26 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 412. 



Cultural Department. 



About Currants. 



THE marked development in recent years of the interest in 

 currants as a market fruit has naturally been accompanied 

 by the introduction of many new varieties and some old varie- 

 ties under new names. The newer candidates for favor include 

 the Eclipse, North Star, Red Cross and Wilder of the red kinds, 

 and Marvin's Seedling-, Caywood's Seedling and White Ver- 

 saillaise of the white kinds, and several other sorts. None of 

 these have been fruited here long enough to determine their 

 productiveness. 



North Star, introduced from Minnesota, makes « vigorous 

 upright or somewhat spreading growth. The color of the 

 fruit is much like that of the Red Dutch ; bunches medium 

 length; fruit probably large under good cultivation, but varying 

 from small to large. Red Cross, from seed of Cherry fertilized 

 by White Grape, was originated by the originator ot Brighton 

 Grape. The fruit is medium to very large, milder-flavored 

 and lighter in color and somewhat later in season than Cherry. 

 Habit of bush, upright, vigorous. Eclipse is a good grower 

 and bears bunches Irom two and a half to three inches long. 

 The fruit varies from small to large; color good, somewhat 

 lighter than that of Fay; flavor comparatively mild. Wilder, 

 from seed ot Versaillaise, originated about eighteen years ago 

 with Mr. E. Y. Teas, Irvington, Indiana. It is a good grower, 

 bearing fruit medium to very large, less uniform in size than 

 Fay, and somewhat lighter in color. It appears to be worthy 

 of extended trial as a late kind. 



Among the red Currants that have been in full bearing at 

 this station during the last three years, Cherry has been one of 

 the most desirable of the large fruited kinds. Fay yields longer 

 bunches and more uniformly large fruit than Cherry, but it 

 does not make as satisfactory a bush, nor has it been as pro- 

 ductive in this locality as the Cherry. Neither of these kinds 

 will remain on the bushes in good condition for shipping as 

 late as will Victoria, Prince Albert or Wilder. On account of 

 iis thin skin and abundance of fine-flavored juice, Cherry is 

 liked at fruit-preserving establishments for making into jam, 

 but it is necessary to evaporate away more ot its juice in mak- 

 ing jelly than it is with some other varieties. Fay and Prince 

 Albert are especially liked for making inlo jelly, oecause of 

 their large size, thin skin and rich pulp. 



Prince Albert is a vigorous grower, more upright even than 

 Red Dutch. When well grown the fruit will pass for large. 

 Of all the varieties in full bearing here during the last three 

 years it has given the highest average yield, and London Red, 

 also known as Short-bunched' Red, has taken second place. 

 The London Red, like Cherry, has short clusters, with stem so 

 short as to make it difficult to pick. The fruit varies trom 

 medium to large and is similar to Red Dutch in color and 

 quality. One ot the most valuable of the kinds that produce 

 medium-sized fruit is Victoria, also known in Canada as Ruby 

 Castle or Raby Castle. The bush is a very strong grower, up- 

 right and very productive. The cluster of well-formed buds 

 at the end of the shoot, the bluish gray color of the buds and 

 the rather pale green foliage are quite characteristic of this 

 variety. The clusters are of good medium lengih. Thefruitis 

 late in coloring, has a bright red color, and will keep on the 

 bushes in good condition later than either Cherry or Red 

 Dutch. 



The market demand for white currants is quite limited, and 

 the number of new white varieties is not so great as the num- 

 ber of newly introduced red sorts. White Grape and White 

 Dutch still remain the standard sorts. White Imperial has not 

 yet fruited here. Cay wood Seedling is a very productive white 

 kind, with spreading or drooping branches. Thelruit is large, 

 attractive and of good quality. Marvin's Seedling is similar in 

 color to White Grape, larger in size and rather more acid. 

 White Versaillaise has long, well-formed clusters slightly 

 darker in color than White Grape ; berries larger, less juicy and 

 about the same in acidity as White Grape. 



Geneva Experiment Station, N. Y. **, r. 



How to Grow Peppers and Egg-plants. 



HPHERE are few vegetables which so often disappoint 

 ■1 growers by failing to produce fruit as Peppers and Egg- 

 plants. It seems to be an easy matter to grow plants which 

 by the last of August are large and vigorous, but in many cases 

 only an occasional plant is produciive. Conditions of soil, 

 climate and cullure might cause such failure, but I think it is 

 most often the outcome of little-understood peculiarities of 

 Solanaceous plants. The Tomato, Egg-plant and Pepper are 

 annuals and natives of a tropical climate. The seed does not 



start until the growing season, and then the plants have the 

 advantage of a uniformly favorable degree of moisture and 

 heat, in which they grow rapidly and steadily from the starting 

 seedling to the ripening fruit. This is their normal habit of 

 growth, and any interference with it is sure to result in less 

 perfect development and fruilfulness. A temporary check, 

 which would have no permanent influence on Peas, Beans or 

 Lettuce, will materially lessen the fruittulness of a Tomato, 

 Pepper or Egg plant, even though it does not lessen its ulti- 

 mate size and apparent vigor. I could give details of experi- 

 ments which go to prove this fact, but readers will recall 

 instances where a single volunteer Tomato-plant which 

 sprang up after the started plants were set, and in the favora- 

 ble weather grew steadily without check, was noticeably more 

 productive, though no larger, than those that were trans- 

 planted. If individual plants ot Egg-plant and Pepper are 

 nofed, those which have grown most steadily and been least 

 checked in transplanting will prove the most produciive 

 plants. The practical lesson of these observations is that the 

 utmost care should be taken in starting plants of this class 

 to secure steady and unchecked growth. 



Sowing the seed should be delayed until there is just time 

 enough before setting the plants in the open ground for the 

 seedlings with a moderate rate of growth to reach the size 

 most desirable for handling and transplanting. Special care 

 should be taken to so control light, heat and moisture as to 

 secure the steady growth ot the plants. To start the seed so 

 early or grow the plants so rapidly as to be forced to hold them 

 back or let them get soft and spindling through want of room 

 is sure to result in a poor crop of fruit, no malter how prom- 

 ising the plants look in July. The ground should be well 

 prepared and so fertilized as to give the plants a well-balanced 

 food ration; and the plants set and the ground cultivated so as 

 to avoid, as far as possible, the least check in the growth of the 



Detroit. Mich. Will W. Tracy. 



Freesias. 



AMONG winter-blooming plants which furnish flowers for 

 cutting lew equal in usefulness or popularity these Cape 

 bulbs. Within the last few years the price of flowering bulbs 

 has been so much reduced that they are now sold at very low 

 rates, and no one possessing a greenhouse can afford to be 

 without them ; we have seen very good pots and pans of them 

 grown in windows where the temperature has not been too 

 high. A great many house-plants are ruined by heat, and 

 Freesias are impatient of high temperature until their flower- 

 spikes show, when they will endure a little forcing. If opened 

 in strong heat, however, the flowers lack the substance of 

 those grown cooler, and they fade sooner. 



For our earliest batch, from which we usually begin to cut 

 flowers at Christmas, we plant our bulbs about the middle of 

 August, using boxes four incites deep, well-drained with 

 broken crocks or clam-shells, over which is placed a layer of 

 sphagnum-moss. The compost used consists of equal parts 

 ot loam, leaf-mold and well-rotted cow-manure, with a good 

 dash of sharp sand and some pulverized charcoal to keep the 

 whole porous. A box twenty-four inches by twelve inches 

 will carry til ty bulbs. These a re covered two inch es deep with t lie 

 compost ; alter being boxed a good watering is given and the 

 boxes are placed on a bed of ashes in a cold frame and covered 

 wiih some strawy manure to prevent the drying out of the 

 soil. As soon as the young shoots appear this covering is 

 removed ; the sashes are only used over the plants to throw off 

 heavy rains, and, later in the season, to protect irom frost ; the 

 more steadily the plants are kept growing the better will be the 

 returns at flowering time. 



We house these first lots early in October, and place the 

 boxes on a shelf in a Carnation-house close up to the light. 

 From the beginning of November until the flowers commence 

 to open, stimulants are applied at each alternate watering. We 

 find sulphate of ammonia and sheep-manure water the best 

 liquid foods, and we use these almost as strong as for pot 

 Chr)santhemums. Freesias, if well grown, should average 

 from twelve to twenty inches in height when in bloom, with 

 four to five side branches on each spike ; the starved speci- 

 mens too often seen average from six to nine inches in height, 

 and are ruined by too much heat, being grown too far from the 

 glass and in too poor compost. 



By putting in a few boxes of bulbs each month from the 

 middle of August to the middle of November a succession 

 of bloom may be had from Christmas till Easter. We hold 

 our late batches in a cold frame until Chrysanthemums are 

 quite over. Freesias increase about three-fold each year, and 

 homegrown bulbs, we find, produce much finer flowers than 



