272 Bush-Fruits 



plowing, or even by the ordinary cultivator. Frequent 

 stirring of the soil with a light harrow-tooth cultivator or 

 a spring-tooth cultivator having the teeth set well back, 

 is most desirable. It may be owing to this habit of shallow 

 rooting, that both the currant and the gooseberry succeed 

 especially well with mulching. Any refuse material like 

 straw, weeds, wild grass, or even coal ashes, may be used. 

 The mulching not only replaces cultivation in keeping 

 down weeds and retaining moisture, but helps to keep 

 the fruit clean as well. This is a good way to grow cur- 

 rants for family use, especially if they occupy small or 

 inaccessible corners of the yard or garden, where cultiva- 

 tion is inconvenient or must be done by hand. In the 

 well-arranged fruit-garden, where the plants occupy def- 

 inite rows, and also in field culture, cultivation is more 

 practicable than mulching. 



PRUNING 



Pruning the currant is often neglected, yet productive- 

 ness is largely dependent on it. Plants will produce some 

 fruit no matter how treated, hence are likely to be treated 

 very indifferently. The fruit is borne both on old and 

 on young wood. That which is best, and the most of it, is 

 formed near the base of the one-year-old shoots and on 

 short one-year-old spurs from the older wood. Conse- 

 quently, most of the young wood may be cut away, or the 

 old wood may be cut out, leaving young shoots, and fruit 

 will still be produced. The younger the wood the finer the 

 fruit, as a rule, but the plants are likely to be less produc- 

 tive unless, a fair supply of wood more than one year old is 



