelly, lozenges and, as some say, for port wine. 



Raspberries are grown upon " canes " or stems, pulled up 

 from established stocks in the autumn, and put into well- 

 ploughed or deeply-dug ground, in rows 5 feet apart, and 

 15 inches in the rows. The cultivation afterwards is like that 

 of gooseberry and currant plantations, except that some planters 

 use horse-hoes between the rows of canes. Raspberry canes cul- 

 tivated on a large scale are not staked, but are left to support 

 themselves, and are cut down in the late autumn to about 3 feet 

 in height ; the older wood is cut away, and all superfluous 

 young wood. They require a fairly good soil, not too porous, 

 as they do not bear drought well. The Red Antwerp and Fastolf 

 are usually planted. Carter's Prolific is also coming to the 

 front, having large well-coloured fruit. An average crop is about 

 3000 lbs. per acre, and the price about 2fd. per lb. There is a 

 great demand for this fruit for jam, and raspberry vinegar, and for 

 many concoctions and confections. It may be said here that many 

 of the numerous non-alcoholic beverages so much in vogue, and 

 steadily increasing in favour, are flavoured with, or partly com- 

 posed of, fruit extracts. Raspberry culture necessitates a good 

 supply of women for picking the fruit, as the canes want 

 looking over many times. Raspberries are largely grown in 

 Kent. Some growers have from 20 to 40 acres. They are 

 picked into galvanised iron pails, and sent to market in tubs, 

 with lids to them, because their juice easily escapes. Some of 

 the finer fruit is sold for dessert purposes, and should be care- 

 fully packed in small baskets, or better still, in small earthen 

 crocks, holding from 7 to 14 lbs. These are much used for 

 raspberries and strawberries by fruit-growers in Derbyshire and 

 other Midland and Northern counties, and are cleaner, and 

 retain the juice much better than baskets, and should be adopted 

 in Kent and other counties where these juicy fruits are pro- 

 duced for sending small quantities of fruit to market. 



We have much to learn in the modes of packing and arranging 

 fruit. Those who intend to grow fruit extensively would do 

 well to go to Covent Garden Market, and notice the packages 

 of the French and other importers of fruit, which are much 

 smaller and neater, and, it must be said, far cleaner than the 



