738 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. PART III. 



4699. Estimate of sorts. " With respect to the varieties of fruit : the first in the above list is a small 

 fruit, but esteemed for its early bearing. The second and third, the common large white and red sorts, 

 are cultivated in fuller crops, as plentiful bearers of larger berries. The two Antwerp sorts are still supe- 

 rior in yielding fine large fruit, and deserve a wall or espalier. The cane-raspberry is a good sort for the 

 main crop. The twice-bearers are esteemed for theif singular property of producing two crops of fruit the 

 same year, of which the first commonly ripens in July, and the second in September or October ; and in 

 tine dry seasons the plants will afford some production from the second crop till November." 



4700. Propagation. " The varieties can be perpetuated by young sucker-shoots rising 

 plenteously from the root in spring and summer : when these have completed one season's 

 growth, they are proper to detach with roots for planting, either in the autumn of the 

 same year or the next spring, in February or March, but not later than the middle of 

 April. These new plants will bear some fruit the first year, and furnish a succession of 

 strong bottom shoots for full bearing the second season. New varieties are easily raised 

 from seed ; and they come into bearing the second year." 



4701. So/7 and site. " All the varieties will succeed in any common mould trenched about two feet deep, 

 and sufficiently manured ; but the soil in which the raspberry-bush most prospers and bears the finest 

 fruit, is a light rich loam. Allot the main crop a free exposure to the sun, that the berries may ripen in 

 perfection. Be careful to favor the twice-bearers with a dry soil, and a sheltered sunny situation, to give 

 the second crop every aid in coming to maturity. When raspberries are cultivated on a large scale, it is 

 best to keep them in plantations by themselves. Set these in rows, from four to six feet asunder, as the 

 bushes are of the smaller or larger kinds, by three or four feet in each row. Scattered bushes may either 

 occupy a single row lengthwise along the back part of a border, or stand in detached stools, at ten or 

 fifteen feet distance. Select sorts are frequently trahu'd against walls, stakes, or espaliers, from the most 

 sunny to the most shady aspect, for early and late fruit of improved growth and flavor." Neill says, " the 

 raspberry-bush grows freely in any good garden-soil ; but it is the better for being slightly moist. Al- 

 though the place be enclosed by trees, and even slightly shaded, the plant succeeds. In an" enclosed and 

 well sheltered compartment, with rather a damp soil, containing a proportion of peat-moss, we have seen 

 very great crops ot large and well flavored berries produced ; for example, at Melville House, the seat of 

 the Earl of Leven, in Fifeshire." Haynes also recommends well manured bog-earth, and a situation 

 naturally or artificially shaded. 



4702. New plantation. " Raspberry-bushes are in their prime about the third and fourth year ; and if 

 well managed, continue in perfection "five or six years ; after which, they are apt to decline in growth, 

 and the fruit to become small, so that a successive plantation should be provided in time. Select new 

 plants from vigorous stools in full perfection as to bearing." 



4703. Summer culture. " Keep them clear from weeds during the summer by hoeing between the 

 rows ; at the same time, loosen the earth alxmt the plants. Under this management the plants, if tole- 

 rably strong, will both yield a moderate crop the first summer, and supply young stems for bearing in 

 greater plenty and perfection the following season ; and so, from year to year, the summer culture should 

 be repeated. As the plants get established, let all straggling suckers between the rows, or from the ex- 

 treme roots of single stools, be cleared out by hoeing, or twisted off, to admit the air and sun freely to 

 the fruit." 



4704. Pruning and winter dressing. " It is requisite every winter or spring to cut out the dead stems, 

 and to thin and regulate the successional young shoots. This annual pruning may be performed any time, 

 during open weather, from November till the beginning of April. When kitchen-garden crops are cul- 

 tivated between the rows, it is most convenient to do this as soon as the old bearers begin to decay. As 

 to pruning indiscriminately in the open weather of winter, it sometimes happens that severe frosts im- 

 mediately follow, and partially kill the plants ; therefore it is safer to shorten the tender young stems 

 early in spring ; but let it not be deferred till the buds are making new shoots, as that would weaken the 

 root. Cut out all the old dead stems clean to the bottom ; and having selected from the strongest young 

 shoots on each main stool, three, four, or five, to be preserved for a succession of bearers, cut away the 

 superabundant close to the ground. Let each of the shoots retained be pruned at top, below the weak 

 bending part ; cutting them in the smaller plants, to about three or four feet in length, and in the large 

 sorts, to the length of five or six feet. If any of the stems diverge irregularly, or straggle much asunder, 

 they may be tied together at top, and thus the strong ones will support each other ; or the taller varieties 

 may have the support of stakes. Prune plants against a wall or trellis as above j and train the shoots to 

 rise a little diagonally. After pruning, having cleared away the cuttings, dig the ground between and 

 about the plants. To turn in a little rich compost every year will conduce to plentiful and fine returns ; 

 lay it at the extremities of the roots, and deeper as the plantation gets older. Eradicate all straggling 

 suckers." 



4705. To obtain fruit of a very large size. The fruit of the raspberry may be obtained of a very large 

 size, other circumstances being of the most favorable kind, by destroying all the suckers ; but in this 

 way, the plant being destroyed, a double plantation is wanted, one to grow only suckers, and the other 

 fruit. In this way Kecht, at Berlin, produces plants ten and twelve feet high, with fruit larger than any 

 we have seen in this country (Versuch den Weinbau, &(.: p. 46.) 



4706. Taking the crop. " The fruit of the different varieties comes in from the end of June or July till 

 October or later. As it ripens, it should be timely gathered for immediate use ; because, when fully ripe, 

 it will not keep above two or three days before it moulds, or becomes maggotty, and unfit to be used." 

 (Abercrombie.) 



4707. Raspberries may be forced equally well with gooseberries and currants, and like them either planted 

 in pots or in the soil or floor of the house. In M. Hope's garden at Haarlem, the raspberry is planted 

 outside along the north and south sides of a pit ; the shoots of the preceding year are introduced under 

 the glass and trained to a trellis, and forced while the suckers are left to grow upright in the open air. 



SUBSECT. 8. Cranberry. Vaccinium, L. ; Oxycoccus, P. S. Octan. Monog. L. and 



Erwece, J. Airette, Fr.'and Heidelbeere, Ger. 



4708. The American cranberry (Oxycoccus macrocarpus, P. S.) (Hort. Kew. ii. t. 7.) 

 is a native of North America, and by the ingenuity of Sir Joseph Banks, it may be said 

 to be now added to our cultivated fruits. The plant was known to Miller, who, of the 

 cranberry tribe, in general, observes, " they can only be cultivated for curiosity in gar- 

 dens, for they, will not thrive much, nor produce fruit out of their native swamps and 

 bogs." A very interesting account of the mode adopted by the illustrious horticulturist 

 above mentioned is given by himself in the Hort. Trans, i. 71. and of the produce, which 

 was large and" uniform. In one year, viz. 1813, from three hundred and twenty-six 

 square feet, or a bed about eighteen feet square, three and a half Winchester bushels of 



