132 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



rants, gooseberries, as well as the quince, are propagated, 

 to a great extent, by cuttings. The ground for growing 

 them, should be very -well prepared by trenching or 

 trench-plowing ; the difference in the growth between cut- 

 tings set on well or on poorly prepared ground is aston- 

 ishing, and the advantage in favor of trenched land is 

 sufficient to pay for the extra expense bestowed upon the 

 preparation. The soil should be rather sandy, decidedly 

 loose and mellow, and rather moist than dry. 



In setting the cuttings, the rows may be quite close, as 

 horse labor is seldom employed among them ; but they are 

 tended by hand, or the ground is mulched. They may 

 also be set quite thickly in the row, as they are to remain 

 but a short time in the cutting bed, from which they are 

 transplanted at one year old, though sometimes alternate 

 row*may be left over another season. When the trench is 

 opened for them, the cuttings are set, three or four inches 

 apart, next the line, so that only the top bud shall reach 

 the surface ; a little mellow soil is thrown upon them, and 

 they are tramped firmly at the base, when the remainder 

 of the earth is thrown in and the next trench is opened 

 for another row. If they be planted in the autumn, it is 

 well to cover 'them with a mulch, and for this leaves from 

 the forest are an excellent material. Some propagators 

 insist very strongly upon the necessity 1o> removing all 

 the buds from the lower portion of the cutting, particu- 

 larly in the currant and gooseberry, so as to prevent suck- 

 ering and to grow the bush as a miniature tree, with a 

 single stem. This is not desirable when the bushes are 

 liable to have the stems destroyed by the currant borer. 

 Indeed, the nature of the currant appears to require a rev 



