250 



THE CANADIAN H0RTICDLTDRI8T. 



sides, with a hard pan subsoil and un- 

 di-ained. R. Scott. 



Hopeville. 



Such notes of experience are among 

 the most valuable contributions we 

 receive, and are always welcome. — 

 Editor. 



CURRANTS. 



Currants are not receiving the at- 

 tention they demand ; years ago every- 

 body had their row of currant bushes, 

 it was no trouble to grow them, just 

 plant them out and with a very little 

 attention all the currants could be 

 gi'own that were wanted. When the 

 currant worm came along and destroy- 

 ed most of the bushes nearly everybody 

 was discouraged, and gave up in des- 

 pair, but they are so easily gotten rid 

 • of by the use of Hellebore with one 

 application (if put on in time), that 

 there is no longer any excuse for not 

 growing them. Among the most profit- 

 able sorts I have grown, I would name 

 Raby Castle and Victoria. Some say 

 they are the same, but I think there is 

 some difference in favor of Raby Castle. 

 They both hold their foliage very late 

 in the season, which protects the fruit 

 so that it can be left on the bushes for 

 a month after they are ripe. They 

 improve in quality and will bring a 

 much better price in mai-ket. The 

 Cherry currant is not as productive as 

 the above, and does not hold its foliage 

 so well, and but little larger when 

 gi'Own side by side. The cherry will 

 give larger berries while the bushes are 

 young, but do not continue to do so in 

 old plantations. 



Fay's Prolific is said to be far ahead 

 of all others, but it has not been tested 

 sufficiently in Canada to know that it 

 will be what has been claimed for it. 



White d'ape is a splendid variety (I 

 have just been out to-day, Sept. 30th, 



eating some fiom the bushes, and find 

 they are first-class in quality) with less 

 acid than the red sorts. The White 

 Crape is one of the best for home use, 

 and in some markets they will bring 

 one cent per quart more than the red. 

 I think there are too many people that 

 go into small fruit growing who confine 

 themselves to perhajJS strawberries and 

 raspberries, or some other two or three 

 kinds, while if they would grow all of 

 the small fr-uits (a few standard vai'ie- 

 ties of each sort) they would have less 

 failures, and the work of growing and 

 marketing can be done to much better 

 advantage. 



Unless we can find some black cur- 

 rant that is more productive and reli- 

 able than Black Naples or Lee's Pro- 

 lific, we cannot plant them with the 

 hope of getting a paying crop more than 

 once in three years ; true, there are 

 some localities where they are quite 

 regular and heavy bearers. 



Perhaps in no other small fruit is 

 there so much need of improvement as 

 in the black currant. It is to be hoped 

 that some of the many new seedlings of 

 Wm. Saimders, of London, may prove 

 to be much more valuable than any- 

 thing we now have. P. C. Dempsy, of 

 Trenton, is also testing a number of his 

 own new seedlings, some of which are 

 vei'V promising. 



W. W. HiLBORX. 



Arkona, Sept. 30, 1885. 



JEWELL STRAWBERRY. 



J. S. Woodai'd, of the Rural New 

 Yorker, writes us as follows : "I have 

 examined the Jewell on all kinds of 

 soils, and we have fruited it two years, 

 and I do not hesitate to say that it is 

 the best berry, all things considered, 

 that we have. I believe that it will 

 be more universally popular than the 

 Wilson, and that is saying a good 

 deal." 



