THE (TRUANT AND 6008EBERRY. 



273 



in our markets and its commercial growing is being 

 extended. In the home gardens, with common care, it 

 bears good fruit when thirty or more years old. As a 

 dessert fruit it is not equal to the strawberry, but it comes 

 at a different season, and such varieties as the White Grape 

 require no more sugar to make them palatable than the 

 strawberry. The currant jelly is also a home delicacy that 

 is refreshing and wholesome throughout the year. 



263. Propagation. The currant is not grown from seed 

 except when new varieties are wanted. But it is interest- 

 ing to plant the seed in a small way to watch the varied 

 shades of coloring of the fruit of the seedlings. The 

 stratified (5) seeds grow readily if planted very early in the 

 spring. If buried outside, the soil is usually in condition 

 to plant by the time the buried seeds can be taken up. 

 We have planted currant- and goose- 

 berry-seed in March when not more 

 than two inches of the surface soil was 

 thawed. If not planted early the seed 

 sprouts in the sand with w r hich it is 

 mixed. 



The almost invariable method of 

 propagation is from cuttings of the 

 young w r ood planted in the fall (58). 

 Cuttings made and set in August, or as 

 soon as the leaves are ripe, will root 

 during the fall, as shown in Fig. 81. 

 In the figure the cutting is shown in 

 erect position, but it is best to plant all FIG. 81. Currant 

 cuttings as shown by figure in section SJ^SS^flSd 

 (58). rooting the same 



T -, . .,, -, season. 



Layers put down in spring will also 



be well rooted in the fall, if the shoots are twisted at the 

 point where buried (52). 



