362 BUSH-FBUITS 



are likely to throw up suckers from the roots, and 

 when the fashion was to grow the plants only in 

 tree form this was considered a serious fault. Bent 

 layers may be employed in a small way. By this 

 method, the branches are held beneath the soil by a 

 forked peg and the . tip allowed to grow upward. A 

 slit is made on the under side of the arched portion 

 which is buried in the ground, in order to induce 

 more rapid rooting, by checking in some degree the 

 flow of sap from the parent plant. Layering the 

 tips, like black raspberries, is also said to succeed, 

 though not a common method. 



A writer in the Gardener's Monthly for 1885, p. 

 49, says that the readiest and quickest way to propa- 

 gate the English gooseberry is by pieces of its own 

 roots. Old bushes are dug up in spring, the roots 

 chopped in pieces three to four inches long, and 

 planted in nursery rows three or four inches deep. 

 He says that they will grow more in one year than a 

 cutting will in two or three. This method is cer- 

 tainly not in common use, and I cannot vouch for its 

 success. Two trials in the greenhouse early in spring, 

 embracing both English and American varieties, have 

 resulted in complete failure. 



New varieties must come from seeds, which should 

 be treated as directed for currants. It is not diffi- 

 cult to grow plants by this method. There is likely to 

 be little retrogression, and in rare cases there may be 

 an advance in valuable qualities. A French article 

 which appeared in the Horticulturist in 1849,* trans- 



*Horticulturist, 3:557. 



