Raspberries Do Well

“I also set 18 Shaffer Colossal raspberry bushes in the fall, that same year, bought direct from the nursery. This plant, being propagated from the tips, was new to me, and in buying in the fall the plants were small and the roots smaller, but I succeeded in having it come through the winter. Every Monday I watered with wash water and many pailfuls of dressing. I also worked around their roots throughout the summer, and as soon as a shoot was long enough to reach the ground, I buried it in the earth for a new plant, after mellowing up the ground and putting a stone upon the plant to hold it down. In the spring of the second year I set the balance of this row and another between the small fruit trees, which are set 20 feet apart, making two rows 115 feet long, each having 22 plants. From these I raised enough plants to set three additional rows last season, besides many plants which were disposed of. The 44 hills in the two old rows yielded over five bushels of raspberries last year. These two rows of bushes and berries being interwoven with the new growth made a hedge, the handsomest I have ever seen. These purple berries I find more acid than the red, but served with sugar and cream they make a dish fit for a queen.

” One-half the space from the south end was plowed up and set with raspberries. A heavy coat of dressing was applied from the barn cellar and worked in thoroughly with a wheel harrow as soon as the soil could be worked in the spring. The plants were then taken up with a spade from the old rows, moved to the new plot, while the dirt adhered and set while the ground was moist, and they grew and bore as if they had never been moved. About a foot was cut from the tops, leaving them 3 or 4 feet high. A fine crop of berries was secured the first year. This could not be done profitably on a large scale, but as my three rows were only 115 feet long I did it easily after a rain, and felt repaid for my work.

” This garden plot slopes a little toward the southeast, and is a gravelly loam, and quite rocky. I apply a shovelful of dressing to each hill, keep the weeds and grass down and raise lots of berries. The Shaffer Colossal raspberries are set between and under the plum, pear, and cherry trees, they in turn being set about 20 feet apart. This plot of ground outside the four rows of raspberries 140 feet and three rows of blackberries 75 feet long, I find very profitable as well as a fascinating industry, having made ready sales for all the fruit I could spare.”


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