736 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



Subsect. 6. Red Currant. — Ribes Rubrum, L. (Eng. Bot. 1289) Pentandria Mono- 

 gynia, L. and Cacti, J. Groseille a grappes d' outre mer, Fr. j Jo/uinnisbeere, Ger. ; 

 and ZJvetta, Ital. 



4680. The red currant is a low shrub, with smooth branches, doubly serrate, pubes- 

 cent leaves, yellowish green flowers on pendulous racemes, which appear in May, and 

 the fruit ripens in June and July. The berries of this shrub, in its wild state, are red ; 

 cultivation has produced white and pale-red berried varieties. It is a native of the 

 northern parts of Europe, and found in hedges and woods in England. Professor 

 Martyn observes, that " the currant does not seem to have been known to the ancient 

 Greeks and Romans, as the southern nations of Europe have not even an appropriate 

 name to it at this day. The old French name groseilks d' outre mer ; and the Dutch, 

 beskins overzee, proclaim their having been strangers imported. Our English name of 

 currant is evidently from the similitude of the fruit, to that of the uva corinthiaca, the 

 small grape of Zante, or the common grocers' corinths, or currants. The red currant 

 has been lon°- cultivated in Britain, and very much improved in the size of the bunch and 



berry. 



4631. Use. The fruit is acceptable at the dessert, being of an agreeable acid taste. 

 It is much used for jellies, jams, and wines. Forsyth says, it is the most useful of all 

 the small fruit, either for the table and kitchen, or for preserving, making wine, &c. ; 

 and continues longer in succession than any other. According to Withering, the juice 

 forms an agreeable acid to punch ; and Professor Martyn says it was a common bever- 

 age in Pans in 1763. Its medicinal qualities are similar to those of other subacid 

 fruits, allaying thirst, lessening an increased secretion of the bile, and correcting a 

 putrid and scorbutic state of the fluids. 



4682. Varieties. These are — 



Common red or wild currant I Champagne large red I Large new white Dutch I Large pale-red Dutch 



Large red Champagne pale red (Hook P. L. t. 36.) booseberry-leaved. 



Long clustered red | White Dutch | White crystal | 



4583 Propagation and nursery culture. The same as in the gooseberry. With a view to obtaining im- 

 proved varieties from seed, that indefatigable horticulturalist, Knight, procured cuttings, in the year 

 1810 of the finest varieties of the red and the white currant, which he planted in pots of very rich 

 mould and placed under a south wall, to which the trees were subsequently trained. At the end of three 

 years within which period the pots had been as often changed, the trees were first suffered to produce 

 blossoms These were, with the exception of a very small number, removed from the white currant 

 trees as'*oon as their buds unfolded ; and those which remained were deprived of their stamens, whilst 

 immature and subsequently fertilised by the pollen of the red variety. The seeds thus obtained were 

 sowed in pots as soon as the fruit had become perfectlv mature, and were subjected, early in the follow- 

 ing spring, to the artificial heat of a forcing-house ; by which means, and by proper subsequent atten- 

 tion the plants grew more than a foot in height in the first season. At two years old, in the year 1816, 

 several of the plants, and, in 1817, the greater part of them, produced fruit of great variety ot character, 

 and merits; but out of about two hundred varieties, only three red and two white appeared to possess 

 ereater merits than their parents. {Hort. Trans, iii. 88.) , ~. „ , 



4684 Soil and site. All the sorts are very hardy, will grow freely, and bear plentifully almost any 

 where alike in open and shady situations, by which the fruit may be obtained early, in June and July, 

 and prolonged for several months in succession till October. As to soil, the currant generally does well 

 in any common garden-ground, well tilled and recruited ; it bears the greater crop in a strong loam, or 

 improved clay, somewhat moist ; the earlier in a sandy light mould, which is not poor. Previous to 

 planting, the ground should be dug two feet deep. \ .', .' 



4685 Final planting. " The season for planting on a dry soil is any time in open weather, from the 

 fall of the leaf till February or March. Plants expected to bear the following summer are best moved in 

 October unless the ground be wet in winter. Allot a competent supply of standard bushes, to be planted 

 chiefly i'n the kitchen-garden, in a single row round the main compartments, or in the outward borders, or 

 some in cross rows, to divide extensive compartments. Plant them from five to ten feet distant in the row. 

 To raise large supplies, full plantations are formed in parallel rows, with intervals between the rows of eight 

 or ten feet and between the trees in each row of six feet. Where convenient, have also some choice sorts 

 trained against walls or palings, of different aspects, to obtain early and late fruit in perfection : some 

 against a south exposure, for early production ; others on east, west, and north walls, tor intermediate suc- 

 cession and late fruit. Plant them at six, eight, or ten feet distance ; letting them occasionally fill up the 

 vacant spaces between other wall-trees. The branches should be allowed to advance from near the bot- 

 tom and be trained in a nearly horizontal direction from three to six inches asunder. Before nailing 

 them cut out superabundant and irregular growths, retaining a competency of regular shoots for orderly 

 training, among which, if any are of very considerable length, prune them to moderate extent. Some 

 may likewise be trained as espaliers, in a detached row, in the borders or divisions of the compartments 

 The trees so trained may either be left to grow without support, or be tied occasionally to stakes, and 

 the branches thus will not overspread the ground. Being kept moderately thin and regular, they will 

 bear fine large fruit, and make an agreeable appearance." 



4686. Mode of bearing. Currant-trees, in general, bear the fruit both on the young 

 wood of one, two, and three years' growth ; and on the older branches, from small spurs, 

 and snags along the sides, -which continue several years fruitful, but the fruit produced 

 on the last year's shoot is always finest, especially when the old mother bearers have 

 borne more than four years. 



4687 Pruning. The chief part of the future culture is seasonable pruning. After the plants are fur- 

 nished with full heads, thev produce many superfluous and disorderly shoots every summer, crowding 

 the general bearers, so as to require retrenchment and regulation, both in the young growths of the 

 vear and older wood The season for the capital pruning is winter ; but a preparatory part is performed 

 in summer, to thin the superfluous shoots of the year where too crowded, excluding the sun and air from 

 the fruit First, as to standards : — . . . 



4588 Summer pruning. " In May or June cut out close the most irregular shoots rising in the centre 

 cf the'tree, with all the cross and water-shoots, to admit more freely the essential influence of the air 



