BASPBEEBIES. 



157 



New plantations are made with suckers taken from 

 the roots of the old canes, and great care must be 

 observed to take them from a healthy stock, for if they 

 are from those which have stood long in the ground, 

 and are poor and lean in consequence, although there 

 may be no positive unhealthiness, even high manuring 

 will not make them fine without the loss of a year or 

 two. 



The suckers are drav/n from the old roots by hand, 

 w^ith a ball of earth at the roots, if possible : a slight 

 pull will show which are good to be removed. Any 

 time will do for planting them between October and 

 the middle of February. The ground for the new 

 plantation should be deeply dug, and manured pretty 

 liberally with half-rotten manure. The roAvs may be set 

 six feet apart, and the young plants should be planted 

 in groups of threes, four feet apart from centre to centre 

 of each group. Early in November the young plants 

 may be pruned: cut one strong cane to three feet, a 

 second to two feet, and a third to within a few inches of 

 the ground. By this method a little crop may be had 

 the first year, and good shoots reserved for the next. 

 Some growers, however, recommend that the young 

 trees should be cut down this first winter to within 

 six inches of the ground, sacrificing the first year's fruit 

 to strengthen the canes for future years. 



Seed is used to obtain new sorts. It is separated 

 from the pulp of the fruit, dried, and put by until 

 spring. Early in February it may be sown in a gentle 

 hotbed. The little plants may be pricked out, in good 

 rich mould, when they are three inches high, hardened 

 off by the middle of May, and then planted out in the 

 garden, in a rich bed. Afterwards train them, keep 

 down suckers and watery spray, and when the young 

 canes are tall, pinch off the tops to consolidate the 

 w^ood. 



For the culture of established canes, as soon as the 

 year's crop is done with, cut the old bearing shoots 

 clean away, draw the young canes a little closer together, 

 and by the end of August pinch off the tops of the 



