A six year old cherry currant bush before 
pruning. 
THE 
GARDEN MAGAZINE 
It is not in bad condition, but needs thinning. The 
chief point in pruning is to remove all branches over three years old 
native gooseberries are being developed by 
crossing with the European sorts and by 
selection from the natives. Some of the 
best of the English sorts, of which there are 
over a thousand, for American fruit gar- 
dens are Chautauqua, Columbus, Industry, 
Triumph. The English sorts are less vig- 
orous and productive than the natives and 
are apt to mildew badly, but their large size 
and high quality commend them to us. 
REPLANTING 
Currants and gooseberries will live and 
bear good fruit for many years, but it is 
better to set out new plants on a new site 
every eight to twelve years. The bushes 
become crowded and harder to manage as 
they get older, and the fruit is apt to deter- 
iorate in size. The plants cost so little and 
come into bearing so quickly that it is doubt- 
ful if it is wise to keep even the best of plants 
longer than twelve years or to attempt to re- 
juvenate neglected plants over eight years old. 
THE COMMON TROUBLES 
Currants and gooseberries have few 
troubles. None of these mentioned here are 
serious if the remedies are applied in season. 
Gooseberry mildew. This is the most 
troublesome disease of gooseberries. It 
attacks the English varieties especially, being 
much more serious in those sections of our 
After pruning. 
and the top has been thinned. 
The branches that lie on the ground (old canes and weak shoots) have been removed, 
The old wood will never bear again 
AuGcust 1906 
country having a hot, dry climate, partic- 
ularly in the interior, than in the more humid 
climate of England. The native varieties 
are not immune to it, but seldom are seriously 
injured. It appears as a cobweb-like patch 
on the young leaves and on the ends of young 
shoots, killing or checking them. The 
young fruits are also attacked, and are made 
unfit to eat. The whole plant may be ser- 
iously checked or even killed by successive 
attacks. 
Varieties differ somewhat in their sus- 
ceptibility to the disease, but none are im- 
mune. Spray with potassium sulphide, at 
the rate of one ounce to two gallons of water. 
Make the first spraying as the leaves unfold 
and repeat from three to five times as needed. 
Bordeaux is almost equally effective for the 
early sprayings, but it stains the fruit if used 
after the berries are half grown. Much 
can be done to prevent the disease by good 
culture and by keeping the shoots from 
crowding. 
Anthracnose or leaj spot is a fungous dis- 
ease that makes small brown spots in the 
leaves, which often are so numerous as to 
cause the leaves to turn yellow and drop. It 
attacks both currants and gooseberries. By 
the middle of August, and sometimes before 
the fruit is ripe, the plant may be completely 
defoliated. This not only prevents the com- 
plete ripening of the fruit then on the plants 
but also reduces the crop of next year, since 
the fruit buds are not well developed. A 
second growth of foliage may appear. The 
preventive—Bordeaux applied as the leaves 
appear and again two weeks later and once 
more after the fruit is harvested—is simple 
and very effective. 
Currant worm. A small fly, about the size 
of a house fly, lays eggs on the under side of 
the leaves. The worms are at first white, 
later green, with black spots, and finally 
green, tinged with yellow. ‘They appear at 
various times throughout the season, and 
when full grown are about three-quarters of 
an inch long. There are usually two broods. 
All the leaves may be eaten from a plant in 
two or three days, so currant and gooseberry 
bushes must be examined frequently, espec- 
ially the lower leaves, which the worms are 
likely to attack first. Spray with a poison 
as soon as worms are seen, or put the poison 
_into the Bordeaux when spraying for mildew 
and leaf spot. After the fruit is half grown 
use white powdered hellebore at the rate of 
one-half ounce to a gallon of water. This is 
equally effective earlier in the season. 
Currant borer. In early summer a blue, 
wasp-like moth lays eggs near the tip of a 
shoot. The white worms hatching from 
these burrow down the centre of the shoots. 
Infested shoots look sickly. The treatment 
is to cut out and burn the infested shoots 
when pruning in early spring. Do not allow 
very old canes to remain on the plant. — 
San Jose’scale is very partial to currants 
and it is not averse. to gooseberries. It is 
quite easily kept in check or exterminated 
on both these fruits, because they can be 
sprayed so easily and thoroughly. The 
lime-sulphur spray applied in early spring is 
preferred. 
