A YEAR'S GARDENING 



THE RED AND WHITE CURRANT 



Although the method of training and pruning into their proper 



form is the same for currants as for gooseberries, the 



Piw^e future pruning for the production of fruit is not alike. 



*" In the case of red and white currants the fruit is borne 



by the old wood, and as soon as the requisite form of the bush has been 



attained the pruning should consist in cuttiag away annually the 



young shoots, leaving only those which may be needed as new 



branches for extending the size of the bush or for retaining its proper 



form. The lateral shoots which appear from year to year on the old 



wood should be cut back every season to within half an 



rui pur clusters of spurs to be formed in due time, and from 



these spurs the bunches of fruit are produced. As the bush grows 



old the spurs may, perhaps, become overcrowded, and it will then 



_^. . be necessary to thin them out, while any old moss- 



^ grown wood should be removed as soon as it appears. 



The pruning above described may be done at any time from 



November to February, but not later, and in the 



Pruniae autumn the ground should be manured and gently 



^ forked over. In the spring, as soon as the buds 



begin to swell, a good dressing of soot should be given both to 



Soot *^® bushes and ground as this is a preventive of 



the attacks of caterpillars and also is beneficial as 



a manure. 



THE BLACK CURRANT 



With the black currant the pruning for fruit production is quite 

 Pruning different from that of red and white currants. On 



^ the black currant the fruit comes from the young 



growth, the ^owth of the previous year. It follows, therefore, that 

 an annual thinning out of the old wood must be made, so as to get 

 new fruit-bearing wood for each successive season. While with red 

 and white currants the object in view is to produce good spurs of 

 „ P . wood, with the black currant no spurs must be per- 



Spurs mitted, for as the fruit is produced from the wood 



of the second year the growth of new wood must be 

 encouraged and the bush kept well open in the centre to light and 



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