672 
THE F4URA-I> NEW-YORKER 
THE CULTURE OF CURRANTS. 
Part I. 
Currants, whether planted in the gar¬ 
den or by the thousands as mine are, 
covering over five acres, require the 
same culture to bring forth the best 
results. The land should be well fertil¬ 
ized, plowed and harrowed previous to 
planting, then a deep trench is made 
with a plow, as deep as possible, by 
plowing both ways. The way I proceed 
to get ready for planting is to have 
one man, who has three sharp pointed 
poles about eight feet long. I have 
mine made with a sharp point of iron, 
as I use them often during the plant¬ 
ing time of Spring and Fall; besides 
they go in easier and stay when placed, 
seldom blowing down. After the first 
row is laid out, which should be four 
to five feet from the fence, the man 
takes these poles, and places the first 
one a short distance down from the 
end where the furrow is to be made and 
five feet from the first row; the second 
one about half way down the field, and 
the third one 10 to 15 feet from where 
the row win end, and all of them five feet 
from the first furrow; they are then 
sighted to see if thej r are in a straight 
line. The horses are started, keeping 
the plow in a line with the poles, which 
are removed as fast as the horses reach 
them, and again placed five feet from 
where they had been, and when the row 
is finished the horses are turned, and 
go over the row again; making what is 
called a dead furrow. This is continued 
until the field has been gone over, and 
if carefully done, there will be a con¬ 
tinuation of straight parallel furrows 
five feet from each other across the 
field. When that work has been finished 
then the plants are cut, each man tak¬ 
ing his bundle of 50 plants, for they are 
generally tied up in lots of that num¬ 
ber, and proceeds to plant by taking 
out the loose earth with a hoe, and 
spreading the roots as they are set in 
the ground. The earth is then drawn 
back around the roots and carefully 
tramped down. This is continued until 
his row is finished, each man taking a 
row. 
The distance between the plants is 
marked on the handle of the hoe, and 
is generally three feet, though some 
are now planting currants 6x4 feet, 
claiming they are easier to take care 
of, but there will be not quite 1,800 
plants to an acre in this case, while 
if set a little closer there will be 2,900 
bushes when planted 5x3 feet. It 
remains to be seen which will produce 
the most and best fruit. After the 
plants are all set the earth is thrown 
up against the 3 'oung bushes with the 
plow, then the work is done for the 
season if planted in Fall. If Spring- 
planted, they require frequent cultiva¬ 
tion to keep the ground in good condi¬ 
tion for their best growth. 
A dressing during the early Summer' 
or a few weeks after planting of a good 
fertilizer sown before a cultivation will 
help much in the plant growth. About 
August 15 I cease to work the currants 
and sow a cover crop of 15 pounds 
Crimson clover and the same quantity 
of vetch mixed, or the same quantity 
of oats and clover, which is a little 
cheaper, but the oats are not as good 
as vetch. This is allowed to remain 
during the Winter, but plowed under 
in the early Spring before too heavy 
a growth has been made. I do not 
find any difference in the growth of the 
currant bush whether planted in the 
Fall or Spring; the only advantage is 
that the work is done, and that much 
accomplished before the rush of the 
Spring. 
Though I have described the method 
of planting currants in quantities, the 
general principle for a small place is 
the same, and the same care for them 
afterwards must be adhered to. The 
successful fruit grower takes nothing 
for granted, and everything is care¬ 
fully thought out beforehand. Of 
course in a small place the plants can 
be set closer together; the rows need 
not be over four feet from each other 
and I'A feet for the plants in the 
rows. By the way, a cover crop is a 
good thing to have planted, in the 
garden, as well as among a small patch 
of currants. It is easily planted and 
will enrich the soil many times above 
its cost. All that is necessary to be 
done, is to cultivate or rake over the 
ground and sow a mixture of one-half 
each of Crimson clover and vetch 
broadcast, and then go over it again 
with a cultivator or rake so that seed 
will be covered. The seed should be 
sown about the first of August if the 
weather is very dry, or two weeks 
later if the ground is moist and wet; 
then in Spring plow under, and by re¬ 
peating this every year the results will 
be surprising. Of course a cover crop 
will not take the place of fertilizers 
and manure, but will assist much in 
enriching the land. To have bushy 
plants I cut them down to seven or eight 
inches above ground. Some trim them 
before planting, but I prefer the other 
method of trimming them after, for 
then the plants can be looked over to 
see if they are all right, and properly 
set, and none covered when being hilled 
up. 
The best three varieties to plant are 
Wilder, Fay or Filler and Cherry cur¬ 
rant. The Wilder, sometimes called 
the President Wilder, is mostly used in 
this section, as it is a quick-growing 
plant, coming into bearing, often in the 
second year, and for the first few years 
yielding a long bunch of fine large 
berries which sell for the highest mar¬ 
ket prices. The only objection is that 
they need very heavy pruning to keep 
the fruit large, and at least one-half 
of the season’s growth should be cut 
off, in addition to the old wood of 
the third year, and the branches that 
hang down and are in the way are also 
cut. This variety is not subject to 
disease any more than the others. The 
Fay is similar to the Filler; in fact I 
think they are the same. Both are 
good, but the trouble with them is 
that instead of an upright growth as 
in the Wilder they are just the reverse, 
and have a sprawling habit, so much 
so that many branches lie close to the 
ground, causing dirty fruit after a rain, 
and are rather hard to trim. The 
Cherr} r currant is not as old a variety 
as the Fay, and was considered the 
best until the Wilder was introduced, 
as the berries are quite large, but the 
bunches are about half as long. Some 
consider that they live longer than 
any other, but all varieties of currants 
do not live as long as in years past, 
for there is some disease that with the 
very best of care will get into a patch, 
and kill a plant here and there, until 
in self defence the whole patch is 
uprooted. The worst disease is the 
cane blight, which attacks the cane or 
branch, causing one or more to wither 
and die, even in the Summer when 
loaded with frutt, and one of our 
large growers says that he has noticed 
it is more destructive in a dry season 
than in a wet season, and thinks from 
this that a moist, not wet, soil is bet¬ 
ter for currants, than land that is dry. 
So far there has not been any remedy 
found and all we can do is to go over 
the patch several times during the sea¬ 
son and cut these branches out, burn¬ 
ing them "at once. 
The Perfection is a new variety hav¬ 
ing a large berry, fine looking but not 
so productive as the Wilder, nor as 
strong a grower, and it not planted 
much in this section on that account. 
The Pomona is also a new currant and 
not planted extensively as yet. Large 
growers are slow to take up a new 
variety, until it is thoroughly tried in 
a small way. It is much too costly to 
set a patch, and wait several years to 
find the merits or defects of a fruit, 
so we only plant a hundred or two 
when testing a new sort. Besides the 
prices at first are away up in the skies 
for the plants. The fact is each section 
has its own particular varieties, most 
suited to that place, and the best way 
for anyone not familiar and wishing to 
plant a large patch, would be to find 
out what kind is grown around where 
he lives, and plant that or select the best 
two .varieties. For a small garden, 
any of those I have mentioned are 
good and will prove satisfactory. 
The black currant is not much grown 
in this country, and only two varieties 
at that. Both are good, and it is 
hard to make a choice. But the trim¬ 
ming is very different from that of 
the red currant, which bears the best 
and the largest fruit on the wood of 
the first and second season’s growth, 
and the older wood should be cut out, 
to force the plant to keep renewing 
itself. With the black currant it is 
only the older wood that bears, from 
three to five years old, and it will keep 
sending up new wood every year if 
given plenty of room; 5 x 6 feet is 
close enough to plant them. They are 
strong growers and require plenty of 
stable manure, and a little trimming 
every year will be enough. I would 
not advise planting less than 100 bushes 
of the red currant, but 25 would be an 
abundance for the black and even with 
this number there will be some to give 
away or sell. Arthur e. bell. 
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