THE PARLOR GARDENER. 141 



their own way of vegetating ; they are perennial 

 in their roots only. The annual stalk, after 

 having borne its fruit, dies in autumn; and it 

 ought then to be cut down level with the earth 

 in the pots. The root puts forth every year, in 

 great superfluity, young shoots which are des- 

 tined to bear fruit the following year ; and, of 

 these shoots, but three only must be allowed to 

 remain on each plant that is to say, if you 

 wish to have a good crop of really fine rasp- 

 berries. In the spring, cut off about a quarter 

 from the length of these reserved shoots ; the 

 buds at the middle of the stalk will now develop 

 better than if it had been left entire ; and it is 

 from these buds always that the finest of the 

 fruit comes. 



Currants require only to be freed from the old 

 -wood that is to say, the exhausted branches, 

 which will no longer bloom, and which, with 

 their tops supported on a single stalk, encumber 

 the inside of the bush. By their being trimmed 

 in this manner, the fruit will come out at a good 

 height, far enough from the earth not to be soiled 

 by the spattering of earthy particles during heavy 



