BUSH FRUIT PRUNING 



287 



ing varieties, with the exception of the Mammoth, are 

 rarely trained to the hill system. 



211. Currants are sometimes pruned and trained in 

 tree and pillar forms, but these are too fussy for business 

 purposes. The method adopted for them is much the 

 same as that employed to make the heads of trees such 

 as peach and cherry. All buds on the lower part of the 



FIG. 245— BLACKBERRY CANES BEFORE PRUNING 



cutting are removed and four to eight frame limbs al- 

 lowed to develop. These are shortened to 4 to 6, or at 

 most, 8 inches and two to four main laterals allowed to 

 each frame limb. After the framework and the first 

 laterals have thus formed the head, two to four shoots 

 are allowed to grow for the making of fruiting spurs, 

 being cut back to one to three buds early in the spring 

 after their formation. From time to time wood that has 

 fruited twice or thrice or perhaps oftener is cut out and 

 new growths encouraged. 



Apart from the labor involved in this method of train- 

 ing, there are the serious objections that the "trees" are 



