The Canadian Horticulturist. 



165 



CURRANT GROWING FOR PROFIT. 



ROM my experience of sixteen years work there is no fruit 

 that gives such good returns for thorough care and culti- 

 vation, (and I may say considering last season's prices,) 

 for neglect and poor cultivation, as the currant. At the 

 same time no fruit shows such a marked result as the 

 result of thorough care and cultivation. I have come to 

 the conclusion that the following conditions are essential to the highest success : 



Soil. — Almost any kind with a clay subsoil, not more than two feet 

 from surface, will produce good crops ; and with clay at even greater depth, it 

 the soil has any mixture of clay or alluvial deposits. 



Laying out Ground and Economic Planting. — Prepare the land by 

 ploughing and surface working, and then roll or level smooth. Mark crosswise 

 with marks, set at distance intended to set plants in rows, say 6 feet for strong- 

 growing varieties such as Black Naples and Raby Castle, and 5 feet for small 

 growers, such as Lee's Prolific, Fay and Cherry. Next, run furrows lengthwise, 

 6 feet apart, using stakes 6 feet long in measuring, and throwing the furrows all 

 one way in order to get even distances. This can be done by striking out one 

 half of field, driving one way, and the other half the other way, using two sets 

 of stakes for measuring and striking out. Let a small boy carry the plants and 

 a man deepen the furrow to nine inches at each cross mark, the boy holding 

 the plant against the land side of the furrow at the cross mark, while the man 

 fills in the furrow immediately around it, packing the soil firmly on the roots, 

 and then filling up to surface loosely. The operation is thus done well and 

 rapidly. A man and boy should plant 1,000 to 1,500 bushes in a day. 



Cultivation. — With this system a crop of vegetables, potatoes or corn, 

 can be planted in hills, and cultivated both ways during the first and second 

 seasons, after which the plants will occupy the ground, and then cultivation 

 should be continued from year to year. In the fall, plough shallow with one 

 horse plough toward the plants, 4 or 6 inches deep, three rounds completing 

 the work on each row. In the spring, plough back in the same manner and 

 cultivate with one horse crosswise, one round to each row. Then, if necessary, 

 hoe down the soil that remains around the bushes. Such a plan will not cost 

 more than $10 per acre per annum for cultivation. 



Manuring. — Use two good forkfuls of stable manure to each plant until they 

 are two years of age, and in proportion before that. This may be done either 

 before or after ploughing in fall, and may either be worked into the soil in the 

 spring or left on the surface as a mulch. This I prefer, as it keeps weeds down, 



