BUSH FRUITS 103 



The varieties grown in Europe are usually finer table 

 fruits than the American varieties. It is generally un- 

 derstood that the finest fruits for eating fresh out of 

 hand are secured from the standard gooseberries. 



Gooseberries and currants are also adapted easily 

 to the espalier form. The most elaborate palmettes 

 and other geometrical designs can be worked out. 

 Nevertheless the simplest and most practical form for 

 trained gooseberries and currants is the fan shape. If 

 a suitable trellis is provided, the vines may be easily 

 tied out upon it in very attractive fan forms and these 

 are found to be quite satisfactory, both as regards 

 their looks and their product of fruit. They are also 

 easily sprayed, which is a consideration worth mention- 

 ing when one has to fight the currant worm. In gen- 

 eral, it is best in our latitude to run these espaliers 

 north and south, because they receive too much sun 

 when the trellis runs east and west. This rule, how- 

 ever, is not absolute. 



Probably the most convenient and practical way for 

 growing these fruits in the dwarf tree garden is to 

 plant standards at regular intervals in a row, say 

 six feet apart, and to plant a certain number of fan 

 shaped bushes between each pair of standards in the 

 row. If these standards were six feet apart, two 

 plants for fan training would be enough between each 

 pair. The top of the trellis on which the fan forms 

 are tied, would not be above four feet high, better 

 only three. The heads of the standards then rise well 

 above the top of the trellis. This furnishes some sup- 

 port for the stem of the standard and economizes 



