GOOSEBERRIES. 187 



the reader will find some account of it under the head 

 of Propagation. 



In the quarters where the young bushes have esta- 

 blished themselves, and made some vigorous shoots, 

 the best placed of those should be selected to form 

 the head : four shoots will be sufficient to begin with ; 

 these should be pruned back to six or nine inches, 

 according to their strength and line of direction, from 

 each of which three or four may be expected for another 

 year. When these are pruned at the end of the second 

 year, two of the best placed shoots from each must be 

 selected, and pruned back to six or nine inches as before, 

 cutting the others out close to the mother branch, thereby 

 preventing the production of an unnecessary and useless 

 number of shoots. 



In the third winter, according to this method, each 

 young bush will have eight shoots when pruned, which 

 will be sufficient to form the principal limbs of the full 

 grown head. 



In the fourth winter's pruning, the strongest and best 

 placed shoot only should be retained from each branch, 

 and that one pointing the most directly outwards, short- 

 ening it to six or nine inches as before, and cutting off 

 close all the rest : this will give much more room to the 

 branches, and produce a more open and handsome head, 

 than if two shoots had been retained to each branch as 

 before. 



In the fifth pruning, should the head require a greater 

 supply of branches, two shoots may be left, in the same 

 manner as in the second and third year ; and this prac- 

 tice may be continued, leaving either one or two shoots 

 to each branch, as occasion may require, so long as the 

 bush stands. 



It must, however, be observed, that the older the 

 bushes are, the smaller will be their leading shoots : 

 these, of course, must be shortened in proportion accord- 



