256 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



247. Pruning the Raspberry. The first year after 

 planting not more than two shoots should be allowed to 

 grow, and for field culture without stakes these should be 

 pinched back when one foot in height to start lateral 

 branches and to give a stocky habit. The second season 

 the sprouting varieties will throw up suckers. From four 

 to six of the strongest ones should be left and the others 

 cut away. The black caps will also throw up sprouts from 

 the crown, which may also need thinning. In both cases 

 the plants should again be pinched back when one foot in 

 height. The after pruning may be summed up as follows : 

 (1) Regulating in spring the number of new shoots that 

 should grow in each stool. (2) Pinching back the shoots 

 to one foot in height and later shortening the laterals. 

 (3) In the fall, or early the next spring, cut out all the 

 wood that has borne fruit the previous season. (4) Cutting 

 back the laterals of the black cap and long-caned purple- 

 cane varieties to from ten to fifteen inches. In the prairie 

 States it is usual to defer cutting out the old bearing wood 

 until spring when the plants are not laid down for winter 

 protection. The old canes help to hold the young ones 

 from breaking down and also help to hold the snow in 

 winter. 



248. Mulching and Manuring. In the prairie States the 

 successful growers for market cultivate well as closely to 

 the plants as possible until the fruit is about half grown. 

 The rows are then mulched with straw or coarse manure, 

 a distance of two feet each side of the rows. Some of the 

 large growers grow green clover for this use. It is cut 

 when in blossom and used as a mulch. The growers at 

 Sparta, Wisconsin, and at other points report the largest 

 yields of the most perfect fruit where the clover was used 

 for ten years in succession and worked into the soil. In 

 all parts where dry weather is apt to shrivel the fruit this 



