186 BUSH FRUITS 



thinned out. The gooseberries do the best on a fairly 

 stiff clay while the currants seem to prefer the lighter soil 

 for their best development. In certain regions where the 

 soil gets very hot and dry during the summer, it is often 

 advisable to mulch the ground with coarse litter or straw in 

 order to keep the temperature down and to hold the moisture 

 in the soil. 



The bush fruits are heavy feeders and they should be 

 supplied with a large amount of plant food. The plant 

 food can be furnished by either cultivating the soil or by 

 mulching it heavily with good horse manure. The mulch 

 in addition to adding plant food serves to keep the weeds 

 down. 



Cultivation. — In the majority of fruit gardens, cultivation 

 is preferable. However, in certain sections particularly in 

 the middle west the bush fruits seem to thrive best without 

 cultivation, and with a mulch. The tillage when practical 

 should be shallow because the currant and the gooseberry 

 are shallow-rooted plants. The plants when grown under a 

 mulch do comparatively well without tillage, and the bush 

 fruits can be grown along the borders of the garden and in 

 other out-of-the-way places. However, more satisfactory 

 results are usually obtained if a certain amount of tillage is 

 given each year. It should be stopped soon enough so the plant 

 can mature its wood before winter. Without a doubt some 

 cover crop such as crimson clover would be valuable, espe- 

 cially on a commercial plantation, if cultivation is practised. 

 The cover crop, if it is adopted, should be planted about the 

 same time as recommended for the other fruits, namely, the 

 latter part of July or the first part of August. 



Planting. — The bush fruits may be planted in the fall or 

 in the spring. In many sections, except the extreme north, 

 fall planting is preferable. Where the weather conditions 

 are favorable and the soil is well prepared there seems to 

 be little difference between fall and spring planting. Good 

 results have been secured with both methods where the con- 

 ditions were suitable. The advocates of fall planting claim 

 that since the growth of these plants starts early in the 

 spring, there is more of a check to the growth of a plant if 



