249 



Ivi'oiv the Muscat, but they become fully ripe later than this 

 variety. Suitable for districts with long summers and autumns. 

 If the dipping process is used in curing, the grapes must be very 

 ripe, else they will turn reddish and dark, and lose quality. At 

 the Wagga Wagga experimental orchard it was found impossible 

 to graft the Sultana, with any degree of success, .upon the 

 following sorts: Gros Guillaume, Royal Ascot, Corinth Currant, 

 and Solonis. Sultanas grafted on 15 varieties of American 

 stock grew vigorously, and carry good crops of large compact 

 bunches. 



THOMPSON'S SEEDLESS (syn. Lady Decoverley, Constanti- 

 nople). -Related to the seedless raisin grape, grown round Damascus. 

 Vine, an enormous bearer and grower ; bunches, large or very large. 

 Fruit : berries oval, as large as a Sultana. Skin, greenish-yellow, 

 thin. Flesh : seedless, good, but not strong flavour, and without 

 that acid which characterises the Sultana grape and raisin. 



Cultural Note*. When sun-dried and cured, these raisins are 

 bluish and dark like Muscats, but narrower and more tapering, and 

 only a quarter the sixe. Their sweetness and taste commend them 

 for cooking purposes, and the bearing quality of the vine will, no 

 doubt, make their growing profitable in all places where the seasons 

 are too short to thoroughly ripen the Sultana. Mr. Bioletti, of the 

 University of California, considers the variety identical with the 

 Sultana of Asia Minor. 



BLACK CURRANT (syn. Zante). A corruption of Corinth, 

 the Greek port from which most of these are shipped, the berries 

 resemble currants in size. The home of the Black Currant is the 

 Grecian Islands, as well as Morea, especially around Patras, Zante, 

 t Vplialonia. and Ithaca, all produce currants of the highest quality. 

 Vine : growth erect and climbing, moderately robust and very 

 fruitful. Fruit : Bunches from four to six or eight inches long ; 

 long, tapering, and cylindrical, with long, loose shoulders; stalks 

 slender. Berries, very small, about the size of small peas, round. 

 Skin, purplish red. *Flesh, juicy, sweet, pleasant, and without 

 seeds. 



Cultural Notes. The vines in Asia Minor are grown on low 

 bushes, and are pruned short ; the young branches require staking 

 in order to bear well ; the crop ripens in succession from the first 

 shoots, and the laterals, which also bear. For Australia, T head 

 trellissing, as shown on page 131, has been found to answer better. 

 The Currant grape, although generally seedless, sometimes produces 

 full-sized large berries with seeds, reverting to the grape as it were; 

 and where this tendency is very marked its cultivation has to be 

 abandoned. 



WHITE CORINTH. The bunch and berry resemble the Black 

 Currant, but differ in not being black, and in lacking the peculiar 



