248 THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 



the garden currant, which may well be the Common Red. In 1558, 

 Matthiolus ^ refers to it as common in gardens, and it is also spoken of by 

 Mizaldus ^ in 1560. Pinaeus,' 1561, gives a figure which may be that of a 

 Common Red, while Lobel ^ in 1576 and 1591 offers figures which are to 

 be called Common Red, but which are of a far better appearance than those 

 heretofore figured, and mentions also a sweet kind. Lytes translation of 

 Dodoeus, edition of 1586, speaks of the currant in England, but translates 

 one name as ' beyond the sea ' gooseberry. This same year 1586, Came- 

 rarius^ figures the Common Red, as does Dalechamp^ in 1587. The next 

 year, Camerarius ^ gives directions for sowing the seed of the wild plant 

 in gardens, and says these seedlings quickly come to fruit. We have hence 

 the first clue as to how new varieties might originate, if this recommenda- 

 tion was generally followed. Camerarius also refers to a larger fruited 

 currant than common, that was growing in the gardens of the Archduke 

 of Austria, and this is the first indication I can note of improvement in 

 varieties, such as might well be anticipated from the practice of growing 

 seedlings. This ' Ribes baccis riibris majoribus ' may perhaps be considered 

 as the Red Dutch variety, or at least its prototype. In 1597, Gerarde,* 

 as before stated, scarcely recognized the currant as being in general culture 

 in England, but the next year, or 1598, brings us to what may well be called 

 a picture of the Red Dutch variety, given in Bauhin's edition of Matthiolus, 

 as also a mention of a white fruited variety, and another described as 

 ' sweet.' " 



Sturtevant's history of the currant begins with Ruellius, 1536, a French 

 author. De Candolle, without question the best authority on edible plants 

 who has yet written, also gives Ruellius credit of being the first writer on 

 plants to mention the currant as cultivated. But Bunyard, 1917 (Journal 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society pages 260-270, 191 7) who reviews the 

 botanical, garden, and historical literature of this fruit, tells us that the 

 currant is mentioned in a German MS. of the early fifteenth century and 

 that there is a very good discussion of a red currant in the Mainz Herbarius 

 of 1484. It does not follow that the plant was as yet domesticated, but 

 since certain medical qualities had been ascribed to it, it is probable that 

 it was grown in the herb garden at this time if not in the kitchen garden. 



'Matth. comment. 1558, loi. 



'Mizaldus, secretorum, 1560, 105. 



' Pinaeus, hist. 1 56 1, 67. 



«Lobel, obs. 1576, 615; i.e. 1591, 2,202. 



'Camerarius, epit. 1586, 88. 



"Hist. Gen. usually referred to as Lugd. 1587, i, 131. 



'Camerarius. hort. 1588, 141. 



'Gfcrarde. herbai. 1597, 1143. 



