CURRANTS 1387 



harvested and not overripe. The stems should be severed from llic 

 bushes without injury to the berries. Some varieties are more 

 easily picked than others, on account of the clear space of stems at 

 the base of the clusters. Fruit fs picked greener for distant mar- 

 kets than for nearby markets and greener for jelly than for can- 

 ning, a few green berries show ing on each cluster. Currants are 

 usually marketed in quart baskets or in grape baskets and are 

 sold mostly by the pound. 



Yields of currants vary from fifty to two hundred and fifty 

 bushels per acre with an average of from one hundred to one hun- 

 dred and fifty bushels annually. Some fruit will be secured the 

 third year, but a full crop will not be produced until the fourth 

 year. Black currants usually yield slightly less than reds. 



Mi-. Samuel Fraser, Geneseo, X. Y., reports that the cost of 

 growing and selling a three-ton crop of currants is nearly $200 

 per acre. The price received usually varies from four to eight 

 cents per pound, averaging about five cents. In recent years the 

 tendency of market prices has been downward. Most of the fruit 

 goes to canning and jelly factories, and is used largely for making 

 jelly, jam, and pies. 



VARIETIES 



A variety may succeed in one place and yet b^-undesirable in 

 another locality. Adaptation should be determined as with all 

 fruits before planting extensively. But few of over thirty va- 

 rieties on the grounds of the Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y., 

 have any commercial value. 



The commercial culture of currants in this state is practically 

 confined to red currants, largely on account of their fine jelly- 

 making properties. The whites make a jelly unattractive in ap- 

 pearance, and the berries are not very good shippers. The pecu- 

 liar flavor of the black currant is objectionable to many people, 

 and the market demand is limited. 



Currants begin ripening at Geneva the last week in June, and 

 the varieties succeed each other during a period of three weeks. 

 There are no very early or very late popular commercial varieties, 

 most kinds -maturing in midseason. With some varieties the fruit 

 hangs on the bushes for a week or more after maturity without 

 much deterioration. Preference is given to those varieties having 



