CHAPTER X 



BUSH FRUITS 



WE cannot well write of orchard tree culture and ignore a quite 

 important department of commercial fruit growing, viz. that of 

 bush fruits. Even if we limit our observations to the raising and 

 cultivation of gooseberries and currants, we shall still be dealing 

 with a line of very great importance, and of considerable economic 

 value to the fruit-grower. 



We have very good reason for believing that great strides will 

 soon be made and that hundreds of acres of gooseberries and 

 currants will be planted in the very near future. At present they are 

 looked upon with suspicion, the former because of the prevalence 

 of American Mildew, the latter because of " big bud " and " rever- 

 sion." True, these devastating foes are, for the moment, uppermost ; 

 but we trust that no one will suggest that science has said its last 

 words concerning them ! We should not believe them unless science 

 was to belie all its traditions ; and we, for our part, obstinately 

 hold to the conviction that so surely as the sun will in due course 

 dissipate the clouds now hiding it from us, so surely will " American 

 Mildew " and " big bud " be conquered. That is our faith ; and 

 when this consummation is attained fruit bushes will be at a 

 premium. 



In our remarks on the raising and cultivation of these fruits, we 

 may look upon them as one, seeing that they require identical 

 treatment. This begins with the cuttings, which are made during 

 October and November from ripened wood of the current year's 

 growth made in lengths of from 10 inches to a foot. But there is 

 one slight, yet important, difference between the making of a black 

 currant cutting and that of a red currant or gooseberry. The 

 majority of growers prefer their gooseberries and red and white 

 currants grown with a leg, that is, as dwarf standards, but their 

 black currants grown as " stools." The reason why the latter are 

 not grown with a leg is that the top growth is spreading and heavy, 

 so that as the bush ages large portions are apt to break off under 

 the weight of crop, or as the result of wind or other pressure. This 



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