BUSH FRUIT 



THE GOOSEBERRY 



Perhaps one of the greatest difaculties to be contended with in 

 maintaining the life of the gooseberry bush, and certainly in obtain- 

 ing a due yield of fruit, is ^e depredations of the birds. Some sug- 

 gestions for coping with this will be foimd at the end of this section, 

 but no devices for protection will ensure a good crop of fruit if prun- 

 ing be continuously neglected, while by the selection of a proper time 

 for pruning much of the mischief wrought by birds can be provided 

 against. Pruning should not, as a rule, be attempted 

 before March, for until the buds begin to break it is Season for 

 not easy to see what is fruit-bearing wood and what is ""•">& 

 not. Moreover, if it be done before the buds begin to show, those 

 which afterwards break upon the wood which has been left for fruit- 

 bearing may be pecked out by the birds, whereas after the buds 

 have come forward a Mttle they are not so tempting, and the pro- 

 duction of fruit may be more reUed upon. If, on pruning thus late, 

 it is found that the buds have already been pecked out in the yoimg 

 outward branches, it is best to cut back such wood to a sound bud, as 

 a precautionary measure against a budless branch. 



The best plan to adopt in pruning the gooseberry bush is to leave 

 last season's growth at fuU length, though it may be 

 shortened if it chances to extend beyond the space Method of 

 at command. A thinning should be made annually """°g 

 by cutting out old limbs which have any signs of decay and by re- 

 moving any young wood which may obstruct the admission of hght 

 and air, cutting back this young wood to within a few buds from the 

 stem. 



Any suckers which may appear should be carefully eradicated 

 from the very base and not merely cut back to the 

 surface of the ground. These suckers are caused either ^^"^ 

 by the cutting from which the bush was grown having ° Suckers 

 been badly made, or from imprudent digging around the bush having 

 lacerated the roots and turned them up to the surface, causing them 

 to send out shoots. If these are allowed to continue the ruin of the 

 bush is inevitable, and for that reason the digging of the ground be- 

 tween gooseberry bushes should never be done with the spade. A 

 gentle loosening of the earth %vith a fork, to the depth of 6 or 8 inches, 

 and an occasional use of the dutch hoe to keep down the weeds, is 

 quite sufficient. 



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