THE RASPBERRY. 135 



ping the long slender branches which are thrown 

 out on every side. As soon as the old canes are 

 through bearing, they should be cut out and 

 burned or composted with other refuse from the 

 garden. Blackcaps may be planted on any soil 

 that is not too dry. When the plant suffers from 

 drought, the fruit consists of little else than seeds. 

 To escape this defect I prefer to put the blackcaps 

 in a moist location ; and it is one of the few fruits 

 that will thrive in a cold, wet soil. One can set 

 out plants here and there in out-of-the-way cor- 

 ners, and they often do better than those in the 

 garden. Indeed, unless a place is kept up very 

 neatly, many such bushes will be found growing 

 wild, and producing excellent fruit. 



The question may arise in some minds, Why 

 buy plants? Why not get them from the woods 

 and fields, or let Nature provide bushes for us 

 where she will? When Nature produces a bush 

 on my place where it is not in the way, I let it 

 grow, and pick the fruit in my rambles ; but the 

 supply would be precarious indeed for a family. 

 By all means get plants from the woods if you 

 have marked a bush that produces unusually fine 

 fruit. It is by just this course that the finest va- 

 rieties have been obtained. If you go a-berrying, 

 you may light on something finer than has yet 

 been discovered; but it is not very probable. 



