Pruning 49 



use. A few growers still practice it but most commercial 

 growers do not. 



Pinching back the canes in summer seems to have a 

 tendency to increase the number of suckers thrown up, 

 which in itself is a disadvantage unless the plantation is 

 being run for purposes of propagation. Unless pinched 

 low while still very young, the plants do not throw out 

 strong branches, like the black-caps, possibly owing to 

 the fact that the energy of the plant is more readily di- 

 rected in the line of producing suckers than in the line of 

 developing branches. The effect of stopping the cane 

 after it has reached a height of three feet or more, is only 

 to force into growth lateral buds which might better re- 

 main dormant until the following spring. As a rule, they 

 make only an imperfect development, do not become well 

 ripened before growth stops, and are apt to be more or 

 less injured by the following winter. 



Both personal experience and the information gathered 

 from the experience of others, leads the writer to believe 

 that the better way to treat the red raspberry is to allow it 

 to grow unmolested during the whole season, merely cut- 

 ting the canes back to within three, or in some cases even 

 two feet of the ground the following spring. If the canes 

 are to be supported by stakes or trellis, as is sometimes 

 done in garden culture, they may be left longer, say four, or 

 even five feet. Treated in this way, the canes will throw 

 out a sufficient number of laterals in spring to produce 

 all the fruit which -a plant ought to carry. Moreover, 

 these branches are vigorous and healthy, and in better 

 condition to develop a fine crop of fruit than if produced 

 the preceding year, weakened by the winter and then 



