November 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Ill 
modifications through variations in the mode of train- 
j ing, the latter must, less or more, be referred to in our 
! pruning letters, iu order to render the advice explicit, 
and as free from error as possible. 
it must be kept in mind by the earnest cultivator of 
this beautiful and useful fruit, that a generous soil is 
particularly necessary. This will not consist in the 
application of manures alone, but also in securing a 
good staple. We are told, in the natural history of the 
Currant, by some authors, that it inhabits mountainous 
| woods, and that it affects the banks of running waters. 
| This much implies a desire for partial shade, a free cir¬ 
culation of air, and a soil approaching the character of 
alluvium. Notwithstanding that the late talented Dean 
of Manchester, Dr. Herbert, has wisely observed, that it 
is not at all times judicious to pay a slavish regard to 
the conditions under which plants are found in a state 
of nature, but occasionally to modify the conditions, 
according to altered circumstances, and the objects of 
the cultivator—we may here observe that, although 
we have occasionally known good crops of the White 
Currant on sandy and dry soils, yet the finest berries, 
and the healthiest bushes, have been on soils similar to 
those in their native localities. If, indeed, they be 
planted on soils at once poor and dry, they will not 
repay the trouble of training. Having thus secured, it 
is hoped, the requisite conditions as to soil for these 
useful pets of either the kitchen-garden, the slip, or 
even the flower-border, we must proceed to remark on 
“ rest-pruning first observing, that as they are pecu¬ 
liarly liable to the depredations of birds, fowls, &c., 
they should not be thrust too far out of sight. Preserv¬ 
ation and retardation, as applied to this Currant, must 
be treated on separately. 
Now it must be repeated, that as the White Currant 
does not produce one-tliird the summer spray which the 
red does, much less rest-pruning , therefore, will suffice, 
whether of shortening back or of tbinning-out; indeed, 
it is not unusual to meet with bushes possessing more 
berries than leaves on soils where they thrive. It is a 
maxim pretty well established, that although a bush or 
tree may produce and ripen an overplus amount of fruit, 
yet that it requires a given amount of healthy foliage to 
secure a full flavour and a fine appearance. Very little 
shortening back, therefore, is necessary, and as for the 
side-spray, we do think that it may he left a little longer 
than iu the red currant, in order that, by encouraging 
! the growing principle laterally, much strength may be 
added annually to the numerous clusters of spurs with 
which their stems are generally studded; these lateral 
branches generally constituting centres to such groups 
of spurs, neither need the terminal points be much 
shortened. The finer white Dutch currants seldom 
produce above eight inches in length of extending 
leader, and from their tame character of growth, as 
compared witli the red kind, they naturally possess a 
much greater tendency to produce spurs; just as much, 
therefore, may be pruned away as appears diminutive, 
shrunk, blighted, or twisted in the wrong direction, for 
| any or all of these evils may befal the shoots; indeed, 
it generally happens that one or the other does occur. 
For further directions connected with pruning, see the 
l avticle Red Currant, page 60. We do not know that 
anything further of a special character can be pointed to 
here; it may, however, be observed, that they require 
richer top-dressing than the red variety; of this more 
by-and-by, under its proper heading. 
The Gooseberry : Rest-Pruning, &c.—Here wo have 
a most important bush in the fruit-garden, and, indeed, 
as it sometimes is, connected with the flower-border. 
Thinning-out is the first matter with the gooseberry; 
indeed, they may be cultivated in tolerable perfection by 
this courso of pruning alone. Most of our best prac¬ 
titioners, nevertheless, are aware of the benefits aris¬ 
ing from a judicious shortening of the points of the 
young wood, and such has been our practice for many 
years. 
We would fain here offer some ideas about training, 
&c., but such would manifestly swell the present paper 
too much, and must be reserved for future chapters on 
training. 
Where a considerable extent of gooseberry bushes 
prevail, the pruning of extensive rows becomes a serious 
item in the labour account, unless some assiduity be 
exercised in economising labour. Our practice is, there¬ 
fore, to run the hedge shears along the general outline 
previous to the pruning, just dashing off those extreme 
points about the removal of which the operator has not 
a doubt. This much facilitates the hand-pruning, or 
thinning, which must follow it; the hand of the pruner 
enters now with great facility. Of course these remarks 
apply to full-grown bushes; young ones require a nicer 
handling. The knife follows, of course, and now the 
object is to prune away most of the interior spray. 
Those who have been accustomed to leave much wood 
in the interior of their bushes, under a false economy, 
have no idea of the vast difference there is in the 
produce between such bushes, and those from which 
nearly all the interior spray has been removed, both in 
the quality of the fruit and in the ease with which the 
produce may be gathered. We would undertake to 
gather two bushes at least of the well-pruned for one ol 
the other class, and certainly with much less bloodshed. 
The quality and amount of the fruit, too, will be found 
far superior. It is, indeed, ridiculous to expect good 
fruit from the interior of the bushes, and the halt-starved 
spray in that situation does serious injury to the best 
bearing wood, which is, or ought to be, always at the 
exterior. There is no occasiou for the pruner to leave 
any spurs at the base of the shoots removed, they are 
always prolific in successive shoots, until they become 
exhausted with age and bearing, when the sooner they 
are destroyed the better. 
The tliinning-out completed, removing, as before ob¬ 
served, most of the interior shoots, and duly thinning 
the exterior, leaving the bearing shoots on an average 
about three inches apart; the points of the shoots must 
be looked over, removing immature portions, and as 
much of curved or ponderous twigs as might, by bending 
with their fruit, derange the general character of the 
tree. Our practice has been of late years, to leave more 
young shoots on the exterior than good pruners are 
wont to do, and the surplus of these we remove at the 
end of April. This is done with a view to the depreda¬ 
tions of birds, for the Finch family and the Tits are sad 
rogues in this part of the kingdom ; it is not unusual to 
see a row of bushes totally stripped, the ground beneath 
looking as if sown thickly with seeds. Those who value 
their crop should, however, take care to protect carefully 
iu the end of February, especially if it has been a hard 
winter, or that a few warm days have excited the buds 
prematurely ; the birds under such circumstances, or 
after a long snow, have such a longing for the new 
vegetable produce of the rising spring, that the most 
excitable buds, among which we may fairly place the 
gooseberry, are quite likely to bo victimised. 
About the training of young bushes, little can be 
added to that about the Red Currant, the modes of pre¬ 
paration and early training being very similar. The 
chief difference is, that the shoots of the Gooseberry, 
at about the third year from the cutting state, may be 
left thicker than the distance prescribed for the Currant. 
The centre of the bush must be kept well open ; and so 
pruned as to give the branches a tendency outwards, 
unless the kind be very drooping in habit, when it 
sometimes becomes requisite so to use the pruning 
knife, as to coax them rather inwards. 
The management of the show berries, being conducted 
