SMALL AND BUSH FRUITS. 



81 



lines, where a special and good-paying trade has 

 sprung up among railway employes and others in 

 Black Currants. A dozen or score or more of good 

 bushes of the latter not seldom pay the rent of the 

 cottage and garden, and thus become not only a great 

 source of interest and pleasure, but a sure and 

 almost certain means of profit. For Black Currants 

 are a more reliable crop than either Bed or White ; 

 and there are also degrees of hardiness and of cer- 

 tainty between these two, the White being the least 

 hardy, and commercially of least value ; for some- 

 how or another White Currant jam or jelly, delicious 

 almost as golden honey when well made, is by no 

 means popular, while no one cares to eat White 

 Currant tarts or puddings, the redness or jet-black- 

 ness, as the case may be, being part of the charm of 

 those auxiliaries to health and appetising and whole- 

 some articles of diet. 



The propagation, planting, training, and general 

 culture of the White and Bed Currant hardly differs 

 from that of the Gooseberry already described. That 

 of the Black Currant is different, and shall have 

 separate notice. 



As to propagation, some prefer their Currants with 

 taller stems than Gooseberries, and the cuttings 

 might be sufficiently long, say a foot to eighteen 

 inches in length, to permit of from nine inches to 

 a foot of clear stem for the ordinary form of cup 

 or vase-shaped bushes. Early autumnal insertion is 

 also of more moment to Currants than Gooseberries, 

 as the Currants are longer in rooting. Neither does 

 layering the points of the shoots answer so well for 

 White and Red Currants as for Gooseberries, as they 

 neither root so freely, nor do the plants so layered 

 thrive so well afterwards. Black Currants, however, 

 root freely from layers, and may even be propagated 

 by division of the root-stock, as the one-stem system 

 is of little moment for these. 



The Planting of Currants.— The soil may be 

 the same as for Gooseberries. A deep, rich, friable 

 loam, well enriched with manure, such as farmyard, 

 soot, house slops, &c, suits Currants admirably. 

 Currants seldom burn or scald with the sun, so a 

 shady site in warm localities is not needful. Still, 

 Currants grow well, and acquire full size and the 

 highest colour, in the dense shade of north walls, 

 though they are more acid in such positions than 

 when grown in the open and fully exposed to the 

 sun's light and heat. 



Distances from a yard to two yards apart may be 

 adopted, five feet by four, or even six by four, being 

 frequently used as the best. Horizontal-trained 

 bushes on walls or espalier rails are mostly planted a 

 yard apart. From these, two branches, one on either 

 side, are trained to the right and the left, and from 

 78 



the latter vertical branches seven or nine inches 

 apart. Single cordons are planted nine inches apart. 



Black Currants arc often planted at distances 

 varying from a yard to four feet asunder, and it is 

 good and proper practice to plant them considerably 

 closer on rich deep soils, and allow them to form a 

 boundary or dividing fence, a yard, two, or more 

 through. Gooseberries are often planted in the same 

 way and for similar purposes, and planting in this 

 style will prove most profitable when the bushes are 

 allowed a great amount of freedom of growth, and 

 subjected to but little or no training afterwards. 

 Such fruit-bush hedges will, on good soils, reach a 

 height of from four to seven feet, and as much 

 through, and produce enormous quantities of fine 

 fruit, utilising almost any amount of house slops, 

 sewage, or manures in the process. 



The pruning, training, and general treatment of 

 Bed and AVhite Currants does not differ from that 

 described for Gooseberries. "The advancement of 

 the leading shoots by leaps and bounds of from six 

 to nine inches, and the close spurring of all others, 

 to develop fruit-spurs at their base, are the chief 

 points. The shoots of Currants being, however, 

 larger, softer, and more full of pith than Goose- 

 berries, they should be cut even closer back to 

 their base, a half or even a quarter of an inch being 

 sufficient. If these shoots are left too long, the 

 rains and frosts of winter are apt to enter and rot 

 the wood, to the injury of the trees. Besides, if the 

 young wood has been shortened back early in the 

 season, the base-buds will be found sufficiently de- 

 veloped to produce an abundant supply of fruit and 

 wood-buds. As Currants and Gooseberries advance 

 in years, bunches of fruit -buds are developed all over 

 the branches, and so soon as the bushes reach full 

 size, and get into full bearing, less and less pruning 

 will be needful, and all of it may take the form of 

 hard pruning, that is, severe cutting back to the 

 base of the shoots. 



The most popular form for Currants, as for Goose- 

 berries, is that of the flat bush with an open centre ; 

 neither does the White or the Bed Currant take so 

 kindly to the pyramidal form as the Gooseberry. 

 On the other hand, however, the Currant yields 

 more kindly to budding and grafting than the Goose- 

 berry, though that can also be worked successfully. 

 Nice standard Currant-trees may be formed by 

 working the desired varieties on to the tops of any 

 strong suckers or cuttings that may be run up to the 

 desired heights ; and such forms of Currant-bushes 

 are very effective along the edges of walks, the effect 

 being heightened by alternating White and Bed. The 

 Black is neither so suitable nor effective for these 

 semi-ornamental purposes. The formation of these 

 will be hastened, and the future health of the tree 



