22O Success with Small Fruits. 



air and light. Two native species Ribes Floridum and Ribes Aureum 

 are cultivated to some extent (for description see " Gray's Botany "). 

 Although these species and their varieties are of little value, Mr. Fuller 

 thinks that they might become the parents of far better kinds than we now 

 have, since they are strong growers, and their fruit is naturally of better 

 flavor than that of the European black currant. Ribes Aureum is largely 

 cultivated as an ornamental shrub, and its spicy-scented, bright yellow 

 flowers of early spring are among my pleasantest memories. As has 

 already been explained, we can make miniature trees of our white and red 

 currants, by grafting them on its strong, erect-growing stems. Ribes 

 Nigrum is the European species, and is found wild throughout the northern 

 part of the Eastern hemisphere. Mr. Fuller writes that the inhabitants of 

 Siberia make a beverage from its dried leaves which is said closely to 

 resemble green tea. Black Naples is the finest variety of this species. 

 Charles Downing says of it : " Its berries often measure nearly three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter. Its leaves and blossoms appear earlier 

 than those of the common, or English Black, but the fruit is later, and the 

 clusters as well as the berries are larger and more numerous." Lee's 

 Prolific is said by some to be a slight improvement on the above ; by others 

 it is thought to be very similar. 



Of red currants, the old Red Dutch is the most prominent. It is the 

 currant of memory. From it was made the wine which our mothers and 

 grandmothers felt that they could offer with perfect propriety to the 

 minister. There are rural homes to-day in which the impression still 

 lingers that it is a kind of temperance drink. From it is usually made the 

 currant jelly, without which no lady would think of keeping house in the 

 country. Mrs. Foote's charming drawing suggests one of the gravest 

 questions in the domestic economy, whether the jelly will "jell." Often, 

 it does not, and cannot be made to. The cause of its lamentable 

 perversity is this : The currants have been left until over-ripe before 

 picking, or they have been picked wet, just after rain. Gather them when 

 dry, and as soon as possible after they have turned red, and i am informed 

 by the highest domestic authority (my wife) that there will be no difficulty. 



In flavor, the Red Dutch is unequaled by any other red currant. It is 

 also a variety that can scarcely be killed by abuse and neglect, and it 

 responds so generously to high culture and rigorous pruning, that it is an 

 open question whether it cannot be made, after all, the most profitable for 

 market, since it is so much more productive than the larger varieties, and 

 can be made to approach them so nearly in size. Indeed, not a few are 

 annually sold for Cherry currants. 



