*50 THE HOME ACRE. 



The Victoria is an excellent late variety, which, 

 if planted in a sheltered place, prolongs the cur- 

 rant-season well into the autumn. Spurious kinds 

 are sold under this name. The true Victoria pro- 

 duces a pale-red fruit with tapering clusters or 

 racemes of berries. This variety, with the three 

 others recommended, gives the family two red and 

 two white kinds, all that are needed. Those who 

 are fond of black currants can, at almost any nur- 

 sery, procure the Black Naples and Lee's Prolific. 

 Either variety will answer all practical purposes. 

 I confess they are not at all to my taste. 



From the currant we pass on naturally to the 

 gooseberry, for in origin and requirements it is 

 very similar. Both belong to the Ribes family of 

 plants, and they are to be cultivated on the same 

 general principles. What I have written in regard 

 to partial shade, cool, sheltered localities, rich, 

 heavy soils, good culture, and especially rigorous 

 pruning, applies with even greater force to this 

 fruit, especially if we endeavor to raise the foreign 

 varieties. In cultivating this fruit it is even more 

 important than was true of raspberries that the 

 reader should distinguish between the native and 

 foreign species. The latter are so inclined to mil- 

 dew in almost every locality that there is rarely any 

 certainty of satisfactory fruit. The same evil pur- 

 sues the seedling children of the foreign sorts, and 



