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three parts ripe. These mats should be 

 taken off at least once a week on dry 

 days, to dispel the damp. All decaying 

 leaves and berries should, at such times, 

 also be carefully removed. Some train 

 against north walls, where the fruit keep 

 very late, but is exceedingly acid. A 

 White Currant or two, planted against a 

 south wall or fence, will come in very 

 early for the dessert. 



Diseases. We are not aware of any 

 except a premature decay of- the old 

 shoots, after the manner of apricots, the 

 i;auses of which are not well understood. 

 Insects. The caterpillar sometimes at- 

 ; acks them ; but their greatest enemy is 

 in aphis, which distorts the leaves in a 

 uckered form, producing red blisters, 

 i obacco-water is the best remedy. 

 CURRANT (THE BLACK). 

 Varieties. We are not aware of any 

 more than two in this section really de- 

 serving of notice, which are 



The Common Black. A good bearer, 

 but fruit small. 



The Black Naples. A short bunch, 

 :>ut noble berries. 



The latter kind is now almost univer- 

 sally cultivated. It both requires and 

 leserves a generous treatment. The 

 ' Black Grape" is recommended by some ; 

 bat we question if it is not synonymous 

 >\ith the Black Naples. 



Propagation : by Cuttings, Seeds, and 

 Layers, similarly to the Red and White. 

 Soil. Moisture of a permanent cha- 

 racter is the great desideratum with this 

 shrub; dry soils can never do justice to 

 it. A soil somewhat adhesive in character 

 suits it best, but not a cold clay; al- 

 though, with due culture, we have known 

 t hem succeed well in a soil of which clay 

 or marl formed one of the principal com- 

 pounds. A soft and darkish-looking soil, 

 such as the scouring of old ditches, rest- 

 ing on a clayey sub-soil, and especially if 

 large trees overhang, becomes, by the ac- 

 tion of water, an excellent material for a 

 Blatfk Currant plantation. The clayey 

 principle is generally incorporated with 

 it ; and being rich in vegetable matter, it 

 constitutes a fat and pulpy mass. It 

 must, however, be thrown out some time 

 to mellow, previously to its being mixed 

 with the soil. In Cheshire, it is very 

 usual to see them planted on the sides 

 of ditcnes, which convey the impure 

 drainage from the house or farmstead ; 

 and there they luxuriate, with a very in- 



ferior course of culture in other respects. 

 It may, nevertheless, be observed, that 

 alinost any ordinary garden- soil, if of 

 tolerably sound texture, will grow them 

 pretty well, with the mulchings we shall 

 have to recommend. 



Culture in the Growing Pmorf.- There 

 are three essential points of spring and 

 summer culture, viz. mulching, water- 

 ing, and the extermination of the aphides. 

 Mulching we prefer done in November, 

 as soon as the bushes are pruned ; we 

 will, therefore, advert to this under "rest 

 culture." If, however, it has been omit- 

 ted at that period, apply it in the early 

 part of May, immediately after a liberal 

 rain. If dry weather ensue between the 

 period of the berries attaining the size 

 of small peas and their final change 

 towards ripening, the water-pot must be 

 used freely. The want of a permanency 

 of moisture is the predisposing cause 

 towards a severe visitation from the 

 aphides ; but these are easily destroyed 

 if the bushes are syringed two evenings 

 in succession with soap-suds, in which 

 tobacco, after the rate of six or eight 

 ounces to the gallon, has been well soaked. 



Culture in the Rest Period. Prune and 

 then top-dress. The pruning should 

 be done as soon as the leaves have 

 fallen, unless the trees are very gross, 

 when it will, perhaps, be as well to allow 

 them to waste a little of their surplus 

 strength for fear of the bud being impelled 

 too early into action. In pruning, very 

 little of the shortening, as applied to the 

 Eed and White kinds, is necessary ; in 

 fact, we practise none at all, unless in the 

 case of overgrown bushes, when we mere- 

 ly remove altogether, or shorten back, 

 those which are becoming inconveniently 

 high. The whole of the process of win- 

 ter pruning, therefore, resolves itself into 



thinning out," except in the case of 

 young trees forming their head. In thin- 

 ning bearing trees, suffer no two shoots 

 to touch in any part of the tree. En- 

 deavour to remove all cross or very ob- 

 :ique shoots, in order to promote easy 

 pruning in subsequent seasons ; and 

 where a bare part of the bush occurs, let 

 a strong shoot or two, in a proper situa- 

 tion, be shortened back about one-third 

 their length, inorderto cause young wood 

 to abound in that part the following 

 year. A.S a general rule, let the shoots 

 average four inches apart all over the 

 tree when pruned. When trees acquire 



