Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1863-07-03
H TIC UL T 0 RA L.
Raspberry Gu lture .

There is no finer fruit of the ear
! ly rlpening sorts can be brought to
market than the raspberry. Follow
ing closely after the strawberry it
fills up an interval in which we
should have no fruit at all, and with
its fine aroma and tender flavor is
general esteemed as of superior
excellence to the former fruit
Now as to the soil. Undoubtedly
the best soil for the raspberry is a
strong sandy loan it does not re-
quire to be very rich, for in such
case the canes grow too rank, and
the product of food diminished
the best aspect is northern slope,
both because it holds moisture lon
ger, and does not expose the canes
so much to the i'll effects of the warm
after "a period of frost, whilst at the
same time it prolongs the period of
ripening. The finest raspberrys
we ever saw grown were planted
between the intervals of a peach
orchard, which was regularly plow-
ed during the season Of fruiting. as
all peach orchards should be. The
ground where the raspberry planta-
ton is to be made should be first
deeply plowed and subsoiled, and
the planting of the canes should take
place as early as possible in the
spring. With the harder varieties
fall planting is to be Preferred
The best mulch, as in the case of
Strawberries, is woods earth and
dead leaves, and whether the canes
are planted in the spring or in the
fall this mulching for the retention
of moisture in the first instance and
to prevent the newly set plants
from being injured by the frosts in
the second. To set the plants draw
light burrows with one horse plow
across the space to be planted if it
be large, and bothE athwart and a.
cross as for corn. 1t is better. where
the area of land is large enough to
admit of it, to let the rows be six
feet apart one way, and not less than
three feet apart the other; although
it is very commonly the case that
the roads are laid off four feet a
part each way. After planting they
should be mulched as we have be-
fore stated, and during the season
should be kept light and free of
weeds by an occasinoal blowing, or
beets or potatoes may be advantage
ously planted in the intervals be
tween the rows. The second sea-
son, if the young canes that spring
up from the root have made a vigor-
Gus growth stakes should be driven
down alongside to which the canes
are to be gathered and tied to pre-
vent them from being broken by the
wind, for the new shoots are very
succulent. At the close of the sec
ond season, and when winter is APP
preaching, the vines should be trim
ed and pruned All the slender and
feebele shoots should be removed, !
leaving not more than three or four
in hill. These should be cut back
freely to concentrate the whole en-
ergies of the plant in the remaining
buds and thus increase the prodGct
of fruit the following year. 1t is
better not to leave the canes, espec- |
tally Of the tender sorts, too long
four feet is the usual length-but it |
is questionable whether it would not
be preferable on the whole to shor-
ten them still more, The after cul-
tivation in succeeding years consists
simply in spreading annually a
bout the canes early in the spring a
compost Of woods earth and we'll !
rotted barnyard manure; in keeping
rigidly down all young plants that
make their ppearance in the inter
walls between the rows; in keeping
the ground light with the plow and
thoroughly clean with the hoe, and
in protecting the canes from the eff
fects of early and late frosts by
light covering of litter or straw or
cornstalks thrust in among them.