STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 399 



MEETIl^G OF MAECH 7, 1885. 



3Iinneapolis Tribune, 3Iarch 12th. 



CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES. 



Paper hy J. S. Gray — The Best Varieties — TJie Subject Thor- 

 oughly Discussed hy the Members. 



The regular weekly meeting of the Hennepin County Horti- 

 cultural Society was held on Saturday afternoon, March 7th. 

 The minutes of the previous meeting were read and, after some 

 slight correction, were approved. Mr. Pearce desired to make 

 a correction in his statement concerning the treatment he in- 

 tended giving his raspberries. He said he intended to cultivate 

 them two or three times in the spring, and afterward mulch 

 them. The jDresident then announced the subject for discussion 

 to be "Currants and Gooseberries." 



Mr. J. S. Gray read an able and exhaustive paper on the cul- 

 tivation of the currant, which is herewith reproduced in full: 



MR. gray's ESSAY'. 



We believe that the currants which we cultivate are from that 

 stock which are natives of IN'orthern Europe, the red and white 

 kinds which were known three hundred years ago as smooth- 

 stemmed gooseberries, the black ones being called squirrancy 

 berries. Fuller says that the name currants, or corrans, was 

 given them because of their resemblance to the Zaute grapes, 

 which are called corinths in the English market, as it was for- 

 merly almost entirely imported from that market. And while 

 three hundred years ago the scattered inhabitants of Northern 

 Europe must needs take to the woods and pick the wild, smooth- 

 stemmed gooseberry, or go without, we of to-day find it difficult, 

 with our fruit gardens, and all the helps of scientific agriculture, 

 to produce enough of this fruit to meet the ever-increasing de- 

 mand. 



There are many different methods of T)ropagation, namely, 

 from seeds, green cuttings, ripe wood cuttings, layers, branches 

 split from the main stem and dividing. Not wishing to discour- 

 age any new beginner by making a simple business process too 

 formidable, I will describe only the usual and most successful 



