344 
PHE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 29, 1898 
Hints for Amateurs. 
Raspberries. —Last week we considered the kind 
of treatment that healthy, vigorous Raspberries in 
bearing condition required in the way of pruning, 
manuring, etc. We have now to deal with the 
question of the formation of new plantations, either 
to replace old worn-out ones, or to supplement others 
already in existence. 
New plantations may be formed at any time 
between the beginning of November and the middle 
of March, so that there is a fairly long season in 
which to work. This admits also of waiting for a 
favourable opportunity when the ground is fairly dry 
and in good working condition before operations are 
commenced. To make a new plantation properly 
requires a good deal of labour in the preparation of 
the site, for, as we mentioned last week, the Rasp¬ 
berry is a rich feeder, and it is not every soil that 
chemically and mechanically is fit to receive it. 
Any good garden soil that is not too stiff and has 
been well cultivated will suit the Raspberry. Once 
the site has been selected the work of breaking it up, 
and getting it into proper fettle must proceed. In 
the case where such a site is upon ground that has 
been trenched once or twice previously, and the sub¬ 
soil consequently in good condition, it will be 
perfectly safe to trench again to the depth of two or 
three feet, working in a heavy dressing of good farm¬ 
yard manure, which practically contains all the 
necessary elements of plant food in an easily obtain¬ 
able form. If the subsoil is very poor, however, it 
will not be wise to trench, for this means that a lot of 
poor soil is brought close to the surface, and as it is 
from the upper strata of soil that the roots of the 
young plants will have to first find their sustenance, 
the young plants are starved at the outset, and 
growth is slow and unsatisfactory. 
When the subsoil is poor therefore it will be 
advisable to bastard trench, or double dig the 
ground instead of trenching it. The only difference 
between this and trenching proper is that the sub¬ 
soil, instead of being brought to the surface, is broken 
up, turned over, and put back in its place. In order 
to do this properly a trench two or three spits wide, 
must be opened at one end of the site, the soil taken 
out of it being taken to the opposite end of the 
ground to fill up with at the last. Proceed then as 
in ordinary digging, turning over the top spit first, 
and putting the soil at the far end of the trench, 
then operating upon the under or second spit. Work 
in plenty of manure among the subsoil, for this will 
prove a great attraction presently to the roots of the 
young plants after they have got a hold of their new 
quarters. 
Planting.—Perhaps the commonest style of plant¬ 
ing is to place the plants 3 or 4 ft. apart in rows, a 
space of 5 ft. being allowed between the rows. Each 
stool is provided with a stout stake, to which the 
canes are attached. This system is one of the very 
best for ordinary purposes. A variation of it may 
be had by allowing 8 or 10 ft. between the rows, and 
cropping the intermediate spaces with various 
kitchen garden crops. We do not favour this 
system, however, as the roots of the Raspberries are 
disturbed oftener than they like when it is followed. 
Espaliers.—This is a capital method of training 
Raspberries. The plants may be placed about 2 ft. 
apart in the row, and the rows may be a little closer 
to each other than when the plants are grown in in¬ 
dependent clumps. We have picked some of our 
very finest fruit from plants trained to espaliers, the 
extra amount of light they get being very bene¬ 
ficial. 
After Planting —As it is manifestly desirable 
that the young plantation should commence to yield 
fruit as soon as possible, the canes on the young 
plants should, before the buds upon them’commence 
to swell, be cut down to within a few inches of the 
ground. If the plants are put out in the early part 
of the planting season this initial pruning should 
remain over until spring. The effect of this is to 
cause the stools to throw up strong and healthy 
shoots which will fruit the next year. If the cutting 
back were not attended to, only comparatively weak 
canes would be thrown up, and several years might 
elapse before the plants got into fruit-bearing habits. 
When more than four, or at the most five, shoots 
appear the weakest should be removed at an early 
date, for to allow them to remain would only be 
taxing the strength of the plant to no purpose. 
Varieties.- For general purposes Superlative is 
the best variety in cultivation. The plants are 
vigorous growers, and heavy continuous bearers, 
while the fruit, which is rich dark red in colour, is of 
superb size and flavour. If only one variety can be 
grown, this is the one to select. Baumforth’s Seed¬ 
ling is also an excellent variety. It may be described 
as an improved Northumberland Fillbasket, and, like 
that fine sort, is of vigorous and hardy constitution. 
The fruit is large and bright red in colour. Fastolf, 
too, is highly thought of by some growers. Yellow 
varieties are generally much appreciated upon the 
dessert table, where the fruit forms an agreeable 
change in point of colour from the red and crimson 
varieties. The plants, however, are not usually so 
prolific, and should not be depended upon for a 
general crop. Yellow Antwerp and Magnum Bonum 
are two of the best yellow sorts. 
Autumn-bearing varieties are not very largely 
grown, although they are useful for prolonging the 
season. They are not such sure or heavy croppers 
as the summer sorts, but if there is room a few of 
them will be of some service. October Red and 
October Yellow are two of the best.— Rex. 
WOES OF AN AMATEUR. 
The gardener who has a number of convenient glass¬ 
houses wherein he may give his plants all the atten¬ 
tion they need, is generally unable to understand the 
straits an amateur, possessed of limited conveniences, 
is sometimes put to. I can assure you Mr. Editor 
that I speak feelingly on this point, as the following 
experience will serve to show. 
Having been told that Crocuses could easily be 
grown in cocoanut fibre and charcoal in any sort of 
receptacle, with no other shelter than an 
ordinary dwelling-room, I made a desperate resolve 
last autumn to have a try. I purchased a stock of 
Crocuses, and some cocoanut fibre and charcoal, 
ready mixed. They were duly consigned to a number 
of glass dishes of various sizes, for which I drew 
upon the kitchen store. This, of course, made a row, 
and was the beginning of the trouble. Women pro¬ 
fess to like flowers, but they don’t seem to appreciate 
a man’s efforts to grow them for them. 
Well I’m bound to say the Crocuses themselves 
went on finely, and threw up a lot of strong shoots, 
but about three weeks ago an enemy came in the 
night and sprinkled them with fat bugs, or flies, or 
something between the two which grew and grew, 
and multiplied apace. I suggested to my wife that 
she should sponge them off, as I was busy; she 
wouldn’t, and—there was another row. 
Matters went on like this, the flies ever multiplying 
and fattening until some of them got too heavy to 
hold on to the Crocuses, fell down, and walked about 
the room making an awful mess. This brought the 
affair to a crisis, and another row. 
In the nick of time there was brought to my notice 
an invention of McDougall Bros., in the shape of a 
“fumer " that was warranted to kill everything that 
can crawl or fly. I obtained one, and after reading 
the instructions carefully, I determined to make use 
of it. The contrivance consisted of a little tin box in 
two parts, the upper containing the killing stuff, and 
the under part a wick and some oil, or grease, or 
some such tackle which had to be lighted. The 
" fumer ” was said to be sufficient for a house con¬ 
taining 1,000 cubic ft. of air, but as I thought my 
“ bugs ” were extra tough 'uns, I resolved to put the 
thing in the scullery, which contains only about 500 
cubic ft., along with the Crocuses, and let it do its 
worst or best. 
As the project had to be kept dark, the first thing 
was to get the “ missus ” out of the way, which, 
after lying like a Trojan, I finally accomplished, 
although not without exciting her suspicion, as after 
events proved. 
To cut matters short, the plants were placed in 
the scullery and the infernal machine set to work. 
All went well for a time until I heard the front door 
click, and then I knew the game was up, for the 
" missus ” had come home. In she marched with a 
mightily suspicious air and asked what I was doing 
with the mat against the scullery door, and what I 
had got there. I suggested that she should satisfy 
her curiosity herself, which she promptly proceeded 
to do, and then the fun began. She opened her 
mouth to shout and got a mouthful of fumes, which 
about staggered her. I had to laugh, but then 
Nemesis overtook me, for the fumes blinded, dazed, 
and choked me. I couldn’t see, neither could she, 
and we daren't shout for fear of another mouthful, so 
we beat a retreat, and that blessed " fumer " smoked 
calmly on and sent its insidious fumes all over the 
house from basement to garret. 
By this time the neighbours had got a taste of it, 
and there were hasty slamming of windows and sun¬ 
dry bursts of coughing. Next door’s dog began to 
howl, others joined in the chorus, and there was a 
general hubbub. 
When peace was finally restored, and the house 
cleared of the fumes, a row of another sort began, 
and my meek assertion that the smell was not dis¬ 
agreeable at a distance was received with scathing 
scorn. I found subsequently that all the "flies” 
were stone dead, and I don’t really wonder at it, for 
I was about " cooked ” myself, the " missus ” has not 
been right since, and the neighbours all regard me 
as a maniac of the worst class, with considerable in¬ 
genuity in the way of annoying people. 
Moral:—This new “ fumer ” will, I am fully per¬ 
suaded, kill any insect under the sun, but don’t use 
it in a scullery or it will nearly kill you.— Long 
Suffering. 
-- 
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 write 
"Amateurs' Page " on the top of their letters. 
Yines.— R. S. : A temperature of 45 0 Fahr. by 
night will be quite high enough for the Vinery for a 
start. 
Morello Cherries.— E. Morton : Morello Cherries 
m3y be grown as standards,alt hough the more gener¬ 
ally adopted plan is grow them against a north wall 
where they do admirably, and fruit with great regu¬ 
larity. If you have a deficiency of wall space, how¬ 
ever, you might well invest in a few standard trees. 
The pyramidally trained tree is the most suitable 
form. 
Pear Souvenir du Congees.—Exhibition : This 
Pear is a seedling from that excellent variety Wil¬ 
liams’ Bon Chretien, and like it is an early sort, 
coming into condition in August and the early part 
of September. For exhibition purposes it is first- 
class, as it grows to a large size and is of very attrac¬ 
tive appearance, besides being of good flavour. It 
does very well as a pyramid, but even better against 
a wall as a cordon. It you have wall space at your 
disposal we should advise the latter system. 
Stewing Pear.— Exhibition: The most suitable 
stewing Pear to grow for exhibition purposes in a 
class where any variety is allowed would be TJve- 
dale's St. Germain. It grows to a large size and 
forms a very imposing dish. For general purposes, 
Catillac would be our choice. Both varieties are 
hardy, prolific bearers, and good keepers. 
Tying-Down Yines. —Will you please tell me 
what is the reason for unloosing the canes of Vines 
that are to be forced, and bending them down close 
to the ground ? Is the practice necessary ? — Amateur. 
Taking the second question first, the practice is 
necessary in dealing with Vines that are to be forced 
early, but is not so important when the Vines are 
allowed to start into growth naturally. The sap 
naturally flows to the highest point, and the result 
is that the buds at the to p of the cane, when the 
latter is allowed to keep its normal position, are 
better nourished than the lower ones. They start 
away too strongly, and appropriate sustenance that 
ought properly to go to the lower buds. This causes 
the lower shoots to be very small and weak, and 
under the disadvantage of early forcing they become 
weaker still, and do not fruit well. By bending the 
canes down in the manner you mention the flow of 
sap is more evenly distributed to all the buds along 
the whole length of the stem, they break into more 
equable growth, and we do not find one or two 
shoots at the top running away at the expense of the 
rest. 
