Miscellaneous. 347 



■stone fruits, and all such are heavy. Kelsey is smaller than Burbank. 

 In flavor it is excellent. It is one of the fruits frequently saved by 

 smudging, as it blooms and sets fruit quite early in the frosty spring. 

 The Japan plums are wonderfully free from black knot and from the 

 attacks of the curculio. The trees are thrifty growers. Burbank leads 

 the class. — Southern Fruit Grower. 



PRUNING THE GOOSEBERRY. 

 (John W. Lloyd, Illinois.) 



If the pruning of gooseberries is neglected, the bushes fill up with 

 wood and the berries become small and difficult to pick. The fruit is 

 produced from lateral buds on one-year-old wood, and also on short 

 spurs on wood two 'or more years old. The same spur may produce 

 fi uit for three or four years if the strength of the bush is maintained 

 by proper fertilizing and pruning. The first two crops from a given 

 spur are, however, usually the best. 



The new wood which is produced in a gooseberry bush each season 

 appears as new branches arising from buds on the previous year's growth 

 of the canes already present, or as new shoots arising from the crown 

 of the bush. The new branches on the old canes will produce fruit from 

 their lateral buds the year following the one in which they develop. 

 The new shoots from the crown will become fruiting canes when two 

 years old if allowed to grow. The new branches on a comparatively 

 young cane are much stronger than those on an old cane. After a cane 

 has reached the age of about five years, the new growth is likely to be 

 short, weak and unproductive. Since a weak new growth indicates a 

 general weakening of the whole cane, the spurs also, even though young, 

 are likely to produce fruit of inferior size. As soon as a cane shows 

 signs of weakening it should be removed, and a new shoot left to de- 

 velop into a cane to take its place. In this way the bush may continually 

 be renewed, so that it will remain productive and profitable for many 

 years. 



Care should be taken to avoid leaving too many young shoots to 

 develop into canes. If the bush is in normal condition, the number of 

 young shoots left should be just equal to the number of old canes re- 

 moved; and they should be so distributed as to keep the bush as sym- 

 metrical as posible. Low-hanging shoots and canes should always be 

 removed. A symmetrically pruned gooseberry bush will consist of from 

 six to a dozen or so canes of all ages from one to about five years, and 

 there will be approximately an equal number of canes of each age. 



