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XXXVII. Some Remarks on pruning Gooseberry Bushes. 

 By Mr. John M aker, F.H.S. 



Read February 7, 1815. 



The Gooseberry, though so useful and early a fruit, is very 

 much neglected in many gardens, no other attention being 

 paid to it than to prune the tree at random, and often with 

 a pair of shears, once a year. The crop of ripe fruit is also 

 often injured, by having the largest and earliest berries pre- 

 maturely gathered, whilst green, for tarts. To prevent this, a 

 sufficient number of trees of such varieties as are the earliest, 

 should be planted in a separate quarter of the garden, and 

 devoted exclusively to the use of the kitchen, for tarts and 

 sauce. 



Both these and the other trees that are intended to bear 

 ripe fruit, should be pruned twice a year : in the autumn, as 

 soon as the shoots have ripened their wood, leaving at 

 least six inches distance between every branch, and shorten- 

 ing the small branches to two or three eyes ; again the trees 

 should be examined about the middle or end of June, and 

 all improper suckers and very luxuriant shoots, such as the 

 French call gourmands, cut out. Both these operations should 

 be done with a sharp pruning knife. 



It will greatly contribute to the perfection of the fruit, if 



