248 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Growing Gooseberries and Currants 



WILUAM FI,e;mING^ OWEN SOUND, ONT, 



IN growing gooseberries and red and 

 white currants all plants should be in- 

 spected in the spring and those parts need- 

 ing to be pruned or thinned out should be 

 attended to before the leaves are opened. 

 The bushes should all be sprayed thorough- 

 ly before the leaves are half opened, and 

 again in aoout ten days, always doing the 

 work when the weather is fine and dry. If 

 rain falls inside of 24 hours after spraying, 

 the operation should in each instance be re- 

 peated until a perfect application is accom- 

 plished. 



A liberal application of well rotted stable 

 manure should be worked into the ground 

 between the rows and around the bushes. 

 Not a blade of grass should be allowed to 

 exist in the plantation. As soon as the 

 ground is dry after the first heavy rain, let 

 the spaces between the rows and around the 

 bushes be thoroughly raked or scufifled 

 shallow by a hoe till it is in a perfect mellow 

 condition. The same operation should ^:i<i 

 repeated when the ground is comparatively 

 dry, and after every heavy rain throughout 

 the whole season. Every weed and all 

 grass should be entirely destroyed in order 

 to secure tne best results. 



If the plantation is large most of the work 

 of keeping the ground in proper condition 

 can be done with less expense by horse with 

 a scuffler and three-cornered harrow. When 

 this is done the bushes should be planted in 

 rows two ways and much farther apart. 



If the currant worm appears during the 

 summer one ought always be on the lookout 

 for it. The bushes should be sprayed at 

 once. If the worm is found before the 

 fruit is half size or after it is picked, the 

 solution should be one-half pound of paris 

 green to 40 gallons of water. If the fruit 

 is half formed or more the spraying material 

 should be a heaping spoonful of hellebore to 

 a pail of water. 



Cultivating the Vineyard 



4 ( 'T^ HE cheapest method of cultivating 

 J. the vineyard," said Mr. Murray 

 Pettit, of Winona, recently, to an editorial 

 representative of The Horticulturist who 

 visited his place, " is to cut away from the 

 rows in the spring with a disc harrow as 

 close as possible, then work out what is left 

 with the grape hoe. Mellow and clean the 

 ground between the rows by cultivation, 

 particularly after rains where the land is 

 heavy. About August i reverse the disc 

 or use the gang plow and throw the earth 

 to the vines. 



" Where I have practiced this shallow 

 cultivation for several years I have had 

 good crops, and find it very much cheaper 

 than the frequent plowing usually given. 

 This cultivation allows the rootlets or feed- 

 ers to come near the surface, where they get 

 more warmth and nutriment. The grape 

 requires a great deal of heat. 



" Where cover crops are sown, which is 

 far the cheapest way to keep up the fertility 

 of a vineyard, one plowing is necessary 

 to turn it under. When rape is used we 

 sow it about August i in alternate rows. If 

 sown in every row it prevents picking for 

 some time after dew or rain. The other 

 space can be sown with rye quite late in the 

 season. A treatment that would cause one 

 soil to give good returns might bring about 

 very different results in another. - The 

 grower must study the character and re- 

 quirements of his own land to obtain the 

 best possible returns. My soil is clay. 



" From experiments conducted at the sta- 

 tion Here I find Worden, Delaware, Lindley, 

 Niagara, Concord, Agawam and Catawba 

 the most profitable varieties. Campbell's 

 Early is the most promising of the newer 

 varieties." 



Some spray and some do not. I find the 

 best apples are to be found where spraying 

 is done. — (R. Collacutt, Durham Co., Out. 



