PLANTING THE BEDS 47 



as the plants keep crowding outward and narrowing 

 the space between the rows. The result is that soon 

 only weak and spindling canes can be developed, and 

 the whole plantation is virtually crowded out. Of 

 course, there is a remedy for this in persistently and 

 vigorously thinning out, but this is tedious and ex- 

 pensive work, and is very rarely done as it should be. 

 While this difficulty cannot be wholly overcome by any 

 system of planting, still if the plants are in hills and 

 the cultivator kept going thoroughly in both direc- 

 tions, it is largely obviated. Five feet apart each way 

 is about the most satisfactory distance for reds in hills, 

 though some growers plant them as close as four feet. 

 This may prove sufficient for the smaller -growing va- 

 rieties, but for the more vigorous -growing sorts it is 

 likely to prove too close, though four feet one way 

 might do. It is sometimes recommended to set the 

 plants two and one -half feet apart in one direction, on 

 high-priced land, then tear out every alternate plant 

 after the first two crops and cultivate both ways, the 

 idea being to thus utilize the land more fully at the 

 beginning. 



The young shoots of red raspberry plants can be 

 successfully planted early in the summer, and it is 

 often a desirable way of doing. Certainly where the 

 grower can get them from his own fields it is much 

 better to plant them in the early summer while young, 

 than to wait till the following spring to set the same 

 plants, if he is ready to plant and is only being de- 

 layed by the lack of plants. Such plants become well 

 established and are ready for a much more vigorous 



