187:-. ] 
THE BLACK CfItRANT. 
weakened by wliat may be termed liigli pressure 
or express cultivation. Scarcely lias a new 
Hose revealed its novel or superior qualities, 
than it becomes a small fortune in embryo 
to its fortunate possessor. His object is to 
realise as quicklj' as possible. With this object, 
growth is forced in every imaginable and un¬ 
imaginable way. The result is a rapid increase 
of number, at the expense of vigour. The 
feverish impatience of the public for the pos¬ 
session of novelties adds fuel to the fire of the 
Trade’s impatience to convert its embryo 
capital into solid cash. In this wa}', not a few 
of our new’ Hoses have their constitutions en¬ 
feebled for 3 'ears, if not permanently injured. 
But admitting all this, the mortality of 
budded Hoses doubtless aiises largel}’ from 
their being badly matched. By mounting a 
delicate or weakly Rose on a stout Brier, it has 
been thought that the Brier will impart of its 
strength to the Hose. Experience proves just 
the contrary. The Hose sends down its weak¬ 
ness into the Brier, and by a process of semi¬ 
starvation, brings about the disease and death 
of the roots. This last catastrophe is the more 
readily accomplished, as all the shoots and 
suckers of the Brier are strictly and incessantly 
removed, with the object of forcing the Brier- 
roots to feed the Rose onl}’. 
A good deal maj’ be done to diminish the 
alarming death-rate among budded Hoses by 
studying to match better. Hoses and Briers in 
regard to each other. Weakly Briers should 
be budded with weakly or moderate-growing 
Hoses, and vice versa. But more and better 
may be accomplished by using Roses for stocks. 
These have closer affinities than wild Briers 
and Hoses, and as a matter of fact and experi¬ 
ence, it will be found that there are fewer 
deaths and more robust health among Roses 
budded on Roses, than those budded on Briers. 
Take, for example, such a stock as the Gloire 
de Dijon for Teas,—how seldom is a death met 
with on such stocks! Charles Lawson, Baronne 
Prevost, and Coupe de Hebe, again, form 
capital stocks for perpetual and summer Roses ; 
and there is probably no better stock for Moss 
and Provence Roses than the old Cabbage. 
These arc but examples of Rose stocks that 
may readily be raised from cuttings in quantity 
for budding or grafting purposes. The winter 
season is just the time to put them in. Most 
of them are rooted almost as easily as goose¬ 
berry or currant shoots on a shady bordei', 
simply dug and trod-in, in the same manner. 
It is not needful in the Florist to describe 
the manner of rooting Hose cuttings, nor their 
after-treatment, but my object here and now is 
to direct the attention of your many Hose- 
growing readers to the alarming mortality 
among worked Roses, and to suggest whether 
the use of Hoses as stocks w’ould not bring the 
death-rate—which sometimes reaches to twenty 
per cent, per annum—to something like 
reasonable dimensions,—say, five per cent, 
per annum.—D. T. Fish, Ilai’divicLe. 
THE BLACK CURRANT. 
look to the hardy fruit-trees and 
I'uit-bearing shrubs as our mainstay 
ar a supply of table fruit; and in 
order that we may reap the greatest benefit 
from it that it is possible to vield, we preserve 
it in various waj’s, so as to have a supplj- all 
the year round. For this reason w’e dry apples 
as Norfolk Beaufins, and express cider, but in 
no case are we more concerned wuth our pre¬ 
serves than in the conserve of Black Currant 
jam or jelly. I need scarcely add that the 
finer the quality of the fruit, the better will 
be the conserve. 
There are several varieties of this shrub, but 
for our present purpose it is needless to name 
them, as it is to the practical working that I 
am now to confine uw remarks, and not to any 
botanical distinctions. Lancashire has long 
been justlv famous for the culture of one 
species of Jlibes—IL Gi-ossularla, the common 
Gooseberry, and it was not long ago that I 
unearthed the greatest gooseberry-fancier in our 
locality, who by dint of good soil and no stint 
of manure, had tabled the heaviest specimen 
ever seen, cither in or out of London; and full 
of enthusiasm—as ivell he might be—he was 
trying his hand upon the culture of exotics 
under glass, and I confidently anticipate 
c-reat results from him in the new line. I need 
O 
not say that Gooseberry-growing for exhi¬ 
bition is anything but a paying concern, 
whereas the culture of Black Currants is a 
thrifty business, and I never knew a season 
that they did not sell to advantage. I have 
named the Gooseberry-growing as a point 
■which, if Ave attain with Black Currants, ive 
shall not have been useless in our day and 
generation. The gooseberiy-fancier grew his 
