A-B-C of Vegetable Gardening

by Eben E. Rexford

In order to secure a fresh stock of wood for each season's crop the old canes should be cut away as soon as they have ripened their fruit, thus throwing all the strength of the plant into the production of new canes from which fruit is to be expected next season.

While the two leading varieties, Kittatinny and Snyder, are quite hardy, it is well to take the precaution of giving them some protection to guard against the possible loss of some of the unripened growth of the season. This is done to the best advantage by removing two or three spadefuls of soil from the base of each plant, close to its roots, and then tipping the bush over until it lies flat on the ground. This could not be done without running the risk of breaking some of the stiff and brittle canes if the excavation were not made. When the bushes are spread out on the ground, where they are held in place by laying boards across them, throw some coarse litter over the base of the plant, and scatter a covering of straw over the branches. As soon as the frost is out of the ground in the spring, lift the bushes and replace the soil that was taken away in the fall.

Raspberries are second only to strawberries in deliciousness of flavor, and should have a place in all gardens where there is room for them. They do well in almost all soils, if well drained. A sandy loam, however, is the soil that seems to suit them best. Their old canes, like those of the blackberry, should be cut away at the end of the fruiting season.

Cuthbert is the leading red variety. Cumberland is the favorite black kind.

I notice that one of our most prominent growers of small fruit offers an ever-bearing raspberry this season, under the name of Red Ranere. I have no knowledge of its merits other than that which I gain from the grower's announcement in introducing this sort to the market, but from intimate personal acquaintance with the man I am quite confident that the plant must possess real merit, for he is not a person given to exaggeration. I quote from what he has to say in reference to this variety in a leading horticultural magazine:

This is not only the earliest red raspberry, but it is a perpetual fruiting one. Its main crop is greater than that of any other variety I grow. It continues to bear on its old canes until late in August, at about which time the canes of the season's growth come into bearing. These produce a large amount of fine fruit until late in the fall. The berries are very attractive, being a bright, rich crimson. They are of good size, and of very superior quality, with a rich, sugary, full raspberry flavor.

I would advise the amateur gardener to give this variety a trial. Raspberries late in the fall would be thoroughly appreciated by those with whom this fruit is a favorite.

The currant is one of the garden's indispensables. It furnishes us with fruit of just the right degree of tart acidity to fit the season in which it is at its prime, and who does not get a deal of enjoyment out of a green-currant pie?

No kind of small fruit is easier to grow successfully. Worms frequently attack the bushes in spring, and often ruin the crop unless steps are taken to put a prompt end to their depredations, but spraying with Nicoticide infusion will rout them in most cases. Application of this insecticide should be repeated at intervals during the earlier part of the season.