RASPBERRIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

RASPBERRIES.

Everyone who wants to grow raspberries for summer nee must make up their mind to having* no crop at all the first year. The canes should be planted early in autumn in well-man-ured land, aud cut down to within 3in | of the ground in early spring, when ' they will throw up fairly strong shoots to bear fruit the following year, that is, 18 months from planting. If, on the other hand, the canes are not cut down the first spring after planting they will bear a small crop of inferior fruit and hardly throw up any canes at all for the following year, when again the crop will be small and inferior, and the canes will with difficulty be established at all. In dealing with an established plantation, the canes which have borne fruit in summer should always be entirely cut down by the end of the month when all the fruit has been gathered. This will strengthen generally the new canes being thrown up, and increase the crop of the next year. Autumn-fruiting raspberries require a slightly different treatment. They should be entirely cut down every winter, and the new canes thrown up in the spring will bear fruit the following autumn. Remember that raspberries are very shallow rooters and consequently require a damp or slightly shaded position, or what gardeners call a "cool spot." Also, in consequence of their roots being so near the surface, a spade should never be allowed anywhere near them from the day they are planted to the day the whole lot are dujr up for the bonfire. A hoe is all that is needed. They are also very gross feeders and like a liberal mulching I every year in early spring