268 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



rarely as many as nine or ten. This currant is bigger than that of currant bush n°.l. Its skin 

 is firm, violet-black, dappled with tiny white spots. When crushed it yields a beautiful 

 bright red dye. The flesh is tender, bluish white, with a sharp taste. It contains from ten to 

 twenty hard, angular, light brown seeds. 



The fruit ripens in June & July. It's of no use as food but only as a medication. 



VI. American CURRANT BUSH with black fruit. 



American CURRANT BUSH with black fruit. Virginia CURRANT BUSH. 



This shrub looks a lot like the cassis plant. Its branches are thinner & its leaves 

 are smaller. 



The flowers, fifteen or twenty of them, are attached as though they were pressed 

 against a common stem, which makes them look more like a spike than a cluster. They 

 open up less than those of other currant bushes. The cup of the calyx, a very light green, 

 is close to three lignes long. Its sections, almost white, & its petals are longer than the 

 corresponding structures on the flower of the cassis plant. So its flowers are longer than 

 those of any other currant bush. Even though they contain the same structures essential 

 for bearing fruit & in the same arrangement, they look quite different. 



The fruit is slightly bigger than that of the common currant bush. Its skin is the 

 same color as that of the cassis. The juice is almost tasteless. The seeds are extremely 

 numerous; I've counted more than fifty of them in a medium-sized currant. The fruit 

 ripens at the beginning of July. It's more of a curiosity than it is useful. 



CULTIVA TION. 



1°. PROPAGATING the cluster currant bush by seed planting 



