December S8, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
671 
soot and guano and sprinkle them well with it, letting a “gossoon” 
(Anglice, boy) go after you with a watering pot and wash it in, and 
when you are laughed at for having too much Parsley grin and 
bear it.—E. K. 
RASPBERRY JOTTINGS. 
There were rumours of phenomenal prices for Raspberries in 
the early summer, £35 and £40 a ton being freely talked about, as 
though such figures only needed mentioning to be realised ; but 
either the returns were not secured, or else those who were lucky 
enough to get them have kept their own counsel. It is always wise to 
allow a liberal percentage for contingencies when such figures are 
quoted, for they are abnormal; but after making all reasonable 
allowances, the snm is not whittled down below a fair and profit¬ 
able margin. Raspberries have paid many growers very well this 
year, much better than Strawberries in some cases ; and indeed 
where this fruit does well, it rarely fails to give a good return. 
When at Knockholt a short time ago, I met Mr. Waterman, who 
was formerly the head of the gardens at Preston Hall, Mr. Brassey’s 
beautiful mansion near Maidstone, now ably managed by Mr. 
Jarman. Mr. Waterman has gravitated into the trade, having 
become the possessor of a compact nursery ; but in addition to this 
he grows small fruit for market, chiefly Raspberries and Straw¬ 
berries. I mention his name in connection with the former, because 
he makes an emphatic stand against the general opinion that 
“.there’s nothing like Carter’s,” having a variety which, he con¬ 
tends, is better, while at the same time partaking of the dwarf 
character of the great market sort and consequently needing no 
stakes. Now if there be in cultivation a Raspberry of the Carter’s 
Prolific style of growth which is as good a grower and fruiter, 
and which wears better, it ought certainly to be known. 
The name of the Raspberry referred to is Dr. Maclean, and 
Mr. Waterman tells me he has known it for many years. He has 
several acres of it at Knockholt growing side by side with Carter’s 
Prolific, and thus a glance suffices to show the similarity in their 
styles of growth. They are both dwarf and sturdy, needing no 
extraneous support. This season of the year is not the best for 
comparing the points of Raspberries, and the most that can be said 
about them is that Dr. Maclean is rather cleaner and brighter in 
the cane than Carter’s. Such a difference might easily be brought 
about in the same variety by varying soil, but the two are growing 
on the same ground in this case. 
Dr. Maclean is a name that has a familiar “ smack ” about it, 
but perhaps this is through the well-known Pea. I have not met 
with a Raspberry of that name before, and do not see it in the 
“ Fruit Manual.” There is a variety there called McLaren’s 
Prolific, and between McLaren and Maclean there is not a great 
gulf fixed, but Dr. Hogg describes the former as a “double-bearing 
variety, of robust growth, and producing immense second crops on 
the young shoots of the same season.” Dr. Maclean is not robust 
in the same sense as Superlative and Hornet, nor from what I 
gather has it marked double-bearing proclivities, although, like 
most other sorts, it has borne a second crop during the past extra¬ 
ordinary season. I should like to learn more about this Raspberry, 
of which Mr. Waterman has a fine stock, and which pays him, he 
tells me, very well. 
Despite their taller growth, which is against them from the 
market grower’s point of view, there is every sign of a large 
demand for Superlative and Hornet, the former more particularly. 
The young canes of this grand Raspberry were bearing heavily in 
Messrs. Veitch’s nursery at Slough in the autumn, but that, of 
course, is not a very weighty point. What are chiefiy to be 
remarked are its merits as a summer sort. It is of very free and 
robust growth, tall enough to require outside support, but a prolific 
fruiter and bearing splendid berries. It is rather significant 
that, although the market men look askance as a rule at a Rasp¬ 
berry which is not self-supporting, several of them are anxious to 
get Superlative, being convinced of its high merits. 
The fact of Hornet doing so well at Chiswick in comparison 
with the best sorts should cause attention to be given to it, and it 
is not there alone that it has given abundant satisfaction. A 
Herefordshire grower, about whom “ J. B. R.” knows more than I 
do, finds it the best sort which he has tried, and does well with it 
in the market. It is unquestionably immensely prolific, while the 
fruit is of large size and splendid colour. It requires support, 
growing to a great height in good soil, and this is supplied in the 
form of strained wires. Either as a garden or a market variety it 
is doubtful if there is a Raspberry which gives finer crops of large 
fruit than Hornet. It is pretty safe to prophesy that it will grow 
rapidly in popularity as time goes on. At the same time, so far as 
my observation goes. Superlative is being asked for much more 
frequently by the large growers, but this is perhaps owing to the 
fact that Hornet is as yet very little known. 
The old Semper Fidelis is, I see, cropping up again. I saw a 
very large order executed for it quite recently, the canes going to 
a grower who wants the fruit for jam. Unlike most Raspberries 
the ever faithful one retains its form in the boiling, and as whole 
fruit jams are much more in demand now than the pulpy “ brands ” 
it is valuable on that account. 
What may be termed the columnar system of growing the taller 
Raspberries seems to be very little practised, but when speaking 
about it to an Essex market grower on a small scale recently, he 
told me that he had always found he got more fruit by shortening 
some of the canes in a stool to 18 inches or so, others to 3 feet, 
and then merely topping the others, than by the common plan. 
Naturally I asked him why, if he had found it good, he did not 
practise it now, and the response was, “ Oh ! well, I suppose it is 
because I have so many other things to do that I don’t trouble 
about it.” This is mild for Essex, and, after all, one cannot blame 
a man who is his own labourer for neglecting matters of this kind 
in favour of others which must be attended to when he is hard 
pressed ; but the system is worth practising by those who are not 
in the difficult position of having to make a living out of about 
an acre and a half of ground. That any man can achieve such a 
result in the face of the fierce competition with growers having 
large capital to turn over, strikes me as being greatly to his credit, 
and a proof, moreover, of what a hard worker can do who feeds his 
ground well and crops it judiciously.—W. P. W. 
ENRICHING THE SOIL DURING AUTUMN AND 
WINTER. 
{Continued f rom page 416.') 
When much of the soil of the garden or the field has been 
cleared of its exhausting crops, then comes the golden opportunity 
of enriching and otherwise preparing it for yielding an abundant 
harvest in the coming year. Heavy dressings of manure are of the 
utmost importance in maintaining the fertility of the soil by 
returning to it those constituents which previous crops have drawn 
out ; but of at least equal importance is the time-honoured 
practice of deeply stirring it, so that the rain and air may 
penetrate, and carry with them those elements of fertility which 
are ever present in the atmosphere, and which all may turn to 
profitable account, with no greater outlay than that which is 
involved in the employment of the labour necessary to carry out 
deep culture. It is, therefore, apparent that every inch which is 
added to the depth of the soil renders it capable of drawing a 
proportionately greater amount of plant food from Nature’s 
storehouse. These undoubted facts, to my mind, show con¬ 
clusively the economy of deep digging, and the unwisdom of 
relying on mere surface-scratching. 
Few will remember an autumn so fine, dry, and open as the 
past one, which has been exceptionally favourable for carrying out 
the work of manuring and digging vacant quarters. Should this 
satisfactory state of affairs continue for a few weeks longer, better 
opportunities will have been present for dealing with land of all 
descriptions than we have experienced for some years, during 
which time extended frosts have left but short periods for giving 
the soil that thorough preparation it ought to receive betoie the 
time for sowing and planting arrives. 
Heavy soils should be the first to receive attention, as it is only 
by throwing them up roughly, so that the sun, air, and frost may 
pulverise the lumpy spits, that heavy soils of many descriptions 
can be gradually brought into good working order. When once 
these adhesive soils become thoroughly ameliorated, they prove 
uncommonly productive on account of the power they possess of 
retaining moisture and the food of crops. In many instances, 
however, it is unwise to attempt to do too much at once. The 
top spit ought first to be thoroughly worked before any attempt is 
made to deepen it. The earliest opportunity should be taken to 
wheel upon such land, whenever it is dry or frosty, a heavy dressing 
of partially decayed strawy manure ; that obtained from the 
stables is the most suitable for the purpose. This manure may be 
left in heaps till digging commences, when it can be spread in 
patches as the work goes on ; this will to a great extent prevent the 
loss of valuable manurial properties, which quickly escape into the 
atmosphere, if the manure is spread upon the land, long before 
being buried beneath it. 
In digging heavy land, a strong fork, such as they use in the 
Kentish Hop gardens, is better than a spade, as the work is less 
laborious, and large rough spits can be upturned. The workmen 
should, however, be impressed with the absolute necessity of 
stirring the soil to the whole depth of the fork when thrust into 
the ground in a vertical position. A coating of from 3 to 6 inches 
of the manure ought to be placed in the trenches as the work 
proceeds. By using this in the rough state above described decay 
