Los Angeles herald., 1892-04-17
FARM AND RANGE,
Typical Facts About Southern
California Farms.
Something About Wild Raspberries
in California.
How They Should Be Cultivated to
Be Profitable.
New Fumigating Apparatus-Fertili
for Orange Trees-The
Sweet Lime.

There are three species OF wild rasp-
berries to be found in California, but
scarcely any effort has been made to
improve or domesticate them, which
which could doubtless be done with
gratifying results. One of the most in
teresting of the wild berries, Rubus
leucodermis, is found generally scat
tered and in considerable qnanti-
ties in the coast range and Sierra
Nevadas. The fruit is comparatively
large and of a. yellowish red
color, with white bloom, and the
flavor is agreeable. Botanically, it
very nearly resembles the wild black
cap raspberry of the eastern states, but
the leaflets are more coarsely toothed
and the prickles stouter and more
hooked. The improved raspberries are
cultivated to considerable extent in
California, but the black caps, which
are generally the most highly priced
in other parts of the country, are ia
booed and can only be found in few
private gardens. The only explanation
ever given for this freak of inclination
is that people will not eat black rasp.
berries.
The yellow varieties, which are very
pleasant of flavor, in many instances
grow and bear well, but are not appre.
ciated except by few amateurs. OF
the red varieties, the Cuthbert and Han
sell are at present the most extensively
grown. The red raspberry delights in
a mellow, rich soil that is well drained,
but has some moisture, although it will
thrive in almost any soil and location, If
cultivation is thorough and frequent,
so that the plants will not
lack for moisture. They are some
successfully practiced, but the fruit
no irrigation is given. In the heated
interior valleys and warm exposures in
the foothills, partial shadesbr the cool
est location is very desirable, as the
fruiting season can thus be much pro-
longed and the plants will stand the
heat better. The rows are usually from
five to six feet apart, and the plants are
set three feet apart in the row. The
soil should be very deeply and thorough
ly prepared and pulverized before the
planting.
Culture should be frequent and no
weeds allowed to grow in the rows.
After the plants are established, cult
walton should be shallow and the ground
kept finely pulverized, as the roots feed
near the surface, and to facilitate the
retention of moisture. 1t is the usual
method to top the canes when they are
about three feet in height, and the lat
erals, when they are formed, are
pinched back so as to leave
them from eight to twelve inches
in length. The suckers should
be persistently thinned out, 80 as
only to leave three or four strong canes
at time from one stool. Continuous
bearing is secured from the two varie-
ties mentioned by cutting out the fruit
ing canes as soon as the crop has been
gathered, thus throwing the vigor of the
plant into other shoots and forcing them
into fruiting. A succession of shoots
can be secured by pinching off the tips
of some of them after they are few
inches above the ground, causing the
throwing out of side shoots, which will
grow upright to the usual height. t.-[Cal-
ifOrnia Fruit Grower.