49 



and sweet, entirely free from the acidity which characterizes the Lawton and even the 

 mttatinny. We cannot say how far it will be valuable for market, as it ripens one 

 week later than any variety now grown ; still in all other qualities it seems to be very 

 suitable for general culture."— Horticulturist. 



We are growing several new sorts that will fruit the coming season— such as the 

 Snyder, Kansas, Superior, Straclien and Knox. We propose the coming spring to 

 send a specimen of each sort on our grounds to a friend in $he extreme north part of 

 Wisconsin, and south part of Georgia, and hope to be able to have a report from each, 

 as to the comparative merits, hardiness, productiveness, &c., in The Recorder another 

 season. 



CURRANTS. 



" Among the cool and healthful fruits of Summer, the currant has, from time im- 

 memorial, held a prominent position. The ease with which it has been raised has 

 thrown it into every garden, and when once put out, it is often allowed to run wild, 

 ' take care of itself and produce its owner as little or as much as attending circumstances 

 induced. Hence, in passing along, the stranger meets with the currant not only at 

 every domicile, but frequently in old fields, where also the sunken hollow reveals a& 

 old cellar, and the ancient hearth-stone, covered with moss, tell of other and far by- 

 gone days. 



" Those old hedge-rows that live to mark the boundaries of the ancient garden, serve 

 to show the hardiness of the plant, and the neglect of cultivation to which it submits. 

 Too often the same fact is verified in the gardens attached to the pleasant homes of 

 many of our citizens. It seems to be a fact fully established in the minds of most 

 people, that the currant is a hardy plant, requiring no care after being once trans- 

 planted, and will do very well if left to take care of itself. They are seldom pruned, 1 

 and if ever done, it is by the browsing of sheep or other domestic animals, instead of 

 the careful operations of the knife at a proper season. 



" Now, whoever has planted out the currant, must have noticed the improvement in 

 size and flavor of the new over the old plantation. There are at least three good and 

 sufficient reasons why this should be the case. First, the plant has a new soil to work 

 in, and this, if it has to receive merited attention, has been well and thoroughly worked. 

 In the second place, the quantity of root is proportionally small, and has space to ex- 

 pand itself. This gives vigor to the top ; which induces better bearing qualities ; the 

 amount of top is small, which enables it to furnish more and better means for the 

 filling out of the fruit. Th« atmosphere, too, brings in its salutary effects more 

 readily than when brought to bear on a dense mass of tangled brush. 



'' If any one wishes for improved currants, 'and doubts the facts of our position, we 

 have only to ask them to take up one clump of these old bushes, and see the matted 

 and tangled condition of the roots. Then, let him count the stalks that grow from 

 this almost solid mass, and we are sure that they will not wonder that their currants 

 have been losing in size and quantity yearly. Now, if any feel really satisfied with 

 such small, insipid fruit, it is well ; their bushes are just the thing for them. If they 

 wish for something better, an effectual remedy must be provided. Some benefit may 

 probably result from a severe root and top thinning, and removing the soil long ago 

 exhausted and replacing it with a new and more active one. We doubt, however, 

 whether such a course would be the best. The labor of preparing and putting out a 

 new Dlantation cannot be much more than continuing, by a patching up process, and 

 when it is once made with proper care it will continue flourishing much longer than 

 the old. So then we conclude, that a rotation system for currants is as beneficial to 

 the grower as it is in strawberry or any other culture. As we say of steawberries, 

 kee# them in hills by cutting off the runners, so we say of currants. Where new 

 plantations are formed, set them a good distance apart and never aflow more than two 

 nrthrPP stalks to erow from a root. Hoc* among and cultivate them as any plant is 

 hoed or S^Z increase of size quality and quantity will be the result." 



For harden culture, set plants four feet «. D art alone; the fence, and for field culture 



