CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES. 



81 



Winter Protection. The Red Dutch and a few other very 

 excellent varieties are perfectly hardy in almost any soil or situa- 

 tion, but some of the kinds producing the largest fruit are occasion- 

 ally injured in severe locations in winter. They may, however, be 

 easily protected by covering them with earth, but if so treated 

 they will need to be mulched or to have some support to keep the 

 fruit off the ground, as the canes will not straighten up well in the 

 spring after being bent down all winter. Another way of giving 

 some protection is to tie the stems together in autumn with a string 

 or willow withes. This is very desirable where the snow drifts 

 over the plants, as it prevents their being broken by it when it 

 settles in the spring and more protection is afforded by this treat- 

 ment than is generally supposed. 



Marketing. It is customary to market the currant in baskets 

 holding about six or eight pounds, but sometimes quart boxes and 

 other packages are used for this purpose. One must study the 

 local ma> ket to learn which package is the best to use. This fruit 

 is generally sold by the pound. Unlike the raspberries and straw- 

 berries it will remain in good condition on the plants for some little 

 time after getting ripe, but it does not ship as well if very ripe as 

 when it is a little green. The fruit makes the firmest jelly before 

 it gets fully ripe, and on this account it is sometimes most profit- 

 able to market the crop when the berries at the ends of the bunches 

 are still quite green. 



Insects. THE CURRANT WORM (Nnnat-us ventricosus) is the 

 most troublesome insect that attacks this plant. The female lays 



her eggs in rows on 

 the veins on the un- 

 der side of the 

 leaves (as shown in 

 Pig. 21) quite early 

 in the season. They 

 are white in color 

 and about one-twen- 

 tieth of an inch long. 

 These eggs hatch in 

 about ten days. The 

 young worms feed 

 in companies, at 

 first eating small 

 holes in the leaves 

 as shown at A, B 

 and G in Fig. 21, but 

 later on they de- 

 stroy all the green 

 tissue in the leaf 

 FIG. 21. A, Eggs of currant worm on Ike vines on and then spread in 

 the under 'side of the leaf. V and B. Holes _-., Hiiwtinn* nvov 

 made by the young worms when they .first com- ali directions over 

 mence to feed shortly after coming from egg. the bush eating th 



