4S 
Practical  Hints  on  Fruit  Farming. 
Raspberries. — Tlie  Raspberry  is  greatly  used  for  jam-making 
and  preserving  ; it  thrives  in  sheltered  positions  and  on  land  of 
a fairly  deep  and  moist  nature.  The  canes  are  apt  to  die  off 
on  light  lands,  especially  in  hot  summers.  The  raspberry  is 
propagated  from  suckers  or  offsets  thrown  out  hy  the  old 
plants.  The  canes  when  planted  are  cut  from  18  in.  to  20  in. 
from  the  ground,  the  future  pruning  consists  in  taking  out  the 
old  canes,  and  tipping  back  the  remaining  fruiting  canes  to 
about  2 ft.  or  3 ft.  Five  or  six  canes  are  usually  sufficient  to 
furnish  a stool  or  stock.  In  buying  canes,  which  cost  from 
11s.  to  18s.  per  1,000,  those  which  are  moderately  strong  are 
preferable  to  large  coarse  stuff,  and  are  also  cheaper. 
Some  growers  place  the  canes  in  a furrow,  and  draw 
another  furrow  with  a plough  against  them,  but  it  is  more 
usual  and  a better  practice  to  dig  out  a hole  with  a spade  and 
so  plant  them.  From  7,000  to  9,000  plants  are  required  for 
an  acre,  the  plants  being  placed  in  row^s  of  3 ft.  apart,  with 
1.5  in.  between  each  plant ; or  in  rows  of  4 ft.  (5  in.  and  18  in. 
apart  in  the  rows.  The  ])lant  is  generally  cultivated  for  seven 
years.  An  average  crop  is  1^  tons  to  the  acre. 
The  fruit  suffers  from  the  wet  in  rainy  seasons  and  requires 
careful  handling.  It  is  picked  into  galvanised  iron  pails,  and 
sent  to  market  in  tubs  to  preserve  the  juice.  The  price  in 
some  years  runs  as  high  as  501.  a ton.  The  varieties  used  in 
field  cultivation  are  Carter’s  Prolific,  Semper  Fidelis  (a  good 
j)reserving  sort),  Norwich  Wonder,  and  Superlative,  probably 
the  best  raspberry.  Yellow  raspberries  are  confined  to  gardens. 
Strawberries. — The  Strawberry  succeeds  on  a large  variety 
of  soils,  upon  the  lighter  clays  and  loams,  and  also  upon  sandy 
soils  if  liberally  manured.  The  cultivation  is  simple,  and  is  made 
as  inexpensive  as  possible,  as  the  plant  usually  lasts  for  three 
or  four  years  only.  The  land  must  be  clean  and  free  from 
weeds,  and  should  be  heavily  manured  with  dung  at  the  onset. 
The  ])lants  cost  from  4s.  to  8s.  per  1,000,  and  they  should  be 
bought  as  cheaply  as  possible.  They  are  dibbled  in  at  a distance 
of  34  in.  between  the  rows,  and  from  15  in.  to  18  in.  between 
each  plant,  and  in  some  cases  30  in.  both  ways,  so  that  the 
horse-hoes  can  work  freely. 
Straw'berry  plants  are  raised  fi’om  runners  thrown  out  by 
the  parent  stocks.  No  crop  is  usually  taken  the  first  year. 
In  the  second  year  when  the  plant  is  in  blossom  barley  straw  or 
other  straw  should  be  placed  between  the  rows  to  preserve  the 
fruit  from  dirt.  The  early  fruit  is  marketed  in  punnets  of  1 lb. 
