American Agriculturist, March 3,1923 
189 
Raspberries For All 
Preferences In the Garden Fruit Patch 
By SAMUBL FRASER red. Shaffer’s Colossal, 
O NE of the best 
things to give the 
children as a relish is fruit. Fruit is 
not only a food, but it furnishes cer¬ 
tain acids, ethers and alcohols to the 
system and are an aid to digestion. 
In some cases there are individuals 
whose systems do not readily utilize 
some fruits. This is the case with the 
strawberry. Some people cannot eat 
it without feeling the after effects. 1 
have never heard of any such claim be¬ 
ing made against the raspberry. It 
is one of the most highly appreciated 
of fruits, eaten either raw or cooked. 
The raspberry is one of those fruits 
which is not only desirable to grow, is 
hardy and highly esteemed, but its 
cultivation is relatively easy. It can 
be grown in every garden, little or no 
spraying is required, and the plants 
show considerable ability to care for 
themselves. 
Drawbacks that are Advantages 
The drawbacks to the extensive 
planting of raspberries are those which 
make the crop valuable for the home 
garden. The crop ripens unevenly and 
the plants have to be gone over three 
or four times to harvest it. The labor 
problem is serious if one has an ex¬ 
tensive planting, but a small patch in 
each garden where the children can 
earn enough to buy a thrift stamp, is 
possible on almost every farm. 
Picking fruit is an ideal way of ex¬ 
tending the activities of not only the 
rural but the urban population. There 
are many people to whom a raspberry 
patch would be an acquisition. The 
fruit is perishable. It cannot be sent 
far. As a general statement, this is 
correct, although red raspberries are 
sent from the Payallup Valley, Wash¬ 
ington, to Pittsburgh, Pa. 
The plants can be set out this spring, 
any time until June. If a neighbor has 
a patch, a good job for a wet day in the 
end of May is to go and visit him and 
dig up some of the young plants which 
are coming up between the rows and 
transplant them. Little difficulty will 
be experienced in making them live. 
The red and yellow raspberries send 
up a large number of suckers and are 
multiplied in this way. Some of the 
purple raspberries, such as Columbian, 
are usually propagated by bending the 
tips of the canes over in August and 
covering them with soil which enables 
them to take root. These are dug up 
the same fall or the next spring and 
sold as “tip layers.” The black rasp¬ 
berries also are propagated in the same 
Way. Plants of named varieties can 
be easily secured from the nurseryman. 
The ' Soil Preferences 
The soil should be deep and moist, 
the red raspberries doing best on the 
lighter loams, the blacks on the heavier 
loams. The reff raspberry is more 
hardy than the black and can be grown 
as far north as the Yukon. 
The wild raspberry indicates to us 
what the requirements are, a soil rich 
in humus. The plant usually grows in 
the fence row where the humus content 
is highest. The land should be well pre- 
Pped before planting. The strongest 
plants are the best. This statement 
means that the man who has the nerve 
to throw away two out of every three 
plants, using only the strongest and 
best rooted will make money thereby. 
The common distance to plant the red 
and purple varieties is in rows 6 or 7- 
leet wide, with plants 2 to 3-feet apart 
in the rows. Some of the purple and all 
of the black raspberries are usually 
given more space, with rows up to 9- 
leet wide. In a farm garden, it is best 
sive plenty of room and cultivate 
With a horse. Where the garden is 
small, raspberries may be planted al ong 
the fence of same and given less 
room. 
It is a strong grower, the fruit is 
large, the plant productive. At Web- 
4 nnn grower has secured 
quarts an acre. Previous to the 
yar, he pa^ 2 cents a quart for pick¬ 
ing and afcood picker takes off 100 
time^^ u. dST The patch is picked four 
A norn^^ield is from 1,600 to 2,400 
\ fo^Bthe black raspberry and 
•1I4U0 to ^BO quarts an acre for the 
a purple, is also highly 
regarded. New varieties are constantly 
being developed and many of these have 
very excellent features. However, it 
takes time to determine how really per¬ 
manent these good qualities are. For 
that reason the main portion of the 
berry patch should be set to old, tried 
and proven varieties. 
CURRANTS PAY WELL 
R. C. GROVES 
The currant is one of the least 
grown and probably most neglected 
bush fruit, largely because it is seldom 
eaten fresh. Nevertheless I find it 
a profitable crop, as there is always a 
lively demand for the berries for mak¬ 
ing jellies, jams, pies, and wines. While 
the currant will respond as well as 
any other fruit to the highest culti¬ 
vation, it will thrive under greater 
neglect, and is less pai'ticular in its 
demands for attention at the critical 
moment. One can exten(^ the picking 
season over a period of six weeks 
and the pruning season six months. 
During July, August and’ September, 
hardly a shrub surpasses the currant 
in beauty. It is good for a crop every 
year for ten or fifteen years. 
One would ordinarily be successful 
in growing i'; among grape vines and 
as a filler for orchards between rows 
of trees, but not between trees in the 
rows. The shade will not hurt them, 
but they could not be expected to sur¬ 
vive in the struggle for plant food 
with the tree. It does best upon a rich, 
cool and moist soil, not one poorly 
drained, and therefore cold and wet. 
A Northern or Western exposure is 
best. The currant is hardy and will 
stand any amount of cold weather 
without appreciable injury, in fact, 
better than it will stand too much 
heat. Planting may be done either in 
spring or fall. I prefer to set one- 
year old plants as I think one can 
form the heads a little better. I try 
to make it into bush form, by cutting 
it back until I get a half dozen 
branches. 
Laying Out the Patch 
If it is planned to cultivate both 
ways they would be set out 5x5 feet. 
The ground should be well cultivated 
before planting and plants set fairly 
deep. After the first year, the plant 
should not be cultivated too deep, as 
the roots tend to grow near the sur¬ 
face and deep cultivation will cut them 
off. The necessary moisture may be 
maintained by continual cultivation or 
by mulching. Cultivation will probably 
come nearer keeping out diseases and 
insects and encroaching of weeds than 
a mulch. Ashes, sawdust, straw and 
manure are used for mulching, applied 
to a depth of several inches. The best 
method of mulching is to’confine the ap¬ 
plication to the hills, or the row, where 
the continuous row is used. The space 
between the rows is then kept culti¬ 
vated. 
In pruning I remove branches over 
three-years old, thin the bush to admit 
sunlight and air, and to head in long 
irregular growing branches. It is best 
to do the pruning in the spring, al¬ 
though if necessary it may be done in 
the fall. 
There ; re three distinct types of cur¬ 
rants, red, white and black. The red is 
the most popular type, but the gardener 
who caters to the different tastes of his 
customers should grow several varie¬ 
ties, for no one variety combines all 
the desirable qualities. Thus the Red 
Dutch far surpasses all others for mak- 
irig jelly? but it is a poor dessert cur¬ 
rant, and on account of small size it is 
one of the poorest for marketing. On 
the other hand the Red Cross is one of 
the best for marketing, excellent for 
dessert, but it makes a very poor quality 
jelly. The white grape is most re¬ 
markable for its enormous clusters of 
beautiful fruit and surpasses all others 
as a ‘dessert currant, but it is not in 
high esteem as a market currant. Black 
currants are almost unknown on the 
market, and have a peculiar objection¬ 
able flavor, which may be remover, how¬ 
ever, by scalding in boiling water. 
Do your crops 
brm^ top prices? 
The best grades of any crop fetch the big prices. 
Intelligent use of commercial fertilizer will not only 
increase your yield per acre, but will better the 
grade. For instance, the Ohio Experiment Station 
found a yield of 8.4 bushels of wheat, with 49% 
shrunken kernels when no commercial fertilizer 
was used, while the yield was 28.33 bushels with 
only 16% shrunken when a reasonable amount of 
fertilizer was applied. Potatoes are larger and more 
mealy, and corn is better filled out and the kernels 
larger, when suitable commercial fertilizer is added. 
Royster’s fertilizers represent 40 years experience 
in furnishing properly balanced plant food for the 
various crops. They merit your confidence. It will 
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