PLANTING THE CURRANT 345 



vocated vary from three -by -four feet to five -by -eight 

 feet, with every possible intermediate combination. It 

 will generally be found satisfactory to place the rows 

 six feet apart, with the plants four feet apart in 

 the rows. If the design is to cultivate both ways, 

 five feet apart each way may be better. Cross -cultiva- 

 tion is commonly only needed at intervals, and the 

 wider row should be in the direction most conven- 

 ient for cultivating. 



The land should be in fine, mellow tilth as deep 

 as plowed. It should then be marked both ways, 

 with furrows in one direction. It will be all the bet- 

 ter if these furrows are made deeper than necessary 

 to receive the plants, in order to insure their being 

 set in a well -fined bed. The setting is easily done 

 by placing the plants against the land- side of the 

 furrow and drawing the earth about them, packing it 

 firmly about the roots with the feet. No one point 

 is more essential than this thorough firming of the soil 

 about the roots. A layer of loose, fine soil should 

 be left at the surface, to act as a mulch and prevent 

 the packed soil beneath from drying out. The re- 

 mainder of the furrow may be left to be filled in 

 as cultivation progresses later on. One-year-old 

 plants, if vigorous and well grown, are quite as sat- 

 isfactory and cost less money. They are easily set, 

 meet with little check in transplanting, and make a 

 better growth than if left in the crowded nursery 

 row during the same time. 



The earliness of the currant in starting into growth 

 in spring is a point in favor of fall planting. This 



