CURRANT HISTORY 399 



it is recorded that "the prizes for gooseberries were 

 awarded to the Downing, Smith's Improved, and 

 Houghton's Seedling, in the order named. No foreign 

 gooseberries were shown." 



In recent years, however, the English gooseberries 

 and their American seedlings have come into new 

 prominence, because fungicides have been devised 

 which keep the mildew in check ; yet the Downing 

 is still the standard variety in America, and it gives 

 every promise of holding that position until it is 

 supplanted by other varieties coming from American 

 species or from hybrids with the European species. 



Native Currants 



Of many species of wild currants in North America, 

 only three seem to have given varieties cultivated for 

 fruit, and of these none are important. The common 

 red and white currants are offspring of Ribes rubrmn 

 of the Old World ; and the common black currants 

 are Ribes nigrum, also of the Old World. The former 

 species, Ribes rnbrum, or a plant very closely like it, 

 is native in cold swamps along the northern borders 

 of the United States and northwards ; and if the 

 plant had not already been improved from the Euro- 

 pean stock, this native plant might have been pressed 

 into service before this. Fig. 101 is an excellent 

 illustration of this wild currant (on the left), as com- 

 pared with the Victoria, a common variety in gardens. 

 This wild currant usually bears its fruits near the top 

 of the cane, whereas the garden currants are dis- 

 tributed over the greater length of the cane. 



The three native currants of which cultivated fruit- 



