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indeed in any, if plenty of water be close at hand, it would be 
■well to provide a system of irrigation ; this would be easily and 
economically accomplished, by planting a little below the ordi- 
nary ground level, on an inclined plane ; and by laying a line of 
common draining tiles, or pipes, from a head water. Whether 
irrigation, or watering by other means, be performed, it should 
be known, that when the fruit is in its earlier stage of swelling, 
is the time, above all others, to apply it; for, if they are sub- 
jected to drought at this period, they will assuredly lose a 
considerable portion of their fruit. A system of annual top- 
dressing is also of the greatest service ; although such dressing 
be mere soil, or rotten leaves. A little manure applied is, of 
course, beneficial. One circumstance connected with the Black 
Currant should be particularly noticed ; which is, its aptitude to 
produce an abundance of fibrous roots, close to the surface of the 
ground. Hence, it is evident, that spade culture carried close 
to their stems, is highly injurious; and hence, also, their impa- 
tience of drought, and the great importance of top-dressings. 
The Black Currant may be propagated either by cuttings 
or suckers, taking care to cut away the buds which are below 
the ground level, or the plants will be liable to that common 
inconvenience and injury — the production of numerous suckers. 
Cuttings may be planted in a half-shady aspect, any time from 
the fall of the leaf, until the end of February. In the succeed- 
ing summer they will make shoots of six or nine inches in 
length ; and these, at the ensuing pruning season, must be short- 
ened to about four inches. In the following summer they will 
make good bushes, and will be fit for removal to their final 
situations in the succeeding autumn or winter. 
As, however, young bushes can be so cheaply procured from 
the nurseries, it is perhaps as economical, where the garden is 
small, to purchase them ; in which case the buyer has the power 
of selection. The Black Naples, a very large-berried variety, 
is, in general, most approved. It is indeed a noble berry, but 
for general culture, in upland or dry soils, we should prefer the 
old or Common Black; for its produce, in such situations, will 
be greater in the aggregate, in an average of seasons. This 
preference may appear strange to many, but when it is con- 
sidered (borrowing an illustration from the animal kingdom) 
that the far-famed Leicester sheep would prove inferior if fed 
