19* THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



secure fine fruit. In the fourth year from the cutting the bushes commence bearing and 

 increase yearly, being in full bearing about the fifth to seventh year from planting, and 

 produce about 1 ton = 2,240 pounds per acre, average prices l^d. 3d. per pound 

 = 14 28 per acre. From this period to the twelfth or fifteenth year the average 

 yield is 2 tons = 4,480 pounds 28 56 per acre. Double the crop named is 

 realised in some seasons, but red currants are very susceptible of damage to the blossom 

 from frost, and to have the fruit ruined by wet weather. The expenses of cultivation, 

 picking and marketing, range from 17 20 per acre yearly. This is exclusive of rent, 

 tithes, and rates of the land. 



Currants Black. These require a fairly deep soil, retentive of moisture, and 

 thrive in the better descriptions of clay land. On strong land the bushes grow 

 stout and vigorous. Bushes with stocks close to the ground are the best. (See Fig. 

 50, Y, page 155, Vol. II.). Black Naples, Baldwin's, and Lee's Prolific are good 

 sorts. The bushes should be set 6 feet apart in good land ; 5 feet asunder suffices on 

 ground in moderate condition. They can be purchased at 10s. to 1 5s. per hundred 

 from nurserymen. Some growers prefer bushes with the buds removed from the part 

 of the cutting inserted in the ground, but remove no buds on the part above ground, 

 cutting off the top at the third bud. This gives three good stems close to the soil, and 

 suckers do not come from the root part. It is an excellent practice. Shortening the 

 leading growths is hardly necessary, but it must be done to prevent a loose habit. As 

 the fruit is borne on wood of the previous year and on spurs, no general pruning of 

 the extremity growths must be performed, confining the manipulations to shortening 

 old or elongated parts to successional branches, and thinning where crowded. The 

 bushes produce remunerative crops when four years old, and in full bearing about the 

 eighth year average 2,240 pounds (1 ton) per acre annually, price 2d. 3d., average 

 2|d. per pound = 23 6s. 8d. per acre. After this, up to the eighteenth year or 

 longer in good land and under liberal treatment, the average yield is about 3 tons 

 per acre = 70 annually, and the expenses of cultivation, picking, packing, carriage, 

 and commission, are about 30, net profit 40. This represents the highest cultivation 

 in good land. The general results average a produce of 1| tons = 3,360 pounds at 

 2^d. =35, and the expenses 17 20 per acre. Extraordinary crops are recorded 

 of 800 bushels (48 pounds each) = 38,400 pounds, at 2d. per pound = 400 per 

 acre, but the price actually realised was 7s. 6d. per bushel = 300, and the calculation 

 based en a selected ^ acre from a large plantation. That is how large profits are 



