422 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'. 



What has been said about growing currants will also apply in 

 the main to growing gooseberries. The mode of propagating is dif- 

 ferent. The latter are obtained usually from rooting canes or 

 branches by laying them down or by severing these with a rootlet or 

 two adhering to them. The prevalence of mildew, however, in this 

 fruit, lowers it much in suitability for the needs of the farmer. 



Groiv'mg Blackcaps. — These are propagated by allowing the tips 

 of the young canes to root in the latter part of the season. They 

 should be planted in squares, not closer than six feet where a plenti- 

 ful supply of food is maintained in the soil. These may be kept clean 

 just the same as currants. The pruning consists in removing the old 

 canes as soon as they have borne, and to some extent clipping back 

 the new ones when they become over-exuberant, or when they are 

 not to be allowed to root. When a cane is allowed to root its bearing 

 power is weakened. 



During recent years I have grown blackcaps in the sod on some 

 neighbor's ground. A little circle around each bush is kept clean. 

 Of course, I w^ould not recommend this plan to the farmer, as it in- 

 volves too much labor. I do it as a pastime, and because there is 

 no room in the nineteenth part of an acre which I cultivate. Since 

 growing these blackcaps I have noticed that in the grove hard by, 

 blackcaps are springing up on every hand. To prevent the winds 

 from swaying the canes and breaking them may involve the neces- 

 sity for considerable cutting back during the period of growth. 



Growing Apples. — With, say, from twelve to twenty-four trees, 

 the farmer should get enough of this fruit to suffice for his needs 

 when the trees come into full bearing. In the absence of a better 

 place he can put those trees in the lawn or grass around his dwelling, 

 but not, of course, as a matter of taste in front of the same. From 

 the day he plants them he can grow them by suitably mulching with 

 straw or grass or coarse manure. This should be applied every 

 year. The strength of the mulching should be determined by the 

 rate at which the tree is growing. The farmer's apple tree should 

 not grow too fast, or sun scald — and other ills will come to it. 



The conviction grows on me that there is some relation between 

 rapid growth in apple trees and blight. In looking over many 

 orchards last summer, I noticed that the orchards most free from 

 blight by far were those that were not cultivated. In this climate 

 of cold winters we should be slow to make haste in securing rapid 

 growth in apple trees. Let the farmer set his trees in the sod, head 

 them low, protect the stem with wooden shields for a time and regu- 

 late growth by mulching, and he should soon have a supply of apples. 



The varieties should not be manv. Some of the Duchess of 



