52 PROFITABLE FRUIT-GROWING. 



not half sufficiently practised. It prevents crowd- 

 ing and promotes fruitfulness. Every shoot may 

 be pinched or cut off when five or six inches long, 

 leaving two or three pairs of leaves on the part left, 

 only allowing a shoot to extend here and there 

 when there is room for such extension, in accord- 

 ance with the principle above described. When 

 other growths follow the stopping, pinch them off 

 in turn, and fruiting spurs will form, and fruit 

 follow exactly as shown in the engraving. 



The Gooseberry is one of the most certain, profit- 

 able, and reliable of fruits. Young trees grown two 

 feet apart will produce at the least a pint of fruit 

 in three years, probably much more, and the value 

 of this, at the low price of a shilling a peck, is at 

 the rate of over 30 an acre. They may be grown 

 at that distance until they touch each other, then 

 half of them can be taken out and replanted five or 

 six feet apart if it is desired to extend the planta- 

 tion. In six years the above value of the crop 

 will be doubled. They like deeply worked fertile, 

 soil, and may be planted in the autumn or 

 spring. 



Gooseberries for Hedges, Walls, or Fences. 



Particular attention is directed to the plan now 



to be recommended. More fruit can be had from a 



given extent of land in this than in any other way. 



