17G NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



way. For the eradication of tliese, iron sulfate has been recommended, 

 but its value for this purpose seems quite doubtful. 



In applying manure to the lawn take care to secure material as free 

 as possible from weed seed. Nitrate of soda is often preferable for fer- 

 tilizing because it is free from impurities. Use this at the rate of 200 

 pounds per acre, and apply it at the beginning of the growing season. 



Rolling is a good practice for the lawn, as it closes the cracks early in 

 the spring and also shoves the crowns of the plant back into place, thus 

 correcting the heaving which has taken place during late winter. 



THE PRUNING OF BUSH FRUITS. 



After winter is over and before growth starts in the spring the black 

 raspberry patch needs a lot of pruning. Each living bush is at that time 

 of year composed of from one to five old, dead canes that bore the 

 preceding season, and one to five live ones that were shoots the preceding 

 season. These young canes have long trailing laterals. The first thing 

 to be done is to arm one's self with a pair of pruning shears and prune 

 these laterals to from 8 to 14 inches in length, varying with the vigor of 

 the cane and the number of canes in the bush. When the laterals are all 

 pruned, the old dead canes should be removed with a pruning hook. At 

 the same time enough young canes should be removed so that no bush 

 has more than four or five canes to it. 



When setting the black raspberry the portion of the old cane adhering 

 to the set should be pruned off as close to the crown of the set as possible. 

 This is one of our best methods of controlling such fungous diseases as 

 the cane blight, and is a good preventive in all cases. 



The pruning of the blackberry is very similar to that which I have 

 outlined for the raspberry. The shoots should be nipped low — when not 

 over 18 inches tall — if no supports are used for the bushes, and should not 

 be nipped at all if supports are used. The laterals should not be pruned 

 as short as the black raspberry laterals by from 4 to 8 inches. If no 

 summer nipping is practiced the canes should be headed in about one-third 

 of their length in the spring. 



The shoots of the ordinary red raspberry should not be nipped, but if 

 one is dealing with the drooping purple cane varieties, such as the Shaffer 

 and the Columbian, the nipping should be done the same as with the black 

 caps. The young canes of the red raspberry should be pruned back to 

 from 2y2 to ZVz feet before growth starts in the spring. At the same time 

 the old dead canes and all weak young ones should be removed. 



The pruning of the currant and the gooseberry is probably more neg- 

 lected than the pruning of any other fruit-bearing plant under cultivation. 

 This is largely due to the fact that they will bear some fruit — of a poor 

 quality, however — if they are not pruned at all. If one wishes to have 

 the gooseberries and currants of good quality he must prune them sys- 

 tematically each year. Pruning currants and gooseberries to the tree 

 form is never as satisfactory as the bush form, hence the growth of shoots 



