STATE HORTICUI.TURAL SOCIETY. 39 



new, high-priced fruits — notably the Pride-of-the-Hudson raspberry — I 

 decided not to test the new gooseberries Emerald and Ruby at a dollar 

 each ! 



E. C. Hatheway, of Ottawa, member of the same committee, 



reported as follows: 



■ So much has been written and said respecting these fruits, that it 

 seems quite superfluous to attempt to make any report that would add to 

 the knowledge we already possess concerning them. 



Notwithstanding the repeated urgings to give better cultivation to 

 these fruits, in order to increase their productiveness, thereby increasing 

 ffie money value of the fruit market-garden, or creating a supply of 

 cheaply grown, yet very valuable fruit, in the home garden ; yet we find 

 these fruits, as a general thing, occupying the neglected corner, or in the 

 fence row, where cultivation cannot be well given them. Why this is so 

 is to me an unsolved mystery. 



There certainly is no fruit that is more easily grown, or, especially in 

 the case of the currant, more hardy ; and, as to productiveness, there is 

 no fruit more so than the currant and the small varieties of gooseberries 

 of American origin, such as Houghton and American Seedling. 



Then, again, the refreshing and cooling juice of the currant, in its 

 pleasant acidity, offers us one of the most valuable agents known in the 

 Materia Medica for the soothing of fevers, being, as a refrigerant, quite 

 equal to the tamarind. 



In the black currant we have a most valuable remedy for bowel and 

 summer complaints, either in the leaves, branches or roots, used as a 

 steep to drink, or in the fruit, made into a jelly and used in water. 



Currants should be planted three or four feet apart in the row, and 

 the rows not less than six feet apart, better eight; this admits of plowing 

 and horse-culture. 



Plants should be of one or two years' growth in nursery, from 

 cuttings, but never old roots divided up. Neither do layers ever make as 

 upright and sightly bushes as cuttings. In localities where the currant- 

 borer is unknown the tree form for both currant and gooseberry will do, 

 but with us they should be grown in stools. Attention should be given 

 to pruning, which should be thorough, keeping the bushes well open, 

 annually cutting away the old wood which has fruited, say twice, and 

 annually selecting a few of the strongest shoots to become fruiting canes, 

 and cutting away all the rest of the young growth at the crown of the 

 stool. 



Annually, or biennially at least, the plantation should receive a good 

 liberal dressing of manure, and in summer sufficient cultivation to keep 

 down weeds; or a good heavy mulch should be spread upon the ground. 

 The latter is best through the fruiting season, as it keeps the fruit clean, 

 also the ground cool, thereby lessening the liability of the leaf to drop in 

 hot weather, which would destroy the fruit. 



The crop, the past season, was very good wherever the plants were 

 well taken care of; but neglected patches produced but little fruit, and 



