216 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Sep'i 



his customprs, so may every other man engaged in 

 fiirninhing other necessaries and luxuries of life. — 

 The wine mercliant must utterly refuse to sell such 

 trash as port and sherry, telling his customers they 

 must drink only the hest champagne and burgundy ; 

 the grocer must insist on his patrons using only the 

 host refined loaf sugar ; the butcher, the baker, and 

 the confectioner, too, must all wage hostilities against 

 mediocre articles. Thus we should have everybody 

 busy correcting other people's tastes — making fools 

 of themselves, and damaging, very materially, the 

 interests of their pockets. 



It seems to us a tolerable good plan for those who 

 grow fruits for market, to select (such varieties as 

 promise to yield the greatest profits — to consult the 

 tastes and circumstances of the fruit buying portion 

 of the community as they are, and not as some peo- 

 ple might think they ought to be. The season of 

 ripenitifc^ loo, must be well considered by the orch- 

 ardist who plants for profit. In some localities, early 

 summer varieties find such ready sale and good pri- 

 ces as to be highly profitable, while in others they 

 are comparatively worthless. Ttie value will bo the 

 greater the nearer they are to a large town, as early 

 fruits can not be carried a very great distance. 

 Land in the vicinity of New York, for instance, 

 might be much more proiitr.bly occti'jied in producing 

 summer crops that require to be immediatel)' con- 

 sumed, than such as ripen in the winter, and may he 

 transporied thousands of miles. T.'ie jieople of West- 

 ern iVew ^'ork can se:'.d thfir fa'.l and winter apples 

 a^l pears to New York, hnd ofli.T them in market 

 in as good condition as lt;osc grown within a dozen 

 miles of that city ■, tii;l vo can nut so well send our 

 strawberries, clierrL's, cu' rants, gooseberries, apri- 

 cots, early plums, and peaches. The sale of such 

 fruits must always depeii.i on markets comparatively 

 local. Such matters .is lliese arc worthy of atten- 

 tion by those who are about planting extensive orch- 

 ards lor marketing. 



Those who grow fruit for their own use alone, 

 must be guided bv very diflercnt considerations from 

 the oicliiudist. His fruits are to be carried to mar- 

 ket — they h:ive to go through the processes of pack- 

 ing, transportation, &.c,; while the fruit grown for 

 home use has only to be gathered and placed on the 

 table or in the fruit-room. In one case, a barrel of 

 second rate fruit, of large size and showy appear- 

 ance, will bo more desirable than a bushel of first 

 rate quality ; while in the other case it would be 

 just the reverse. In one case, tender, rich, delicate 

 fruits, would be quite nnsuitable ; while in the other 

 they would be precisely what would be wanted. The 

 selection the most suitable for a profitable orchard 

 would bo a very improper one for an amateur, ur one 

 cultivating solely for his own use. Many people do 

 not appreciate the differences ; and on hearing of a 

 certain orcliardist liaviiig ])laiitod a few select varie- 

 ties, they at once jump to the conclusion that they 

 are the best, and so must get them. 



The difli rent circumstances in which different 

 persons an; situated, should have a great influence 

 on their selection of the varieties of fruits. As we 

 remarked in the beginning of this article, the man 

 of wealth, with extensive grounds and facilities of all 

 sorts, may indulge in the cilltureof wiiatever is curi- 

 ous or noM'l, or that may possess any one desirable 

 quality. Then there arc those with limited grounds, 

 who care little for the actual value of the fruits they 

 may grow, looking more to the interest and amuse- y 



ment their trees may afford them, in such a case, a 

 great variety will be most wanted. Those who have 

 small gardens, and wish to turn them to the best 

 account in the way of fruits, will merely look to a 

 variety suflicient to fill up the various seasons, taking 

 care to liave the best and most profitable of each. 

 The most difficult selection of all to be made, is that 

 for a small garden ; and it depends so much on local 

 and personal circumstances, that no definite advice 

 can be given on the subject. One man's taste will 

 run more for one species of fruit than for another. 

 In one place apples, for instance, may be so cheap as 

 to make it no object to occupy a small garden with 

 them ; in other places it may be difierent. In all 

 cases the value of a fruit garden or collection of fruit 

 trees depends greatly on the selection of varieties. 

 The two extremes of having too few and too many 

 varieties, must be equally avoided, and all the quali- 

 ties that are combined in a good and profitable gar- 

 den fruit, be taken into careful account. 



THE CITRRANT. 



It would appear almost unneccssiry to offer any 

 suggestions on the culture of the currant. It is so 

 exceedingly simple, that everybody is supposed to 

 understand it thoroughly — and we will grant that 

 they do ; but how many put their knowledge into 

 actual practice 1 The appearance of the currants 

 usually sold in our markets, and the appearance of 

 them on the bushes in gardens, generally answers 

 this question satisfactorily. 



A neighbor of ours, a few years ago, had a dozen 

 or two of currant bushes in his garden, of the Red 

 and White Dutch varieties, and by a proper system 

 of management, his fruit attained an extraordinary 

 size, and were much finer flavored than people gen- 

 erally had ever seen currants before. Indeed, they 

 were to many quite wonderful, and "slips" of them 

 were begged by those who had the very same varie- 

 ties in their own gardens, in a starved, neglected 

 state. 



> A few years ago. Col. Stoddard's Alpine straw- 

 berries set the whole strawberry-growing community 

 crazy, they were so enormously large and productive. 

 Hundreds, and even thousands, of persons who had 

 the very same varieties in their own gardens, paid 

 llie most exhorbitaut prices for them. A year or two 

 of experience taught people that good culture was 

 the wiole secret. 



The culture of the currant is simple, beyond a 

 doubt ; and so is the culture of Indian corn : but its 

 simplicity is no reason why it should be neglected or 

 badly done. On the contrary, it is a very good and 

 sufficient reason why it should be well done. 



The currant bush should have a clean stem of 

 eight inches to a foot from the ground, on which no 

 shoot or sucker should at any time be permitted. 

 Then the head should he kept open, so that the sun 

 and air may have full access to every part. Currant 

 bushes left to themselves have, as will be observed 

 by looking at neglected specimens, the center of the 

 head crowded with small, weak shoots. These pro- 

 duce smallj miserable fruit themselves, and injure 

 that upon all other jdants. The true way is to keep 

 every branch at a respectable distance from its neigh- 

 bor, and the center quite open. The main branches 

 should be shortened, too, a few inches at every win- 

 ter pruning, and this keeps the head of the bush com- 

 pact, and augments its vigor and productiveness. 



