30 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



or five feet in the row. Start the head at or very close to the ground, 

 training it in saucer shape, thus giving the sunlight plenty of chance to 

 reach the ripening fruit. Prune vigorously from the first year, cutting 

 the new growth back to about three inches. Cultivate early, shallow, 

 and very often. Spray with the first appearance of the currant worm. 

 In regard to profits: In a well cared for plantation an average yield of 

 125 cases per acre can be relied upon. The cost of picking currants is 20 

 cents per case, and of Houghton gooseberries 10 cents, while the market 

 price during the last ten years has ranged from 75 cents to |1.50 for 

 gooseberries and fl.OO to |2.75 for currants. 



If the future has in store half the profit that the past has shown possi- 

 ble for these fruits, we can truly recommend the planting of them on a 

 par with peaches and plums. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Morrill: How does Houghton compare in size with Downing? 



Mr. Hawley : Houghton is a smaller berry, and when it is ripe it is red. 

 Downing is a greenish berry in its ripening, and larger, and brings a 

 better price in market. Q. Why do you recommend Houghton in prefer- 

 ence to Downing? A. As stated in the paper, we have found, in our 

 experience, that the Houghton can be harvested so much more cheaply 

 than Downing. Downings are hard to pick. The Houghton bushes can 

 be strii^ped. The method employed is to strip the berries from the 

 bushes with a gloved hand and run them through a fanning-mill. With 

 Downing, you can not do this. Of course, you save in the harvesting, in 

 this way; and then, too, they are more prolific with us. 



Mr. Rork: Have you tried Chautauqua? A. We have experimented 

 very little beyond these two varieties. We tried Industry, but gave it up 

 as a bad job. 



Q. Did you plant Industry in the shade? A. No, sir. 



Q. Is your gooseberry land high and dry, or low, moist soil? A. Our 

 whole plantation is on clay loam, and it is not the best land in the world 

 for either currants or gooseberries. Until our wet season, it worked 

 finely. In 1891 the older bushes were nearly destroyed; but at three 

 years we reaped our greatest harvest of currants, and part of the bushes 

 did not produce that year the amount of fruit they should. 



Judge Russell : What is the best land? 



Mr. Hawley : So far as my experience goes, the best land for the cur- 

 rant is the best land for the peach tree. In Fennville (west of Fennville) 

 there is a strip of land which is gravelly and very rich, and it raised the 

 best peaches in that country, and the best currant bushes. We have not 

 experimented extensively, and yet I have seen these currant plantations 

 growing through that section, and last year they all made the best growth 

 of currants I ever saw. 



Q. What variety of currant do you recommend? A. Why, so far as I 

 have seen, and so far as we have raised them. Prince Albert is the best 

 currant that grows, and probably the reason it is not more widely 

 planted is because it is the hardest currant to raise in the nursery. The 



