202 • SUCCESSFUL FRUIT CULTURE 



described under the quince. After the shoots have been 

 covered one season they are cut off and planted as 

 cuttings, rooting readily, and at two years they are 

 ready to plant in the field. 



PROPAGATION OF THE RASPBERRY AND BLACKBERRY 



These two fruits are increased in two ways, i. e., 

 from suckers and from root cuttings. A sucker plant 

 is one that naturally comes up from the roots of these 

 plants, and is the cause of their spreading. If these 

 sucker plants are taken up we find that they have but 

 few fine roots, but if carefully taken up and transplanted 

 at once make good plants, and are largely used in setting 

 new plantations. The root cuttings are, however, much 

 better, as they have an abundance of fine roots. Root 

 cuttings are made by digging up the roots of the desired 

 kind in the fall before the ground freezes, cutting them 

 into pieces of from two to three inches in length, using 

 everything from one-eighth of an inch up, and planting 

 in rich, moist soil in beds or wide rows about as peas 

 are planted, covering about two inches deep. Before 

 the ground freezes deeply a covering of coarse stable 

 manure should be put over the bed that the ground 

 shall not freeze deeply. In the spring the covering 

 is taken off as soon as severe freezing weather is over, 

 the ground carefully cleared of weeds as the season 

 advances, and by July the bed will be studded over 

 with buds from the planted roots. The only care needed 

 during the summer is to keep the weeds down, keep 

 the surface of the soil mellow and to check, by pinching, 

 any very strong growing plants that tend to injure their 

 neighbors. At the end of the season the plants should 

 average two feet in hight and have a large mass of roots. 

 Such plants are far more valuable than the sucker plants,- 

 and sell at about double the price. 



