1862 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEK. 



301 



From the Rural New Yorker. 



The American Black Cap Raspberry. 



Now that this raspberry has come to be some- 

 what extensively cultivated for Market in Wes- 

 tern New York, some hints ^om experience may 

 bo of general use. It has Ijeen rather undera- 

 ted by our berry growers until within a recent 

 time, though it possesses qualities which will 

 render it popular both for family use and in the 

 market. No other berry is quite so easily and 

 surely raised. It is no more work to plant it 

 than it is fo plant potatoes ; and the cost of cul- 

 tivation is notmore than for thai crop, whether 

 you have one hill or one acre. A profit can#also 

 be realized from it nearly as soon as from any 

 farm crop, for in fifteen or sixteen months from 

 planting, there is a remunerative return. Be 

 side, it stays just where it is set. There are no 

 troublesome runners to be clipped, or unwelcome 

 shoots thrusting up their unwelcome heads a doz- 

 en feet from the motfer plant, in spite of plow 

 and cultivator. And having produced four or 

 five successive crops from the soil, it shows it- 

 self to be a seensible plant by putting on the hab- 

 iliments of old age, and refusing to bear. You 

 may just plow it up, burn it, prepare and enrich 

 your ground, and reset with new plants. 



Soil, Location, Pt anting, and CuLTtrRE. — It 

 will succeed tolerably well in a variety of soils ; 

 but what it especially dislikes, is a hard, dry 

 6oil. Good corn land is commonly good rasp- 

 berry land. It likes best a cool, moist soil, one 

 that is not readily afi'ected by drouth, and that 

 is rich in vegetable matter. A northern and 

 eastern exposure, if protected from the heavy 

 prevailing winds by some screen — as a belt of 

 woods — IS preferable. The true time for plant- 

 ing is early in the spring. The ground should 

 be fitted during the previous autumn, and as 

 soon as it can be safely worked, set the plants. 

 ■ A smart freeze or Jtwo afterward will not injure 

 them. Seven feet by three and a half is a good 

 distance for field culture. The first season they 

 can be cultivated both ways, but afterward they 

 form a hedge one way, keeping down, by their 

 compactness, the weeds underneath, and allow- 

 ing the cultivator to pass only between the wid- 

 est rows. Keeping the ground mellow and free 

 from weed-, comprises the whole of the first 

 year's cultivation. 



Latebinq the Plants. — This is an important 

 operation, and if the right method be not thor- 

 oughly understood and practiced, the future re- 

 sults may be dis-astrous. About the first of 

 September, the plants set in the spring are in 

 condition to leyer. On an average, if they are 

 thrifty, each will produce five new plants for 

 next spring's planting. The proper time is 

 shown by the ends of the cane becoming red, 

 hard, and free from "eaves. These ends should 

 be inserted in the ground, in nearly a perpendic- 

 ular position, and only deep enough to keep the 

 wind from bloiving them out. 



A perfect style of plant consists of one bud 

 from the end of the lAyer, with hundreds of fi- 

 brous roots radiating in all directions from it. 

 This is formed by layering as described. An im- 



perfect plant may be formed by burying severa 

 inches of the layer in a horizontal position. Nu- 

 merous buds, set close to one another, with diff- 

 erent sets of roots, will then spring from it, and 

 you have a plant that, however fair its youth 

 may promise, will never reach a vigorous matur- 

 ity. On setting the perfect plant, it will throw 

 up a single shoot, which will send out numerous 

 branches and yield the first crop of fruit. The 

 second year, seveaal canes will grow from the 

 base of this, furnishing abundant and produc- 

 tive wood for the following crop. But from the 

 imperfect plant, the first year a number of weak 

 canes will push up, some of them fruit canes, 

 bearing clusters of berries. They make a fee- 

 ble growth, for the strength of the plant is divi- 

 ded, and the next year a mnss of canes spring 

 from their numerous base buds, which, overtax- 

 ing the young plant, prove barren and worthless. 



Trimming. — This when properly done, ob- 

 viates the use of stakes or other supports for 

 the bearing canes, thus diminishing vtry mater- 

 ailly the cost of producing the fruit. Nothing, 

 however, is required the first year. The second 

 spring the branches should be shortened to two, 

 or at most, two and a half feet in length. It 

 may be done rapidly with a good corn cutter, or 

 a pair of hedge shears. The plant has grown 

 low and trailing, and as you look along the rows, 

 the bushes appear, very hedge-like. Perhips in 

 trimming you have cut away one-third or more 

 of the bearing wood, whioh seems wasteful. — 

 but, it is well to remember that large and fine 

 crops of bush fruits are surer by an unsparing 

 use of the knife. The remaining buds will start 

 with great vigor, and the first clusters will be 

 large and numerous. If you defer trimming 

 part of your plantation till the leaves have start- 

 ed, that part may ripen its fruit somewhat later, 

 but it may not be quite so fine. 



The uext operation in trimming should be per- 

 formed in June. It consists in clipping the tips 

 of the young canes, growing for the next year's 

 crop, (they grow upright,) when they reach the 

 height of two and a half feet. The growth of 

 the plant is thus thrown into the branches, and 

 the main stalk becomes firm and stiff, able to re- 

 sist the winds and sustain itself in aa upright 

 position. The following spring, last year's bear- 

 ing wood must be cut away, and the branches 



the new canes shortened, to give room to the 

 horse and cultivator, and vigor to the remaining 

 buds., " . • 



Yield of Fruit. — Two thousand quarts per 

 acres is not an uncommon yield for the first crop, 



1 have known them to exceed that by nearly 

 a third, on a patch of an acre. An average yield 

 of three thousand quarts p"r acres can be attain- 

 ed, by carefnl selection of plant* and good culture. 



Fairport, N. Y. I860,' G. F. Wilcox. 



The above is most excellent advice in nearly 

 or quite all respects. The mode of propagating 

 is new to us, as we have let the tips have 

 their own way, or throw a small amount of 

 earth on them. We plant four by six feet, — Ed. 



