CURRANT 341 



have them six or seven feet between the rows. For the 

 first year or two after planting, the currants require but 

 little care in pruning, except to cut back the new shoots 

 about one -half,- and if very thick, to remove the weaker 

 ones. As the fruit is borne upon the old canes, there 

 should be in each hill at least five or six fruiting stalks, 

 which should be allowed to remain until four or five 

 years old, when they should be removed and new canes 

 provided to take their place. As the vines get older, 

 the annual pruning will consist in the removal of one 

 or two of the old canes and the thinning out of all sur- 

 plus shoots. One or two new shoots should be allowed 

 to remain, to take the place of the old ones that are re- 

 moved. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES OF THE CURRANT. Currants are 

 frequently much injured by borers, which work in the 

 pith of the canes and destroy them. Varieties with a 

 large pith and soft wood are most troubled by them. All 

 dead and dying canes should at once be removed and 

 burned, as should all canes that in pruning are found 

 to have the borers in them. The currant worms also 

 do much harm, and frequently defoliate the plants. The 

 eggs hatch when the leaves are about one -half grown, 

 and if the plants are at that time thoroughly sprayed 

 with Paris green at the rate of one pound to one hun- 

 dred and fifty gallons of water, the first brood will be 

 destroyed and there will generally be little trouble from 

 the second. If they appear after the fruit is half grown, 

 they can be destroyed with pyrethrum, used at the rate 

 of a tablespoonful to a gallon of water. Currants are 

 also likely 'to be injured by various forms of leaf -blight, 

 but the foliage can be preserved by the use of Bordeaux 

 mixtur'* in the spring and again after the crop has been 

 gathered. The first application may be made at the same 

 time as that of the Paris green for the currant worms. 



VARIETIES OF CURRANTS. In most sections the Red 



