The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-02-01
Culture of the Raspberry.

Culture OF the Raspberry.
A. NJ. Purdy, of Palmyra,N. Y, gave,
some time ago, in the american Farmer,
the following good and practical advice
to an inquirer who asked this question:
THE raspberries | got of you last spring
I did not trim, and they have made a
prodigious growth. | refer to Miamas
and Doolittes. Must | cut these back,
and if so, as short as you recommend
within a foot of the ground? 1t seems
too bad and wasteful, as would like to
get all the fruit | can the coming sea-
son."
All there's the pinch in the last few
words, and therein lies the secret why
raspberry plantations prove so short liv-
ed. Most planters are too greedy. They
want big crops right away, at sacrifice
of healthy bushes afterwards. Now, we
say, off with the wood, and the more you
get off the better for your plantation, and
the longer it will last. Don't make the
young, tall, lank.boned boy carry mans
load. If you do he will be ruined for
life. Just so with the young raspberry
bush that has made such tall, rampant
growth.
Just examine the roots; see how small
they are, in comparison to that great
over grown top. OFF with it, we say, to
with in one foot Of the ground. Don't
calculate on paying crop the first year.
Let the root get we'll established. Keep
the new growth cut back to within three
or four feet, and you will be certain to
have a well-paying. plantation for years
afterwards.
"Shall l mulch them 2"
1t is owing to how you have got them
planted out. Ifso that you can cultivate
up close to them both ways, no; for the
cultivater, if kept going in dry weather,
is The best mulch known. Still, if the
bushes have large tops, and you cannot
get up close, mulching will be beneficial,
thrown close in around the bush, but
wherever your cultivater can go, mulch
ing is not necessary. they are planted
in rows so that they can be cultivated but
one way, then throw plenty of coarse
mulching in close to the bushes, but not
all over the ground, as recommended by
some. Cultivate when you cam and do it
all yoa can, and sure crop can be relied
on every year
Third question. Would you recon-
mend growing the sucker varieties OF
raspberries7 If so, pray tell me how to
keep them within bonnds.'
Just the same way that | keep weeds
within bounds, by liberal supply Of
"elbow grease" and the use of cultiva
tor that has sharp apparatus for cutting
them of just below the surface. If the
soil is worked over as often as is required
to keep these suckers off, and weeds down
it will be kept in the very best plight ,and
large crops of fruit will be the result.
We certainly would not discard such
desirable sorts as the Philadelphia, Clark
Naomi. Franconia, and Kirkland, because
of their being "sucker" sorts. We be
lieve in an assortment Of fruits, so that i
one sort fails another may hit. The red
raspberry is in too great demand in every
market, and pays too well, to think of moi
cutivating it because it suckers"
!. A Constant Reader desires information
in regard to the cattle mango or mad itch
and whether there is any remedy.
We believe this disease is sometimes
called burn itch. 1t has appeared in /
number of places in this County and ha
been communicated to persous attending
cattle that were affected with it.
ENGLISH SHEEr.-The advantages o
English sheep are their prolifcacy il
breeding, their good quality as nurses
their early maturity, their prohtablenes
for wool. Their disadvantages are thei
, incapcity to resist hardships, their poo
herding qualities, their want of longevity
{ and their tendency to diseases unde
Encouragement. By longevity we do no
, mean merely length of hte. Their woo
, degenerates in quality and quantity, an
, they begin to "go down hill" by the tim
the Merno has reched its meridian an,
the latter keeps up to that meridian 70
. several years. In respect to disease the
but exhibit the tendency of all highl
| artificial and highly forced domestic an
mails. All such must be peculiarly sui
jcct to maladies, especially inflammation
maladies. when every proper physics
A condition is not maintained. Roado
A in Rural .VeU Yorker.