CUHRANT. 135 



year 1533, we conclude was the vine that produces the 

 small grapes which we call currants, and of which the 

 English use more than all the rest of the world together. 

 This fruit grows in great abundance in several places in 

 the Archipelago. We have a factory at Zante, from 

 whence we import them so closely pressed by treading, 

 that they are often obliged to be dug x out with an iron 

 instrument, the natives thinking we use them as a dye. 



In the grounds of the market gardeners near London, 

 where great quantities of this fruit are grown to supply 

 the metropolis, these shrubs are generally pruned soon 

 after the fruit is gathered, when the ground is dug up 

 between the rows, and planted with cabbages for spring 

 use, by which means the ground is employed all the 

 winter, without injuring the bushes. In hard winters 

 these coleworts often escape the frost when those in more 

 open situations are all destroyed ; and as there is always 

 a demand for greens in February and March, the grounds 

 are generally cleared before the currants put out their 

 leaves. We have observed that the most productive 

 currant-bushes are those, which have been pruned to form 

 a concave, as by this method the sun and air reaches the 

 interior of the bush, aud the fruit becomes as much better 

 tasted, as it does larger by keeping the shrub thin of 

 wood, and shortening the strong shoots to about ten 

 inches. 



Currant-trees produce their fruit on small snags, that 

 come out of the former year's wood : in pruning, care 

 should be taken not to injure that part; but the shoots 

 may be shortened or thinned as soon as the leaves are off. 

 They require least room, and have a neat appearance in 

 private gardens, when planted as espaliers; and the fruit 

 of trees so managed is thought to ripen best. 



