HARDINESS AND YIELD 353 



HARDINESS 



The question of ability to endure cold hardly enters 

 into consideration in connection with the currant. It 

 endures the most severe winters, in the extreme north- 

 ern limits of the United States at least, and comes 

 out in spring with every bud unharmed. The question 

 of hardiness here centers not on ability to endure 

 cold, but on ability to endure heat, and in this it 

 fails, as already shown by its distribution and its 

 more or less complete failure in warm climates. 



YIELD 



Perhaps no fruit is grown in which the yield varies 

 more than with the currant. This is largely owing to 

 the fact, already indicated, that it will grow and pro- 

 duce something under almost any kind of treatment. 

 It is doubtful whether, taking the currant fields of 

 the country as they run, the yield per acre would 

 be over fifty bushels. Yet there are growers who 

 report as high as 250 bushels. With good care 

 they ought to yield from 100 to 150 bushels per acre. 

 Yet it should always be remembered that there are 

 many drawbacks to the production of all kinds of 

 fruit, and while this may seem very easy to obtain, 

 when compared with the exceptional yields occasion- 

 ally reported, it will be found that only by high cul- 

 ture and the most careful attention to details will 

 even these yields be reached. In garden culture, 

 from two to four pounds per bush may be expected. 



