116 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



August, 1913 



The Raspberry. 



"V^Tiere raspberries are <^ro^vtJ they 

 should now receive immediate at- 

 tention in the way of having the okl 

 canes cut out. Raspberries often 

 suffer severely in times of drought, 

 and a great many of the canes die. 

 These are not easily distinguishable 

 at the first glance, but on close exami- 

 nation are readily found. All dead 

 and weakly canes should be remove'! 

 to make room for the stronger ones, 

 that are to l)e left to produce the fruit. 

 No plant .should be allowed to carry 

 more than six or seven canes, and in 

 tying them to the stake, they should 

 be put around it at equal distances 

 apart. If tied in a bunch it prevents 

 the proper development of the fruit- 

 bearing shoots, and thereby the crop 

 will be materially lessened. The fruit 

 of the raspberry is grown on the side 

 shoots of the current year's growth, 

 so it is, therefore, essential that the 

 top of the canes be cut oflf to induce 

 them to break freely. The spade 

 should be used as sparingly as possi- 

 ble in the cleansing of respberry beds, 



in fact, these under no circumstances 

 should be dug, but should be kept 

 clean by the use of the hoe, or at the 

 most might he gone over lightly with 

 a fork. .^11 feeding ought to be done 

 by mulching, with good rich manure, 

 and occasional dressings of artifici?! 

 manures, when the weather is show- 

 cry. Before putting on the mulching, 

 it is advisable to lightly poirit over 

 the ground with a fork to break the 

 hard surface, so that any subsequent 

 rains may carry the full benefit of the 

 nutriment down to the roots. 



♦ 



Indian Potato Sunflower. 



(Helianthus subtuberous Bourgeau) 

 The sunflower is known to 

 Australian gardeners as one of the 

 most u.s^eful and ornamental of 

 summer and autumn flowering 

 plants, either annual or perennial. 

 Its only economic use with, us, 

 however, is that it is sometimes 

 grown and u.sed as a poultry food. 

 In other parts of the world it has 

 many uses. Of the species referred 

 to in this article an American 

 exchange writes :— The roots bear 

 fleshy tubers of a delicious flavor, 

 greedily d'^voured by boys, and 

 one of the original foods of the 

 Indians, as was the potato and 

 sweet potato, and is as diflerent 

 from either as each diflers from 

 the other, belonging to widely dif- 

 ferent eenera. By the way, the 

 name Potato properly belongs to 

 Solanum tuberosum alone— the so- 

 called Sweet Potato should be 

 called Batata, which would save 

 much confusion, and it shotild be 

 expressly known that no variety of 

 Sweet Potato bears anv resemb- 

 lance to yams, and Southerners 

 tnake a grievous mistake in call- 

 ling large, coarse Sweet Potatoes, 

 Yams, the Yam being no more like 

 a Sweet Potato than are Indian 

 Corn and Sugar Cane, though it 

 has a thickened, in some ca.ses 

 edible, root stales while Potatoes 

 and Sweet Potatoes are tubers. 



The name " Indian Potato " has 

 been suggested [or this Sunflower, 

 as it is a standard Indian food, 

 hut it is clearly a misnomer, as 

 the Indian Potato belongs to the 

 common Potato, it also being an 

 original Indian food. As the roots 

 hear edible tuber.s that 'm'ust be 

 dug from the ground likev potatoe.s, 

 it 'inight be allowable to call it 

 Indian Potato Sunflower, yet it 

 would be better to have learned 

 the original Indian name. 



The plant forms clumps arising 

 from tuberous roots, 4 t<i (S feet 



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tall, rough, coarse, bristly, hairy. 

 Leaves mostly opposite, thick, nar- 

 row. Flower-heads not numerous, 

 smaller than those of the Giant 

 Simflower, of a much paler yellow. 

 While the tubers of the Criant Sun- 

 flower are as inedible as those of 

 the Indian Turnip. The roots of 

 this species have a sweet, delicate, 

 aromatic fla^"or, hi-^hl-: rlea.sing to 

 the palate of the averag-e; boy. _ It 

 deserves attention as a possible 

 food-plant, for our race as well as 

 the Indians. Flavor much superior 

 to that of the Tuberous-rooted 

 Si'mflower, barbaricallv dubbed 

 " .Terusalem Artichoke," which is 

 neither an artichoke, nor ever came 

 from .Terusalem, it being purely 

 American, the name -Terusalem in 

 this case oritrinating from the Ita- 

 lian "Cirasole" Sunflower, as did 

 " Strawberry " from strayberry, 

 " Horse "-radi.sh from Harsh-Rad- 

 ish, etc. 



COOPER'S 



STOUT. 



Full-bodied and Nourishing, i 

 taking the place of Imported Stout 

 Recommended by Doctors. 



Write to— 



Thos. COOPER & SONS 

 Upper KensinKtoA. 



