RIB 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



RI B 



47V 



some plantations ; but as this peculiarity is apt to go off when 

 the plant is vigorous, it scarcely deserves notice. The fruit 

 is generally acceptable, either as nature presents it, or made 

 into a jelly. If equal weights of picked currants and pure 

 sugar are put over the fire, the liquor that separates spon- 

 taneously, is a most agreeable jelly. The juice is a pleasant 

 acid in punch ; and, mixed with sugar, is a common beve- 

 rage at Paris, where it is generally preferred to orgeat or 

 lemonade. The medicinal qualities appear to be similar to 

 those of other subacid fruits, which are esteemed to be mode- 

 rately refrigerant, antiseptic, attenuant, and aperient. They 

 may be used with considerable advantage to allay thirst in 

 most febrile complaints ; to lessen an increased secretion of 

 bile ; and to correct a putrid and scorbutic state of the fluids, 

 especially in sanguine temperaments ; but in constitutions of 

 a contrary kind, they are apt to occasion flatulency and indi- 

 gestion. Propagation and Culture. All the species of this 

 well known genus are propagated either by suckers taken 

 from old plants, by layers, by seed, or by cuttings ; the last 

 of which is the best, because plants produced from suckers 

 are always more disposed to shoot out a great number of 

 suckers from their roots, than such as are raised from cut- 

 tings, which generally form much better roots. The best 

 season for planting these cuttings is in autumn, just before 

 their leaves begin to fall ; observing always to take the hand- 

 somest shoots, and from such branches as generally produce 

 the greatest quantity of fruit. If you take those produced 

 from the stem of the old plants, which are commonly very 

 luxuriant, they will not be n ear so fruitful as those taken 

 from bearing branches. These cuttings should be from six 

 or eight, to ten or twelve inches long, and must be planted 

 in a border of light earth, exposed to the morning sun, about 

 three inches deep ; observing to water them gently when the 

 weather proves dry, to facilitate their taking root. In the 

 summer, when they have put out branches, rub off all the 

 undershoots, leaving only the uppermost or strongest, which 

 should be trained upright to form a regular stem. In the 

 following October, these plants may be removed ; at which 

 time you should prepare an open spot of fresh earth, which 

 should be well dug, and cleansed from all noxious weeds, 

 roots, &c. and being levelled, proceed to take up your plants, 

 trimming their roots, and cutting off all side-branches : then 

 plant them at three feet distance row from row, and one foot 

 asunder in the rows, observing to place some short sticks to 

 the plants, in order to train their stems upright and regular. 

 In this place they may remain one or two years, being careful 

 to keep them clear from weeds, as also to trim off all lateral 

 shoots which are produced below the head of the plant, so 

 that the stem may be clear about a foot in height above the 

 surface of the earth, which will be full enough ; and as the 

 branches are produced commonly very irregular on the head, 

 you must cut out suoh of them as cross each other, or thin 

 them where they are too close, whereby the head of the plant 

 will be open, and capable of admitting the air freely into the 

 middle, which is of great use to all kinds of fruits. After 

 these plants have remained in the nursery one or two years 

 at most, they will be fit to transplant to the places where 

 they are designed to remain ; for it is not so well to let them 

 grow in the nurseries too large, which will occasion their 

 roots to be woody, whereby the removing of them will not 

 only hazard the growth of the plants, but such of them as 

 may take very well will remain stinted for two or three years, 

 before they will be able to recover the check. The soil in 

 which these plants thrive to the greatest advantage is a rich 

 light earth, though they will do very well upon middling 

 soils which are not too strong or moist, and in all situations; 

 VOL. ii. 105 



but where the fruit is cultivated in order to propure it in the 

 greatest perfection, they should never be planted in the shade 

 of other trees, but in a free open exposure. The distance 

 proper for planting them is eight feet row from row, and six 

 feet asunder in the rows. The best season for transplanting 

 them is in October, when their leaves begin to decay; observ- 

 ing, as was before directed, to prune their roots, &c. If raised 

 by seed, it should be sown on a border where the mould is 

 fine, either in the autumn or early in the spring, keeping the 

 young plants, when they appear, free from weeds ; afterwards 

 to be planted out in nursery-rows. Under the bushes which 

 have been covered for late fruit, plenty of self-sown plants 

 may generally be found, which will answer all the purposes 

 of sowing, and may be taken up, and planted where they are 

 designed to remain In pruning these shrubs, common gar- 

 deners are apt to make use of garden shears, observing only 

 to cut the head round, as it is practised in evergreens, &c. 

 whereby the branches become so much crowded, that what 

 fruit is produced never grows to half the size it would do 

 were the branches thinned and pruned according to rule. 

 This should always be done with a pruning-knife, shortening 

 the strong shoots to about ten inches, and cutting out all 

 those which grow irregular, thinning the fruit-bearingtranches 

 where they are too thick, observing always to cut behind a 

 leaf-bud. With this management, your fruit will be near 

 twice as large as those which are produced upon such bushes 

 as are not thus pruned, and the shrubs will continue in vigour 

 much longer ; but you must observe to keep the ground clear 

 from weeds, and dig it at leasX once a year, bestowing a little 

 rotten dung upon it once every other year, which will greatly 

 improve the fruit. It is a common practice with the gardeners 

 near London, who have great quantities of these bushes in 

 order to supply the markets, to prune them soon after Michael- 

 mas, and then to dig up the rows, and plant it with Cole- 

 worts for spring use, w.hereby their ground is employed all 

 the winter, without prejudicing the bushes ; and in hard win- 

 ters these Coleworts often escape, when those which were 

 planted in an open exposure are all destroyed ; and these are 

 generally pulled up for use in February or March, so that 

 the ground is clear before the shrubs come out in the spring : 

 which is a piece of husbandry well worth practising where 

 ground is dear, or where persons are coafined for room. 

 Currants, while they remain in the nursery, must be pruned 

 and trained for the purposes for which they are designed ; 

 that is, to clear the stems about one foot high, if for stand- 

 ards, but if they are to be set against walls or pales, they 

 must be trained up flat : but the best method is to train them 

 against low espaliers, in which manner they will take up much 

 less room in a garden, and their fruit will be much fairer. 

 For this purpose they should not be planted less than eight 

 or ten feet distant, that their branches may be trained hori- 

 zontally, which is of the greatest importance to their bearing. 

 If planted against a south-east wall or pale, their fruit will 

 ripen at least * fortnight or three weeks sooner than those in 

 the open ground, and against a north wall or pale it will be 

 still later : thus the fruit may be continued in use during six 

 months, especially if those to the north be covered with mats. 

 These plants produce their fruit upon the former year's wood, 

 and also upon small snags which come out of the old wood ; 

 in pruning, therefore, these snags should be preserved, and 

 the young shoots shortened in proportion to their strength ; 

 observing not to lay the shoots too close, and never to prune 

 the snags to make them smooth. 



2. Ribes Petrseum; Rock Currant. Racemes somewhat 

 hairy, erect, when fruiting pendulous ; petals obtuse ; bractes 

 shorter than the flower-stalks ; leaves acuminate, lobed, gash- 

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