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ing varieties are set four or five inches deep. Blackcapg are planted about the same 

 distance apart but shallower as stated before. As soon as possible after 4)lanting the 

 ground should be cultivated and the surface should be kept loose by frequent cultiva- 

 tions during the summer as strong grov^th is important, and this can only be assured 

 by good cultivation, but at the end of the second season the canes may be reduced to 

 four or six of the strongest. Suckers are cultivated or hoed out. There will be a 

 little fruit the year after planting, but not until the year after that will there be a fair 

 crop of fruit from which time the plantation should bear good crops of fruit for six 

 to eight years. 



The main pruning of suckering varieties consists in cutting out dead and super- 

 fluous canes, leaving four to six of the strongest for fruiting. This may be done 

 either in the autumn or spring. If canes are to be covered for protection in winter, 

 which is desirable where they are liable to be killed, they are grown to a height of 

 four to six feet. Where they are not protected the canes are usually headed back 

 when they have reached a height of fifteen to twenty inches, laterals then grow and a 

 very stocky plant is the result. These laterals are cut back from twelve to fifteen 

 inches either in late fall or spring. Where actual comparisons have been made summer 

 pinching has not given as satisfactory results as when the canes are let grow their 

 natural length and the slender tips merely pinched ofi in the spring. In colder dis- 

 tricts these laterals are liable to be injured by winter. 



The canes of blackcap raspberries should be cut back each season when they have 

 reached a height of two to two and a half feet, as unless this is done they are difficult 

 to manage. By pinching back the plant becomes stocky and throws out laterals. The 

 laterals may be cut back to a length of twelve to fifteen inches in the autumn, but 

 it is better to leave them until spring, when if there is any injured wood it may be 

 removed at the same time. 



Pinching back in summer is attended with some risk in certain sections, espe- 

 cially if not done in good time as after pinching back the young growth sometimes 

 grows too late, causing winter killing. The best plan is to head back to the desired 

 height in the spring. 



' Protection in Winter. — In some parts of Canada some varieties of raspberries do 

 not succeed very well unless the canes are protected in winter. This is readily done 

 by bending down the canes just before winter sets in and holding them down by a little 

 soil on the tips. To bend and cover them without breaking, a little soil is taken out 

 on one side of the hill, the canes are then collected in a bunch, pressed down in the 

 line of the row by means of a fork in the' hands of one man while sufficient earth is 

 applied by another man to hold them down. The cost of the labour involved in cover- 

 ing an acre should not exceed $5. When protected in this way canes will come through 

 the winter in good condition, when if unprotected they are badly injured. On the 

 prairies, best results are obtained when the canes are entirely covered with soil. 



Fertilizers. — An annual application of well rotted barnyard manure will help to 

 keep the soil rich, which is necessary if good crops are to be obtained. 



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