RASPBERRY. 



363 



dressing of well rotted dung. An open situation is 

 necessary for the perfect ripening of the fruit, for 

 without full air and light it never gains its true 

 flavour. For the same reason the plants should never 

 be too near together. If a quarter is to be planted, 

 the rows should not be nearer than six feet ; and 

 four feet apart in the rows. The plants require some 

 kind of support ; either single stakes driven into the 

 centre of each plant, and to which all the bearing 

 wood, or canes, are loosely tied ; or ledges are tied 

 or nailed to the stakes, about three feet from the 

 ground, and to which the shoots are tied at regular 

 distances apart. 



The rows of plants should always stand north and 

 south for the sake of obtaining more sunlight ; and 

 the- rows being single, there is no constant obstruc- 

 tion to either the light or heat of the sun. 



In pruning the raspberry, rejecting the old and 

 choosing the young shoots is the whole business. 

 As the plant is apt to wander away from its first sta- 

 tion, those shoots which are nearest the old centre 

 should be preferred, and the rest cut away. Six 

 shoots to a plant or stool, are enough among the 

 rankest growing plants ; among young, or weakly 

 plants, a less number must suffice. The height at 

 which the bearing shoots should be pruned must be 

 left to the judgment of the pruner. They produce 

 fruit from two to five feet high if required, but from 

 three to three and a half feet is about a medium 

 height. The varieties are as follow, viz. 



