PROFITS OF CURRANT CULTURE. 353 



PROFITS OF CURRANT CULTURE. 



WM. H. 3RIMHALL, HAMLINE. 



There is a profit in currant culture if rightly managed. I have 

 realized well on them in a small way, but do not wish to be under- 

 stood to say that I have managed them in the right way to receive 

 the most profit. I doubt not that others have had even larger re- 

 turns from different methods of cultivation than that followed by 

 me. Having tried the rtiethod of mulching heavily instead of cul- 

 tivation, I must say it has not been satisfactory to me, though the 

 two years when they were so mulched were wet; I think that had 

 the season been dry it might have been otherwise. So to give you 

 the profit of currant culture, I can do no better than to give you the 

 yield of my one-fourth acre of the Prince Albert variety. 



My soil is quite a heavy clay soil. I selected ground sloping 

 slightly to the east, it having been previously well manured. The 

 ground was then furrowed out about six feet apart and the bushes 

 set about four feet apart in the rows. The bushes were two years 

 old when set and were well cultivated that season. The next spring 

 the entire ground was covered with the scrapings from the horse- 

 shoeing shops and well cultivated during the whole season. The 

 same process was followed each succeeding year, and besides 

 spraying and harvesting the crop there was very little else to be 

 done except in spring just after the new wood started nicely they 

 were gone through and any branches that showed a wilted appear- 

 ance or in any way did not look thrifty were cut out — in them could 

 be found the currant borer. These branches were all put into a 

 basket, carried out and burned. The bushes should be gone through 

 two or three times, as those missed will after making more growth 

 droop over and can be readily seen; but often when left too long 

 the borer will have eaten his way out and gone. 



The crop sold the second year from planting was not kept close 

 account of, but the three years following the yield was one hundred 

 bushels, or seven and one-ninth quarts per bush per year. 

 Counting the cost of the bushes at $25.00, the care of the ground at 

 $25.00 for the season, then for the second year the care and picking at 

 $50.00,and I had a bed of four years old bearing bushes all paid for 

 from the second year's crop. The third year the care needed was 

 about the same, $25.00; picking one hundred bushels at one cent per 

 quart, $32 00; crates for the same, $20.00; making a total of $77.00. 

 Figure your currants at about $1.75 per bushel, and you have at the 

 yield mentioned a profit of three hundred and eighty two dollars 

 per acre. What can be done in a small way can be done in a reason- 

 ably larger way, and the cost of care lessened. 



I do not wish to recommend any certain method of cultivation or 

 any particular variety for profit, for my experience with different 

 modes of cultivation and of different varieties has been very limited. 

 I have, as I said before, had the best success by thorough cultiva- 

 tion, having the ground clear of rubbish in the fall. 



As to varieties, I have grown mostly Prince Albert, with, also, 

 the Red and White Dutch. The White Dutch are very productive 

 with me, and the past season sold readily, though in seasons past 



