90 
HinU on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
single stem, as in the case of gooseberry and red currant-bushes, 
but are stocks close to the ground. As the fruit comes on 
seasoned v/ood of the previous year, the young wood requires 
to be pruned away. After the first year or two no shortening 
of leading spurs is required, and the pruner need not be afraid 
of cutting hard, at least when the bushes are on kindly land. 
Bushes can be purchased of fruit-farmers at from 6s. to 9s. per 
100. The cultivation and manuring are exactly the same as for 
gooseberries and red currant-bushes. The best sorts are : Naples, 
the Green Bud, Baldwin's, and Lee's Prolific. There is a sort 
called the Prince of Wales, which has large berries and comes 
later than the other sorts. This fruit occasionally pays remark- 
ably well. In very hot seasons the berries are apt to run off, espe- 
cially if there is not much natural moisture in the soil. An 
average crop would be about 2800 lbs. per acre, and the average 
price ?>d. per lb. Expenses of cultivation, picking, packing, 
carriage, and commission upon an average crop would come to 
about 111. per acre. This fruit always is in great demand for 
jam, jelly, lozenges and, as some say, for port wine. 
Raspberries are grown upon " canes " or stems, pulled up 
from established stocks in the autumn, and put into well- 
ploughed or deeply-dug ground, in rows 5 leet apart, and 
15 inches in the rows. The cultivation afterwards is like that 
of gooseberry and currant plantations, except that some planters 
use horse-hoes between the rows of canes. Raspberry canes cul- 
tivated on a large scale are not staked, but are left to support 
themselves, and are cut down in the late autumn to about 'd feet 
in height : the older wood is cut away, and all superfluous 
young wood. They require a fairly good soil, not too porous, 
as they do not bear drought well. The Red Antwerp and Fastolf 
are usually planted. Carter's Prolific is also coming to the 
front, having large well-coloured fruit. An average crop is about 
3000 lbs. per acre, and the price about 3rf. per lb. There is a 
great demand for this fruit for jam, and raspberry vinegar, and for 
many concoctions and confections. It may be said here that many 
of the numerous non-alcoholic beverages so much in vogue, and 
steadily increasing in favour, are flavoured with, or partly com- 
posed of, fruit extracts. Raspberry culture necessitates a good 
supply of women for picking the fruit, as the canes want 
looking over many times. Raspberries are largely grown in 
Kent. Some growers have from 20 to 40 acres. They are 
picked into galvanised iron pails, and sent to market in tubs, 
with lids to them, because their juice easily escapes. Some ol 
the finer fruit is sold for dessert purposes, and should be care- 
fully packed in small baskets, or better still, in small earthen 
crocks, holding from 7 to 14 lbs. These are much used for 
