468 DECATUR COUNTY, IOWA. 



No plant or shrub suffers more from cramping the roots, 

 and from deep planting, than does the currant. This fruit 

 requires much more room tlian is generally allowed to it. For 

 lar^^e plantations, the rows should be six feet apart each way, 

 admitting horse culture without danger of rubbing off the 

 fruit, or injuring the bushes. 



Mulching with straw, is recommended by some to keep 

 down the weeds. I find this makes such a harbor for insects 

 that I have been compelled to dispense with it. If the bushes 

 are not mulched, they should be plowed three or four times 

 every season, thus keeping the ground loose, and the weeds 

 down. In the Fall, a good supply of well rotted manure 

 should be placed around the bushes, to be worked in, in the 

 Spring. The currant is a great feeder, and the difference be- 

 tween fruit raised under the cultivation here recommended, 

 ;and that which it generally receives, will astonish those who 

 have left it to care for itself. 



Much is said about growing the currant as a tree, but in 

 practice tvith us it is " no go," as bushes so grown are short 

 lived. "A better way is to allow about six or eight shoots to 

 come out at the surface of the ground, and practice the renewal 

 system. Every three or four years, as the old wood becomes 

 . stunted I cut it out, having the year previous to this operation, 

 permitted young shoots to come out at the base of the old ones, 

 to take their places. In this way my bushes are kept healthy, 

 and vigorous, and will continue to bear good crops for many 

 years. 



I have most of the newer varieties under cultivation, but 

 have seen no decided superiority over the red, and white 

 Dutch, and it is with the currant as with other fruits. A 

 iarmer should plant those varieties which have proven them- 

 rselves to be good, profitable and hardy, leaving the fancy sorts 

 for amateurs. 



THE GRAPE. 



With the very low price of foreign fruits, if we expect to 

 bring grapes into universal use, they must be offered at very 



