FRUIT CULTURE IN WISCONSIN. 
345 
care, and yet often , not yearly , produce a crop of grapes, but 
the size and flavor of such when compared with those receiving 
the whole support cf the vine is very apparent. The greater 
convenience with which the vines are controlled, and the beauty 
of the trellis or arbor, which may be built in every conceiva¬ 
ble manner to suit the fancy, all combine to favor the small 
amount of weekly labor, too often grudgingly bestowed upon 
the most wholesome and delicious fruits. 
Tiie best varieties are, the Clinton, the Concord, the 
Catawba, the Elsinburgh, and the Isabella. 
THE CURRANT. 
The Currant is emphatically the “poor man’s” fruit, 
though I would not insinuate that it was not, therefore, the 
fruit for the farmer, but for the “ million.” Easily propagated 
from cuttings, layers or divisions of the roots ; readily accom¬ 
modating itself to all climates and soils ; and even enduring all 
kinds of ill treatment, it is ever ready to gladden the heart of 
the husbandman in its various forms of use. The currant will 
grow in almost any situation ; but to have it thrive , and come 
up to what is a standard of its excellence, it must not be planted 
along side of the fence, eventually to form a hedge row of 
weeds and grass, with no care in manuring or pruning, till the 
fruit is scarcely worth the gathering ; but give it a deep and 
rich soil—no fear of making it too rich—in the open gar¬ 
den plat, where it will be accessible with the “spade and the 
hoe.” Each spring the ground must be worked over, and a 
coating of well decomposed manure must be incorporated there¬ 
with. The spading fork is the best for this purpose, leaving 
ground loose and mellow and cutting off but few roots. 
The time for planting the currant is early spring, though it 
matures its growth early in the season and may be moved early 
in October, and planted upon land not liable to heave, by action 
of the frost, the coming winter. The proper distance for plant¬ 
ing is three feet by four, for garden cultivation—a great im¬ 
provement over the old method of setting them in a long row 
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