RASPBERRIES 
INTRODUCTORY 
THE common stock from which our race of garden 
raspberries has sprung is a native plant found grow- 
ing abundantly in many a wood, delighting in a 
soil composed largely of vegetable matter, and in a 
position where it is protected from strong winds, and 
where also it has partial shade. This plant (Rakes 
Idaeus) is found wild in most European countries. It is 
shrubby, deciduous and perennial, but its stems are 
biennial, growing one season, fruiting the next, and 
dying down after their mission is fulfilled. In what 
are known as autumn fruiting varieties, a change has 
been brought about by cultivation, indeed, their stems 
are treated as of annual duration, being removed after 
fruiting, the growths made in spring and perfected in 
summer, bearing fruit the same autumn. But for the 
system of culture adopted, these varieties would, no 
doubt, soon revert to the more natural biennial character. 
It is scarcely necessary to ‘“‘show cause” why rasp- 
berries should be grown in our gardens, as the delicious 
and refreshing fruits are more or less known to every- 
one. Their varied usefulness can scarcely be exag- 
gerated, and is known only to the most accomplished of 
chefs. For pies and puddings, jellies and ices, flavour- 
ing creams and confectionery, for preserves and bottled 
whole, for wine and for vinegar, for syrups and sweet- 
meats, to make liqueurs and to perfume and flavour 
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