15 



five cents per basket is paid for black currants, four to five baskets a day being 

 the average pick. 



Yields. 



Bailey, in his Farm and Garden Eule Book, gives the average jdeld to be ex- 

 pected from currants and gooseberries at 100 bushels per acre. For gooseberries 

 this seems very low. 



In his book on bush fruits, Card estimates that under proper management 

 the currant ought to yield from 100 to 150 bushels per acre, while he records a 

 yield of 320 bushels per acre. Such a yield is, however, out of the ordinary, and 

 should not be taken as a basis for estimates. 



Mr. W. T. Macoun, of the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, states that the 

 Eankin's red currant, the largest yielder with them, averaged for four years at the 

 rate of 8,107 lbs. or over 202 bushels per acre. ' The Eed Dutch averaged over 



Fig. 6.— Crate commonly used in British Columbia for shipping currants, 

 T:- ^ dimensions of the crate are 23 in. long, 16V^ in. wide and 5% in, 

 deep, and it holds twenty-four 4-5 quart baskets 5^4 in. by S^i in. by 2 in. 



183 bushels to the acre, the Saunders black currant 163 bushels, and the Kerry 

 159 bushels per acre. 



With gooseberries, Card estimates that full grown vigorous plants ought to 

 yield from five to eight quarts per plant, or roughly speaking, from 300 to 500 

 bushels per acre, with plants four by six feet apart. At the Central Experimental 

 Farm, six bushels of Pearl Gooseberry have averaged over a period of five years 

 at the rate of 310 bushels per acre, while the highest individual yield was esti- 

 mated at a rate of over 680 bushels to the acre. These bushes were planted six 

 feet by four. 



Mr. L. B. Henry, of Winona, states that their Whitesmitli patch of 600 bushes 

 planted in the peach orchard averaged six quarts each, or 112 bushels for the 

 whole patch. Estimating this per acre, plants five feet by seven, the yield would 

 be about 230 bushels. These figures are not as high as those given by Card, 

 but are mostly actual figures, and therefore entirely reliable, and indicate what 

 yields may be expected under intelligent and proper management. 



