158 



THE OECHAED A^^D PEriT GAEDE^^. 



tall ones. When the leaves are off. draw out all the 

 suckers, and prune the canes, of which about four 

 may be left to each root. Cut these at different heights ; 

 the first about four feet high (or more if it be a very 

 tall growing kind), the next nine inches lower, and so 

 with all : this divides the spray and the fruit, so that 

 none are crowded, but all get a fair share of air and 

 sunshine. The canes may then be tied, and a top- 

 dressing of manure may be given. 



Soon after they begin to shoot in the spring, about 

 May or so, give a slight thinning out wherevernecessary, 

 and a few weeks later, thin the suckers that are drawing 

 on the resources of the plant and exhausting the soil. 

 About four or five may be left to each group, choosing 

 those which are of neither too rampant nor of a poor 

 weakly growth. If the raspberries have not been 

 mulched before, do it now. 



The best way of training raspbemes is to separate 

 them by tying the canes, at about equal distances, round 

 small hoops, which may be supported by light stakes or 

 not, as necessaiw. It is a more general plan only to tie 

 the tops together. Some fruit may be produced early by 

 training the canes in the form of a fan on a south wall : 

 raspberries may be forced either in pots, or planted in 

 a bed in the house. They may also be forced by 

 planting the roots outside a pit, drawing the bearing 

 canes inside, and training them over a trellis, whilst 

 the present year's shoots are left outside. 



Easpbennes produce their fruit on one-year-old wood, 

 which when it has borne is of no more use, but may be 

 cut down to make way for the canes of the present year, 

 to ripen and produce fruit the next. The love of the 

 raspberry for permanent moisture must not be forgotten 

 in its culture. Also, although it requires a deep soil 

 and roots deeply, encouraging the roots near the surface 

 is as important with it as with most fruit trees, and this 

 may be done by judicious top-dressing, and mulching. 

 This is not a plant or tree from which we can cut a slip 

 and gi'aft it for propagation ; propagation is from its 

 own root, drawing on it for noui'ishment — an outlay that 



