560 



THE GOOSEBERRY. 



Fig. 368. 



few hooked sticks (fig. 368) and forked sticks (369) ; the former to 

 hold down the branches that are inclined to grow upwards, and the 

 latter to support those which are inclined to grow downwards. These 

 are applied to the plant in the Fig 359^ 



manner shown in fig. 370, in 

 which, also, the roots appear re- 

 gularly spread out in every di- 

 rection. In the autumn of the 

 second year these three shoots 

 will have produced a number of 

 side-shoots, most of which may 

 be shortened to one eye, and the 

 others reduced to one-half of their 

 length. No shoots should be left 

 either at the origin or the extre- 

 mities of the branches, but only 

 at the sides ; the fewer the num- 

 HooJced stick for train- ber of shoots, and the younger forked stick for train- 

 ing prize gooseberry- t h e tree the ] arger w iH be the ing prize gooseberry- 

 bushes; length t oo fTu{ ^ Thug the ^^ wh(m bushes ; l en gth two 



pruned in the November of the f eet ' 



second year, will consist of three principal shoots, each bearing two 

 young shoots, shortened to about seven inches of their length. These 

 last, in the pruning of the third year, are to be left with two shoots 



only of new wood: these shoots 

 being placed in such a manner as 

 to preserve the symmetry of the 

 plant, without crowding it in any 

 part. The same system of pruning 

 and thinning is continued in future 

 years cutting out the old wood 

 occasionally, so so as to preserve a 

 moderate and constant supply of 

 strong, healthy young shoots, from 

 which alone large and fine fruit can 

 be expected. Whenever the extre- 

 mities of the branches grow more 

 than from twenty inches to two feet 

 from the main stem, they must be cut 

 back ; for large fruit will never be 

 produced at the extremities of long 

 branches. The roots of the plants must also be attended to, by cutting 

 a trench round the plant at the distance to which the branches are 

 limited, so as to shorten all the main roots to that length, smoothing 

 their extremities with a knife, and filling up the trench with fresh 

 marly loam, enriched with cow-dung. Some growers even carry the 

 system of root-pruning so far as to lay bare the whole of the roots, 

 and thin out and shorten the larger ones in the same manner as is done 

 with the branches, re-covering the roots with fresh soil. The fruit 



Fig. 370. 



A trained prize gooseberry-bush, two 

 years' growth from the cutting. 



