HAMILTON S SYSTEM OF TINE-GROWING. 
487 
enough for anything. They should not be 
more than three years old from the cutting ; if 
they are, they should be cut back a little to 
strengthen the growth of the new wood. The 
best Gooseberries to plant are Warrington, 
Wilmot's Early Red, Greengage, Whitesmith, 
Golden Drop, Yellow Champagne, Royal 
George, and White Dutch, all high flavoured 
and handsome. The planting is an operation 
well detailed in several portions of the calen- 
darial directions : they should be four feet to 
six feet apart in the rows, and, if there is to 
be any crops between, there should be at least 
ten feet distance from row to row. 
Pruning Bushes, &c. — We do not re- 
commend autumn pruning for these things, 
but it is not a matter of much importance ; 
the principal object in pruning is to thin out 
the branches by the removal of all the weak 
shoots and leaving the strong ones. Black 
Currant bushes want but little cutting, no- 
thing but the thin shoots must be removed ; 
but this, when begun from their youngest 
growth, keeps a bush in excellent bearing 
condition, and the larger it grows the finer 
the fruit ; but if they be allowed to run 
rambling a year or two they are difficult to 
get back into good order. 
Raspberry Canes. — These must be 
thinned so as to leave four or five of the 
strongest ; the others should be all cut down 
pretty close to the ground. A stake is used 
generally to these, and they should be short- 
ened to about four feet. The old shoots which 
have died down must be removed, the ground 
should be dug between them and well dressed, 
but the roots must be preserved from damage 
by the spade. 
Hamilton's system of pine- growing. 
The following detail of the treatment of one 
plant, is given in "Hamilton's Treatise" as an 
elucidation of the system which he practises : — 
"In October 1840 I planted a sucker of the 
Black Jamaica, with a few inches of the old 
trunk attached to it, the latter being well 
rooted at the time, and after its leaves were all 
dressed off, with a few from the bottom of the 
sucker, it was immediately planted as fol- 
lows : — A deep narrow-bottomed pot was 
selected for the purpose, eleven inches diameter 
at the top, and at least two inches of 
drainage was placed at the bottom, on which 
I placed the bottom of the sucker, or rather 
the old trunk, and earthed up with the pre- 
pared compost. It was then plunged into the 
tan bed, 90 degrees of heat, and in a few days 
commenced growing, and showed fruit, which 
ripened in the following February. The soil 
used for earthing up was moist; and the plant 
was never watered any other way, but by 
sprinkling it over the leaves, and sometimes 
the soil with a syringe, and this only after a 
sunny day. This mode of watering is designed 
to keep the soil continually moist, but not wet, 
as too much water would injure the roots at 
this inclement season of the year. The fruit, 
when cut, weighed 3 lbs. 4 oz. ; although it 
had to swell in the depth of winter. It must 
be observed, that by the practice of planting 
a portion of the old trunk with the sucker, 
although the former when first planted has 
frequently no roots, it undoubtedly assists in 
supporting the sucker, until it has made 
roots of its own ; and this I ascribe to the sap 
or juice already deposited in the trunk, which 
are very probably set in motion by the che- 
mical agency of the soil. The plant, being a 
succulent one, is capable of holding in reserve 
its accumulated food in a fluid state for a 
great length of time, and particularly if 
screened from the powerful rays of the sun. 
I have frequently taken off suckers imme- 
diately after the fruit appeared, without any 
of the old stools being attached thereto, and 
which were merely forming a few roots at 
their bottom. As soon as potted, and plunged 
in the tan, the fruit immediately began to 
grow, and continued growing for seven or 
eight days, after which period no perceptible 
improvement could be observed during a fur- 
ther period of eight or ten days. No doubt 
the already deposited fluids in the plant, 
assisted by respiration, were the cause of the 
progression of the fruit for the above period, 
and the fruit ceasing to grow for a time, was 
occasioned by the want of roots to supply it 
with fresh food. But to proceed with its culture. 
The fruit being cut in February, I com- 
menced the next operation by taking off all 
the soil down to the roots ; and after having 
dressed off a few of the bottom leaves, I filled 
up the pot with the prepared compost, a little 
warm as well as moist, so that the plant re- 
quired no water, except occasionally sprinkling 
over the leaves with the syringe, with warm 
water. The next fruit was cut in November, 
the same year, and weighed 5 lbs. As soon as 
this took place, I removed the old soil down to 
the roots, and carefully dressed off all the leaves, 
as high as the sucker which produced the last 
fruit, where I found a quantity of roots already 
made at its base ; the pot and plant were im- 
mediately sunk to the bottom of a much 
larger and deeper pot, and the process of soil- 
ing up, &c, was precisely the same as before, 
and thus it maintained until the third was cut, 
which was in the following October, and 
weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. I again removed all the 
soil down to the roots, and dressed off the 
bottom leaves, to allow the roots free access 
into the compost; and earthed up with the 
fresh compost, the latter of which was 
