iO 



RASPBERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES. 



fruit will be much larger and the plant will yield as much fruit as 

 if all the canes were left their whole length. 



Mulching. — The first year no mtrlching is needed; but the 

 second season, as early as the middle of June, the rows should be 

 mulched for two feet on each side with hay, straw or litter, or with 

 what is better still, green clover cut when in blossom and put on 

 two inches deep. The latter is especially desirable because it lies 

 close, and as it rots in one season and is very rich in plant food it 

 makes a good manure. This material keeps the land moist, the 

 berries clean, and kills out weeds. After putting on the mulch as 

 recommended there will still be a space two and a half feet wide 

 between the rows where the cultivator should be run to keep the 

 soil loose. Too much stress can hardly be laid upon the importance 

 of mulching this fruit. It frequently makes a difference between a 

 good profit and a big loss. 



Fig. 9. 



Fig. 9. A, Red rasj)berry cane in aufmnn that has been -properly innched in 



summer. B, Cane not pinched. 

 Fig. 10. A, The fully grown cane of the current season's growth which ivill 



fruit next season. B, Cane two seasons old, which having fruited, 



is to be cut away. 

 Fig. 10. Spring pruned Black-hlach raspberry plant. 



Support. — It is desirable in this climate to have fhe canes sup- 

 ported in some manner. In milder sections, where winter protec- 

 tion is not necessary, the bushes may be so frequently pinched as 

 to make them form little trees that support themselves ; but this 

 kind of treatment is not desirable where the plants have to be cov- 

 ered in winter, as it makes them so very stocky they cannot be 

 easily laid down. A very good support for rasperries and black- 

 beiTies is made by running a No. 12 galvanized iron wire on each 

 side of the bushes attached to a good solid post at each end of the 

 row. This wire should rest on nails driven in stakes set twenty^ 

 five feet apart. Such a support permits the plants lo move gently 



