On the cultivation of the Currant. 327 



ter,) Insects, and General Observations, concluding with 

 Descriptions of the Different Varieties. 



Raising the Currant from Seed. — To grow seedlings, it is 

 important that the largest and best fruit should be selected. To 

 do this, a strong and healthy plant should be selected, and if 

 too full of fruit to prevent its attaining a good size, it should 

 be thinned out, leaving only sufficient for the plant to bring to 

 the utmost perfection; as soon as the fruit is ripe, it should be 

 picked, and the seeds washed out from the pulp: this may be 

 easily done by bruising the seeds in water, and passing the 

 whole through a sieve, and alterwards spreading it out in a 

 cool, shady, situation to dry, after which it may be placed in 

 papers until the time of planting in the month of April. At 

 that season a small piece of ground should be selected for the 

 purpose, and be made fine by deep spading and raking the 

 surface; the seed may then be planted in drills about a foot 

 apart, scatteiing it thinly that the plants may not come 

 up so crowded as to require thinning out to any extent. No 

 other care is requisite than to keep the bed clear of weeds: 

 they will produce fruit in the second or third year, when such 

 as are worth preserving should be marked, and the remainder 

 rooted up and thrown away. 



Situation. — The currant is perfectly hardy, and w'ill grow 

 in any situation, whether exposed or not; but it produces the 

 largest and best fruit in a sheltered garden, not exposed to 

 high winds. In warm and sunny borders, the fruit is ripe ear- 

 lier, and is sooner gone, than when growing in partially shady 

 situations: against a north wall, the fruit will hang on the bush- 

 es until the middle or latter part of September. Even within 

 the shade of trees we have had very fine fruit; but we would 

 not select such a spot to raise the best. Besides a few bush- 

 es set out for the express purpose of having fine fruit, the cur- 

 rant may be distributed in any part of the garden where a bush 

 will fill up a vacant spot; they may also be trained against fenc- 

 es, in which situations they bear good crops. 



Soil. — The currant will grow in almost any good garden soil; 

 but that in which they produce their fruit in the greatest per- 

 fection is a deep, rich, mellow loam, somewhat moist; very 

 stiff clayey soils are the least adapted to this fruit. In sandy 

 soils the fruit is earlier, but the crop is small, and soon gone. 

 When it is the object to produce very superior fruit, the soil 

 should be slaked out, and then covered with three or four 



