220 Notes and Gleanings. 



Currants. — Allow me to mention a few more red currants, and to offer a 

 few notes on a novel system of growing them, which is here very generally 

 admired. 



Knighfs Sweet Red. — The sweetest currant grown. It is of a distinct habit 

 from other varieties, making its shoots nearly perpendicular, never horizontal. 

 The berries and bunches are of fair average size and of good color. 



La Versaillaise. — A splendid sort for exhibition or market purposes, produ- 

 cing very long bunches, with twenty or more berries on a bunch when well grown ; 

 it is more acid than several of the varieties, but it always commands a good 

 price in the market. This and the Cherry currant are the best for exhibition. 



Bang Down. — A very free fruiter, and. a good bearer, having very compact 

 bunches. 



Sanders's New Red. — A fine free-grower, and a good bearer, but not equal to 

 the foregoing. 



Great Eastern and Garibaldi are two fine varieties, raised in the neighbor- 

 hood of York. I have not sufficiently tested them to say much on their merits. 



In black currants, I have succeeded in raising one named Black Prince, which 

 surpasses all others for flavor, being nearly devoid of the peculiar acidity for 

 which this fruit is remarkable. Many who have tasted it compare it to the Black 

 Hamburg grape. Its superiority is found in a moment on tasting it, when fully 

 ripe. It is a free grower and bearer, equal to or larger than Ogdeti's Black 

 Grape, but rather tender in the bloom, and liable to be cut with the spring 

 frosts. 



I have taken great interest in the red currant for years, and grow fifteen varie- 

 ties. I adopt with them a method of training peculiar to myself, namely, the 

 pillar form, and which is much admired when in fruit, since the trees take up 

 little room arv4 fruit freely. The pillars are raised in the following manner : I 

 select good, well-grown shoots for cuttings, leaving the leading bud and five or 

 six others ; these latter form side shoots, while the leader goes upright, forming 

 branches as it advances, which latter are cut back every season to one or two 

 buds. The plants require tying to a stake. When they get about twelve or 

 fourteen inches wide, I cut the new wood close ; and in the case of those from 

 which I wish to exhibit, I pinch off all the shoots close, at the latter end of 

 June. This makes a wonderful difference in the size of the fruit, and they are 

 easier to shade with mats, when wanted for a later season. 



White currants I also train in the same way, and find that they generally bear 

 finer fruit than on the old system, while they are not liable to be beaten about 

 by storms. They take rather longer to raise in this wa}-. I have several plants 

 six feet high. John Walker, Manchester, in Florist and Pomologist. 



