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Eccl Dutch. Fine fruit ; bunch very 

 long. 



White Dutch. Very large and juicy 

 berries. 



Knight's Sweet Eed. As its name 

 imports. 



Knight's Large Eed. Said to be 

 larger than Eed Dutch. 



Houghton Castle Eed or Goliath. 

 Said to be both late and fine. 



Eed Dutch. A good kind ; bushes 

 short, but berries large and sweet. 



While Varieties. Common White ; 

 Pearl White; and White Dutch, the 

 last being the largest and best. 



Propagation : by Cuttings. This is 

 the ordinary way. Young shoots of the 

 most vigorous and straight wood are to 

 be preferred ; shoots of this description 

 should be preserved at the early au- 

 tumn pruning, and all the immature 

 portion at the point being pruned away, 

 the best of the remainder must form 

 the cutting, and it should be at least 

 one foot in length if fourteen inches, 

 all the better; blind all the eyes or 

 buds below the surface of the ground, 

 to prevent suckers springing up; for 

 these cuttings will emit roots from the 

 internodes or points between the joints. 

 Cuttings placed in a somewhat shaded 

 situation, and fastened tolerably firm 

 in the soil, will make two or three 

 shoots the first summer. They may be 

 put in rows eighteen inches apart ; the 

 cuttings about eight inches apart in 

 the rows. In the succeeding autumn 

 prune the shoots they have made back 

 to about four or five eyes or buds on 

 each, and by the succeeding autumn 

 they will be fine bushes, possessing 

 some six or eight shoots each, from 

 which a selection must be made, for on 

 this depends the future form of the tree. 

 It is seldom that more than five shoots 

 can be retained; indeed, sometimes 

 the shoots are produced so irregularly, 

 that not more than three can be saved 

 standing of course nearly in a trian- 

 gular form. However, only those 

 should be reserved which are really 

 well placed, not only with regard to 

 form, but their distance apart. In 

 forming the bush, let there be no cen- 

 tral shoot left, but let the whole, if 

 possible, form either a triangle, if 



three; a square, if four; or a bowl- like 

 character in fact, about the form of a 

 good tulip, if more than four. The 

 trees are now ready for their final des- 

 tination, if necessary, or they will stand 

 another year before final removal. 



By Layers. This is seldom resorted 

 to ; if, however, any one should possess 

 a choice seedling of which he is de- 

 sirous to make much profit, he might 

 elevate the soil to the branches, as in 

 the act of layering carnations, and lay 

 the shoots for propagation fiat on the 

 surface, cutting a notch below each 

 bud, pegging the shoot down, and soil- 

 ing it over about an inch; every bud 

 becomes a shoot with a root. 



By Seed. This is resorted to for the 

 sake of raising new varieties. Sow the 

 seeds as soon as ripe, and in the spring 

 place them in a hotbed; the plants 

 Avill grow above a foot high the same 

 season. Many of them fruit at two 

 years old, and nearly all at three. 



Suckers. They grow readily from 

 suckers ; there is little doubt but that 

 plants thus reared are more liable to 

 produce suckers than those from cut- 

 tings. 



Soil. The Eed and White currants 

 love a free upland soil ; a clayey soil is 

 too cold, and a very sandy one is too 

 hungry. Water lodgments they are 

 quite averse to. 



Culture in growing period, In the 

 first place, if the soil is liable to suffer 

 from drought, let a top-dressing of half- 

 decayed manure, or littery material, be 

 spread three inches thick over their 

 roots, at the end of May, after rain. 

 The next point is " stop," or remove, 

 what is termed the watery wood. All 

 shoots growing into the interior of the 

 bush, to the exclusion of light and air, 

 may be cut back when about nine inches 

 in length ; far enough to render the 

 centre of the bush completely open. 

 This will be necessary about the mid- 

 dle of June. In about another fort- 

 night, the watery or wild-looking breast 

 spray all round the exterior, may be 

 pruned back to within four inches of 

 their base. This leaves a regular tuft 

 of foliage all round, absolutely neces- 

 sary for a partial shade to the swelling 

 fruit. Some intervening spray between 



