RASPBERRIES. 



353 



RASPBERRIES. 



By Mr. George Wythes, F.R.H.S. 



There are probably many Fellows of this Society who have had 

 more to do with the cultivation of market fruit than I have, 

 and my remarks apply chiefly to garden varieties, garden cul- 

 ture, and what I may term the most prolific or profitable kinds. 

 For market cultivation I do not presume to enter into details, 

 but merely sketch out the plan adopted, and hint at what it is 

 possible to adopt as the best means to secure a heavy crop. As 

 is usually known, the Raspberry is a native of these isles, and is 

 found in many other countries, and may be readily propagated 

 from seeds or suckers, and in the case of choice varieties from 

 cuttings. Indeed the greatest fault of this fruit is that it 

 produces itself too freely, and unless suckers are kept well down 

 they greatly impoverish the plants. In some parts of the 

 country I have seen large tracts of these fruits in a wild state, and 

 when once they get a foothold on good soil it is a difficult matter 

 to eradicate them. Wherever fruit is extensively cultivated in this 

 country for the market or for preserving, in Kent for example, 

 Raspberries are largely grown, and the mode of culture is to 

 plant in the autumn in heavily manured land, or land that has 

 only recently been utilised for a shallow-rooting crop. This is 

 prepared for the canes, and in some instances as much as one 

 Jmndred loads of manure to the acre is used ; and this is a great 

 point, as gardeners do not feed this plant nearly enough. I myself 

 must plead guilty to this, for the simple reason that the neces- 

 sary manure required for this and many other similar crops 

 cannot be procured. 



When the ground has settled down, large growers plant their 

 canes early in October, or the beginning of November at latest, 

 either singly or in pairs, having been cut to about 2 feet above 

 the surface. I find that the lower a cane is cut the better and 

 stronger it shoots from the base, and I advise cutting hard 

 back to 9 or even to 6 inches, the only difficulty being that in 

 severe winters the cut-back stem usually dies some distance 

 lower down the stem, so that some protection in the way of 

 litter to the roots is advisable, and as in large plantations 

 this could not readily be given, the cutting back in them is 

 not so severe ; but in private gardens with a limited quantity I 



