154 Commercial Gardening 



Assuming Red Currants (and White) to be planted 5 ft. by 4 ft. apart, 

 an acre will hold about 2178 bushes. When these are all in bearing, 

 say from the third and fourth year onwards, a fair average crop for 

 each plant would be about 4 Ib. of fruit per bush, or nearly 4 tons per 

 acre. The expenses and receipts of an acre of Red Currants may be set 

 out as follows: 



CAPITAL OUTLAY 



2178 bushes at 4 per 1000, say =800 

 Planting same at Is. Qd. per 100, say = 1 13 



Capital outlay apart from rent, prepar-\ Q , ^ 



. p f .t/y io \j 



ing ground, &c. ... ... ) =^= 



ANNUAL EXPENSES 



Pruning 1 10 



Cultivating 300 



Picking 4 tons at 35s. per ton ... ... 7 



11 10 



It will thus be seen that the first year's expenses will be at least 21, 3s., 

 without reckoning rent, rates, and taxes. As the crop will not commence 

 to be remunerative until the third or fourth year, the annual expenditure 

 of about 12 will have to be met by receipts from saleable vegetable crops. 



Taking the average crop to be 4 tons per acre per annum, and the 

 average price at 9 per ton (about Id. per pound), the gross receipts would 

 be 36 a year. Deducting the cost of pruning, cultivating, picking, and 

 marketing, say 15 altogether, a balance of 21 would be left, and out 

 of this rent and rates would have to be paid. 



The Red-currant crop of the British Islands is probably about 30,000 

 tons annually, representing, say, 270,000. In the year 1908 the declared 

 value of imported currants of all kinds was 121,852. [j. w.] 



Red Currants. These form a very important item in the bush fruit 

 of a market garden. The variety of uses to which the fruit is put gives 

 it a wide range of usefulness and occasions a demand for it in large 

 quantities. Soil that will grow top fruit will readily carry Red Currants. 

 That is to say, they may be cultivated in any soil that is not water- 

 logged or too clayey for ordinary cultivation, or that is not too stony 

 or chalky to carry ordinary farm crops. 



Red Currants can be planted closer than Gooseberries. Generally 

 speaking, the best distance apart is 5 ft. by 4 ft. The young bushes 

 should have a stem of at least 9 in. long; this will check the growth 

 of suckers, and keep the fruit from the splashing of soil during heavy 

 rains. 



The system of pruning Red Currants is based on the knowledge of 

 the fact that fruiting buds form round the base of the previous year's 



