STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 147 



the following- year, thus producing stronger plants than could 

 otherwise be obtained. 



If the land is heavy, or not well drained, the cuttings should 

 not be planted till spring. In this case they are tied in bunches, 

 with wire or willows, and buried in the soil or placed in sand in 

 the cellar. In setting cuttings in the field, rich well drained 

 soil which has been worked ten or twelve inches deep should 

 be chosen. Trenches six or eight inches deep are made wath 

 the spade or with a plow and the cuttings are placed about 

 three inches apart against the perpendicular side of the furrow; 

 the top buds being just above the surface of the ground. In 

 filling the trench see that the earth is packed very firmly about 

 the cuttings. If fall setting is practiced, a mulch of straw, coarse 

 manure or other material is essential to prevent heaving. 



The plants are commonly grown in nursery rows for two 

 years before being moved to the permanent plantation. During 

 ^this time the soil should be kept thoroughly cultivated to insure 

 strong, vigorous plants. A vigorous one year plant is far pre- 

 ferable for setting to one, two or three years old which has been 

 stunted. 



PRUNING AND TRAINING. 



As a rule annual pruning should be practiced and all weak 

 shoots should be removed while the more vigorous ones should 

 be shortened to induce the formation of fruit spurs. An import- 

 ant point to bear in mind in pruning currants is that the fruit is 

 borne on wood at least two years old and for this reason when it 

 is desirable to renew a bush two ytrars will be required to 

 accomplish the result, provided we wish continuous crops of 

 fruit. It is a good practice in the summer to pinch in the young 

 growth in order to make it stocky and hasten the maturity of the 

 wood as well as to increase the size of the fruit. 



There are two principal methods of training a currant bush 

 in common use — the bush form and the tree form. The former 

 is for most purposes preferable, especially if there is liklihood of 

 trouble from the currant borer. The tree form is produced 

 somewhat as follows : In setting in the field all buds below the 

 surface of the ground are removed. Later all but the strongest 

 of the buds above ground are removed. The following year this 

 shoot is cut back to about one foot in length and thus induced 



