146 THE OECHARD AI^D FEUIT GAEDEK. 



The month of October is the time for putting in the 

 cuttings. All the eyes or buds except the four top ones 

 must be cut out, as those under the earth would other- 

 wise produce suckers. Plant them in any ordinary 

 garden soil, in a light but not a sunny spot ; put them 

 in about four inches deep, fix them firmly in the earth, 

 and keep them a little moist during the following spring 

 and summer. Let them be in rows, eighteen inches 

 apart, the cuttings being eight inches apart. The 

 young trees will make three or four shoots that year. 

 In the autumn cut back the shoots to about four or five 

 eyes each, and by the following autumn they will be 

 nice young bushes with six or eight shoots apiece, from 

 which those must be chosen which are required to form 

 the tree. In forming the bush, no shoot must be re- 

 served except those which are well placed both as 

 regards their direction and their distance from each 

 other. There are seldom more than five shoots suffi- 

 ciently well placed to be retained, and often only three. 

 Leave no centre shoot : if there are three, train them 

 triangularly ; if four, let them grow in a square ; and if 

 more, regularly round an open centre, like the shape of 

 a tulip. They may be removed to their destination at 

 two years old, or they may remain a year longer. 



Layering is done in the usual way. Raise the ground 

 for the reception of the shoot to be layered ; cut a notch 

 below each bud, lay the shoot along, pegging it down, 

 and putting earth over it, and every bud will grow and 

 root. 



Suckers may be taken to make bushes, but they are 

 very apt to produce suckers themselves. 



Gooseberries require free thinning for their winter 

 pruning, and this should be done as soon as the leaves 

 are down. A gooseberry bush must be so thinned that 

 no shoot is within three inches of another ; if they are 

 six, nine, or twelve inches apart, so much the better, 

 and the middle of the bush must be kept very open : 

 attend to this especially from the very first. For the 

 shoots to leave, choose strong ones, but not those of 

 excessively vigorous growth. All shoots of rampant 



