156 Commercial Gardening 



White Currants. There is very little demand for this fruit. Near a 

 large centre a few punnets of selected fruit can be disposed of at good 

 prices for table purposes, but a few bushes at the end of a row would 

 produce enough for it. The cultivation, pruning, and treatment would 

 be the same as for the Red Currant. 



Black Currants. This is a much more important item in the fruit 

 garden than either Red or White Currants; its uses, both for culinary and 

 medicinal purposes, ensure for it a wide demand, although the ravages of 

 the " Big Bud " have materially lessened the area of culture. 



Black Currants like a strong soil, and will do well in land too stiff for 

 most other kinds of fruit. Plants can be bought at the same price as 

 Red Currants, that is 3 to 4 per 1000. A guarantee should be obtained 

 that they are free from " Big Bud ". 



The old system of planting was to put the bushes 7 ft. by 6 ft. apart, 

 putting them well clown in the ground so as to encourage sucker growths 

 from the bottom. A new system is now being tried, and it is claimed with 

 much success. It is to plant the bushes deeper still, so that the main 

 shoots are well under the ground; the distance is 1 ft. from plant to plant 

 and 2 ft. 6 in. from row to row. Every year the old wood is cut out, and 

 only the young growths from the bottom left. 



Black Currants fruit on the young wood, and it is claimed that by this 

 means the " Big Bud " is cheated of its prey, because it is in wood of the 

 second year's growth that it has the most opportunity of doing damage. 

 The plan is worth the trial, but there has not been sufficient test of it yet 

 to recommend it for widespread adoption. 



The plan for pruning the bushes planted on the old style is to cut out 

 the old wood back to strong young shoots, as soon as the bushes become 

 thick, arranging so as to leave the bush open to light and air. 



There are several varieties of Black Currant favoured by market 

 growers, the preference seeming to run in localities, so that it would appear 

 that some varieties do better in certain districts. Liability to, or immunity 

 from, " Big Bud " are the chief governing factors in the selection or rejec- 

 tion of a variety however, so much has that terrible pest impressed itself 

 upon the mind of the growing fraternity. 



The price of late years has varied over a wide range; in 1909 they 

 made 32 per ton. There cannot be the least doubt of their value as a 

 crop if the " Big Bud " can be kept down. It must not, however, be taken 

 as a conclusion that apart from this pest they are certain regular croppers 

 late frosts at critical stages of the blossoming period will destroy the crop 

 prospect sometimes. 



White Naples is an old variety with the reputation for heavy cropping, 

 but in some places it has shown itself to be an easy prey to " Big Bud ". 



The Baldwin. This is a red-budded variety, bearing medium-sized 

 fruit, and a fairly good cropper. It seems to be less easy a victim to the 

 " Big Bud " than the foregoing variety. 



Boskoop Giant. This is an importation from Holland. The bush is 



