CURRANT 
would be to place the rows eight feet 
apart and the plants six or seven feet 
in the row. This would allow room for 
thorough cultivation. 
Cultivation 
If the plantation has received an ap- 
plication of well rotted manure during 
the winter this should be worked into the 
Soil as early as the ground is ready to 
work in the spring. This may be done 
by shallow plowing or deep, double shov- 
el work. After thoroughly working the 
manure into the soil the surface should be 
left smooth and as near level as possible. 
Regular surface cultivation should con- 
tinue until picking time. After the crop is 
harvested, the plantation should again be 
thoroughly cultivated and then the plants 
permitted to become dormant and ready 
for winter. Late summer or fall growths 
should always be discouraged as there is 
danger of fall or winter injury resulting 
from the unripened condition of the 
shoots. 
Pruning 
The currant will bear some fruit every 
year whether it is pruned or not, but, if 
fine, large fruit is desired pruning is ne- 
cessary. There are two general types of 
training currant plants, i.e., the tree form 
and the bush form. The tree form is de- 
veloped by cutting away all the shoots but 
one and the removal of the lower buds and 
branches from this shoot for from twelve 
to twenty-four inches from the ground, 
which results in a little tree. This meth- 
od does very well for the amateur or the 
novice, but is not practical from a com- 
mercial point of view on account of the 
unproductiveness of the plant and the 
danger of a borer destroying a whole 
plant instead of one cane, as is frequent- 
ly the case with bush grown plants. The 
bush form is the more common method 
used not only in commercial but in home 
gardens as well and results in the de- 
velopment of a well formed bush of from 
six to eight two to three-year-old fruit- 
ing canes, and from two to four young 
shoots or one-year-old fruiting canes. 
The common difficulty with the cur- 
rant bush is that there is too much 
wood left annually upon the plant and 
2—14 
865 
so it is compelled to produce a great 
number of small berries instead of great- 
er or equal weight of fine large fruit. 
While currant wood will produce fruit 
for an indefinite period of time, yet after 
it passes its fourth to fifth year it ceases 
to be valuable on account of the inferior 
quality of its fruit. Good, healthy wood 
produces its best fruit during the second 
and third years of its life and should be 
replaced by young shoots before it 
reaches its fifth year. 
In ordinary field culture, from five to 
eight bearing canes on a plant will give 
better results than a greater number, 
especially where these canes have been 
summer pinched in order to develop 
strong lateral buds. If these shoots have 
produced strong, lateral shoots they 
should be cut back to from three to four 
inches in length. For market purposes 
it is better to remove too much wood and 
produce a small quantity of fine fruit 
than not enough and produce an uwun- 
salable crop of small fruit. Pruning may 
be done in the fall or early in the spring. 
Ordinarily it is best to do it just before 
the plants start into growth in spring. 
Harvesting and Marketing 
Since the currant is largely used for 
jellies and spice purposes, a rather tart 
fruit is more desirable than a thoroughly 
ripened fruit. For this reason as well 
as the better shipping qualities of slightly 
green fruit, currants should be picked 
just before they are ripe rather than after 
they have become fully ripe. Fruit 
picked while it is cool ships much better 
than fruit picked during the heat of the 
day. Under no consideration must fruit 
be picked while it is wet with rain or 
dew, as it soon spoils if handled while 
wet. The bunch should be removed 
whole from the plant and kept whole, 
never shelling or stripping the bunches, 
as it is sure to lower the grade, if not 
ruin the fruit entirely. 
Up to the present time there is no es- 
tablished method in the West, for 
marketing currants. The common 24- 
quart crate is extensively used and is 
undoubtedly the best and most adaptive 
Western package. A few growers use a 
