BULLETIN No. 856 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER September 3, 1920 
CURRANT-GRAPE GROWING: A PROMISING NEW 
INDUSTRY. 
By GEoRGE C. HUSMANN, 
Pomologist in Charge of Viticultural Investigations, Office of Horticultural and 
~ Pomological Investigations. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. Page. 
Historical introduction ______-__=-- 1 | Conditions suited to currant- -grape 
Importance of the currant industry CUE UO y st = eae Re een ee G 
ATTN OT OCC Coss eee ees ee 2 | Analysis of the soil of the Fresno 
Imports of currants into the United Hxperiment Vineyard ___________ 8 
Sika LOS pies sien eer ys sea as ae 3 | Preparation of the soil, planting, 
Explorer’s notes on currant grapes__ 3 and culture of currant vineyards_ 9 
Currant-grape varieties____________ 4 | Pruning and training the vines_____ 9 
Introduction of Panariti cuttings___ 5), il ana venb ayer Lovey. VIDOES ae ape iO 
Description of the Panariti grape___ 6 | Congeniality of the Panariti variety 
Currant grapes successfully grown in to phylloxera-resistant stocks____ 12 
thisCounthya== = sas ee ee Harvesting and curing currants____ 
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 
Very few vines of the “ Corinth grapes,” from which the dried cur- 
rants of commerce are made, have been grown in this country, and 
these in California only. Many people doubtless suppose that the 
fruit, which is sold as dried currants and extensively used in cakes, 
puddings, and the like, is grown on currant bushes. Botanically the 
varieties of currant grapes belong to Vitis vinifera. According to 
Kisen, they are referred to by Pliny as grown in Greece in 75 A. D.., 
no further historical record of them appearing for nearly a thousand 
years. : 
- During the eleventh century, in the old herbals and in the literature 
of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, references to them 
occur as “reysyns de corauntzs,” “Corauntz,” “ Corent,” “reysonys 
of Corawnce,” “ raysns of Coren,” and “ currans.” 
1 Ribes sp. 
169797°—20 
