HORTICULTURE. 



225 



I- ;> ;rrr. 



It may be observed of the currant and gooseberry 

 trees in general, that they are very easily raised from 

 the seeds, these often, however, lying a year in the 

 ground before vegetating. The seedling plants ge- 

 nerally shew fruit in the third year of their growth, 

 when an estimate of their merits can be formed : it is 

 to be observed, however, that the fruit both of currant 

 and gooseberry seedlings may improve in the fourth 

 and fifth year. 



Ratplerry. 



108. The Ratpberry-butk is the Rubus ident of Lin- 

 naru* (Icmandna Polypi/nia ; Rotatect of Jussieu) 

 and the Frmwttouier of the French. It is indigenous 

 to several parts of Britain, and is figured in English 

 Botany, t. 2443. The styles being persistent, the fruit 

 has a bristly appearance, from which the name rntpit 

 or rasp has been given. The fruit is very desirable 

 both for the dessert, and for making jam, tarts, and 

 sauces. Eaten fresh with cream and sugar, it makes 

 an excellent sapper-dish, and may be had from July 

 .ember. It also forms the chief compound in a 

 liqueur called Raspberry Cordial, for which purpose 

 great quantities of the fmit are reared near London. 



The varieties chiefly cultivated are the follow- 

 ing : Common red and common white ; large red Ant- 

 werp ; Urge yellowish-white Antwerp ; cane or smooth- 

 lamed, also called reed raspberry ; twice bearing white, 

 and twice-bearing red. Some still prefer the common 

 kinds of red and whi'e, thinking that an increase of 



MaW BH tOC lmVJCT VWtrt le* IMM DCCH pUFCuaUaMl sK 



the expence of flavour ; bat the new varieties are, upon 

 the whole, to be accounted preferable. The second 

 crop of the twice-Waring kind is hi general deficient 

 tioth hi flavour and sixe ; but by means of it the rasp- 

 berry Milan i* prolonged till the beginning of N'ovem- 

 l-er. It is to be particularly noticed, however, that the 

 ftwit should be regularly gathered at it ripens, and 

 should be almost immediately used- after being gather- 

 ed : it will remain good on the bush for a few days af- 

 ter being ripe, but a dish of raspherric* kept in the 

 house for two days, will generally be found to have 

 lost flavour, and poeaibhr to be tainted by maggots. 



164. Sucker-shoot* nwng abandantly afford plenty 

 of plants; but tlley should always be taken from stooU 

 in full bearing. They are planted any time from Oc- 

 tober to February. The distance i* seldom less than 

 three feet between the plant,, and the quincunx order is 

 generally adopted, five feet being left between the row*. 

 If the larger varieties be planted, the distance* are in- 

 creased. A raspberry plantation continue* good for 

 six or erven year*; but after the lapse of that period, it 

 hoold be entirely renewed : it is generally in perfec- 

 tion the third year after planting ; to that a new ra.p- 

 Iwrry quarter should be prepared two yean before the 



nM *OT. k , .1 I I 



USD one DC gruDDeci up. 



IftS. Daring summer raspberry. plants receive little 

 attention. The ground i* repeatedly hoed, and a few 

 of the syeyflooaM snckers are sometime* removed. Be 

 fore winter, the ground is commonly dug and left 

 rough. In some place* the stoob are rtrrwed at this 

 season, (November) ; and a .light crop of c/,lrortj is 

 pot between the rows. If thi, ! not done, the gene- 

 ral pruning is deferred till February or M 

 the decayed stem* of the former year are cut ou- 

 the new one* regulated and tied: for there is thi, pecu- 

 Uanty about raapberry-bushe*, that the Menu which 



VOL. XI. TABT I. 



bear fruit in one year die in the following winter ; leav- 

 ing in their place a succession of new steins, which 

 have been produced during the summer. Where the 

 stools are very strong, six or eight stems are allowed to 

 remain ; but in young or weak plants, only half that 

 number are suffered to carry fruit. At the same time, 

 the tender tops which have been injured by frost and 

 hang down, are cut off. Plants pruned or dressed be- 

 fore winter, it may be observed, sustain most injury 

 from frost ; the old stems, when left, affording a degree of 

 protection to the voting shoots. In exposed situations 

 stakes are found necessary fur supporting the stems ; 

 but in general it is thought sufficient to twist the 

 shoots loosely together, and to tie them at top with a 

 strand of bass-mat: Sometimes, the tips of half the 

 shoots on one .stool, are tied to half the shoots of the 

 next ; and in this way a series of festoons or arches is 

 formed, producing a very agreeable appearance, and at 

 the same time affording security against the highest 

 winds. 



The raspberry-bush grows freely in any good garden 

 soil : but it i the lietter for being slightly moist. Al- 

 though the place be inclosed by trees, and even slightly 

 shaded, the plant succeeds. In an inclosed and wen 

 sheltered quarter, with rather a damp soil, containing 

 a proportion of peat moss, we have seen very great 

 crops of large and well-flavoured berries produced ; for 

 example, at Melville House, the seat of the Earl of Lc- 

 ven in Fifeshire. Sometimes a few plants arc trained 

 against a west wall, or a trellis or rail, and the fruit 

 here comes mart early and of larger size. By training 

 against north wall, the crop is proportionally retard- 



varieties of laspbciijr are easily raised from the 

 seed ; and they come to bear in the second year. 



Kruit 

 Garden. 



The Stran-ttrry (Fragaria of LinncuiO belongs 

 lame class and order, and natural family, as the 



Strawberry. 



. place 



166. 



to the same 



' ; the plant is called Ir Fruitier, and the fruit 

 I* Frtutf, by the French ; and it is the Erdbeere of the 

 German*. Several tpectet of strawberry are cultivated 

 in our gardens, ami many varieties; indeed new hy- 

 brid productions are yearly appearing. We shall men- 

 tion the kinds which are at present most esteemed. 



167. The Scarlet Strawberry, (Friigaria k'irginiana |. Scarlet. 

 the Hortua Kewrnsis.) This is the only sort of 

 *11 strawberry cultivated for the Edinburgh market, 

 for excelling all others in the 

 nee of this kind of fruit It is a 

 native of Virginia, and very different in habit from our 

 wood plant, the leaves being dark green, of a more 

 surface, the flowering stem shorter, and the fruit com- 

 monly concealed among the leaves. It is a hardy 

 specie*, producing plenty of fruit on high and rather 

 bleak fit nation* , near Edinburgh, where the C hili straw. 

 berry doe* not prosper. 



- . The Alpine ( F. follina) is larger than our wood . Alpine. 

 specie*, the stem higher, the leave* broader ; the fruit 

 red, ( sometime* white,) tapering to a point, and of 

 considerable sixe. The fruit is of excellent flavour; 

 and being produced from June to November, the plant 

 M well deserving of culture. The summer shoots, it may 

 lie mentioned, must not be cut off ; for they flowci and 

 yield fruit the same season, and it is on this property 

 that the autumn crop depends. From observing this, 

 Mr Knight was led to a new mode of treating the al- 

 Sr 



