NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 7, 1885 
PRICE FIVE CENTS 
S'l.OO PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1885, by the Rural New-Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
ent sorts of black currants, and watched the 
results with some interest, yet I feel that I do 
not know enough on this subject to enable me 
to make up my mind as to the best varieties. 
I find them to vary considerably from year to 
year, so that an opinion formed one season is 
often modified the next. Differences of soil 
also bring about very different results. I have 
a large number of seedlings growing, some of 
which have fruited, and others will fruit 
next year; and I hope when I can compare 
these with the better sorts in cultivation, to be 
able to arrive at some conclusion in regard to 
the best varieties. I have two seedlings 
which I have fruited for several years, and 
which have given very good results on the 
whole, yet in common with other varieties, 
they have varied considerably with the season. 
Ontario, Canada. 
Prom Vice-Pres. T. V. Mdnson. 
What “I know" of black currants id Texas 
can soon be told. I have tried only a few 
plants of Ribes aureum, brought from the 
ravines of the Panhandle of Northwestern 
Texas. It is the only species of currant 1 have 
heard of as doing any good here. It does en¬ 
dure well here, bears well, the fruit is as large 
as that of the English black currant and of 
much better flavor, to my taste, with more of 
the spicy tartness of the red currants. It 
makes a choice jelly, and, in the absence of 
red currants, makes a good substitute, and 
will, likely, become a standard small fruit in 
the Southwest. Besides the fruit, the flowers 
are handsome. In fact, the shrub a nice orn¬ 
ament for any yard if properly placed. 
Denison, Texas. 
but it lacks somewhat in hardiness of plant. 
I hear of more recent varieties than those 
mentioned, but have not yet tested them. 
This class of currants is much sought 
after in Western markets, especially by 
people of foreign extraction, commanding 
good prices, the supply seldom proving 
adequate to the demand. 
South Haven Mich. 
Fnm T. H. Hoskins, M.D. 
I bi ve but little market for black currants. 
I have grown some Black Naples, but find 
that the fruit drops off badly as soon as ripe 
or a little before. 
Newport, Vermont. 
From J. T. Lovett. 
Very few people are fond of the peculiar 
flavor of fresh black currants; yet they are 
“just splendid" for stewing, canning, drying 
in sugar, or for jelly. The bush has no ene¬ 
my, as the currant worm never visits it. It 
is an exceedingly thrifty grower and yields 
large crops. Every family should have the 
Black Naples or Lee’s Prolific, 
Monmouth Co., New Jersey. 
From Pethb B Mead. - 
* , 
For a fruit that has been cultivated for so 
many years (though here on a very limited 
scale), the black currant has met with little 
or no improvement until within a few years 
past, when Lee’s Prolific was introduced. 
The Black Naples was a step in advance of 
the species, and Lee’s Prolific several steps in 
advance of the Black Naples, still leaving, 
however, a very considerable field for im¬ 
provement. Lee’s Prolific excels in earliness, 
and in size of bunch and berry. The distinc¬ 
tively marked flavor of the species is some¬ 
what toned down too, there being little or no 
room to tone it up, even if one desired it. The 
blackcurrant, notwithstanding, has some valu¬ 
able properties, which are appreciated by our 
English and Scotch friends, especially the lat¬ 
ter. Why, then, is the black currant not more 
commonly grown among us? I think the 
answer to this question may be found in 
the fact that a great many do not understand 
its proper place and uses. They suppose that 
it is to be eaten out of hand and served up 
with sugar, as we use the red currant. I 
know that some regard it in this way and I 
infer that a great many do. We therefore 
find a piant, or perhaps two, put in some out- 
of-the-way place, to be grown as a curiosity. 
But the black currant is not to be eaten in this 
way, at least for the present, though some 
persons acquire a taste for it, as others do for 
the Concord and similarly flavored grapes; 
and I really do not see, co-fen's paribus, why 
a person w ho loves the one should not also 
love the other. The proper use for the black 
currant is for conversion into a jelly, which, 
besides the usual uses of a jelly, is, not with¬ 
out reason, supposed to have valuable medi¬ 
cinal qualities, and finds no inconsiderable use 
in this way; as, for example, a cure for colds 
and sore throats. The black currant, there¬ 
fore, deserves a place in the vegetable or 
kitchen garden, as affording the means for a 
useful jelly,if for no other reason. Its culture 
is easy and simple, it is a strong grower; but 
you should avoid the two usual extremes of 
entire neglect on the one hand, and backing it 
to pieces with the pruning knife, on the other. 
It should have a good soil to grow in, and the 
ground should bo kept free from weeds by 
simply stirring the surface, wbeu needed, 
with a pushing hoe. After the plants have 
become established, the old wood should be 
cut entirely out from year to year as needed 
to keep the bush open. This is simple enough, 
aud all that is needed. 
In regard to kinds to plant, I would 
choose Lee’s Prolific, as being the best. 
Haviug that, there is no need for any other; 
at least not until further improvements have 
BLACK CURRANTS. 
CULTIVATION, PROPAGATION; THE BEST 
KINDS, ETC., ETC, 
Views of E. Williams (N. J.), 11. W. Furnas 
(Neb.), T. V. Munson (Texas), F. J. Berde¬ 
mons (Ga ), W illiam Saunders (Canada), T. 
H. Hoskins (Vermont), J. T. Lovett (N. J.), 
Peter B. Mead (N. V.), A . L. Jack (Cana¬ 
da), L. II. Bailey (Mich.). 
From Sec, E. Williams. 
Black currants are emphatically an English 
dish wheu used as a dessert; the peculiar, aro¬ 
matic, pungent flavor of the fruit, while gen¬ 
erally relished and enjoyed by the English 
people, is quite as generally disliked, if not 
detested, by Americans. In cooking, this 
disagreeable feature entirely disappears, so 
that in the shape of jellies or jams, or as 
canned Iruit in pies, takes or puddings, they 
are entirely unobjectionable to the most re¬ 
fined taste. A love for them in their natural 
state, like that for tropical guuvu, must gen¬ 
erally be acquired. 
The Black English and Black Naples have 
for a long time comprised the list of varieties, 
the latter being the most universally cultivat¬ 
ed. A few years ago a new variety, under 
the name of Lee's Prolific, was loudly herald¬ 
ed as a great advance; but a trial of three 
years does not develop such a marked im¬ 
provement as I was led to expect. As grown 
side by side, the fruit of the Prolific tuny be a 
trifle larger and perhaps more abuudaut, but 
the age of the plants may cause the apparent 
difference; they are only black currants. An 
objectionable feature of these currants is the 
unevenness of ripening; when the first cur¬ 
rant on the stem is mature in size aud ripeness, 
the remaining one, two or three, as the case 
may be, are bard, green and small If they 
would all mature at one time, as other cur- 
iants do, it would be a dtsirabie feature, but 
cooking brings this unevenness to a level. 
Up to withm a few years the New York 
market has taken all of my small crop readily 
at 10 cents per pound, but lately they have 
been a drug at nominal prices, aud consider¬ 
ing their light crop as compared with that of 
the red varieties, they ure not worth the 
ground they occupy. Borne dozen or more 
years ago nurserymen offered, in their lists, a 
black variety under the name of Missouri 
Sweet fruited, claiming that the fruit was as 
good as huckelborries. 1 obtained a few 
plants, and grew them u number of years, 
aud while this variety is a great improvement 
over the others iu the matter of fruitfulness 
aud even in taste, being sweet and void of 
character, I prefer the huckelberries every 
time to any black currants I ever saw. 
Montclair. N. J. 
From Ex Gov. R. W. Furnas. 
Really euriants of all kiuds have given so 
little satisfaction with us, that but few, com¬ 
paratively, are being planted. Eight or ten 
years since, 1 had a large, black currant that 
did well for a few years; but dually it weut 
the way of all other members of the Ribes fam¬ 
ily. A wild currant is fouud in many por- 
tionsof this region, which is very prolific. The 
fruit, however, is insignificant in size, and of but 
little use. The wild goosuberry Is abuudaut, 
prolific and of more tbau fair quality. Borne 
one ought, to teach us, out here, to fruit to 
more advautugo both currants and goose- 
berries of the improved varieties. Plants do 
well, luxuriate m our rich soil; but, for some 
reason, they fail iu fruiting. 
Browuville, Neb. 
BLACK CHAMPION CURRANT.From Nature. Fig. 473 
From Pres. T. T. Lyon. 
There seems to be very little difference be¬ 
tween varieties of black currants. Black 
English is one of the oldest, but is now rare. 
It is comparatively unproductive. Black 
Naples is a more recent variety', and has 
largely superseded the foregoing, mainly on 
aecouuiofits greater productiveness. Lee's 
Prolific has now been several years before the 
public as au improvement in this particular; 
but (assuming that 1 have the geuuiue variety) 
1 am not able to discover in it any superiority 
over Black Naples, either in productiveness or 
size of fruit, nor yet in habit of growth, 
From Prks. P. J. Beuckmans. 
Not one of the black currants is of any 
value iu middle Georgia. The plants, if set 
out in early Winter, will grow quite vigor¬ 
ously iu Spriug, and yield a few benies; but 
notwithstanding every precaution by planting 
iu sheltered places and mulching, few plunts 
survive through the Summer. Currants are uot 
suited to this latitude; they belong to sections 
further north, where the climate is cooler. 
Aagusta, Ga. 
From Dr. William Saunders. 
Although I have growu a number of differ- 
