THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 243 



PART II 



THE BUSH FRUITS 

 CHAPTER VIII 



THE EVOLUTION OF CULTIVATED CURRANTS 



The currant was not grown in the gardens of the ancients, and no 

 plant which answered to its description is to be found in agricultural litera- 

 ture until late in the Middle Ages. This is not strange, for, as has been set 

 forth in the discussion of species, all species from which cultivated currants 

 come are inhabitants of northern climates where agriculture was late in 

 getting a start. The early Greek and Roman gardeners could have imported 

 seeds or plants from northern regions, or from mountain ranges where 

 currants grow in the south, and possibly they did, but the currant is a cool 

 climate plant and will not prosper on the shores of the Mediterranean. 

 Moreover, the plants and fruits are too small, and the taste of the currants 

 too tart to attract cultivators north or south in the early stages of agricul- 

 ture, when fruits were little appreciated and the more luscious tree fruits 

 were to be had. 



The name currant is derived from Corinth, an ancient city in Greece, 

 and was first used to designate a small grape exported from the region about 

 Corinth as a dried fruit. The name is still used for this grape and the 

 dried currant of commerce is a grape, the trade name of which is now Zante 

 currant. The similarity of the fruits of the cultivated species of Ribes to 

 this grape accoimts for the name, which in early English texts had several 

 forms, as corinthes, corans, currans, bastarde corinthes, and so on to the present 

 form. The name most commonly used in Early English is corans, the first 

 use of which is attributed to Lord Bacon, 1 561-1626. The Italians have 

 ever known this fruit as Uvetta (little grape). 



Currants are roughly divided by pomologists in three groups, in 

 accordance with the colors of the fruit, — red, white, and black sorts. Red 

 and white currants belong to the same species, the white sorts being horti- 

 culttiral varieties of the wild red species, although white forms are sometimes 

 found in feral plants. White currants differ from the red sorts only in 

 color of fruit, all other characters of plant and product being the same. 

 Pink, salmon-colored, and sorts with berries alternately striped with red 



