206 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE, 



rule, free in growth, and, when not very closely pruned, free bearers ; but to secure 

 the largest berries, special culture is absolutely essential, and will receive attention. 



CULTIVATION. 



Propagation. Gooseberries are increased by seeds, cuttings, layers or suckers. 



Seeds are only had recourse to for the raising of new varieties, as no variety repro- 

 duces itself true from seeds, and even with cross-fertilisation the chance of originating 

 a variety superior to the best extant is uncertain. To operate successfully in cross- 

 fertilising the flowers, it is necessary to enclose those fertilised in a gauze bag, so as to 

 exclude bees and other insects. Very little, however, has been done in cross-fertilising 

 the gooseberry. The usual practice is to collect seed from the finest fruits of the 

 choicest varieties when dead ripe, drying them, and sowing in the open ground or in 

 pots or pans under glass. By the latter practice the seeds vegetate sooner, and if the 

 plants are advanced in pots before planting a year may be gained in fruiting. 



Layering may be pursued in summer, merely pegging the tops of the branches down, 

 and covering them with light soil, or larger branches may be thus rooted and removed to 

 permanent quarters the same season ; but this method is not the way to secure syn> 

 metrical bushes, and is only useful to continue scarce varieties. 



Suckers seldom make good bushes, and are objectionable from their proneness to 

 push growths from the base ; this is not easily preventable, as it is difficult to remove 

 all the eyes from the part covered with soil. 



Cuttings are much the best, selecting strong well-ripened shoots, taking them off where 

 the base is solidified. The ends should be cut transversely immediately below a joint, 

 the tops shortened so as to make the cuttings 10 to 12 inches long, all eyes and spines 

 removed to a height of 6 inches from the base, leaving three or four good buds at the 

 upper part to form branches. Early autumn is the best time for inserting the cuttings 

 in rich free soil and an open situation, placing them in trenches 4 inches deep, and 

 treading the soil against them. The cuttings should be placed 6 inches apart in the rows, 

 and the rows 1 foot asunder, leaving out every fifth row for facility of weeding. By 

 inserting the cuttings early in autumn they form a callus and push growth strongly in 

 spring, forming plants by the following autumn, but cuttings may be inserted during 

 the winter, or early in spring. Nurserymen in raising large numbers bed the cuttings 

 in up to the top buds ; they root during the summer and are transplanted with the roots 

 about 3 inches deep in the autumn. It is also a very good plan for inexperienced amateurs. 



