Cultivation.

The propagation of Raspberries is so well known to every gardener to be by suckers, that nothing need be said under this head; but the raising of a new plantation of stools is not by every one accomplished in the shortest space of time, and a collection is scarcely ever arranged so as to give all the sorts of which it may consist an equal advantage. In order to this, it is necessary that the respective heights should be known, to which the different varieties attain. This will enable the planter to arrange them to the greatest advantage.

This will be by placing the tallest growers at the back, the middle growers next, and the shortest growers in front. By this mode of arrangement, the shorter and middle growers will receive their due proportion of sun, without being interrupted by those which attain the greatest degree of elevation. The necessity of such an arrangement as this must be obvious to those who are aware of the advantage to be derived, in wet and cloudy seasons, in having this delicate and tender fruit fully exposed to the sun, and receiving a free and plentiful admission of air.

In making such a plantation as this, it will be advisable, if possible, to have the rows extend from east to west. These should be four feet at least from each other; and supposing one row only can be allotted to each sort, and that six rows are to form the extent of the plantation, then the first or. north row may be planted with the Cornish, No. 9.; the second with Woodward's Red Globe, No. 22.; the third with Red Antwerp, No. 3.; the fourth with Yellow Antwerp, No. 4.; the fifth with Cane, No. 6, 7, or 8.; the sixth with Double Bearing, No. 10. or 11.

The stools in the first and second row should be four

feet apart; those in the third and fourth, three feet and a half; and those in fifth and sixth, three feet. In planting, young suckers should be made choice of; and if in plenty, three of these should be allowed to each stool, placing them in a triangle of six inches apart. If fruit are not wanted the first year, the plants will gain considerable strength by being cut down within six inches of the ground as soon as planted, instead of leaving them three or four feet high in order to obtain from them a crop of fruit.

In selecting the sorts for the above six rows, it is intended only to show their arrangement as far as regards their relative heights, not as a proper proportion of each; because a single row of yellow-fruited will not, by many, be deemed sufficient for five rows of red.

When a larger collection is intended to be planted out, the additional varieties may readily be placed so as to correspond with those which I have selected as a specimen.

After the stools are established, and fruit of the largest size acquired, care must be taken to select the strongest canes, and a few of these only from each plant, in proportion to its strength, shortening each to about four-fifths of its original height: these should be supported singly by a small stake to each. For general purposes stakes are unnecessary, as three, four, five, or six canes from the same stool may be tied together on their tip-ends: this may be done so as to give each cane a bow-like direction, which will give much more room for their laterals to grow than if tied up in a more perpendicular manner.

As a succession of this very favourite fruit must always be desirable in the dessert, it may be prolonged considerably beyond its usual time by cutting down some of the stools wholly to within a few inches of the

ground, instead of leaving the canes at four fifths of their length.

This operation may be practised upon both the Red and the Yellow Antwerp, as well as upon several of the other varieties, from which good crops of fruit may be obtained in August.

The double-bearing varieties should have every alternate stool cut down annually: these will furnish an abundance of fruit so late as September, and in a fine warm autumn even to a later period.

As the finest and best of these fruits are, in all cases, the produce of strong and well-ripened canes, it becomes necessary that the stools should have every advantage afforded them. This may be readily effected by causing all the former year's canes to be cut down to the ground as soon as they have produced their crop, instead of allowing them to stand till the winter or spring: this removes an unnecessary incumbrance, and at a season when sun and air are of infinite importance to the young canes, consequently to the succeeding crop of fruit.

The habits and general character of these are very similar; the principal difference being in the shape of the fruit, which is usually conical in the former, and more globose in the latter. The Alpines produce

fruit in the autumn, which the Wood Strawberries do not. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 149.

1. RED ALPINE.

Fraisier des Alpes.

Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 89.
Duhamel, No. 7. t. 2.

ΙΙ

Fruit scarlet, conical; bearing strong through the summer and autumn.

2. WHITE ALPINE. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 90. Fraisier des Alpes à fruit blanc. Of the French. Fruit white, conical; bearing through the summer and autumn.

3. RED WOOD. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 92. Fraisier Commun. Duhamel, No. 1. t. 1. Fruit scarlet, round; bearing in the summer only. 4. WHITE WOOD. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 93. Fraisier Commun à fruit blanc. Of the French. Fruit white, round; bearing in the summer only.

CLASS II.- Black Strawberries.

This is not a numerous class, the Old Black Strawberry being the type, and the remainder derived from its seeds, either impregnated by itself or by others. Their character is to have the leaves rugose, pale green, and small; the fruit middle-sized, conical, with a neck, very dark-coloured when ripe; the seeds slightly embedded; the flavour very rich, and highly perfumed. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 148.

5. DOWNTON. Pom. Mag. No. 52.

Knight's Seedling. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 185. Knight's Strawberry. Ib.

Fruit large, ovate, having a neck; some of the early berries are cockscomb-shaped, dark purplish scarlet. Grains but little embedded. Flesh scarlet, firm.

6. GIBBS'S Seedling BLACK. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 184.

Fruit conical, small, hairy, with a neck, dark purplish red. Seeds slightly embedded in the skin. Flesh scarlet, firm, very high-flavoured.

7. OLD BLACK. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 182. Black.

Black Beacon.

Black Canterbury.

Black Pine.

Mulberry.
Turkey Pine.

Fruit middle-sized, conical, elongated and pointed, with a neck, hairy, very dark purplish red. Flesh scarlet, firm, with a buttery core, very rich and high-flavoured. 8. PITMASTON BLACK. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 183. Late Pitmaston Black.

Ib.

Fruit middle-sized, ovate, with a neck, slightly hairy, very dark purplish red. Seeds slightly embedded. Flesh solid, scarlet, very firm, buttery, and richly flavoured.

9. SWEET CONE. Hort. Trans. vol. vi. p. 186. Pom. Mag. No. 4.

Fruit small, cone-shaped, with a neck hairy, bright shining scarlet. Seeds prominent. Flesh firm, of a brighter colour than the skin, hollow, very high-flavoured. Plant tender.

CLASS III. - Carolina or Pine Strawberries.

The general character of this class is to have the leaves almost smooth, dark green, of firm texture, and with obtuse serratures; the fruit large, varying from nearly white to almost purple; the seeds prominent, on a smooth surface; the flavour sweet, and often perfumed. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi.

10. BATH SCARLET.

Bath Strawberry.

Devonshire.

p. 148.

Hort. Trans. Vol. 6. p. 200.
Milne's Seedling.

New Bath Scarlet.

Golden Drop.

North's Seedling.

Liverpool.

Fruit roundish or ovate, with a short neck, small for the class, scarlet. Seeds very prominent, of a dark varnished red. Flesh soft, with a large core, pale scarlet, and very coarse, without any particular flavour.

11. BLACK PRINCE. Hort. Trans. Vol. vi. p. 203. Wilmot's Black Imperial. Ib. Vol. v. p. 398. Fruit middle-sized, depressed, spherical, with a furrow at the apex, hairy, of a very dark violet colour. Seeds slightly embedded. Skin highly polished. Flesh