The canes of cultivated raspberries are biennial.  A young and in most varieties a fruitless cane is produced in one season; it bears in July the second year, and then its usefulness is over.  It will continue to live in a half-dying way until fall, but it is a useless and unsightly life.  I know that it is contended by some that the foliage on the old canes aids in nourishing the plants; but I think that, under all ordinary circumstances, the leaves on the young growth are abundantly sufficient.  By removing the old canes after they have borne their fruit, an aspect of neatness is imparted, which would be conspicuously absent were they left.  Every autumn, before laying the canes down, I should shorten them in one-third.  The remaining two-thirds will give more fruit by actual measurement, and the berries will be finer and larger, than if the canes were left intact.  From first to last the soil about the foreign varieties should be maintained in a high degree of fertility and mellowness.  Of manures from the barnyard, that from the cow-stable is the best; wood-ashes, bone-dust, and decayed leaves also are excellent fertilizers.  During all this period the partial shade of small trees will be beneficial rather than otherwise, for it should be remembered that sheltered localities are the natural habitat of the raspberry.

By a little inquiry the reader can learn whether varieties of the foreign class are grown successfully in his vicinity.  If they are, he can raise them also by following the directions which have been given.  Brinckle’s Orange—­a buff-colored berry—­is certainly one of the most beautiful, delicate, and delicious fruits in existence, and is well worth all the care it requires in the regions where it will grow; while the Franconia and others should never be permitted to die out by fruit connoisseurs.  If the soil of your garden is light and sandy, or if you live much south of New York, I should not advise their trial.  They may be grown far to the north, however.  I am told that tender varieties of fruits that can be covered thrive even better in Canada than with us.  There deep snow protects the land, and in spring and autumn they do not have long periods when the bare earth is alternately freezing and thawing.

In the second class of raspberries, the crosses between the foreign and native species, we now have such fine varieties that no one has much cause for regret if he can raise them; and I scarcely see how he can help raising them if he has sufficient energy to set out a few plants and keep them free from weeds and superabundant suckers.  Take the Cuthbert, for instance; you may set it out almost anywhere, and in almost any latitude except that of the extreme Southern States.  But you must reverse the conditions required for the foreign kinds.  If the ground is very rich, the canes will threaten to grow out of sight.  I advise that this strong-growing sort be planted in rows five feet apart.  Any ordinary soil is good enough