SMALL-FRUITS AND THE GRAPE 213 



long severe winters. In hot or dry regions they will not 

 succeed. As currants and gooseberries blossom very early 

 in the spring, attention must be given to air drainage. They 

 should not be planted on low places where the cold air is 

 likely to settle. Both of these plants grow best on heavy and 

 moist, but well-drained, soils. Northern slopes are generally 

 preferable. Currants and many kinds of gooseberries are 

 propagated by cuttings. Those varieties of gooseberries 

 which do not grow well from cuttings are propagated by 

 mound-layering. (See paragraph 78.) 



319. Bearing habit. Black currants bear best on one- 

 year-old wood. In pruning it is customary to cut out all 

 wood which has borne two crops, thinning the center. Six or 

 seven canes are left on each bush. 



Red and white currants bear fruit on spurs on the old wood 

 and at the base of one-year-old growth. They bear most 

 fruit on wood younger than four years. Pruning one-year-old 

 red or white currants consists in removing all but six or 

 seven of the strongest shoots. In the following year, about 

 eight shoots are left, half of them being two years old, and the 

 other half one year old. The third year's pruning consists 

 in cutting out all shoots except two or three each of one-year- 

 old, two-year-old, and three-year-old growth. The following 

 years, all stems older than three years are removed, leaving 

 enough one-year-old stems to take their places. 



With gooseberries the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood, 

 and on one-year-old spurs upon older growth. The early 

 pruning of the gooseberry is similar to that of the currant. 

 In the later pruning, all stems which have produced fruit two 

 years are removed, except in the Pacific Coast states where 

 it is customary to allow the stems to bear fruit for three 

 years. 



320. Cultivation of currants and gooseberries is similar to 

 that given other bush-fruits. Cultivation should be shallow 

 so as not to injure the roots. 



