186 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



the directions given for the planting and raising of orchard- 

 trees. 



267. CRANBERRY.— This fruit is not much cultivated in 

 England, notwithstanding its excellent qualities in the making of 

 tarts, and in the making of sauce to be eaten with mutton or 

 venison. The finest cranberries come from America, where the 

 plants creep about upon the ground in the swamps. If cultivated 

 in England, they must grow in some wet place, and be kept clear 

 of weeds : th^ plant creeps over the ground, like other creeping 

 plants : and I saw them bearing very well by the side of a running 

 stream at Aldbury in Surrey. Cranberries make an excellent pre- 

 serve, and they may be kept throughout the winter in their natural 

 state, either laid in a heap in a dry room, or put into a barrel 

 amongst water. I have imported them from America, sometimes 

 barrelled up in water, and sometimes not ; and always sound 

 and good. 



268. CURRANT.— This, though a low shrub, bears a fruit at 

 once popular, plentiful, and excellent in its qualities ; and it is 

 one of the great fruits of England, though not the same in many 

 other countries. It is raised with the greatest facility by cuttings 

 of the last year's wood, taken off in February, and planted in a 

 cool place after the manner directed under the head of cuttings, 

 which word see in the Index. The cutting gets roots the first sum- 

 mer, and the next fall or spring it may be removed to the spot 

 where it is finally to stand. Some currant-trees may be placed in 

 a warm situation so as for the fruit to come early ; but the finest 

 currants are those which grow rather in the shade ; the fruit be- 

 comes larger there, and has not the disagreeable tartness which it 

 acquires if ripened in a hot sun. This shrub flourishes and bears 

 well under the shade of other trees, as is seen so frequently and to 

 such great extent in the market gardens near London. When 

 the young currant-tree is planted out, it ought not to be suffered to 

 have any limbs within five or six inches of the ground ; but should 

 be made to have a clear and straight trunk to that height. When 

 the limbs come out, or rather the shoots that are to become limbs, 

 there should not be more than four or six suffered to go on as princi- 

 pal limbs. By shortening the shoots at the end of the first year, you 

 double the number of limbs. These, as in the case of the espalier 

 apple-tree, are to be kept constantly clear of side-shoots by cut- 

 ting off, every winter, the last summer's wood within one bud or so 



