The Canadian Horticulturist. 



271 



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GROWING CURRANTS. 



E. P. Powell, of New York State, speaks 

 highly of the currant as a market fruit. He 

 says that the demand is never met by the 

 supply, that he never fails to get as much as 

 eight cents a pound for his fruit, and, this 

 summer, has averaged ten cents, while he 

 believes it would pay at five cents. The 

 varieties which he finds best for market are 

 Versailles and Fay, of which he prefers the 

 former. He speaks unfavorably of the 

 Cherry, as having a short bunch and being a 

 comparatively poor cropper, while he recom- 

 mends the White Grape for table use. 



Our favorite, so far, has been the Cherry 

 currant, that is, when grown on suitable 

 soil. On a liffht dry sand it is a failure, 

 even with the best of cultivation and manur- 

 ing, but on heavier soil, with good cultiva- 

 tion, it yields prodigious crops of fine large 

 bunches, with berries of a magnificent size. 

 Nowadays it appears to us that size and 

 beauty go further with our buyers in the 

 markets than any other qualities, and we 

 have never yet grown any currant to equal 

 the Red Cherry in these respects. True, 

 the White Grape is an excellent currant for 

 table use, and might pay in the home gar- 

 den, but there is no money in it to grow for 

 market. 



Mr. Powell does not speak favorably of 

 the Crandall. He says the bush lops about 

 and must be tied to stakes ; and in size and 

 in flavor it is no improvement on the orna- 

 mental varieties. Certainly, from what we 

 have seen of it, it is a grand improvement 

 on them, as far as productiveness is con- 

 cerned. 



THE NEW GOOSEBERRIES. 



Mr. John Carnie, of Paris, called at our 

 office on July 30th to exhibit a box of 

 samples of a fine green gooseberry which he 

 has been growing for the past eighteen 

 years. It is one of twenty varieties which 

 he brought out with him from Scotland, 

 and while the others were subject to mil- 

 dew, this one had been entirely free. He 

 considers it a variety well worth general 

 cultivation ; unfortunately, he has forgotten 

 the name. It is not so large a gooseberry, 

 nor is it so fine looking as Sutherland's seed- 

 ling elsewhere referred to, but it has a rather 

 more pleasing flavor. 



New gooseberries seem quite plentiful 

 these days. The Rural New Yorker of Aug- 

 ust 2nd gives cuts of two seedlings sent to 

 the experimental grounds of that journal by 

 the late James Dougall, of Windsor, in the 

 fall of 1883. They are designated Dougall 's 

 No. 2 and No. 7. No. 2 is in quality excel- 

 lent, being sweet, tender and juicy. The 

 color is a pale red on one side and nearly 

 green on the other. It is highly commended 

 for home uses. The No. 7 is more produc- 

 tive and the berries larger, of a dull green 

 color, and not so sweet as No. 2. 



The Conn or Autocrat is sustaining its 

 reputation as a green gooseberry of fine 

 size, great productiveness and freedom from 

 mildew. 



We have also from Mr. A. M. Smith some 

 samples of that wonderfully productive 

 gooseberry the Pearl, referred to on page 

 318, Vol. 12. It is a pale red color and its 

 quality very good. But of all the samples 

 sent in to us, not one equals in size and 



