IIO 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 16, 1907. 
Raspberries 
And . . . 
Their Culture. 
The cultivation of this delicious and im¬ 
portant fruit is not nearly so well under¬ 
stood as it should be, for although gener¬ 
ally speaking Raspberries are not so diffi¬ 
cult to grow, yet in some gardens they are 
a complete failure; this may be attributed 
to various causes, such as an unsuitable 
site, soil, improper treatment, etc. As an 
old grower, therefore, I venture to give a 
few hints on their culture, in the hope 
that they may meet the eye of some reaaer 
who may possibly be in difficulties. 
Site.- —The site chosen should, if pos¬ 
sible, be an open one, as plenty of sun¬ 
shine is essential both to ripen the fruit 
properly and also to thoroughly mature 
the young canes which are to carry the 
next season's . rop. 
Soil. —Raspberries will generally thrive 
well in any good garden soil, the most 
suitable, however, is a nice friable loam 
with a moist (not sour) subsoil, the most 
unsuitable being either of the two' ex¬ 
tremes, viz., a very heavy or a very light 
dry soil. Before planting, the ground 
should have been previously prepared by 
trenching, or double digging, working in 
plenty of good manure between the two 
spits. , XT 
Planting and Training.— Early No¬ 
vember is the most suitable time to plant, 
but prior to this it should have been de¬ 
cided which method of training is to be 
adopted. For private gardens, I know 
of no better way than that of training them 
to trellises, or wires running north and 
south. The first wire should be two feet 
from the ground, and there should be two 
others above this at intervals of 18 inches. 
The rows should be 5ft. asunder, and the 
plants, if single canes, placed ift. apart, 
but if two or three canes are allowed on 
one root, 18 inches or two feet apart. 
Newly-planted canes should be cut back 
to within two feet of the ground the 
following spring, the object being to limit 
their fruiting capacity, and thus encour¬ 
age strong, vigorous canes, or suckers, to 
shoot up from the root. In the second 
and successive seasons the young canes 
should be tied in full length, at six in. 
apart, all weak and surplus canes being 
cut out. Then they should be gone over 
in spring, and the tops reduced to within 
six inches, or one foot of the top wire. 
All fruited canes should be cut out im¬ 
mediately the fruiting season is over, and 
should the stools at any time become con¬ 
gested they should be thinned out, or the 
ground will become unnecessarily im¬ 
poverished. Raspberries are great sur¬ 
face feeders, therefore the surface should 
be interfered with as little as possible, at 
least, to any depth. An annual mulch 
of well-rotted manure should be put on 
and very lightly forked in, also a good 
mulch of long litter in hot weather. 
Treated in this way, they will thrive for 
years in the same ground. 
Varieties. —Of the reds, the variety 
Superlative is undoubtedly the best, while 
as regards yellow varieties, probably none 
can surpass Yellow Superlative. There 
is, however, a variety called Golde* 
Queen, which, besides carrying a good 
crop of fine fruit, is exceedingly orna¬ 
mental. 
E. T. L. 
Corner in Apples.— There is a great 
demand for Canadian Apples over the 
north of ^England and in Scotland. It is 
said that the larger firms in Glasgow are 
making extraordinary advances in buying 
up all available Apples and buying them 
in such large lots that small retailers can¬ 
not compete with them. The retailers 
should combine amongst themselves to 
buy a large lot and then divide the 
quantity amongst the members. 
A Fine Collection of Mosses.— For 
many years past Mr. William Mitten, 
chemist at Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, had 
been collecting mosses from various parts 
of the world until he had accumulated 
50,000 specimens. This splendid collec¬ 
tion was offered to the New York Botanic 
Gardens in Bronx Park for the sum of 
^400, and the authorities promptly ac¬ 
cepted the same. The cost was defrayed 
by the managers of the gardens. 
- o. w. - 
Prize Competitions. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS— Competitors must 
write on one side of the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to THE GARDENING- 
WORLD or other gardening journals are de¬ 
barred from entering, but occasional con¬ 
tributors may compete. The name and ad¬ 
dress of the competitor must appear on each 
article sent for competition. The Editor’s 
decision is final, and he reserves the right 
to reproduce, in any way,l any article or photo¬ 
graph sent for competition. The conditions 
applying to each competition should be care¬ 
fully read. 
WEEKLY 
PRIZES. 
A PRIZE OF TEN SHILLINGS will be given 
for the best paragraph or short article on any 
gardening subject, such as hints of practical 
interest to gardeners, notes on the propaga¬ 
tion or cultivation of flowers, fruits or vege¬ 
tables, eradication of pests, etc. The para¬ 
graph or article must not exceed a column, but 
value rather than length will be considered in 
making the award. Mark envelopes “ Com¬ 
petition,” and post not later than the Monday 
folk wing date of issue. Entries received later 
th in Tuesday (first post) will be left over until 
V je following week. 
Two prizes of 2s. 6d. will be awarded each 
week for the two best letters, not exceeding 
150 words, on any interesting gardening sub¬ 
ject. 
RESULTS OF 
LAST WEEK’S 
COMPETITIONS. 
Some of the best papers in this competition 
are too long, and we desire readers to keep 
within a column. 
The prize in the Readers’ Competition was 
awarded to “J.C.B.T. ” for his article on 
“ Fruit Trees for Amateurs,” page 94. 
In the Prize Letter Competition, a prize was 
awarded to “ T. Preston ” for his article on 
“Forcing Early Rhubarb ” ; and another to 
“ J.O.” for his article on “ Bulbs in Beds,” 
page 96. 
Planting 
Apple Trees 
And the 
Sorts to Grow. 
The Apple takes first rank amongst our 
fruits in the British Isles, so therefore we 
ought to consider its welfare at all times. 
The Apple can be grown over a greater 
area of our country and in a larger variety 
of soils than most other British fruits. 
Time to Plant. —The Apple trees can 
be planted any time from now until the 
buds begin to break in the spring. There 
are good reasons for early planting in 
most districts, unless it be on wet heavy 
soils; then it is best left till early spring, 
but on light soils it is best done early in 
November, and would in the end prove 
beneficial. 
Preparing the Soil. —To prepare the 
ground if it requires draining, that should 
be seen to in the first place. It should 
then be well trenched, whether the plant¬ 
ing be on a large or small scale, as it will 
amply repay for the trouble of time and 
labour spent. 
Where the soil is light and not ovei 
rich, it should be given a dressing of good 
manure, but not sufficient to encourage 
over luxuriance, but a healthy, vigorou: 
growth should be encouraged. The 
manure should be worked in as trenching 
proceeds, 18 inches o-r 2 feet deep. 
Selecting the Trees. —Healthy youn< 
trees may be obtained from several of the 
large fruit nurserymen in the north, south 
and west of England and Monmouthshire 
who make Apple trees their leadin' 
feature. Select fair-sized, evenly-growj 
trees on the Paradise stock, as they com 
into bearing much earlier than on th 
Crab stock. The best forms for garden 
are the bush and pyramid trees. Apple 
on these two forms can be planted fror 
6 to 12 feet apart. For the majority c 
dwarf Apple trees, 10 feet is the most suii 
able distance, as this allows free develop 
ment of the trees, and at the same tim 
allows for intermediate cropping. 
Planting. —In planting Apple trees 
should be done with the utmost can 
They should 'have a large hole prepare 
for their reception, large enough to la 
all the roots out full length and singh 
The depth to plant is i foot to i feet, c 
about the same as they were in the nu 
sery. The soil in all cases should t 
broken down moderately fine, and we 
shaken in between all the small roots. 
Where the soil is fairly dry, treadic 
should be done at the time of plantin; 
and then again in a fortnight’s time, t 
make it moderately firm, but not to e: 
cess, to make it like a turnpike road, 
stake should be placed to each tree i 
keep it in its place and to keep the cents 
straight. 
The following are a few good varv 
ties:—■ 
Culinary. 
Annie Elizabeth. 
Bedfordshire Foundling. 
Brande/s Seedling. 
>Dumelow r ’s Seedling. 
Ecklinville. 
Golden Noble. 
