The Canadian Horticulturist. 137 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



THE RASPBERRY PLANTATION. 



HE work of pruning out the dead canes should have been attended 

 to ere this ; but, in case it has not, no delay should be made in fin- 

 ■ ishing the work. At the same time, all superfluous young canes should 

 be removed. Four or five canes are enough to be left to each stool : 

 any more will not increase the amount of the crop, and will draw 

 the nourishment from the others. The pruning of the bushes them- 

 selves should be done very closely, as the small, weak ends of the 

 canes will not yield much fruit, and yet they withdraw strength from the bearing 

 buds. These should be cut back to where the buds are strong and well devel- 

 oped ; and the side branches should also be cut back in the same way as the 

 canes, leaving short stubs from three to four inches in length. Both black- 

 caps, and red raspberries, the Cuthbert especially, may be treated in this way. 

 The method will be better understood from the accompanying engraving (Fig. 

 36) than from a whole paragraph of reading matter. 



Fig. 36. — How to Prune Ra.spberries. 



Fig. 37. — Raspberry Anthracnose. 



The Raspberry Cane Rust has been observed in New York State by the 

 Cornell Experiment Station last season, both on the raspberry and blackberry 

 canes. It attacks growing canes, giving them a scabby, pitted appearance, as in 



Fig- 37- 



These blotches were brownish-black and quite conspicuous at picking time. 

 As a result the canes and berries dried up as if by drouth. A vigorous 

 condition of the plants is important in overcoming this disease ; and all 

 old diseased plantations are better cleaned out and burned. One station advises 

 spraying in early spring, before growth begins, with sulphate of iron, one pound 

 to a gallon of water, and with Bordeaux mixture after the leaves appear. 



