February 10, 1670. ] 



JOURNAL OK HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



CULTIVATION OF LED AND WHITE CURRANTS- 



URPANTS are, it is true, the smallest of our 

 " small fruits," and as a general rule they 

 receive a correspondingly small amount of 

 attention. An ordinary crop of Currants may 

 be secured with but little attention, and thus 

 their accommodating natures are imposed 

 upon. First-class fruit and first-class crops, 

 however, can only be obtained from Currant 

 bushes where care and attention are bestowed 

 upon their cultivation. What a contrast be- 

 tween the crops and the quality of the fruit as seen in 

 Covent Garden, from the market gardens round London, 

 and those in most private gardens throughout the country ! 

 The produce is in general more than double, and the 

 quality beyond comparison. Why should this difference 

 be? Is it indifference ? I almost think so Are Currants 

 deserving of this cool treatment? Few will answer in the 

 affirmative. They do not take high rank as a dessert 

 fruit, it is true, only being called upon for the sake of 

 appearance in times of scarcity (the White excepted a 

 little) ; a few strange palates relish the acid Red. When 

 large and very fine, their handsome appearance tempts many 

 a one to try them ; it is, however, mainly to the kitchen 

 they must go, to make tarts and pies, and to the confectioner 

 to make preserves. Where is the household that can be 

 without its Red Currant jelly and its Black Currant jam ? 

 Small ordinary Currants do not make so good a jelly as 

 fine, large, well-grown fruit does, and double the quantity 

 is required, nor so good a jam there being too many " skins 

 and pips," and too little of the nectar itself. To the con- 

 sumer the one is almost double the value, measure for 

 measure, of the other, and actually more so to the pro- 

 ducer, taking into consideration the scanty crop, and the 

 great waste of time involved in gathering it. In proportion 

 to size, the Red and White Currants will bear a greater 

 weight of fruit than any other of our fruiting plants. The 

 bulk of fruit will often exceed the bulk of the entire plant, 

 leaves and stems together. This is indeed high cultivation, 

 yet acres and acres of thein are to be seen in our firs 1 , class 

 market gardens round London — for example that of Mr. 

 Francis Dancer, at Little Sutton, Chiswick. 



The Currant is a fruit for the poor man . It is hardy, of 

 very easy cultivation, can be grown in the very smallest 

 of gardens, and will yield the largest return of any. Like 

 all our fruit trees, it may be made extremely ornaniental 

 with a little care in traiuing and cultivation. The fruit 

 itself is always so, and the plant we can easily make so. 

 and that not, as in some other cases, at the expense of 

 the crop, nor at the expense of any crop, but just the 

 contrary. I am alluding to the form of the common 

 standarl, the farm which, ab'.ve all others when planted 

 judiciously, interferes least with its neighbour. It is, 

 moreover, a form if training for which the Currant seems 

 peculiarly well adapted, and greatly recommended by Mr. 

 Dancer. Judging by some very fine examples I have seen in 

 one or two gardens here, I like it very much. Some of the 

 examples look so pretty, and so like a standard Hose tree, 

 No. id.-VoL. XVIII., New Series. 



that I have heard wagers made more than once that they 

 were grafted or budded on Rose stocks ; the popular idea 

 associating that long slender stem (which the Currant also 

 retains for years), and the mop-head, only with the Rose. 

 I recommend the adoption of this style or form of training 

 the Currant for small gardens as effecting an economy of 

 space— the standards may be planted in lines along the 

 borders, and other plants close to their roots— and for large 

 gardens as making the useful ornamental, which, indeed, 

 should be applied everywhere and to everything. 



To secure standard Currants, nothing more is required 

 than to select some of the strongest cuttings, put them in 

 at good length, tie them to a stake, and allow them to 

 grow to the desired height before allowing them to branch 

 out. It imparts vigour to shorten them in winter some 

 few inches, and if more than one bud breaks piuch them 

 all back to the one leader. To form the head, allow three 

 shoots only the first season, and in winter cut these back 

 to 3 or 4 inches. The shoots formed after this may be 

 reduced in summer to five or six, or in winter to that 

 number, cutting them back to the length of about 4 inches, 

 the supernumerary ones almost close, leaving only a short 

 spur. The head must never be allowed to become very 

 large, because of the danger from wind. The points of 

 the growing shoots might for this reason be also stopped, 

 if found becoming too straggling during summer. 



Currants may be grown in many other forms, such as 

 the pyramidal. Pyramidal Currant trees are very pretty, 

 but the plant does not assume that form naturally ; the 

 tree is long in being formed, and it requires a considerable 

 amount of care in pruning to retain the shape. They 

 may be trained to trellises with good effect, and on walls— 

 on north walls, too. where few other fruits will exist. 

 Currants on north walls are exceedingly useful, as they 

 can be so easily protected from birds, and ihey afford a 

 late supply — even as late as Christmas. When trained on 

 walls or trellises the best form is the vertical ; five or six 

 stems to each plant, the stems themselves being spurred- 

 in like Pear trees. I have frequently observed in private 

 gardens in the country that the crop of Currants on the 

 walls has been much liner than those on the bushes in the 

 open quarters. The reason why I could not well tell until 

 lately, when I began to think of the different systems of 

 pruning practised ; those trained as bushes are neglected as 

 to their pruning, whilst those on the walls, for the sake of 

 appearance, are regularly spurred-in, much in the same 

 manner as practised by Mr. Dancer and other leading 

 market growers. This system I shall now attempt to 

 describe. 



Having the cuttings— Irish cuttings— i.e., rooted, and 

 two years old— readv to plant, in the market gardens they 

 are planted in lines 6 feet by i feet, to allow of cropping 

 between the lines, in good rich soil : for Currants, be it 

 remembered, require a considerable quantity of manure to 

 grow them well. In February prune the shoots down to 

 ! about 3 inches ; then, in the following spring, select four 

 or five of the shoots, wliich will give to the bush the 

 1 most natural cup-like form, and reduce their length to 

 1 about 6 inches, these shoots being intended to form the 



No. 1115.-Vol. X111I., Old Sebies. 



