864 
more than three years old should be cut 
out. 
Like most other fruits, currants 
should not be picked when wet; as they 
tend to mold or decay if so treated. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
Currants for the Home Garden or 
Commercial Plantation 
The currant is one of the few fruits 
that if planted at all in the home garden 
is permitted to grow at will, usually more 
or less choked with grass and weeds or 
rarely or never given any pruning or cul- 
tivation. While it will exist under such 
conditions, it rarely gives satisfactory 
returns and for this reason is not gener- 
ally considered a profitable commercial 
crop in many parts of Washington. 
Propagation 
The currant, like all other cultivated 
fruits, does not “come true” from seed, 
so, for this reason, it is necessary to prop- 
agate it by means of cuttings, layers or 
division. 
The wood for cuttings should be of the 
current year’s growth and may be taken 
any time between the falling of the leaves 
in the summer and the beginning of 
growth in the spring. The strongest plants 
and most satisfactory results are usually 
secured from cuttings made early in the 
fall and planted immediately. The cut- 
tings are usually made from seven to 
eight inches long. The lower end should 
be cut just below a bud while the upper 
end may be from one to two inches 
from a bud, depending upon the length of 
the wood. If the cuttings are made late 
in the fall or during the winter it is 
usually best to pit them in a callousing 
pit or pack them in damp moss or soil in 
a cool cellar until early spring. They 
should then be planted in deep, rich, 
moist soil in nursery rows three or four 
feet apart and the cuttings six or eight 
inches apart in the row. Plant down to 
the top bud, making the soil very firm 
around the base of the cuttings in order 
to prevent drying out during the sum- 
mer months. After from one to two year’s 
growth the plants will be in excellent 
shape to set in the permanent planta- 
tion. 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
Soil 
Almost any good rich soil of sufficient 
depth and fertility to produce a good 
crop of grain will produce good crops 
of currants. While this class of fruit 
may be grown in hot, dry soil, the best 
results are secured on cool, moist soils. 
A well drained, rich, sandy loam with 
considerable humus in it, or even clay 
loam properly treated, will give excel- 
lent results if there is plenty of available 
plant food. When the soil becomes very 
hot and dry during the summer it is 
sometimes advisable to mulch with coarse 
litter in order to hold the moisture and 
keep the temperature down. It is diffi- 
cult, however, to grow good, clean fruit 
under these conditions. As a plant the 
currant is a heavy surface feeder and so 
should receive heavy annual dressings of 
well rotted manure or a substitute for 
manure in the form of commercial fer- 
tilizers. 
Planting 
One or two-year old plants from cut- 
tings or layers give better results for the 
permanent plantation. Most planters pre- 
fer a one-year-old plant, as it is easier to 
handle than the two-year-old plants. 
Early fall planting gives good results 
where the plants are mulched before the 
cold weather comes on, but for general 
planting early spring gives the best re- 
sults, especially where the stock is se- 
cured in the fall or winter and is set out 
just as soon as the ground is ready to 
receive the plants in the spring. Late 
spring planting is not satisfactory since 
the rootlets and shoots of the currant be- 
gin to form early and are easily dam- 
aged in handling. 
The same care should be exercised as 
in planting a fruit tree. AJl broken or 
bruised roots should be removed, the top 
thinned and cut back and the plant set 
from one to two inches lower than it 
stood originally in the nursery. 
The square planting plan of 6x6 feet is 
commonly used. However, it does not 
give sufficient room for the bushy sorts, 
especially after they begin to bear and 
the limbs become weighed down with the 
heavy crops of fruit. A better plan 
