.CULTIVATION. 



Currants, both black and red, will only thrive well in the cooler and 

 more elevated districts, and cannot be grown successfully in the warmer 

 portions of Australasia. These fruits are specially suitable for culture in 

 the vicinity of mountain ranges, where the rainfall is above the average. 

 Any ordinary good land is suitable for Currants, but the most favourable 

 soil is a deep, rich, sandy loam, that does not get very dry in the summer. 

 If the soil is of a poor character, the deficiencies should be made good by 

 manure when the ground is prepared. As with fruit trees, when the 

 ground is deeply worked, it offers the most favourable conditions for 

 growth. When the land is of a heavy nature it should invariably be 

 loosened to the depth of at least fifteen inches. Deep working is not so 

 essential in light soils having free subsoils. Care must be taken when 

 the ground is deeply worked not to turn up more than a couple of inches 

 of a bad subsoil to the surface. Many people have made this mistake to 

 their cost. Drainage must be provided for when necessary, as, though 

 Currants like a fairly moist soil, they will not thrive with water 

 stagnating at their roots for any length of time. Heavy land generally 

 wants assistance in the way of draining, but in lighter soils resting upon 

 open gravel or sand there is often sufficient natural outlet for the water. 



The plants should stand in rows, six or eight feet apart each way, so as 

 to allow plenty of room for development From the middle of July to 

 the first week in August is the most favourable period for planting, 

 though it may be done at any time between the fall of the leaves and the 

 starting of spring growth. In choosing plants, give a preference to 

 young ones that are of strong growth and well shaped. The after 

 treatment required will be keeping the ground free from weeds (and 

 more especially in the spring and early summer) and stimulating the 

 vigour of the plants by the use of manure when necessary. In destroying 

 weeds the surface should be lightly stirred frequently in preference to 

 deeply ploughing or digging, which often injure the roots materially. 

 Before the warm weather sets in it will be advisable to mulch the surface 

 soil, to prevent rapid and excessive evaporatioi . Mulching is good for 

 all fruits, but more especially for Currants and others that are partial to 

 cool arid moist regions. Currants will often retain their vigour for a 

 dozen or more years, but it will be advisable, as a rule, to renew 

 plantations in about six or seven years. 



PRUNING. 



As regards pruning there is some difference in the repuirements of the 

 red and black fruited species. The red and white varieties bear their 

 fruit upon one, two, and three year old shoots, as also on spurs from 

 older wood. The greater portion of the fruit is, however, usually borne 

 upon the wood of the previous season. In pruning, the system generally 

 adopted is to cut back the main previous season's shoots to from four to 

 six buds, thinning out the branches when too numerous so that growth 

 will not be crowded, and shorten close the lateral shoots. As a rule the 



