GIRDLING THE CORINTH 



GRAPE TO MAKE IT BEAR 



The Zanth Currant Industry in California — An Early Seedless Raisin Crop — 



Yearly Girdling at Proper Time Secures Large Crop and 



Superior Fruit 



Geo. C. Husmann 



Pcmologist in Charge oj Viticiiltural Investigations, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



BECAUSE there is a bush fruit 

 grown called currant, many peo- 

 ple imagine that the dried grapes 

 used so extensively in cakes, 

 puddings, etc., are the dried fruit of 

 the currant bush (Ribes species), when, 

 in reality, the currants of commerce 

 are dried grapes. 



According to Eisen, they are referred 

 to by Pliny as being grown in Greece 

 in 75 A. D., after which there appears 

 to be no further historical record of 

 them for nearly a thousand years. Dur- 

 ing the eleventh century, in the old 

 herbals and in the literature of the four- 

 teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centu- 

 ries, references to them occur as 

 "reysyns de corauntzs," "Corauntz," 

 "Corent," "rey sonys of Corawnce," 

 "raysns of Coren," and "currans." 



The name currant appears by gradual 

 evolution to have developed from the 

 name Corinth, the port from whence 

 the early supplies of this fruir reached 

 western Europe, furthermore the cur- 

 rant grapes were heard of 1,600 years 

 before, and the name "currant" or 

 "currantes" was applied to these grapes 

 as early as 1578, several centuries be- 

 fore the common garden currant was 

 first cultivated late in the sixteenth 

 century. 



HISTORY OF THE CURRANT GRAPE 



The following, relative to the im- 

 portance of the currant grape industry 

 in Greece, will prove interesting. 



The destruction of the vineyards in 

 France by phylloxera during the middle 



of the last quarter of the last century, 

 caused a heavy demand at high prices 

 for dried currants for use in the mak- 

 ing of wine, brandy, etc. This resulted 

 in the planting of so large an acreage 

 of such grapes in Greece, that in some 

 regions it became the sole industry. 



The reestablishing of the French 

 vineyards on phylloxera resistant grape 

 stocks introduced from the United 

 States, and France in 1896 and the im- 

 posing of import taxes on dried currants 

 practically excluded them from France. 

 This resulted in a serious crisis in the 

 currant industry of Greece, the produc- 

 tion of them being far in excess of the 

 demand. 



The "parakratesis" or "retention" act 

 was passed by the Greek Parliament in 

 1895, for the purpose of maintaining 

 prices and controlling the yearly output, 

 and to prevent as far as possible, the 

 overstocking of the markets. This law 

 imposes on the producer a tax of 15% 

 of the currants he exports, payable 

 either in money or by deposits of the 

 required cjuantity of currants in the 

 government warehouses. The cur- 

 rants received by the government must 

 be put to other than the usual uses 

 made of them. This tax is one of 

 the principal sources of revenue of 

 the Grecian government. In connec- 

 tion with the passing of the retention 

 net the establishing of the "currant 

 bank" of Greece was agitated to en- 

 able producers depositing a certain 

 quantity of currants in a government 

 warehouse, either to draw money from 



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