RUBUS IDjEUS.— THE COMMON RASPBERRY. 
Class XII. ICOSANDRIA.— Order III. POLYGYNIA. 
Natural, Order. R O S A C E M . T HE ROSE TRIBE. 
The common raspberry has a creeping root with briennial stems, 3 feet, or 4 feet high, pinnate leaves, and 
small white flowers. The fruit of this species, in a wild state, is crimson, and consists of numerous juicy 
grains beset with the permanent styles and highly fragrant, with a very deliciously sweet, and yet slightly 
acid, flavour when eaten. It is a native of Europe, from Norway and Sweeden to Spain and Greece, in 
woods. It is found in Asia, on the Himalaya mountains, and in other places; in the north of Africa; 
according to Pursh, in America, in hedge-rows, from Canada to Pennsylvania, though it has probably been in- 
troduced into that country. It is found in every part of Great Britain, and in Ireland, in the agricultural 
and subalpine regions, and in woods and in moist wastes. Improved varieties of it have long been culti- 
vated in gardens, for the fruit, which is delightfully fragrant, and grateful to the palate in itself, and is used 
in numerous culinary and confectionary articles as well as in liqueurs. In France, raspberries are very 
generally eaten at table, mixed with strawberries. A very refreshing summer drink is made of them, by 
simply bruising them in water, and adding sugar. They enter into the composition of different jellies, jams, 
ices, syrups and ratafias ; and they are preserved either alone or along with currants. Infused in spirit, they 
communicate a most delicious perfume to it. Fermented, either alone or mixed with currants or cherries, 
they make a very strong and agreeable wine ; from which a very powerful spirit can be distilled. Raspberry 
wine was formerly much used in Poland ; the fruit being there abundant in the woods. In Russia, a 
mixture of raspberries and honey with water, fermented, makes a delicious hydromel. 
Propagation and culture. — The raspberry requires a vegetable soil, rather moist, soft and not 
very deep, because most of the roots like those of all other plants that throw up numerous suckers, keep 
near the surface ; and the situation should be shaded, rather than fully exposed to the meridian sun. In a 
wild state, it is almost always found more or less shaded by trees, but not under their drip ; and in woods, 
the situation of which is rather low and moist, than hilly and rocky or dry. The roots belong to that des- 
cription which is called travelling ; that is, the suckers extend themselves all round the central plant, so as 
every year to come up in fresh soil. Hence, as Miller observes, a raspberry plantation requires to be re- 
newed every five or six years. The raspberry, for this reason, has been considered as a good example of the 
doctrine of the excretion of plants first broached by Brugmann, afterwards explained in detail by De Can- 
dolle, and subsequently elucidated, by various experiments, by M. Macaire. The raspberry, in a wild state, 
is continually changing its situation ; and in a state of culture, it requires to be frequently taken up, and 
replanted in a fresh soil. 
All the varieties, says Mr. Don, will succeed in any common mould, trenched about two feet deep, and 
sufficiently manured ; but the soil in which the raspberry bush prospers most, and bears the finest fruit is in 
a light rich loam. Allot the main crop a free exposure to the sun, that the berries may ripen in perfection. 
Be careful to favour the double bearers with a dry soil, and a sheltered sunny situation to give the second 
crop every aid in coming to maturity. When raspberries are cultivated on a large scale it is best to keep 
them in plantations by themselves. Set them in rows from 4 to 6 feet asunder, as the bushes are of the 
smaller or larger kinds, and by 3 or 4 feet in the row. Scattered bushes may either occupy a small row 
lengthwise along the back- part of a border, or stand-stools, at 10 or 15 feet distance. Select sorts are fre- 
quently trained against walls, stakes, or espaliers from the most sunny to the most shady aspect, for early 
and late fruit of improved growth and flavour. Neill says, “the raspberry bush grows freely in any good 
garden soil; but it is the better for being slightly moist. Although the place be inclosed by trees, and even 
