130 



Saunders' hybrids. He has raised varieties that propagate from the roots, and varieties 

 that root from the tip. After we once cross their natural habit of reproducing themselves, 

 we may calculate that we shall never get the same thing from the same seed again ; but 

 we do stand a chance of getting new varieties. But I do not think there is anything like 

 money in this — nothing further than the satisfaction. There is no question in my mind 

 that the red currant is very profitable. However, we find that in almost every section 

 of the country there is a difficulty in the way of the saw fly attacking the foliage. The 

 year before last we had a good deal of the saw fly ; and last year, early in the season, 

 before we had fruit, when the larvae had just started from the egg, we just gave them a 

 little shower of Paris green. It would not take' over a pound to the acre at that time, 

 and it killed every one of them. And I would defy you to find any trace of the Paris 

 green when the fruit was ready for marketing. This year we did not find any appeai'- 

 aiice of the fly until lately. There is no difficulty in selling currants at a very remunerative 

 price, from the fact that they are so easily picked and so easily cultivated. Really the 

 expense of producing currants is merely nominal. I think that two cents a quart would 

 cover all the expense of cultivating them, and half a cent would pick them, and you 

 would be selling them at a profit supposing you only got five cents a quart. In a moist 

 soil they will attain fully double the size that they will in a dry soil. It does not matter 

 whether the soil is clay or sand. We cultivate the Versailles and Cherry in preference 

 to any other for market. Some persons claim there is no difference in quality, but there 

 is a difference in the plant. Then, again, we find the cluster of bunches on the Versailles 

 is very much longer than on the other, and it finishes up with smaller berries. The White 

 Grape is much easier grown than any of these varieties ; but we do not find a person 

 wanting more than a quart or two when we place them in the market, and we find a 

 great many people wanting a bushel or two of the red ones. I never could make any 

 money in cultivating black currants. 



Mr. Beall. — I was making a little estimate with regard to the profits of gooseberry 

 raising ; and judging from my own experience this year I am satisfied it is a very low 

 estimate indeed of half a gallon on every bush — say for six, eight or ten years. This ip 

 the first year of rearing with me, and I have got nearly half a gallon. Suppose the 

 bushes are put in rows four feet apart, and that the bushes are four feet apart in the row, 

 that gives us 2718 plants or shrubs on an acre ; and at half a gallon of berries apiece, 

 selling at S3 a bushel, we get for them $507 a year per acre. There is less' labor in cul- 

 tivating gooseberries than a great many other fruits that we are growing. They want 

 lots of manure ; there is very little other trouble. With regard to currants, there are 

 two farmers in my neighborhood who always succeed in getting a first-rate crop of black 

 currants, and they are the only persons, generally speaking — the others do not get enough 

 to pay them for the trouble. Last year I went to both these places two or three times 

 and examined them carefully to see what was the reason they succeeded so well, and I 

 found in those two cases that the bushes were put in not more than four feet apart in 

 the rows, and the rows not more than two feet and a half apart ; and the ground is never 

 manured ; and nothing ever done to it except pulling out the long weeds when they can- 

 not get through any other way. Only about a week ago I read in an English paper that 

 a celebi'ated ga-tdener in England advises that the gi-ound around black currants should 

 never be touched — that the bushes should be cut off" every four or five years close to the 

 ground, and allowed to shoot up again. That was exactly the practice of these two lazy 

 persons I refer to. The soil is a rich clay. One of the men told me that one year, five or six 

 years ago, he had a good quantity of stable manure, and he threw it in among the bushes; 

 but the other never did anything at all. This English gardener advises putting on as 

 much manure as possible, but putting it on the surface and allowing it to remain there. 



Mr. Saunders. — When you were speaking of applying Paris green for the destruc- 

 tion of this saw fly you did not mean to apply it in the dry state, of course 1 



Mr. President Dempsey — Not at all. In the proportion of about a teaspoonful to 

 a pailful of water. 



Mr. Saunders. — I was recently sent a number of eggs of a parasite which destroys 

 the saw fly. I am in hopes we may succeed in introducing them into Canada. i?rofes- 

 sor Lentner, of Albany, says they are doing their work admirably. 



