PROCEEDINGS OF KINDRED SOCIETIES. 247 



for the last two furrows, in the center of the row, I take a two-horse i^low 

 and plow as deep as the team can draw it. If the bushes are six or eight 

 years old, there will be some small roots in the middle of the row, but 

 cutting them off at this time of year will do no harm, but be a benefit. 

 Never break any roots, at any time, within two feet of a gooseberry or 

 currant bush. Whenever manure or ashes is applied, which should be in 

 the fall or early winter, it should be before the last two furrows are plowed, 

 so as to prevent it from working down into the dead furrows. If the plow 

 does not throw the first furrow well up under the bushes, it will be neces- 

 sary to do it with a hoe or shovel, leaving the ground a little higher under 

 the bush. This ridging of the ground not only protects the roots of the 

 plants and affords perfect drainage, but the earth will be dry and in good 

 condition to work in the spring when a flat surface can not be plowed nor 

 cultivated. The cultivation during the sirring and summer will work the 

 ridges all tlown by the time the fruit is ripe enough t(j gather. 



No limbs should be let grow down so near the ground that a common 

 hoe can not be worked under them. No suckers nor sprouts should be 

 allowed to grow after the second year, for three or four years, or the bush 

 will become so thick that the size of the fruit will be reduced and picking 

 will be difficult. After six or seven years the bush will need renewing by 

 cutting away the old and weak wood and letting two or three thrifty sprouts 

 grow each year where they have room. 



Once in two or three years, gooseberries should receive about twenty-five 

 loacls of well-rotted barnyard manure and muck, well mixed, and as many 

 barrels of unleached wood ashes, to the acre, applied late in the fall or 

 early winter. This will always pay, unless the cartage is more than two or 

 three miles. Beware of foul seeds, especially Canada thistles, dock, and 

 grass seed. If any of these get a firm hold under the roots of the bush, 

 they never can be exterminated. If the pruning has been properly attended 

 to, the picking can be done with more leisure and less expense than any 

 other of the small fruits, and will give as good returns. The green currant 

 worm is not very troublesome. Two teaspoonfuls of white hellebore to a 

 pail of water, sprinkled on the bushes, will be sufficient." 



THE QUESTION-BOX AGAIN. ' 



The contents of the question-box were considered with this result: 



1. Is it advisable to set a later peach than Smock f 



Mr. Hawley: No. I have Salways but they do not often ripen. As a 

 a rule, Smock ripens. 



2. Can Gur'rants be profitably raised, and is Fay a desirable variety? 



Mr. Andruss: Yes, as to both. 



Mr. Hamilton: Fay is not the most desirable. 



3. How can gooseberries be trained so as to keep the bushes from the 

 ground? 



Mr. Lewis: By clipping the limbs short enough so that they can hold 

 up the fruit, doing it either in the spring or during the season of growth. 



4. Does any one knoiv tvhether the cnrculio ever eat? 



There was a general belief that they do, necessarily, and of the foliage 

 of the trees; and that consequently they may be poisoned and killed by 

 the arsenites. 



