736 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Fart III. 



SuBSEOT. 6. Red Currant. — Ribes Ruhrum, L. {Eng. Rot. 1289) Pentaudria Mono- 

 gynicij L. and Cacti, J. Groseille d grappes t/' outre mei', Fr. ; Johannisbeere, Ger. ; 

 and Uvetta, ItaL 



4680. The red currant is a. low shrub, with smooth branches, doubly serrate, pubes- 

 cent leaves, yellowish -green flowers on pendulous racemes, which appear in May, and 

 the fruit ripens in June and July. The berries of this shrub, in its wild state, are red ; 

 cultivation has produced white and pale-red berried varieties. It is a native of the 

 northern parts of Europe, and found in hedges and woods in England. Professor 

 Martyn observes, that " the currant does not seem to have been known to the ancient 

 Greeks and Romans, as the southern nations of Europe have not even an appro]3riate 

 name to it at this day. The old French name groseilles d' outre mer ; and the Dutch, 

 beskins overzee, proclaim their having been strangers imported. Our English name of 

 currant is evidently from the similitude of the fruit, to that of tlie uva coriuthiaca, the 

 small grape of Zante, or the common grocers' corinths, or currants. The red currant 

 has been long cultivated in Britain, and very much improved in the size of the bunch and 

 berry. 



4681. Use. The fruit is acceptable at the dessert, being of an agreeable acid taste. 

 It is much used for jellies, jams, and wines. Forsyth says, it is the most useful of all 

 the small fruit, either for tlie table and kitchen, or for preserving, making wine, &c. ; 

 and continues longer in succession than any other. According to Withering, the juice 

 forms an agreeable acid to punch ; and Professor Martyn says it was a common bever- 

 age in Paris in 1763. Its medicinal qualities are similar to those of other subacid 

 fruits, allaying thirst, lessening an increased secretion of the bile, and correcting a 

 putrid and scorbutic state of the fluids. 



4682. Varieties. These are — 



Common red or wild currant I Champagne large red I Large newwhite Dutch I Large pr.le-red Dutch 



Large red Champagne pale red I (Hook P. L.t.oC.) Gooseberry-leaved. 



Long clustered red | White Dutch | White crystal | 



4683. Propagation and nursery citltnre. The same as in the gooseberry. With a view to obtaining im- 

 proved varieties from seed, that indefatigable iiorticulturalist, Knight, procured cuttings, in the year 

 1810, of the finest varieties of the red and the white currant, which he planted in pots of very rich 

 mould and placed under a south wall, to which the trees were subsequently trained. At tlie end of three 

 years, within which period the pots had been as often changed, the trees were first suffered to produce 

 blossoms. Tliese were, with the exception of a very small number, removed from the white currant 

 trees, as soon as their buds unfolded ; and those which remained were deprived of tlieir stamens, whilst 

 immature, and subsequently fertilised by the pollen of the red variety. The seeds thus obtained were 

 sowed in pots, as soon as the fruit had become perfectly mature, and were subjected, early in the follow- 

 ing spring, to the artificial heat of a forcing-house ; by which means, and by proper subsequent atten- 

 tion, the plants grew more than a foot in height in the first season. At two years old, in the year 1816, 

 -several of the plants, and, in 1817, the greater part of them, produced fruit of great variety of character^ 

 and merits ; but out of about two hundred varieties, only three red and two white appeared to possess 

 greater merits than their parents. {Uort. Trans, iii. 88.) 



4684. Soil and site. All the sorts are very hardy, will grov; freely, and bear plentifully almost any 

 ■ivhere, alike in open and shady situations, by which the fruit may be obtained early, in June and July, 

 and prolonged for several months in succession till October. As to soil, the currant generally does well ■ 

 in any common garden-ground, well tilled and recruited ; it bears the greater crop in a strong loam, or 

 improved clay, somewhat moist ; the earlier in a sandy light mould, which is not poor. Previous to 

 planting, the ground should be dug two feet deep. 



4685. Final planting. " The season for planting on a dry soil is any time in open weather, from the 

 fall of the leaf till February or March. Plants expected to bear the following summer are best moved in 

 October, unless the ground be wet in winter. Allot a competent supply of standard bushes, to be planted 

 chiefly in the kitchen-garden, in a single row round the main compartments, or in the outward borders, or 

 some in cross rows, to divide extensive compartments. Plant them from five to ten feet distant in the row. 

 To raise large supplies, full plantations are formed in parallel rows, with intervals between the rows of eight 

 or ten feet, and between the trees in each row of six feet. Where convenient, have also some choice sorts 

 trained against walls or palings, of different aspects, to obtain eai-ly and late fruit in perfection : some 

 against a south exposure, for early production ; others on east, west, and north walls, for intermediate suc- 

 cession and late fruit. Plant them at six, eight, or ten feet distance ; letting them occasionally fill up the 

 vacant spaces between other wall-trees. The branches should be allowed to advance from near the bot- 

 tom, and be trained in a nearly horizontal direction from three to six inches asunder. Before nailing 

 them, cut out superabundant and irregular growths, retaining a competency of regular shoots for orderly 

 training, among which, if any are of very considerable length, prune them to moderate extent. Some 

 may likewise be trained as espaliers, in a detached row, in the borders or divisions of the compartments. 

 The trees so trained may either be left to grow without supjiort, or be tied occasionally to stakes, and 

 the branches thus will not overspread the ground. Being kept moderately thin and regular, they will 

 bear fine large fruit, and make an agreeable appearance." 



4686. Mode of bearing. Currant-trees, in general, bear the fruit botli on the young 

 wood of one, two, and three years' growth ; and on the older branches, from small spurs, 

 and snags along the sides, which continue several years fruitful, but the fruit produced 

 on the last year's shoot is always finest, especially when the old motJier bearers have 

 borne more than four years. 



4687. Pruning. The chief part of the future culture is seasonable priming. After the plants are fur- 

 nished with full heads, they produce many superfluous and disorderly shoots every summer, crowding 

 the generar bearers, so as to require retrenchment and regulation, both in the young growths of the 

 year and older wood The season for the capital pruning is winter ; but a preparatory part is performed 

 in summer, to thin the superfluous shoots of the year where too crowded, excluding the sun and air from 

 the fruit. First, as to standards : — 



4688. Sujnjner pruning. " In May or June cut out close the most irregular shoots rising in the centre 

 ef tiie tree, with all the cross and water-shoots, to admit more freely the essential influence of the air 



