10 
Colorado Experiment Station. 
not check rowed in order to keep weeds and raspberry shoots from 
growing in between the hills. It is always better to keep thrifty 
hills in the row rather than to let them grow together and form a 
matted row. 
WINTER PROTECTION. 1 
As has been stated before it depends largely upon variety and 
locality whether or not it is necessary to lay the plants down for win¬ 
ter protection. In the Loveland district all varieties are laid down. 
In the Canon City district and most places on the Western slope the 
black-caps are hardy and do not need winter protection, while the 
red raspberries as a rule are covered. 
Methods of Protection .—There are two principal methods used 
by which raspberries can be protected from the winter freezing, 
namely, that of covering with straw, leaves, etc. and that of covering 
with earth. As a rule in Colorado the earth covering is the more 
practical as straw and other material is sometimes scarce. 
Raspberries are laid down from the middle of October to the mid¬ 
dle of November, depending somewhat on the weather conditions. 
There are two principal systems used in laying down the plants, namely, 
first that of pinning, and second that of bending over and throwing 
dirt on the tips, thus holding them down. The pinning system is done 
by commencing at the end of the row and pulling the first two hills 
down so that the tops of each are at the side of the base of the other. 
They are held in place by pieces of old canes which are broken to 
about six inches in length and so placed as to hold the canes in a firm 
position on the right hand side of the base of the plant. In order to 
do this pinning properly it is necessary to either have canes long 
enough to overlap when they are laid down or have the hills close 
enough together. It is always well to have the tops of one plant 
at the right of the base of the next and to keep this up throughout 
covering. If this is done uncovering in the spring can be aided by 
using a right hand plow, to plow at least one furrow away from each 
row. Another form of holding the plants down until some 
earth can be placed upon them is that of using a six tined pitch fork 
and holding the tops in place until earth can be shoveled onto them. 
By using either the pinning or fork system of holding plants in place, 
one man can very easily cover his own canes. Placing soil upon the 
canes to hold them down takes from two to three men. One man 
bends the canes down and the other two shovel soil upon them. In 
pulling the canes down into place it is necessary that they lay quite 
flat on the ground in order to be properly covered, otherwise they 
are apt to loop in the center causing an air space and the likelihood 
of their becoming uncovered before spring. See Fig. i. 
