Raspberry 



( 263 ) 



Raspberry 



RASPBERRY. 



Description. The Raspberry, Rubus Idseus (ord. 

 Rosacea;), likes a deep, rich loam inclining to be 

 heavy. As the plants are heavy feeders it, will be 

 well to deeply bastard trench the ground. Good 

 yard dung is suitable for digging into the heavy 

 soils, whilst for those of a lighter character cow 

 ilung is good. Work either of these liberally into 

 1 1 if lower spits. 



Propagation. By seeds, cuttings, and suckers. 

 Suckers are generally used. They should be 

 carefully detached from the parent stools with 

 plenty of fibrous roots about the end of October or 

 the beginning of November. Speedy planting 

 after lifting is desirable, or the roots wiH shrivel. 

 Cuttings are rarely employed ; only when suckers 

 fail. Seeds are chiefly utifised for obtaining new 

 varieties. They are saved from large, perfectly 

 ripened fruits, the pulp being washed away in 

 clear water. Sown immediately, they germinate 

 by spring, may be transplanted the following 

 autumn, and cut back the next spring, so that they 

 bear fruit the year after, that is in the third year 

 from the date of sowing the seed. 



Planting. Raspberries may be planted from the 

 end of October until the middle of March, but 

 advantage should be taken of fine weather in 

 autumn, as the plants then start better in the 

 spring. The method generally adopted is to plant 

 in clumps about 5' apart each way for the heavy 

 ground and where two or three plants go to each 

 clump, or 5' X 3' where the soil is lighter and the 

 plants are put in singly. The canes in this case 

 are trained to stout poles 6' high above ground. 

 An excellent method where specially fine fruit is 

 desired is to train the canes to wire trellises about 

 4' apart, the stools being 1J' to 2' apart in the 

 rows. Raspberry arches are occasionally seen, 

 with the rows about 4' apart, and good fruit may 

 be obtained thus. 



The young plants should have the canes all cut 

 bnek to within 6" of the ground, but if planting is 

 done in autumn cutting back should be left until 

 spring. The effect of this is to cause stout canes 

 to be pushed up from the roots, and these canes 

 will bear a good crop the following year. If 

 cutting back is not done the canes thrown up are 

 weak, and it may be several years before the 

 plants yield a good crop. 



After-Cultivation. Pruning consists in leaving 

 from live to eight young canes to a stool to bear the 

 next year's fruit, removing the unripe tips and 

 cutting out the old canes and the weaker and 

 supernumerary young ones. Many cultivators hold 

 it to be an advantage to remove the old fruiting 

 wood soon after the fruit has been gathered. The 

 selected canes may be loosely tied to the stakes 

 with twisted Willows. 



It is important that the ground between the 

 >tools should never be dug with the spade, for tlie 

 plains are surface rooters and would suffer. The 

 annual mulching of yard dung in autumn may. 

 however, be lightly forked in, no more. A second 

 dressing in spring will be of service unless the soil 

 is very rich. Liquid manure may be applied 

 liberally during the cropping season. Bone meal 

 may be applied in autumn at the rate of 3 oz. to 

 ." 1 1/. per square yard. The ashes from the burnt 

 canes are excellent, also wood ashes of any sort. 



In good, holding ground a Raspberry plantation 

 will last fur many years, but in light media live or six 

 \rars will tind it showing signs of exhaustion, the 



smaller fruits and weaker canes being unmistak- 

 able. It is a matter of ordinary care to have a 

 second plantation coming into bearing before the 

 first is grubbed up. 



Varieties, a Selection: 



Two or three varieties are grown in small gardens, 

 rarely more. 



. fted. Summer fruiting ; 



Baumforth's Seedling. Northumberland Fillbas- 



* Carters' Prolific, canes ket, good for stroug 



short and strong ; rab- land ami cold districts, 



bits and hares are very * Superlative, large, rich 



fond of them. crim., a hdy., vigorous 



Hornet, tall, fine. sort. 



lied. Autumn Fruiting: 

 Belle de Fouteuay. October Bed. 



Yellow. Slimmer Fruiting : 

 Yellow Antwerp. 



Yellow. A tit umn Fruiting : 

 October Yellow. 



Semper Fidelia, Fastolf, Red Antwerp, and Yellow 

 Antwerp are other fairly well-known vars. 



* Select either of these where one variety only 

 can be grown. 



Enemies. The fungoid pests chiefly grow on the 

 dead canes and do not work much harm. The 

 Raspberry Brand (Phragmidium Rubi-Idiei) pro- 

 duces dark coloured, then yellow blotches, and 

 this, together with Coleroa Chaetomiiun of Kunze, 

 causes the untimely fall of the leaves. The 

 remedy is to burn the infested leaves, but such a 

 drastic measure is seldom needed. 



Of the insect pests, Otiorhynchus sulcatus, O. 

 tenebricosus, and O. picipes all gnaw the young 

 shoots, often causing their death and the serious 

 depletion of the crops. Searching for the pests by 

 the aid of lantern light is the best remedy. (See 

 also OTlORHrNCHUS.) 



Anthonomus Rubi, the Raspberry Weevil, lives in 

 and feeds upon the flower buds. Its ravages are 

 more difficult of detection than those of the 

 Otiorhynchuses, for it is the small larva; which 

 work the mischief, not the beetles directly. The 

 latter appear in July, hybernating near by. The 

 beetles may be caught like the Weevils, and the 

 buds, if badly infested, may be burnt. Syringing 

 with Quassia water is helpful in slight attacks. 



The Raspberry Beetle (Byturus tomentosus) is 

 probably the most destructive of all the beetles 

 that favour the Raspberry. The females bore 

 into the flower buds and the larvse feed upon the 

 fruits. Remedies as for Anthonomus Rubi. 



I'enusa Pumilio is the most harmful of the 

 savvtlies whose larvae carry on the work of leaf- 

 miners. Crushing the larva; in the leaves between 

 linger and thumb in mild attacks, and burning the 

 leaves in the case of bad ones, are the remedies. 



Several species of Aphides feed upon the leaves 

 or cause galls. (For treatment, see APHIDES, or try 

 one of the washes described under INSECTICIDES.) 



The Raspberry Moth or Raspberry-bud Cater- 

 pillar (Lampronia rubiella) is common and destruc- 

 tive. The larvie feed upon the tips of the young 

 shoots and eat their way down the centre, through 

 the pith. These shoots rarely recover. The larvae 

 are brilliant red with brown heads, and thus, 

 though small, are not difficult to see. They pupate 

 in early summer, and the moths emerge three 

 weeks after. A second brood makes its appear- 

 ance in the autumn and teeds upon the leaves. 



