New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 281 



sometimes called Missouri Large Fruited, and of the wild currant of 

 our woods that bears dull black fruit and resinous dotted leaves, 

 Rihes floridum., L'Her., were also planted. Additions have been 

 made to this collection from time to time till the list of varieties 

 nov\^ grown at the Station includes eighteen red, six white and ten 

 black kinds, one kind with red and white striped fruit, three black 

 fruited kinds of the species Rihes aureum, Pursh, one of the wild 

 black Rihes floridum, Pursh, and one of the Oregon species Rihes san- 

 guineum, Pursh ; besides these there are iiftj-three Station seedlings, 

 including twelve hybrids, nineteen pure Fay seedlings and twenty- 

 two pure AVhite Grape seedlings, making ninety-three kinds in all. 



It is interesting to note that new varieties are constantly being 

 added to the list of currants in cultivation. Previous to 1891 the 

 Station list contained but two kinds that might be classed as new 

 varieties, viz., Fay and Caywood's unnamed white seedling. Since 

 1891 fifteen additions have been made to the list besides the Station 

 seedlings and all of these fifteen kinds are new, several of them not 

 having been as yet named or introduced. 



Currants are grown at this Station on a southern slope with soil 

 consisting of a ratlier heavy clay loam and clay subsoil. It is well 

 drained by lines of tile about two rods apart. The bushes are set 

 four feet apart in the row and the rows are from six to seven feet 

 apart. In the fall a forkful or two of stable manure is given to each 

 bush, which iu the spring is turned under quite shallow, or cultivated in 

 as soon as the ground is tit to work. The ground is cultivated two or 

 three inches deep near the plants and somewhat deeper midway be- 

 tween the rows at the first cultivation, after which shallow cultivation 

 is continued till August, keeping the surface well stirred and free 

 from weeds. In the fall the bushes are pruned by removing the 

 five-year old canes, the bi-oken branches or those that droop to the 

 ground, and all but one or two of the new shoots of one season's 

 growth. The canes are not always removed after their fifth season's 

 growth, but should they still appear very vigorous and well filled 

 with buds they are permitted to remain longer. No unvarying rule 

 can be followed in pruning, yet it is thought that usually a cane 

 reaches its greatest productiveness during its fourth and fifth seasons. 

 "With this treatment the currants have made satisfactory growth and 

 have yielded abundantly each season. 



