Q8S 
AMERICAN AGRICULTtJRISl\ 
[September, 
varieties, under these circumstances, will bear 
no comparison with that from the same kind 
when properly manured, pruned and mulched. 
As it is no more trouble to grow the best sorts 
than poorer ones, we omit all notice of the 
Red and White Dutch, and give a few descrip¬ 
tive notes on the improved and larger sorts. 
Red Varieties. — Versailles. — This is often 
called in the catalogues “La Versaillaise,” but as 
Versailles is a word 
which has, in mea¬ 
sure, become adopted 
into our language, we 
prefer it. This is one 
of the largest as well 
as one of the best. 
It is an enormous 
bearer, and its berries 
are very uniform and 
of large size. A 
drawing of the actual 
size, in good cultiva¬ 
tion, is shown in fig. 
1. We have mea¬ 
sured single berries 
of this variety that 
were 2i inches cir¬ 
cumference. It is of 
good flavor, not too 
sour, and sufficiently 
earl}'. The cherry 
currant equals it in 
size,but is much more 
acid. The variety 
sent out as Fertile 
d’Angers does not 
seem to be very dis¬ 
tinct from the Versail¬ 
les, at any rate the 
difference is not suffi¬ 
cient to warrant the keeping of two names. 
Fertile de Paluau. —This comparatively recent 
variety we consider next in excellence to the 
Versailles, and it will give general satisfaction. 
The bush has an upright habit, and is a strong 
grower; the fruit, though not so large as the 
preceeding, is large enough, is in long bunches, 
tender and of good flavor. A bunch of the 
natural size is sliowm in figure 2. 
Victoria. —A variety, which ripens late. Its 
bunches are very long; its fruit, taken before it 
is fully I'ipe, is very sour, but when in perfec¬ 
tion, is of good flavor, and valuable for its pro¬ 
ductiveness and lateness. 
We might mention many others, for which 
superiority in some respect is claimed, but these 
three will be enough of the red sorts for one 
garden. Intermediate between the red and 
white are the Champaigne, remarkable for its 
pink color; and the Striped-currant, which has 
recently come out with the high sounding name 
of Gloire de Sablous. It is curious for its 
stripes, but as a fruit it is sour and worthless. 
WmTE Varieties. —There are some who 
say they can see no difference in white currants. 
They are all much sweeter than the red ones, 
and we think appreciably differ in quality. 
WhiU Orape. —Forall good qualities we doubt 
if any variety excels this comparatively old 
sort. It is much better every way than the 
White Dutch, and the bush has a different habit. 
Attractor. —This variety was perhaps over¬ 
praised some years ago, but it is nevertheless a 
very meritorious sort. It has a peculiar narrow 
toothed leaf, and a large berry in a rather short 
bunch. To our taste it is the sweetest and best 
of the White Currants now disseminated. 
Fig. 2. fertile de paluau. 
White Provence. —This is not much cultivated. 
The bush has a good habit and the leaves are 
generally, but not always, edged with white or 
yellow. The fruit is large and handsome, but 
has not as good flavor as the above varieties. 
White Transparent. —A large bunch and ber¬ 
ry, but it is much more acid than the others. 
While this list does not include all that have 
been commended by good judges, it contains 
suflScient from which to make a good selection. 
Cultivation. —As currants will grow, and 
bear something, in spite of total neglect, many 
people are not aware of the benefit it is to any 
variety to give it the best possible chance for 
developement. Manuring, pruning and mulch¬ 
ing will'work wonders with the currant; an 
annual manuring is essential to successful cul¬ 
ture, and if large fruit is desired, the bushes 
should be prdperly pruned, and during the 
fruiting season, heavily mulched. Plants one 
or more years old can be procured from the 
nurseries, or they may be raised with the great¬ 
est ease from cuttings. Portions of wood of 
this year’s growth, set this fall, will give good 
plants next year. Having obtained cuttings, 
about a foot long, from a reliable source, remove 
with a sharp knife all but the three upper buds, 
and set them in good soil with the buds above 
the surfiice. Take particular care to press the 
soil closely in contact with 
the lower end of the cut¬ 
ting. The next year the 
object should be to get 
one good and strong up¬ 
right shoot. Select the 
shoot from the bud that 
pushes strongest, and train 
it to a stake, pinching back 
the others. In this way 
plants with a strong single 
stem will be obtained, 
which are to be planted 
out 5 feet distant each 
way, in autumn. The 
next spring the treatment 
will depend upon the 
mode of training adopted, 
w’hich may be the tree, 
pyramid, or vase method. 
To train a bush in the 
tree style, remove all buds 
so as to leave a clean 
stem from 6 inches to a 
foot above the surface of 
the ground, and then cut 
the top back, so as to 
leave three strong buds; 
these will form three 
branches, wdiich are al¬ 
lowed to grow during the 
season, and the next year 
are cut back to two buds 
each, which will give a 
round headed tree of six 
branches, each of which 
are afterwards to be cut 
back one half, and have all superfluous shoots 
trimmed out. To train a currant bush on the 
pyramidal system, treat just as described for 
the dwarf pear in January last, and follow a 
similar method of summer pinching. 
The vase-form of training consists in having 
several main branches with fruit-bearing side 
shoots, and is preferred by many good cultiva¬ 
tors. To practise this, cut back a one year old 
plant of a single stem, to four or six buds. En¬ 
courage the growth from these, and if necessary 
train them to a hoop, to ensure an equal spread¬ 
ing of these main branches. These upi’ight 
stems may throw out side branches the first 
year, or not until the second, in either ease they 
should be pinched back to 4 inches, when they 
get to be 6 or 8 inches long. If any shoot after¬ 
wards pushes from a side branch, pinch back to 
a single leaf. By training bushes in this form M'ith 
the centre kept open, fine fruit can be raised. 
-——»■»- - 
Herbaceous Perennials—Easily Cultiva¬ 
ted, and Adapted to Every Garden. 
The most brilliant effects of color in the flow¬ 
er garden can undoubtedly be produced by 
means of bedding plants and annuals, but they 
both involve a great deal of trouble. Unless 
one has a green-house in which to grow a stock 
of geraniums, verbenas, and other bedding 
plants, there is quite an outlay in procuring a 
supply each spring from the florists, while with 
annuals the sowing and transplanting require a 
great deal of care, which is only repaid by one 
short season of bloom. To be sure there are 
many, of both annuals and the tender bedding 
plants, that w'e would not do without, but we 
do not like the custom, which has obtained of 
late years, of running altogether to these, to the 
neglect of the herbaceous perennials, which are 
constant friends, and though frost destroys 
their tops, their roots remain year after year. 
These plants do not demand the constant fussing 
with seeds, pots, and cuttings, that the others do. 
All the care they ask is that the roots be taken 
up and divided •when the clumps become too 
large. The herbaceous perennials are propa¬ 
gated in different ways; by division of the root, 
by cuttings, and by seed, and our object is now 
to call attention to some of those which may be 
most readily raised from the seed. As a gener- 
. al thing these plants do not flower the year 
they are sown. The usual way is to sow the 
seed ill the spring, and when the plants get 
strong enough, to set them where they are to 
remain, and they will usually flower the second 
year. Another method is, to sow the seeds in 
August or September, thin the plants well and 
allow them to grow in the seed bed until cold 
weather, M'hen they are covered with leaves or 
other litter, and transplanted the following 
spring. That this late planting will answer 
with all perennials we are not prepared to state, 
but we have had it succeed with a large num¬ 
ber. The seeds of some of these plants is ex¬ 
ceedingly small, and such require some care to 
get them up; they should be but very slightly 
covered with very fine soil, and the row be cov¬ 
ered during the heat of the day with a strip of 
board to keep the soil from drying out. The 
following list comprises some of the most de¬ 
sirable plants of this class, but it may be very 
much extended by consulting the catalogues, 
which are annually published by the seedsmen. 
Aqiiilegia, the Columbine; for a note on some 
of the varieties and species, see page 156 (May). 
Campanula, the Bell-flower, which includes 
the old-fashioned Canterbury Bells, and many 
newer and beautiful ones. The blue and white 
C. grandiflora, are very handsome, as are the 
C. persicifolia, and its varieties. G. pyrainidalis 
is tall and showy, while G. Carpathica, and oth¬ 
ers are nice dwarf plants and very free bloomers. 
Gatananche, an exceedingly beautiful genus 
of plants of the flvmily Composite, for which 
there is no popular name. They are free bloom¬ 
ers and have brilliant Aster-like flowers with 
silvery scales to the involucre, which render the 
heads very pretty after the flowers have fallen. 
