326 On the cidlivalicn of the Currant. 



have known individuals who have cultivated the currant niany 

 years, who, upon seeing those of superior growth, have inquired 

 the name of the variety, under the impression that they might 

 add a larger and better soit to their garden: yet how surprised 

 have they been to learn that it was one and the same kind of 

 which they had abundance already, only in an inferior and neg- 

 lected state of growth. It is indeed a rare circumstance to 

 find plants in any thing like the vigor they can be made to at- 

 tain by proper cultivation, the a])plicalion of manure, and above 

 all, the proper mode of pruning. 



Within a few years some attempts have been made to pro- 

 duce new seedlings, and we find in the English journals of last 

 year two or three new varieties offered for sale. An)ong our own 

 cultivators, very few have thought of bestowing so much care 

 on this fruit; yet there are instances where it has been done, 

 and with good success. Captain Lovett, of Beverly, present- 

 ed some very beautiful fruit at a late meeting of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society, which would not suffer in com- 

 parison with the celebrated Red Dutch: the clusters of fruit 

 were large, and the berries of great size and fine color; con- 

 tinued exj)eriments, however, are requisite to arrive at impor- 

 tant results, and effect decided improvements: by continually 

 selecting the largest fruit, and producing successive genera- 

 tions, in a few years the whole character of the fruit would un- 

 doubtedly be much changed. If the gooseberry, from a small, 

 sour, and almost uneatable fruit, has been increased to three 

 times its original size, its flavor and sweetness Improved, why 

 may not the currant, by the same attention, be equally benefit- 

 ed, and rendered more worthy of extensive cultivation? We 

 hope our amateur horticulturists, among whom are many who 

 delight in the production of improved fruits, will not omit to 

 give the currant a portion of their attention. 



But it is to the cultivation of the well known and excellent 

 varieties of the currant which we already possess, that we wish 

 to call the attention of cultivators. If their mode of treatment be 

 properly understood, it may be applied to any improved varie- 

 ties, which may hereafter take the place of those that are now 

 known. To give this in full, we shall commence with the Pro- 

 duction of Seedlings, and add all the other particulars of their 

 growth under the following heads: — Situation, Soil, Raising 

 Young Plants, Planting Out, Pruning, (both summer and win- 



