From a given amount of money, the Raspberry will, I think, return a larger amount of enjoyment and profit than any other fruit - the grape even not excepted. The raspberry season is looked forward to with the same earnest longing; both are delightful portions of the circle of the year; the refreshment which characterizes the grape is possessed in even a higher degree by some of the fine varieties of the raspberry, such as Knevett's Giant, Rivers' Monthly, and pre-eminently by Brinckle's Orange, which is undoubtedly the finest in cultivation.

Raspberries may be grown in almost every variety of fertile soil with nearly equal productiveness, but with greatly varied luxuriance, two constant requisites being always maintained - depth and richness of soil. The ground should be worked at least to the depth of eighteen inches, unless it is very retentive of moisture, or the subsoil very obstinate, in which cases water will accumulate at the roots, and cannot be disposed of at much less depth; so that the fibres may avoid the danger of being winter-killed, or death from being laden with water in summer. I have grown them with great success on reclaimed old swamp, and on very open sandy loam, as well as on almost every intermediate grade of soil. Those on reclaimed swamp grew, for the most part, rampantly as regards the plants, but did not produce the best berries, nor the best plants from which to form a new field; the best fruit was uniformly from light upland.

In manuring for the raspberry, a deep alluvial soil, rich in vegetable mould, will require a light dressing of well-rotted stable manure, with a top dressing of ashes immediately after planting, employing from ten to thirty bushels to the acre. For a light sand or loam, a liberal dressing of compost will be necessary; to four loads of vegetable muck, add one load of rich barnyard manure, and from four to eight bushels of unleached ashes; and if lime is cheap, it may be advantageously used to twice the amount of the ashes, together with salt lye, which is the best addition to the compost that can be used for this fruit. Mulch the roots well, to keep the ground free from weeds; but the grand point to be insisted on is depth of culture, which leaves a constant supply of moisture, obviates the danger of too much wet, and gives scope for the ever active roots to hold their revels, which they manifest in a profusion of fruit.

For the growing of good fruit it is not necessary that the canes should be supported, though it is advantageous, and also convenient in picking. The most obvious method is to support the canes of each hill with a stake; but a more effective and convenient way would be to stretch a wire along the rows, supported by a firmly braced post at each end, and at intervals of about thirty feet drive stakes into the ground to support the wire at an elevation of about three feet, or four feet for the most vigorous growers; spun yarn will answer.

The rows should be four feet apart. North of the latitude of Philadelphia (and there also) lay down and cover the canes in winter. When the bearing season is at an end, the old canes should be cut out, and the shoots that have sprung up for next year's bearing should be thinned to the proper number, varying according to the strength from three to five; remembering that the crop is made or marred the year previous to its production. In choosing plants, the root, and ripeness and solidity of wood, not length of canes, should govern the choice; large canes, with small roots, are undesirable.

My first choice as a market fruit, is the Hudson River Antwerp, for its size, exceeding productiveness, and its firmness, which enables it to bear transportation. The current year one thousand dollars net were realized here from one acre of this variety. For field culture it deserves its celebrity, but for the garden it is much excelled by the seedlings of Dr. Brinckle. Fastolf is nearly equal in productiveness, but a much more vigorous grower, and somewhat more hardy. Its rich berries almost burst with their fine juice, and do not bear carriage well.

Franconia is a vigorous grower, and rather more hardy than either of the above, with large, dark-colored fruit, bearing carriage nearly as well as the Antwerp; it is a late bearer, of high flavor, and especially excellent for cooking.

Knevett's Giant is truly gigantic, excellent for the dessert, and for preserving. Rivers' new large-fruited Monthly had been a disappointment till I determined to thin out offsets, and let no more grow than were required for fruiting, and that had the desired effect; and it has proved the most productive that I have cultivated, more than twofold of the H. R. Antwerp.

The Yellow Antwerp is a very good variety, but its berries are so much softer than Hudson River, that it is not grown for market. As Elliot remarks in his Fruit Growers' Guide, "it will soon give place to Brinckle's Orange and Colonel Wilder, which are far better varieties".

May's Antwerp is an excellent productive variety, but less hardy than the above, and of much less vigorous growth. Ohio Everbearing, by those who like the black-cap variety, will be greatly prized, bearing as it does profuse clusters. Catawissa has much the habit of the last, but the fruit hitherto has not been comparable to it in flavor.

Colonel Wilder is a white berry, of brisk, rich flavor - productive, excellent, and hardy. Vice-President French is a vigorous and productive variety; berries large and juicy, with a high subacid taste; a late bearer. To Cushing, the description of Vice-President French will apply, except that it is exceedingly sweet; it bears until after many are dry from frost. Yesterday (Oct. 20) I picked a branch loaded with fruit; its leaves were green, while those around it were shrivelled up; very hardy. Brinckle's Orange is among raspberries what the Newtown Pippin is among apples. In conversation lately with Mr. Charles Downing, who is eminently conservative, he remarked: "This is by far the best raspberry in cultivation." It should have been called Opal instead of Orange, its translucence suggesting the brilliant play of light of that gem, and its beauty is equalled by its excellence; it is very vigorous, hardy, and productive; continues long in bearing; most excellent in every respect for field and garden. The Walker, were it not for its exceeding adhesiveness to the germ, would be valuable. The Mrs. Wilder is so like the Colonel Wilder as scarcely to need a separate description. It is not so hardy, and not so productive.

The double-bearing Antwerp scarcely bears at all! and what fruit there is, scarcely tolerable. Several native varieties have high-flavored fruit, but the berries are too small to be valuable. The true Antwerp is very hardy, and a most vigorous grower, and bears good crops of medium quality; it is still cultivated in Jersey for market. The Northumberland Fill-basket has a high English nursery reputation, but has not yet given any indication of merit in this country.

[The above is a capital article by a practical and observing man. We may remark that he omits two of the most valuable manures for this plant - spent tan, and chippings of leather; the raspberry luxuriates in this kind of food.

Mr. Hughes cannot have the true Mrs. Wilder, the fruit of which was larger and finer than the Colonel Wilder; but unfortunately the original plant was destroyed before it was disseminated.

In regard to the Walker, the pertinacity with which the fruit adheres to the stem renders it more valuable for market purposes, but it should be gathered with the stem on, as is the custom in England, and then it can be transported to any distance. When fully ripe, there is no raspberry that will remain so long in perfection, on or off the plant, as the Walker. - Ed].

Cultivation Of The Raspberry #1

Excellent. Raspberries - to my notion - are the best summer fruits we have. So easy to grow, that everybody, with a little patch of land, can have them - a great argument in their favor. But there is one objection to those you describe, Mr. Hughes - that of their sensibility to frost - inseparable, probably, from varieties so choice. Now, I grow a most excellent, strong, red raspberry, prolific in bearing, delicious in flavor, and a month in season, whose wood is hardy as a currant bush. It is not our common field red raspberry, either. The man I had it of said it was the Antwerp; but it is not the red Antwerp of the nurseries; yet quite as good, and I would not exchange it for any of the less hardy kinds, if I could have but one. I hope that Dr. Brinckle, among all the new varieties with which he has blessed the world, will invent a hardy one, of choice flavor.