CURRANT. 59 



Europe, and found in hedges and woods in England ; and 

 there are some species indigenous in America. The fruit, 

 being of an agreeable sub-acid taste, is generally relished 

 both as a dessert and in pies and tarts ; it is also much used 

 in making wine, and is grown to a considerable extent for 

 that purpose in Essex, Kent, and about Pershore, in Wor- 

 cestershire, England. There are ten species cultivated in the 

 garden of the Horticultural Society of London, comprising 

 twelve varieties of red, ten of white, five kinds of black, 

 together with a champagne, mountain, rock, upright, Penn- 

 sylvanian, &c. Any number of varieties of the red and 

 white may be procured from sowing the seed, but they are 

 generally propagated by cuttings of the last year's wood, 

 which should be of sufficient length to form handsome 

 plants, with a clear stem ten inches high; these may be 

 planted immediately upon losing their leaves in autumn, or 

 very early the ensuing spring. 



The Currant will grow in almost every soil, but prospers 

 best in one loamy and rich. The best flavoured fruit is 

 produced from plants in an open situation, but they will 

 grow under the shades of walls or trees, and either as low 

 bushes, or trained as espaliers. They bear chiefly on spurs, 

 and on young wood of from one to three years' growth, and, 

 therefore, in pruning, most of the young wood should be cut 

 to within two or three buds of that where it originated. 

 After the plants are furnished with full heads, they produce 

 many superfluous and irregular shoots every summer, 

 crowding the general bearers, so as to require regulating 

 and curtailing, both in the young growth of the year, and in 

 older wood. 



The principal part of the work may be done in winter, or 

 early in spring ; but a preparatory part should be performed 

 in summer, to eradicate suckers, and thin the superfluous 

 shoots of the year, where they are so crowded as to exclude 

 the sun and air from the fruit. In training espaliers and for 

 standards, two branches are laid in a horizontal direction 



