182 FRUIT AND ITS CULTIVATION. 



year it is not advisable to grow any crops between the 

 rows, because the cultivation necessary would injure the 

 roots. See also the chapter on " Manures " elsewhere. 



Mode of Bearing. The ordinary Raspberry bears its 

 fruit on side branchlets formed on the canes of the pre- 

 ceding year's growth. The fruiting canes are, therefore, 

 of biennial duration that is, they grow one year and bear 

 fruit the next, after which they die. Autumn-bearing 

 Raspberries, however, bear their fruit on the current year's 

 wood. 



Pruning. Canes planted in autumn wil } require to be 

 cut back in the following March, the weakest close to the 

 ground and the strongest to ift., in order to encourage 

 new canes to develop for bearing the next season. If not 

 pruned thus, the stool, or root, will only produce short, 

 weak canes, incapable of bearing fruit. It is better, 

 therefore, to sacrifice fruit the first season, and instead 

 get good young canes to bear the second season. The 

 second and subsequent seasons all canes of the preceding 

 year's growth, which have borne fruit, should be cut 

 clean away as soon as the crop is gathered. This means 

 that only canes of the current year will be left. In the 

 case of two or three-year-old plants select about three or 

 four of the strongest of the young growths for future 

 bearing, and remove all others. (Figs. 69 to 72.) 



In later years four to six young canes should be retained 

 on each plant. In autumn, when the leaves are off, the 

 soft unripened tip of each cane should be cut off close to 

 firm wood. When grown in groups, each group should 

 be provided with a stout stake 4ft. high, and the canes be 

 neatly tied to this with tar twine. Those that are to be 

 trained on the arching system should be similarly pruned, 

 and the canes bent over and tied to the stake. Those, 

 again, to be trained to a trellis should be spread out evenly, 

 and tied in position. 



When Raspberries are grown in groups it is the prac- 

 tice of some growers, in the case of canes of varying 



