GARDENING FOR THE WEEK.

Evening Star, Issue 14933, 20 July 1912, Page 10

GARDENING FOR THE WEEK.

Our contrihutor, a well-known gardener, will be glad to answer questions, which mutt be received not later than Tuesday of each week. —Pruning Small Fruit.— Gooseberries.—The first thing to be considered is if the bush be an upright grower or a drooping one. as the two have to be pruned in a different manner. The object in pruning upright glowers is to cause them to grow outward and as open as possible. With drooping kinds the object 36 far as the shape of the tree is concerned is to induce them to grow upward. Otherwise, if left to themselves, they would grew down, until the points touched the ground. If allowed to do this the lower branches would fasten themselves to th? ground and become a source of annoyance. In pruning young bushes at planting, if a young bush has three shoots prune back to "three or four eyes on each. In all probability two of these eyes will break on each shoot, and this will form the basis of a good bush. From the second pruning onward this short pruning must, be avoided. In the cr.se of upright growers the first thing is to cut out right back to one eye all surplus growth and Literals, leaving only good strong shoot.-, that are pointing outward and at such distance apart as to allow thei hand to be inserted with ease without fear of being severely scratched. Then a few (in) only of the points should bo removed. The pruning back of all shoots, as I have seen some do, makes it almost impossible to pick the fruit, and also impossible for the tree to produce fruit oi first-claw quality. For drooping kinds all very low shoots should be removed first, then all surplus sheets and laterals, selecting only shoots that point outward and upward, and shorten by -;i little these shoots. The whole object should ho to keep the trees open and shapely, an 1 to cut euificient wood away each year to causa fresh growth. This keeps the trees young, as it were, and in a state calculated to produce fruit of tho best quality. A deep digging around gooseberry bushes should be avoided. Merely keep the surface open, and give a mulching of manure •when required. Currants. Black and Red.—These differ considerably in their mede of fruiting, necessitating rather a different manner of pruning. Black currants fruit on the youna wood ; red and whito mainly upon the second season's growth, but also on old limbs, and even upon the stems. Tho principle of pruning in both cases is, however, similar. Prune out overcrowded wood, old wood, and excessive growth. Black currants should hav<? as much of the young stout shoots iCtt as possible Remove old limbs and branches, replacing Them with youwg wood, as it is from this that the best results are obtained both in qutility and quantity. The way to do is to prune short back sufficient shoots to cause strong breaks or shoots to be niado to supply the tree each year with young fruiting wood, and remove only the points from the shoots left on tho bush. With the red and white currants the leading shoots should bo cut back very much harder, but the same principle of thinning should be carried out as with the black. Another point worth noting with red currants is that some of the varieties have n. nasty knack of the young shoots dropping down and half splitting at the base, causing th«n to have a broken-down and straggly appearance. To overcome this trouble, when growth is partly made in the summer go over thsm with a pair of clippers, and clip off tho points. These growths then thicken and do not grow so long, consequently do not get biovvn down with the wind, for it is tho wind that, causes the trouble.

Kaapberries.—Not a great deal need be »aid as to the pruning 01 raspberries tue first season—that L>, the season of planting. They should bo cut ha.d back to within 12in ot the g.ound. By ihis rnuc.i stronger canes are produced than if kit the usual length. Four ca :es will be sufficient to. leave the next ,<e»son, ai.d from then onward six or eight, ad even ten, canes may be iett in wich cluing where the growth is voiy si to. g and vigorous, but this shou.cl be the extrenunumber to leave. At the same time, remove all sruplus growth and dead canes from the pievious season's growth. In windy places, a good p'uii is to aich theji —that is, to take the half of each clump and bend them over arid tie their heads to the half of the next clump, giving tne appearance of rows of arches. 1 hey fruit just as well, and look tidy, but are perhaps not nuite so convenient to get among them, eo it is a matter of cho.ee whe.he. they be tied up right or in aiches, except that for windy 01 exposed situations I prefer the arching. In either case, alter each clump has been tied, the ot the canes should be cut well back to near the string or where they have been tied. Also, see that all stragg.ing suckers aie dug up—that is, those canes that cume up a few inches or feet away fiom the clump. A top-dressing of stable manuie will be found beneficial to tiie raspbeny caues. —Fruit Tree Planting.—

Fruit-growing will before long become one of our p.incipal industr.es. Io go through large distiitts, such as RoxbuigJ and Alexandra, and toe oichards already in bearing, ma.lie 3 one wonder where all the fruit goes to; though, to my way of thir.king, what there is at the piesent is only a bagatelle to what is to come, for an enormous amount o: pla"ting is goi">g on. This se.s s oue thmki g that begiancrs or i ced are g-oiiv into this as a tonitusrcial spec, should be very ci'reful as to what kinds they plant, and also study the nature of the ground. Ground that may grow stone fruit to perfection may not. suit apples.. It is apple-growing that 1 think has the great future before it, and it is upon 'this point principally that I should like to give a word of warning to my readers. Many thousands of apple trees

are being planted. What kinds, I wonder, are many beginner* planting? To take a catalogue and pick out a lot of good kinds, first class in their way, irrespective of their keeping qualitiea would be ruinous. This last season heaps of apples of the non-keeping kinds were sold at prices th4t would not pay for (packing and cartace. What is wanted-is large quantities of the very best-keeping kinds, such as will command a cood price in the Home markets. The money is to be made when the grower has hundreds of cases of each kind" of such as Sturroer, Jonathan, Cleopatra, Cox's Orange, Delicious, and a few others, and two or three first-class cookers. These are,the sorts that will always sell at a good price in the Home markets. For first-el"ss and well-grown sorts there is an unlimited demand not only in Great Britain, but on the Continent and in America. With all the great Californian fruit country, they pre not able to supply their own markets at certain seasons, and th-it season is just as our New Zealand apples are re-dy for export. I cannot help thinking that something should be done in the way of a fruit cannery establishment. I have been told that it has been tried, and did not pay. There has been .something wrong somewhere. They sav it w-'s too expensive to rail sutrar. This sounds to me" ridiculous. I should think it, would pay the Government to rail it free of charge sooner than let an industry of this description fall through. Thousands of pounds go out of the country for canned fruits each vear. yet there is'no better stone-fnit in the world than we can produce, and right at Our doors. Centril Otao our-.ht and should be the centre of one of New Zealand's greatest industries, both in fruit-growing and canning. _" H.C.