828 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 22, 1898. 
fflNTS FOR J|mATEURS. 
Raspberries.—Amongst all the small fruits there is 
none that pays better for good cultivation than the 
Raspberry. As a crop for market work it is rather 
a difficult one to manage, unless the market is close 
at hand, for the fruit is so soft and bruises so readily 
that it will not stand transit for long distances and a 
delayed sale. A few hours only is quite sufficient to 
spoil both the appearance and flavour of travelled 
Iruit, and thus it is only when the fruit can be taken 
off the canes and used almost directly that it can be 
had in proper condition. The difficulty of obtaining 
good Raspberries in the market, however, is an 
additional inducement to the amateur gardener to 
grow a few for his own consumption. In the kitchen 
the Raspberry is held in high esteem for the making 
of preserve-, and for imparting a delicate flavour to 
various dishes of cooked fruits. It is very seldom 
indeed that too many Raspberries are grown for 
those who preside in the kitchen. Then the freshly 
picked fruit is by no means a mean addition to the 
dessert table, whilst the virtues of Raspberry 
vinegar are well known to most. 
If Raspberries are to be had in quantity and in 
good quality they must receive proper attention. 
This, unfortunately, they are not favoured with, for 
we not infrequently see quite as fine fruits upon the 
wild bushes in the woods as upon the weedy speci¬ 
mens that are allowed to cumber and disgrace some 
cottage and villa gardens. Weedy the best plants 
soon become if their requirements are not attended 
to, and it matters little what the variety is, it is sure 
to degenerate, and that speedily. In most cases the 
plants are allowed to stand for many years on the 
same piece of ground, and as the years roll by the 
latter becomes well-nigh or quite exhausted, owing 
to the rich feeding nature of the plants and the lack 
of manurial application by the grower and owner. 
Now a good stool of Raspberries takes up very little 
more room than a poor one, although a little more 
attention is needef, but there can be no comparison 
between the returns of fruit from the two. 
We will first proceed to consider the seasonable 
requirements of a plantation that has been kept well 
in hand, and not suffered to “ gang its ain gait.” 
Pruning.—In order to have an intelligent idea of 
the kind of pruning needed by the Raspberry we 
must first of all look at the kind of growth that bears 
the fruit, and act accordingly. The fruit is borne 
on canes that are in their second season of growth, 
that is to say, that the young canes thrown up this 
year will bear fruit the next. We thus see that in 
order to insure a regular supply of fruit, a succession 
of young wood must be kept up, the two year old 
canes that have already fruited being cut out annually 
to make room for the new. This is really all there 
is in pruning Raspberries, but on its proper per¬ 
formance depends to a very large extent success or 
failure. 
The most enlightened cultivators make a practice 
of removing the old canes at the end of the fruiting 
season, thinning the young canes at the same time. 
The stools are thereby relieved of a burden, and the 
young growths that are left not only enjoy a greater 
exposure t > light and air, but also a larger share of 
nutriment-from the roots. The result is that by the 
time the winter has set in they are plump, and well 
ripenei. To thosr who wish to grow first-class 
Raspberries we strongly recommend this system. 
Supposing the above to have been performed, all 
that is necessary to do now is to give the young canes 
a further thinning, seclecting three or four of the 
best, according to the size of the stool, and cutting 
the others clean out. The tops should be removed at 
a point where the canes begin to get thin and twisted. 
The cut should be made slanting so as to throw off 
the rain. Even then the points will die back a little, 
but not farther than the first-joint or node. Some 
growers are averse to pruning at the baginning of the 
winter on account of this, but we have never seen 
any injury to result. The exposed pith is sure to 
die in any case no matter at what time the cut is 
made. Finally the canes should be secured to the 
pole or wire, and the job is comp'eted. 
Those plantations in which the canes were not 
thinned in the autumn in this fashion will take a 
little longer to prune, but the only difference is that 
the pruning is all done at one time instead of at 
twice. The tame lines as suggested in the first place 
should be followed. 
Manuring.—After pruning has been completed 
the next job will be the application of manure. 
Give a good dressing of well decayed stable litter, 
and fork it in lightly, taking care not to disturb the 
roots too much. It should be buried a few inches 
beneath the surface, but deep stirring of the soil is 
not advisable. Cow manure is an excellent food, 
and if it can be obtained in sufficient quantities may 
well be made use of. 
An annual dressing of this kind is very necessary 
if the quality of the fruit is to be maintained. 
Lack of this attention is one of the great reasons 
why we see the miserable worc-out looking specimens 
that we have previously referred to. If only the 
annual manuring is missed for one year it 
becomes a matter of considerable difficulty to start it 
again, for great numbers of roots are produced close 
to the surface, and suckers are throw up all over the 
place. The result is that any disturbance in the way 
of digging puts a tremendous check upon the plants, 
although they may benefit by it in the long run. 
Where plantations have got into a bad state there¬ 
fore it becomes the wisest and most satisfactory plan 
to root the whole lot up and have a fresh start in 
another part of the garden. This gives the operator 
time to thoroughly prepare the ground previous to 
planting, and the young plants have a fair chance. 
It will be best in such cases to obtain some fresh 
plants, although if the old ones are of good varieties 
some of the strongest of the plants may be utilised 
for making up.— Rex. 
WORK IN THE SUBURBAN GARDEN. 
There is a good deal to do in the garden nowadays, 
and this will afford pleasurable occupation for spare 
moments, thereby helping to checkmate the gentle¬ 
man who is so officious at finding something for idle 
hands to do. 
The greenhouse will take a little looking after. It 
will be well to ornament it with a new door handle, 
for string wound round a nail, although an ingenious 
fastening, is not a sightly one. Plants are queer 
things and behave strangely sometimes. One of 
their favourite habits is to jump off the shelf and hide 
beneath the stage out of the way when they are in 
indifferent health. Everything likes to die quietly, 
of course. A look under the stage will therefore 
show much that is novel and interesting that an 
unobservant eye would be likely to miss. Do not 
disturb these resting plants under any consideration. 
Dutch bul >s in a greenhouse are grand, and it is 
wonderful what a lot of killing they take. The 
tuberous Begonias that went to sleep so quietly last 
autumn are still sleeping. Do not wake them yet 
by any means, for you are sure of them cow. 
Pelargoniums are looking fine, but want a little 
hustling up. A minute examination will reveal some 
"fly” on them—at least if it doesn’t it ought to. 
Here is a job for a rainy day. 
Passing to the outside garden you may, on your 
way, give a gentle kick to an iron hoop that has 
strayed. It is wonderful to see how much kicking 
these hoops will stand. The coal scuttle that some¬ 
how got buried about the middle of December in the 
centre flower bed should now be resurrected and laid 
on one side for a future occasion. It at least gives a 
furnished appearance to the garden, quite Japanese 
in fact, and you may even improve it by filling it 
wiih hardy Ferns. A movable Fernery such as this 
is an acquisition. 
Two or three old boots that we re deposited on the 
herbaceous border at the beginning of the year may 
now be taken away They may be ornamental, but 
they do not possess any fertilising powers as far as 
we are aware, although, like manures of various kinds, 
they are highly odoriferous. There will not be so 
much variety when they are gone, but something 
else, in the mysterious economy of backyard nature, 
will be likely to take their place. 
Coals are rather dear just now, hence it will be 
policy to collect the various lumps you have shied at 
the cats during the last three months. Things 
move very slowly at this season of the year, includ¬ 
ing the cats, unless proper measures are taken. 
The labels in the herbaceous border have evi¬ 
dently been having a scrimmage, during which some 
of them have got knocked out. From a sense of 
tidiness this should be rectified. If you do not exacly 
know where the labels should go try the " dickery, 
dickery, dock ” arrangement, but whatever you do 
put them in straight, for a lopsided label has a dis¬ 
reputable appearance. It will be highly interesting 
presently to see how the label lottery turns out. 
Attend to the pruning of fruit trees, for it is a 
sine qua non to successful fruit growing that something 
should be cut off the trees each year, it does not 
much matter what,but the main stem must be left,or 
you will get no fruit. Your pruning Knife left you at 
the beginning of the summer,through mistaken fond¬ 
ness for an outdoor life. A mouch round will pro¬ 
bably find it , and then operations may commence. 
If you are in any doubt as to a certain shoot, cut it 
out, for habits of decision mark the truly great man 
in gardening as in aught else .—Nouveau Caiendrier. 
--*•- 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
A nyone may give additional or more explanatory answers 
to questions that have already appeared. Those who desire 
their communications to appear on this page should writ) 
" Amateurs' Page " on the top of their letters. 
Moles — R. Meams : Apart from the vexed ques¬ 
tion of the food of moles there is no doubt that these 
burrowers do considerable harm to plants by cutting 
or other wise injuring the roots during their mining 
expeditions. On lawns they are an especial nuisance, 
and you should make every endeavour lo catch the 
one that is now disturbing yours. We say one 
advisedly, for we do not think it likely that there are 
a number at work, as one animal in a single night 
will make a lot of disturbance. You can obtain the 
ordinary steel mole trap from any ironmonger. This 
must be carefully inserted in the principal burrow. 
Peach Wall .—Peaches : If the wall is a high one 
the quickest way to cover it will be as follows : 
Plant a row of dwarf fan-shaped trees, and train 
these to cover the wall to a height of 7 ft. or so. 
Between each dwarf tree plant one having a clean 
stem of about 6 ft. with a good head at the top. 
These taller trees should also be trained fan-wise. 
You may have to pay a little more in order to get 
trees of the right stamp, and if you order them from 
a local nurseryman we should advise you either to 
take a practical man with you or commission him to 
obtain the trees for you. If you write to any good 
nurseryman, however, and say what you want you 
would be served as well as, or perhaps rather better, 
than if you chose the trees yourself. 
Root-Pruning a Plum Tree.— Aloe: We think 
you are quite right in deciding to root-prune the 
Plum tree. Its tendency to make over-gross shoots 
must be checked if it is to become fruitful Open 
out a trench about 4 ft. or 5 ft. from the stem, and 
work gradu illy downwards Cut through all the 
big roots, and carefully move on one side the 
smaller ones. Dig down until you have actually got 
under the ball of the tree. Afterwards work 
gradually to vards the centre with a fork, cutting all 
the larger roots met with that have a downward 
direction. Then refill the trench, spreading out the 
fibrous roots that have been moved on one side in dig¬ 
ging. Commence operations as soon as the soil has 
lecovered from its present stickiness. The suckers 
thrown out from the base of the tree should be re¬ 
moved. 
Begonia manicata.--y 4 . O. : From the particu¬ 
lars you send it is evident that your treatment of the 
plants is a’l right, and that it is not to blame for the 
falling of the Daves. This might be ascribed with 
certainly to the malign influence of the fogs which 
have been so prevalent of late. 
Grapes.— A. 0 . : The best white Grape to force 
early with Black Hamburgh is Foster’s Seedling. 
Young Vines.—I planted a house with strong 
young Vines, three-year-old, last year. In accordance 
with advice received I took up one shoot from about 
j ft. from the ground and removed all the others. 
The shoots that were left have developed into first- 
class canes which have been shortened back 
to within about 6 ft. of the point at which they 
originated. Would it injure the canes to allow them 
to carry fruit this year ?— Reader. 
