We have said that raspberries thrive in partial shade; and
therefore some advice in regard to them naturally follows our
consideration of trees. Because the raspberry is not so exacting
as are many other products of the garden, it does not follow that
it should be marked out for neglect. As it is treated on many
places, the only wonder is that even the bushes survive. Like many
who try to do their best in adversity, it makes the most of what
people term "a chance to get ahead."
Moreover, the raspberry is perhaps as often injured by mistaken
kindness as by neglect. If we can imagine it speaking for itself,
it would say: "It is not much that I want, but in the name of
common-sense and nature give me just what I do want; then you may
pick at me to your heart's content."
The first need of the raspberry is a well-drained but not a very
dry, light soil. Yet such is its adaptability that certain
varieties can be grown on any land which will produce a burdock or
a mullien-stalk. In fact, this question of variety chiefly
determines our chances of success and the nature of our treatment
of the fruit. The reader, at the start, should be enabled to
distinguish the three classes of raspberries grown in this
country.
As was true of grapes, our fathers first endeavored to supply
their gardens from foreign nurseries, neglecting the wild species
with which our woods and roadsides abounded.
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