THE GOOSEBERRY. 



349 



6 inches between the soil and the first bud. The rows will be 

 wide enough apart at 14 inches, and the plants at 8 inches in the 

 rows. 



Young Plants. — The cuttings should produce three or four 

 growths about a foot in length (according to the sorts) the first 

 year; these at pruning time to be cut back to three or four buds, 

 which will the following year produce sufficient growths to form 

 the main branches of the bush. In spring, before growth com- 

 mences, they should be run out into nursery lines, 2 feet by 2 feet 

 between the plants, it being undesirable to allow them to remain 

 crowded in the cutting lines to make attenuated and ill- 

 matured growths. The ground should be moderately manured 

 if the soil be heavy and cool, giving more in lighter and drier soils. 

 Keep them free from weeds, and apply some mulching material 

 in summer to prevent over-dryness, of which the Gooseberry is 

 very impatient. If the plants have thriven well, the stronger- 

 growing sorts will be large enough the third year to be planted 

 in their permanent quarters. But, as a rule, it is the fourth 

 year before it is indispensable to move them, particularly if 

 ground is scarce, so that they may be allowed to make their third 

 year's growth before being planted out permanently. 



The second year's growth should be carefully examined when 

 the plants have fairly started into growth, and assuming that 

 the cuttings the first year sent away three to four shoots for 

 foundations, as already referred to. And should these foundation 

 growths be sending away more than three to four young growths 

 they should be reduced to that number, leaving the stoutest and 

 best placed. The young bushes will thus the second year pro- 

 duce twelve to sixteen growths, which are quite sufficient for the 

 framework of a sufficiently large bush. At the third year's growth 

 these framework growths should not be cut too hard back — say 

 to about 1 foot each. 



The Fruit-bearing Situation. — In selecting quarters for 

 making permanent plantations the locality and climate should 

 determine whether an open or a partially shaded situation should 

 be preferred. There can be no doubt that in the warmer and 

 drier parts of England, and especially on light soils, a partially 

 shaded situation is best. In the North, where the climate is 

 cooler and moister, I give preference for the main crop to an open 

 situation. In my own experience I have had Gooseberry crops 



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