810 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I October 9, 1890. 
per acre, worth £68 10s., at the rate of 4d. to Cd. per lb,, which is 
the price they fetch here. Cost of gathering a similar crop 
would be about £14 per acra. The season was a veiy bad one, a 
large quantity getting spoiled with the wet, and this result 
was only obtained under the highest cultivation — viz., plenty 
of good manure, and the plants tied to posts and wires 5 feet 
h : gh, so that half the above produce would be about a correct 
average from an acre under field cultivation, and grown without 
stikes 
Cultivation. —A plantation of Raspbeiries should last at least 
twenty years ; with good cultivation and manure when requisite in 
poor soils they will pay for a supply every winter—about 20 tons 
per acre—stronger and richer land will not require it so often. 
They should also be kept strictly clean and free from weeds, and 
especially from Bindweed or wild Convolvulus, which is very 
difficult to kill when once it gets established, and which often 
does much mischief by growing over the fruit and young shoots. 
Raspberry plantations should never be deeply dug, as they root 
very near to the surface. A light forking over, therefore, in 
the winter is all they require—just enough to bury the manure 
under the surface if any is given, and to cover in any weeds that 
may be growing among them. If the soil is of a dry nature 
a good mulching over the roots, as recommended for Straw¬ 
berries, will be of great benefit in dry summers, and will 
double the weight of the crop if put on early before the ground 
geti dry. 
Enemies. —Birds, and especially blackbirds, are the worst foes 
the Raspberry has, and must be destroyed or frightened off in the 
usual way if the plantation h open. Hares and rabbits will some¬ 
times do a great deal of mischief in severe winters, and wire netting 
must be put round to protect the plants. 
Varieties. —Only the red ones are of any use for market. Two 
of the best are Fastolf and Baumforth’s Seedling. 
Red Currants. 
These do well in a mixed plantation, and under standard 
Apples, if not too much shaded. They will grow in drier and 
warmer soils than Black Currants ; but where the latter will thrive 
they are, as a rule, the most profitable. 
Planting. —Young plants may easily be raised from cuttings 
exactly as described for Gooseberries, but much time is saved by 
purchasing tliree-year-old plants. Where nothing else is to be 
grown on the same plot they may be 5 feet apart each way when 
put in their permanent positions, and at this distance will require 
about 1740 plants per acre ; the cost of plants and planting will be 
about £12 per acre. They should be planted about the same time 
as Gooseberries or Black Currants, and the other details of cultiva¬ 
tion are the same, with the exception of pruning. 
Pruning.— In this respect the requirements of the Red Currant 
are very different from those of the Black, as the latter bears best on 
the young wood while the Red answers best if the young wood is 
cut off almost close to the main stem at pruning time in the 
autumn, leaving only about an inch in length unless it is desirable 
to extend the number of branches or the size of the tree. Young 
trees should be encouraged to form six or seven main branches, 
keeping the centre of the bush open all the time like a basin, 
until the trees reach their full height, about 4 feet. The leading 
shoots should have only about one-third of their length cut off, 
and when the tree gets to its full height they may be cut at the 
points as in other parts, thus keeping the old main stems, which by 
this time will be full of buds their whole length and bear very 
freely ; it is well to encourage a young branch to grow up if any 
of the others show signs of weakness from old age, and thus to 
gradually replace them. Summer pruning is also very beneficial 
to Red Currants, cutting all young wood back to about 3 inches as 
soon as the fruit is gathered if it is not required for extending the 
tree, and reducing the pieces left to 1 inch in length at the winter 
pruning. Red Currants are pruned by the Kent “ tree cutters ” at 
Is. to Is. 6d. per hundred, according to size. 
Gathering and Marketing. —As with other bush fruits, the 
gathering is generally done by women and children in the large 
fruit-growing districts, who are paid about 3d. per half sieve. This 
fruit also requires gathering before it gets over-ripe if intended to 
be sent a long distance, otherwise it will smash, and in that state is 
useless in any maiket. If for disposal in the neighbourhood it may 
get riper before gathering. Packing is the same as for Black 
Currants, and prices range from Is. to 2s. 6d. per stone. The 
quantity grown per acre will generally be rather more than for 
Black Currants. 
Cultivation. —Same as for Black Currants. 
Enemies are fortunately not numerous. Ca'erpillars will 
sometimes eat the leaves, and should be picked off by hand and 
destroyed if numerous. Birds, and especially lobins, are very fond 
of the ripe fruit, and must be frightened away. 
Varieties. —The Scotch is grown very much for market, 
being firm and large. Red Dutch is also a good hardy variety.— 
W. H. Divers. 
(To be continued.) 
TRANSPLANTING LARGE SHRUBS. 
From time to time we have heard much upon this subject, and 
the results of experience have varied as much, if not more, than the 
different localities from which they have written ; added to which, soils 
and subsoils have a material effect upon all transplanting operations. 
I have met with some who strongly advocated that there can be no 
better period of the year for carrying out improvements and 
alterations about the grounds of any residence than early in the 
autumn. They base their argument principally upon the fact, that 
during the summer months the earth becomes heated to a much 
greater depth than it is in the other months of the year, and assert 
that moving a certain poition of earth cannot be done without 
fully exposing it all to the action of the air, even if the time which 
the operation takes is very limited ; that in many instances 
shrubs will, under these conditions, begin to emit fresh roots in the 
course of ten days or a fortnight after their being removed ; and 
that they will often, after being so removed, start in the following 
spring quite as fresh and vigorous as those which have not been 
removed. 
This is one side of the question, and I imagine those who 
advocate this mode of proceeding reside upon gravelly soils or 
chalky formations, where the drainage is naturally good, and where 
the soil never becomes saturated with stagnant moisture, which is 
sure to cause young and tender roots to become ruptured and 
ultimately decay. 
Strong soils never answer well for transplanting large shrubs 
or trees, and I consider it by far the best policy in all such to have 
quite young plants. They may look very diminutive for a time, 
but it is far better to bear with this than to endeavour to give effect 
at once with much larger specimens. I have seen these have all 
the care and attendance for a season which could be bestowed upon 
them, by mulching the ground above their roots, and likewise 
giving them copious supplies of water ; but after all, many of them 
would soon become little better than sticks, not half clothed with 
leaves 
After a season or two, notwithstanding every precaution, it 
would be found necessary to supply healthy young plants. These 
may, and often will, for a season or two, almost stand still, not 
growing more than a few inches. Nevertheless, they will generally 
retain all their freshness ; though a few of them may lose most of 
their leives, still they never present that unsightly and skeleton¬ 
like appearance which is sometimes seen as the result of planting 
much larger specimens in strong soils. 
From having had to operate in different soils in various parts of 
the country, I may safely state that it is difficult to transplant 
large specimens in strong soils ; but in those which are light and 
open, especially when the subsoil is of a similar character, I have 
repeatedly transplanted large shrubs in the middle of summer, 
and whe n the weather was a little showery for a week or two they 
never lost a leaf by the operation. In a scfil of this character I a 
few years ago assisted at the removal of many Oaks from 30 to 45 
feet high, and the operation was generally very successful. The 
trees were cut round at some distance from the stem eighteen 
months before removal ; all the roots which were put forth where 
they were cut were carefully preserved, as well as the ball of earth; 
but no practical man would recommend this being done in strong 
adhesive soils, however desirable it might be to produce an imme¬ 
diate effect. I consider it safest to use young and healthy plants, 
and these, in the long run, will give the greatest satisfaction.—D. 
THE WALNUT TREE. 
I may in the first place observe that the Walnut is seldom con¬ 
sidered as in the list of cultivated fruits, its growth and bearing 
being generally left to chance. There is an old distich coupling the 
Walnut with a spaniel and a wife, to the effect that they are all the 
better for being well beaten. Now, this advice is, I confess, all that 
I have read about rendering the Walnut tree fruitful; and vulgar 
though it be, and often regarded as an unmeaning couplet put forth 
by some sarcastic individual, I am far fiom denying it some merit, 
for the leating of the tree with long poles to knock down the fruit 
in autumn, is never accomplished without breaking off a number of 
small shoots, thereby effecting a sort of rude pruning, and so 
rendering the tree more fiuitful the following season ; and as the 
rougher the usage the moie shoots are broken off, it is not unlikely 
that a greater proportion of fruit may fellow the year after. This,, 
