128 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



from the ripe fruit. The seeds should be taken from the 

 berries, washed, and thoroughly dried. While some of the 

 seeds will grow, this method of producing new plants is a 

 slow one and sometimes the seeds do not come true; that 

 is, they do not produce a new plant that has as good fruit 

 as the old one. In the fall plant the seeds in pots. Keep 

 some in the schoolroom, the others out of doors. Watch 

 for the appearance of the plants. 



Another method used in propagating gooseberries is by 

 layering. This should be done in the latter part of the 

 summer or early fall. It -may be done the first of the fall 

 term. A vigorous branch is bent down and laid upon the 

 ground, or in a shallow furrow. This is covered with moist 

 earth, well firmed about it. On top a mound of soil is 

 sometimes placed, or mulching of some sort to keep the 

 ground moist. The layer may be held down by a weight 

 or by means of a forked stick. In the spring the stem 

 of the layer may be severed from the parent plant and the 

 new shoot with its roots set out. The plants should be set 

 from three to four feet apart in rich, rather moist soil. 

 They will be ready to bear in a few years. To keep the 

 plants bearing well the oldest stems should be cut out oc- 

 casionally and the soil dug up around the plants once every 

 two or three years. 



The currant should be studied in connection with the 

 gooseberry, noting the features in which the two plants 

 resemble each other, and in which they differ. 



What enemies have the currant and gooseberry ? The 

 children may find some of the gooseberries covered with a 

 layer of rough, yellowish material. This is a fungous 

 growth that in some places is quite destructive. All 



