IMPLEMENTS 



17 



vate close to the bushes. ' Though the fruiting -habit of 

 currants and gooseberries is different from that of bram- 

 bles, a similar principle of renewing the fruiting -wood 

 may be used with advantage. Fruit borne on old wood 

 becomes deficient in size. It is better therefore to cut 

 out all parts more than two years old and allow the 

 younger shoots to take their places. This is preferable 

 to shortening -in the shoots, for that induces additional 

 branching and a dense undesirable form of bush. 



Some implement is needed for cutting out the old 

 and superfluous canes. The work can be done with 

 long-handled pruning - shears, with a corn-cutter or 

 with an ordinary bush -scythe, but some form of hooked 

 knife, small enough to work 

 among the canes easily and cut 

 one at a time, is more conven- 

 ient. A good tool of this kind 

 can be made from a flat file, 

 properly bent and sharpened, 

 then firmly driven into a shovel 

 or manure - fork handle, as 

 shown in Fig. 2. William A. 

 Brown of Michigan reports * 

 that after trying many devices 

 he prefers a tool similar to this 

 hook, but made from a piece 

 of bush -scythe riveted to a flattened shank and driven 

 into a handle. He also recommends a special rake for 

 use in gathering up the old canes when through prun- 

 ing. It consists of a head piece of 4x4 scantling 5 



Fig. 2. 

 Pruning-hook. 



Fig. 3. 

 Pruning-spud. 



*Miehigau Horticultural Society Report, 1886, p. 406. 



