Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1892 — ORCHARD AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

ORCHARD AND GARDEN.

A H»«pb*-rry Trellis. It is rare that we find a field of red raspberries in which due provision has been made for sustaining the .canes during the bearing season. They are cut down, as a rule, in autumn to a height of three to four feet, and left to winter through as they can. The damage from snow is always v serious. My own loss in winter and from broken canes in summer was so great that I have adopted the following plan: 1 set strong cedar stakes at the ends of rows and at intervals or twenty-five feet. To these I staple a wire, as for a grape trellis, about four feet from the ground. Then, bringing the canes together in bunches <tf three or four, they are tied with soft strong twine above the wire, not on the wire, for then the cord would soon be cut by the wire. The rows being all tied, intervening qnd short canes are dug out. Then, with hedge-shears, the tops are cut off at a height of six feet. This height on this plan is not too great. The raspherry likes a moist, shaded soil, and inqthis way it shades its own roots. In the bearing season the sides of these trellises become a wall of berries, a wonderful sight to behold.. Pickers move up and down the rows quite hidden. I have described my plan with the Cuthbert, and Golden Queen in view. These, in fact, are with me the only standard firstclass raspberries for market as yet. The Turner must be grown very thinly here, and in hills, to secure a reasonable crop. The Marlboro has succeeded fairly well as above, but with me it is not a standard in any sense. Rancocas I must reject, as also Hanseli, Lost Rubies and Crimson Cluster. Schaffer’s Colossal does admirably on the wire, and is an enormous bearer on that plan. Black Raspberries, in general, had probably best be cut low and grown in rtout heads. —E. P. Powell, In Garden and Forest Apple Tree* Alone Roadside*. Much of the droppings from horses or other animals driven along the street finds its way to roadsides, which are, therefore, good places to

grow apple trees. Possibly when they come into bearing some of the fruit will be taken by passers-by, but its owner can afford to give toll to the public for its use of land that is devoted to public service! ''When the road is macadamized, the apple tree roots will run under it, taking that part of the excrement that is filtered through the stones and is become the best possible plant food. Some years ago we saw a macadam road taken up for rqpairs, and a complete network of aDple-trce roots was found under the stones, coming from trees more than two rods distant, as they were inside the fence in the lot adjoining the road. Each tree seemed to have found this rich deposit of fertility, and sent its feeding rootlets to secure its share. The owner said this row of trees next the road had always borne better than any others, and when he saw the mass of roots under the macadam he knew the reason for the fact—American Cultivator.