CHAP. XI VILLA GAEDENING 299 



increase in size, there is no occasion to leave on a great amount of 

 yoimg wood. Tliis should not prevent a young shoot being left 

 wherever there is space to fill, but it is very important that the 

 centre of the bush be kept open. A good deal of the pruning, as 

 regards the Red and White Currants, should be done in the summer, 

 about the third or fourth week in June. The leading shoots should 

 be left unpruned, but all others should be shortened back to three 

 buds. This will let in the air and sunshine, and its influence will 

 be beneficial not only to the present crop, but also in the future. 

 The most natm-al shape for dwarf Red and White Currant bushes 

 is the open-centred cylinder. This is obtained by cutting out all 

 branches in the centre when the bush is young, cutting always to 

 a bud pointing outwards. 



Currants on Walls. — All bare places on walls or fences may 

 be filled with Currants. Aspect is a matter of no consequence, 

 but they are specially useful when grown on a north wall. In 

 such positions, if protected from birds and wasps with hexagon 

 netting, the fruit will hang till winter if required. The space 

 allowed on walls should be about 6 feet for each bush ; in fact, 

 under all circumstances and conditions, this is about the amount 

 of space which a Currant bush can profitably fill. In dry soils it 

 will be a great help in hot weather if the ground can be mulched. 

 The increase in the bulk and weight of the crop will pay for 

 labour incurred. 



Insects. — About June the green-fly appears on the young shoots, 

 fixing themselves on the under side of the leaves, which soon assume 

 a bronze tint and cmd up. The best remedy is to cut oft' the 

 aftected shoots and burn them ; at the same time to give the trees 

 a good washing with soft soap and water. Soap suds from the 

 laundry will do, A caterpillar — a near relative of the Gooseberry 

 caterpillar — eats the leaves in summer, usually making its appear- 

 ance about June, and, if not picked oft" or destroyed in some other 

 way, quickly destroys all the leaves. Hand-picking is the best 

 plan, and the next best course is to wash the trees with something 

 that the insects do not like ; soap suds, and even clean water, 

 have a deterrent eftect, and many are dislodged by it. Perhaps the 

 worst enemy to contend with — or at least if it was common it 

 would be the most difficult to destroy — is the larva of a moth (Sesia 

 tipidiformis) which lives in the interior of the young branches, 

 where it eats out the centre, and the young wood dies, the tree 

 ultimately sharing the same fate. When it gets into a garden, the 

 best course is to destroy all the Currant bushes, stamp it out 

 at once, and obtain young trees from a new source. This may 

 seem an unnecessary measure to take, but there is no other so 



