268 THE FLORIST. 



plants will not be liable to produce suckers hereafter, which are so 

 difficult to be removed when once established, and rob the plant of a 

 great portion of that nourishment which should be preserved for the 

 production of its fruit. 



When the young plants are ready for planting, the plot of ground 

 intended for their reception should be well prepared by being deeply 

 trenched, and if some enriching green crop, such as Potatoes or Cabbages, 

 with which plenty of manure had been used, were planted upon it the 

 previous year, so much the better. Here the young plants, when lifted 

 from the nursery, should be placed in rows, and at six feet apart every 

 way, care being taken not to plant them too deep — a very common 

 error with most persons. Openings should be made sufficiently large 

 to receive them freely, the bottoms perfectly level ; and in putting in 

 the little plants their roots should be spread out horizontally on all sides, 

 and by no means allowed to overlap each other. Good rich mould, 

 with a little old manure or compost, should be placed immediately under 

 and over them ; then, having gently pressed them with the foot, the 

 remaining portion of earth should be placed about them, and left quite 

 loose at the surface. 



The principal care they will require afterwards is pruning, which 

 should be once a year, and at the most convenient time after the leaves 

 fall offi In pruning Gooseberries care should be taken to leave the 

 centre of the plant tolerably open, so that light and air may have free 

 access to every part of it, and the branches thinned out until those 

 remaining do not touch or cross each other. The old wood should be 

 removed, in order to encourage the growth of the new, on the presence 

 of which the luxuriance of our second year's crop entirely depends, this 

 being one of those plants which produce their fruit principally on the 

 wood of the last year's growth. Should any part of the bush become 

 deficient of young wood, stop back the old branches in that part, and 

 plenty of young wood will be thrown out by them the following year. 



Nothinof can be worse than for cottagrers to leave too much wood on 

 their bushes, as thereby they become too much crowded, and the fruit 

 worthless. If abundant crops of fine large fruit be desired, leave little 

 wood, and supply the plants with plenty of both liquid and solid manure. 

 This should be done immediately afl:er pruning, at which time, also, 

 the ground should be dug, and left open and loose about the plants. 

 November is, perhaps, the best time of the year to take cuttings fi-om, 

 and transplant. Gooseberries. 



AU the varieties of the Currant are propagated precisely in the same 

 manner as the Gooseberry ; and as the black variety produces its fruit 

 similar to the Gooseberry, on the young wood, its method of pruning is 

 of course the same. The white and red are pruned in quite a different 

 manner, the young wood being cut back every autumn within a few 

 eyes of the old, to cause them to send forth spurs, upon which those 

 plants produce their fruit. An Artjsan. 



