GARDENING NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 129, 1 June 1907, Page 12

GARDENING NOTES.

[Bt Experience.] PRUNING FRUIT BUSHES. i Pruning may be done as soon as all the leaves are oft". Not th.it ifc is , necessary that it should bs done at once ; indead any time until the buds show \ 313ns of breaking will do as well j but for convenience it is best to get it done is soon as possible, so that the whole work of clearing up, digging, etc.. may be done in time. Exception may bo .undo to tnis rule in the case of gooseberries in any places where the small ou-ds rob thorn of their buds. Where much damage is done, it is best to defer pruning until spring, when it is easy to sec what buds are gone, and prune accordingly. Red Currants.— This is a very profitable fruit to grow if the pruning is properly done; it is also a very pleasing thing to see a plantation of wellformed currant bushes, being one instance -n many where neatness and symmetry in form are essential to a fruitful and, therefore, profitable state. It ! is of importance that one stem only shall come from the ground, it must not be allowed to stool — any shoot breaking up from below the - ground should be brokyi out as soon as sesn. The aim should be to build up an open Dush having nine or ten main branches ovenly disposed, so as to form a bush somewhat cup-shaped, the branches 'being far enough apart to admit the operators hoad passing easily between them. This is done by cutting down 1 young bush to within ten or twelve inches of the ground ; If three strong shoots are made, these are shortened the next winter to five or six buds, which will probably produce enough strong .shoots to provide all the leaders wanted. These leaders will often grow three feet or more in a season, they must be shortened to about nine inches. This will make a quite large bush look very small, and many novues hesitate to do it, but it is quite imperative that it should bo dorc, or in future years the lower parts of the branches will bear little fiuit, and the object should be to make the bush bsar all over alike. All the main aiwots should bs shortened to about tho same length, so as to keep the bush symmetrkaal in form. Many fruit spurs are formed naturally, otlieib are produced by cuttjjg back all side shoots to about two inches, so that when pruned nothing is left on the bush bvl the main branches, with their natuiv.l spurs, and shoots shortened to spurs. Whito Currants are pruned precisely the sajne as led. i3lsck Currants. — With these an entirely different system of pruning is pursued. Instead of bearing their truit on spurs from the old wood, as tho red and the whito currr.nts do, the best is produced on youiig wood — that is to «ay, the wood mr.de this season will beai- fruit next season. The object, therefore, is to produce an abundant supply of, healthy young wood. To this end, not only must the N bushes be well fed with manure, but th,6 pruning knife must be- freely used. Strong young shopts should be preserved, cutting away the older branches to make room for thorn, for the bushes must not be too crowded. Other pruning will consist in shorlemn!; the young shoots to some extent — tho weak ones severely, stroag oner, merely taking three or four inches from the top. Another essential diffei lencc in the training of b!i>^'. currants is that, instoad of " preventing them from stooling — viz., throwing up shoots fron. below the ground — they should bo encouraged to do so, as that is the surest iWay .of obtaining strong, now branches. It is not everywhere that the black currant can lie profitably grown; it is a moistureloving plant, and delights in a cool subsoil, therefore a clay subsoil that is well drained suits it best. It must be kept in mind that no fruit-bearing tree or bush, or flowering plant, will long remain healthy on a waterlogged soil, however fond they may be of moisturs. for stag-, nant water means sourness and decaying roots. On a soil naturally dry, the black enrraut would not succeed, unless with heavy expensa in the way of mulching and watering. In some districts the stem-boring*"insect has made tho growing of this fruit practically impossible. I am not aware that any recognised remedy has been discovered ; the .Americans long ago claimed that pbntifnlly strewing coal ashes about Ul3 stems would banish tho borer. I myself practised this on a certain lot of bushes for ten years; during that time they suffered no injury from the borer, but I am not prepared to say i whether this immunity was due to tho coal ashes or to the subsoil of whito pipe-clay, and libsrcl feeding loading to i strong growth and conssquent frequent, renewal of branchss. This latter, lam ! ?f opinion, is tho ftiost likely remedy. R3spberriss. — Any suckers there may ac between the rows, or between the stools, should be dug out clean, not j merely cut off, as they would spring up j igain with renewed strength. The old ! iruiting canes, being dead, should now jo removed ; they arc somewhat hard to ;nt, but may frequently bo broken off ;loso to the old stock if they are taken ow down, and bent over sharply. Esablishod stools arc usually allowed to ■otain about half-a-dozen new canes, hess being the strongest. Where all are ihortened to the same height it is usual 0 cut away barely one third of their ongth, this being sufficient to remove he weak unmatured portion. There aro nany systems, however. In some small ' ;arclcns thsy aro spread out and tied to ! vires stretched along the rows: in thai aso, the canes should be tied in their ilaces before being cut ; they are thon hortenad to a uniform height, but this hould bo sufficient to remove the inimaure upper portion. Others again ar- ' ango their planting so that each stool j tends far apart, and each is a distinct nity in the plantation, admitting of unlight all round ; probably this method roduces the best fruit, and over the ! jngesfc period. When this plan is fol•>wed it is usual to tic the canes to a entral stake ; two aro left a little )ngcr than the stake, about sft high, ivo about ISm high, and two about mid'ay between the others. Under this ystem tho fruit is born simultaneously rom almost to tho ground upward, tho est frpuit being at the bottom. Gooseberries.- -Tho first essential is to reserve a clean stem from the ground, fo stooling should bo allowed ; a, stooled usli is an abominatir-n and a certain lark of bad workmanship. The main ranches should be thinly disposed ; icy should be at such a distance apart iat gathering the fruit can bo easily ixomplished without much scratching E hands or arms. There is much ditsrence of opinion as to pruning the de-shoots, some advocating the spur rstom, as in red currants. In this p«rt E the world I have not seen a single istance whore it could be said to .-.nver. In dryish soil I have scon bushes ilifd by it, and in strong soil they lake such a thicket of shoots as to :ako it difficult to gather the fruit. A :ecHum course^ seems to answer best. ruit is borne on spurs 0:1 the old wood, ud on shoots of the last season s •owth, 60 that the object of the pruner ra;»lly to reduce the quantity of fruit, >_as to improve- its quality, and to do tis in such a mar.por as will preserve le uniformity of the bush, and make easy to gather the fruit. This can t be accomplished by a judicious thinitifi out of old wood to leave healthy, rong young wood, lejiicivinq entirely loots that ar? in 1 lit* \\nv, taking off , le imn>attu't) tops of nil shoots, but re- J ucing weak ones to spurs. 1 (