124 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



the figure of a hardworn birch besom, and let the 

 young shoots which grow up in the summer be cut 

 in July, within a handbreadth of the old stumps, and 

 with as little discrimination as in pruning a hedge. 

 Then in winter, what remains of the young shoots 

 must be reduced to the same destroyedlike appear- 

 ance as before. A method so unlikely is not a little 

 ingenious; and which, being defended by success, 

 may also be explained by the nature of the tree. 

 Left to its own sprawling growth, the sap has too far 

 to ascend, and the leaves are too scanty to exclude 

 the sun, which the fruit does not love. When the 

 branches are long the fruit will be found small, and 

 hanging in single rows, each like a string of small 

 beads ; but in the reduced form the fruit is concen- 

 trated, and grows large and in bunches that fill the 

 hand. There is a thick clothing of leaves, under 

 which the fruit is cherished as to its growth ; and for 

 its ripening, the shearing of the young shoots admits 

 the suri at the proper season. 



Of rasps, the best are the red and the white Ant- 

 werp the white for eating, and the red for pre- 

 serves. Give the plants plenty of room, somewhat 

 varying, according to the strength of the soil, say 

 four or five feet between the rows and three or four 

 between each plant in the row. The wood that bears 

 one year must be altogether removed the next; and 

 of the shoots that spring up in the summer, five or 

 six of the strongest should be selected for bearing. 

 These must be reduced to the height of four or five 

 feet, and fastened to poles. The rest of the young 

 shoots must be cleared away. Let the ground be 

 well dug in the course of the winter, and manured 



