THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE RED CURRANT. 267 
prickles, whose fruit is very small, lesser by much than the common 
kind (i.e. the Gooseberry), but of a perfect red colour, wherein it 
differeth from the rest of its kind." 
In Johnson's edition of Gerard (1633) a figure of the Currant is 
given, and we read of a new variety twice as big as the old one. While 
Gerard's knowledge of botany is known to have been small, we may 
accept without much doubt the fact that, as head of a famous garden 
in London, he would probably have known an improved Red Currant 
had it existed in his time. 
In Lyte's translation of Dodoens' " Herbal " ( 13 ) only one variety 
of Currant is mentioned. This has pendent flowers and is therefore 
a vulgare descendant. In Parkinson's well-known " Herbal " ( 14 ) we 
meet again the large Red sort, the size of the fruit only distinguishing 
it from the old Red sort. It is therefore evident that this variety 
suddenly appeared in gardens and was most probably a hybrid of 
vulgare with the newly-introduced R. petraeum, or possibly R. petraeum 
itself, but in any case not the product of gradual increases in size 
due to cultivation and selection. In several other works of the early 
seventeenth century we find the contrast between " baccis major " 
and " minor," and the illustration from the " Hortus Eystettensis " ( 15 ) 
(fig. 41) illustrates their relative size. Towards the end of the 
seventeenth century we meet the " Dutch " Currant, which was 
remarked by all writers as being so fine that the common variety was 
no longer worthy of cultivation. The first mention of the Dutch 
Currant I have found is that of Swerderus, a Swedish horticulturist , 
who grew it in his garden in 1670. It is also found in the well-known 
book of Merlet ( 16 ) and he states that it has caused the cultivation of 
the old Red to be given up entirely. It seems, therefore, likely that 
the " major " variety first noted by Camerarius may be the Red 
Dutch. 
The confusion of nomenclature in Red Currants to-day is equalled 
in other fruit, and it does not at all follow that the Red Dutch of the 
seventeenth century will be that of the twentieth. If we examine 
the Dutch grown in this country it is found to be a descendant of 
R. vulgare, and this will not agree with the suggestion above that it 
was the crossing of R. petraeum and vulgare that produced the large- 
fruited variety of the sixteenth century. 
In gardens of Holland, Germany, and France, however, we find a 
Dutch of an entirely different character and a true descendant of 
R. petraeum, showing the leaf, flower, bud, and late spring develop- 
ment so characteristic of this species. This variety is known in 
England as ' Prince Albert ' and ' Rivers's Late Red,' &c. I consider 
it extremely probable that this is the original Red Dutch Currant, 
and if so it fits in excellently with the historical facts as detailed above. 
As a further confirmation of this it may be noted that Clusius ( 17 ) 
speaks of a large-fruited variety as existing at Brussels and having a 
red flower, which shows that it was certainly of petraeum descent. 
As the raising of seedling Currants was recommended by Camerarius 
