A bush left to itself is soon a mass of long,
slender, almost naked stalks, with a little fruit at the ends. The
ideal bush is stocky, open, well branched, admitting light, air,
and sun in every part. There is no crowding and smothering of the
fruit by the foliage. But few clusters are borne on very young
wood, and when this grows old and black, the clusters are small.
Therefore new wood should always be coming on and kept well cut
back, so as to form joints and side-branches; and as other parts
grow old and feeble they should be cut out. Observation and
experience will teach the gardener more than all the rules that
could be written, for he will perceive that he must prune each
bush according to its own individuality.
For practical purposes the bush form is the best in which to grow
currants; but they can easily be made to form pretty little trees
with tops shaped like an umbrella, or any other form we desire.
For instance, I found, one autumn, a shoot about three feet long.
I rubbed off all the buds except the terminal one and three or
four just beneath it, then sunk the lower end of the shoot six
inches into the soil, and tied the part above the ground to a
short stake. The following spring the lower end took root, and the
few buds at the top developed into a small bushy head.
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