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be shallow^ as the currant and gooseberry are both surface feeders. When the 

 plants are young cultivation in the middle of the rows may be fairly deep, but as 

 the roots extend across the rows, and take up practically all of the land, the 

 cultivation will have to be shallower else the roots will likely suffer considerable 

 injury. If this fall plowing is found to he doing any considerable damage it should 

 be discontinued, and the land worked up with the aid of harrow tooth or spring 

 tooth cultivator. If the land is properly disked, plowing may be omitted. 



The land should be worked down with a cultivator or disc as' early as possible 

 in the spring whether plowed the previous fall or not. As a rule spring plowing 

 will be necessary if fall plowing is not done. Later cultivations should be given, 

 especially after heavy rainfalls, to keep the top soil in a fine, loose condition so as 

 to conserve the moisture and keep the land cool. About a week after the crop has 

 been harvested all cultivation should cease in order to allow the young wood to 

 ripen up thoroughly before winter sets in. 



Plenty of moisture and a cool soil are especially important in gooseberry 

 culture so that its cultivation should, if anything, be more thorough than that of 

 the currant. Both moisture and a cool soil are important factors in controlling 

 gooseberry mildew. 



Fertilizees. 



Currants and gooseberries are gross feeders and nuist have their food readily 

 available and close at hand, as the roots do not spread far or deeply. Thorough 

 cultivation should therefore be supplemented with liberal applications of fertilizers. 

 Barnyard manure is best with perhaps potash and phosphoric acid applied extra 

 in some form. Manuring need not be heavy, of course, until the plantation has 

 come well into bearing, when annual applications should be made. There is little 

 danger of over-fertilizing the currant or gooseberry plantation; in fact, as usually 

 grown the fertilizer end of the industry is one of the most neglected. Cultivation 

 and manuring must be thorough if good results are to be obtained from these fruits. 

 They will thrive fairly well under neglect, but there are no fruits that will respond 

 more quickly or fully to proper treatment. 



Apply well-rotted barnyard manure in the fall and supplement this with a 

 dressing of potash and superphosphate early in spring, especially if the supply of 

 manure has been deficient. Card states in his book of bush fruits that currants 

 contain about 0.11 per cent, of phosphoric acid and 0.27 per cent, of potash, while 

 stable manure contains only about one-third more potash than phosphoric acid, 

 hence the need of additional potash. The Massachusetts State Experiment Station 

 found that applications of potash fertilizers increased in every case quality and pro- 

 ductiveness of currants. 



Peuning. 



Currants. — Proper pruning of currants is essential to the production of good 

 crops of high quality fruit. The fruiting habit of red currants and black currants 

 differs somewhat, so that the pruning of one is slightly different from the other. 

 Red currants bear their fruit on spurs from wood two or more years of age, 

 while the black currant bears the most and best of its fruit on wood of the 

 previous season's growth. Hence in pruning black currants we must look to the 

 production of a plentiful supply of young wood, and in red and white currants, 

 two and three year wood. Older wood produces inferior fruit. 



The old plan of training the plants to a tree form is now seldom used. The 

 plants' are less productive, and if attacked by the currant borer, the whole plant is 



