CHAPTER XXIV 

 GROSSULARIACE^ (Gooseberry Family) 



There is but one genus — Ribes — in this family. It includes 

 the gooseberries and currants. 



Stems. — Gooseberries and currants are erect or procum- 

 bent shrubs. The stems of gooseberries are armed with 

 spines and prickles, while currants have neither of these 

 present on the stems. The spines and prickles of gooseberries 

 are stem emergences, thus differing from those of certain 

 plums and thornapples, which are reduced branches. Some 

 cultivated varieties of gooseberries are almost thornless. 

 In gooseberries the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood and 

 from spurs (short branches) on older wood. As a rule, these 

 spurs only bear well for the first two or three years. Black 

 currants produce the most fruit on wood that is one year old, 

 while red and white currants produce fruit most abundantly 

 on spurs that arise from wood two or more years old. When 

 the canes ("stems") reach an age of four or five years their 

 yield decreases, and hence it is the practice to prune out old 

 canes, and keep a supply of new ones coming on. The cut- 

 ting back of old canes not only induces the formation of 

 fruit spurs, but new canes as well. Propagation of both 

 gooseberries and currants may be made by stem cuttings; 

 gooseberries are also propagated by layering, and occasionally 

 from root cuttings. In layering, the branches are bent over 

 and covered with earth; after the buried stems take root, 

 the newly rooted part is severed from the parent plant. 



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