gZ MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



equaled by any temperate climate fruit for mak- 

 ing jelly. Some of the varieties are excellent for 

 eating raw, when sprinkled with sugar. The green 

 as well as the ripe fruit is also used for making 

 pies. Combinations of currants with raspberries, 

 blackberries, and other midsummer fruits are highly 

 prized by housewives, who thus add to their pre- 

 serves flavors differing from all of those that enter 

 in the combinations. 



No small fruit is of easier culture. It may be 

 propagated by thrusting a branch in the ground in 

 early spring and making the soil firm around it. 

 The following year this branch should bear a few 

 fruits. It is better, however, to buy well-rooted 

 plants and set them out 4 or 5 feet apart each way 

 and give clean cultivation. This is not the usual 

 practice in home gardens. 



Simply because the currant is so easy to grow, 

 it is consequently neglected, allowed to be choked 

 with weeds and to become the prey of the currant 

 or gooseberry worm. No insect is more easily 

 controlled than this, if taken in time. It begins 

 operations as soon as the leaves start to form. The 

 eggs are laid first near the base of the bush, and 

 the insects eat the leaves there first. They usually 

 are not suspected of being present until a large 

 part of the foliage has been destroyed. Hellebore, 

 either dusted or sprinkled on wet, is the common 

 remedy for this insect. A little attention in the 

 early spring will save a much larger amount of 

 attention later, and insure the crop. 



The currant does well on almost any soil, but 

 best on rather heavy land. Pruning consists in 

 removing old wood after it has borne two or 

 three crops. New shoots are constantly coming 

 up from the base and one or two of the best 



