CURRANTS — PR OP A GA TION. 26$ 



possible — in the spring. At any season the rows of cut- 

 tings should be well top-dressed with fine manure, and if 

 planted in autumn, they should be so well covered with 

 straw, leaves, or some litter, as not to suffer or be thrown 

 out in freezing and thawing weather. I manage to get half 

 my cuttings out in the fall, and half in early spring. 



In the green-house, and even out-of-doors, under very 

 favorable circumstances, plants may be grown from single 

 buds; and green wood also propagates readily under 

 glass. 



A vigorous young plant, with roots attached, may often 

 be obtained by breaking off the suckers that start beneath 

 the surface around the stems ; and, by layering or bending 

 bushes over and throwing dirt upon them, new plants are 

 readily made also ; but more shapely, and usually more 

 vigorous, bushes are obtained by simple cuttings, as I have 

 described. 



When it is designed to grow a cutting in a tree form, all 

 the buds but two or three at the top should be carefully 

 removed. 



If we wish to try our fortune in raising new varieties, we 

 must sow seeds of the very best specimens we can find, 

 gathered when perfectly ripe. These seeds should never be 

 kept where it is hot or very dry, and should be soaked for 

 a day or two in tepid water before planting. Sow early in 

 spring, quarter of an inch deep, in fine, rich soil, which must 

 continually be kept moist, but never wet. Top-dressings of 

 very fine, light manure would keep the surface from bak- 

 ing, thus giving the seeds a chance to germinate. Toler- 

 ate no weeds. Remove the seedlings in the fall to rows 

 three feet apart, and the plants two feet distant in the row. 

 There they may stand until their comparative value can be 

 determined. 



