210 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTIOULTUBE  AND  GOTTAUB  GARDENER. 
September  2,  1897. 
and  dry,  cuttings  inserted  in  this  way  and  at  the  present  time  root 
more  quickly  and  make  better  plants  the  following  season  than  those 
dealt  with  in  the  ordinary  way  later  in  the  year.  At  least  such  is  my 
experience  of  cuttings  side  by  side  of  the  same  varieties,  and  it  only 
confirms  that  of  my  friend,  who  now  relies  upon  this  plan  entirely. 
Where  a  plantation  of  Currants  is  to  ba  formed  the  ground  should 
be  prepared  at  once,  for  early  planting  is  as  desirable  with  these  as 
with  Gooseberries.  They  should  in  fact  be  planted  as  soon  after  the 
leaves  have  fallen  as  may  be  convenient,  and  though  in  favourable 
seasons  the  operation  may  be  postponed  as  late  as  January,  yet  it  is 
dangerous,  and  I  have  seen  some  distressing  results  from  late  planting. 
In  any  case  the  early  planted  bushes  have  a  considerable  advantage 
the  following  season,  both  in  growth  and  fruit.  It  is  too  much  the 
custom  to  be  careless  of  the  soil  in  w'hich  Currants  are  to  grow.  They 
require  a  fertile  and  well-prepared  site  to  give  the  best  results.  If 
there  is  any  choice  the  lighter  land  should  be  assigned  to  the  Red 
Currants.  Perhaps  no  better  preparation  can  be  given  than  a  dressing 
of  farmyard  or  stable  manure  at  the  rate  of  20  tons  to  the  acre,  but 
fresh,  rank  manure  should  never  be  employed  if  planting  is  to  follow 
immediately.  Currants  do  not  need  strong,  raw  stimulants,  which 
only  excite  an  excessively  vigorous  growth  that  is  seldom  properly 
matured,  and  does  not  increase  the  yield  of  fruit  in  proportion.  If  the 
manure  has  been  stacked  in  a  convenient  place,  turned  occasionally, 
and  the  liquid  dressings  poured  over  it  for  a  month  or  two,  it  becomes 
fine  material  for  digging  into  soil  that  is  rather  light  or  poor.  In  my 
neighbourhood  the  finest  Red  and  Black  Currants  are  grown  by  two 
or  three  cottagers,  who  depend  entirely  upon  earth-closet  manure,  with 
which  soil  has  been  mixed  very  freely,  together  with  house  drainings 
applied  during  the  winter  occasionally.  The  bushes  are  in  excellent 
health,  vigorous  without  being  gross,  though  some  of  them  are  old 
specimens,  and  they  bear  surprising  crops  of  fruit,  the  bushes  and 
benies  being  usually  large. 
An  annual  supply  of  manurial  aid  in  some  form  is  important  in 
maintaining  the  health  and  fruitfulness  of  Currants,  and  the  most 
convenient  as  well  as  beneficial  and  cheap  dressing  I  have  found  is 
superphosphate  of  lime,  used  at  the  rate  of  1  oz.  per  square  yard,  or 
300  lbs.  per  acre,  applied  in  the  late  autumn.  I  have  tried  nitrate  of 
soda  on  several  occasions  as  an  additional  dressing,  but  except  when 
it  has  been  necessary  to  force  all  the  growth  possible  owing  to  bad 
attacks  of  caterpillar  I  have  not  found  the  effects  so  marked  as  might 
be  expected.  As  with  other  plants,  the  foliage  certainly  assumes  a 
much  darker  and  more  healthy-looking  colour,  but  I  have  not  observed 
any  further  advantage  from  the  use  of  nitrate.  A  good  annual  surface 
dressing  of  old  manure  either  from  a  stable  or  farmyard  produces  far 
more  notable  results  in  the  size  and  quantity  of  fruit. 
The  distance  at  which  Currants  should  be  planted  will  depend  to 
some  extent  upon  the  character  of  the  plantation ;  but  there  is  an 
unfortunate  tendency  to  plant  them  too  closely,  so  that  at  the  end  of 
three  or  four  years  they  are  either  so  crowded  that  they  injure  each 
other,  or  some  have  to  be  sacrificed  to  make  room  for  the  others.  It 
is  possible  to  transplant  bushes  five  or  six  years  old  successfully,  and 
this  is  the  best  way  when  ground  is  available,  though  it  often  means 
the  partial  loss  of  a  crop  at  a  time  when  the  bushes  are  most  produc¬ 
tive,  and  sometimes  before  they  have  really  had  a  chance  to  repay 
their  cost  and  the  labour  involved  in  planting.  Red  Currants  can  be 
planted  at  3  feet  apart,  but  Black  Currants  should  not  be  less  than 
4  feet,  and  the  others  also  are  much  more  satisfactory  at  the  same 
distance  as  the  minimum,  though  if  Strawberries  are  to  be  grown 
between  them  in  a  mixed  plantation  then  6  feet  between  the  rows 
should  be  the  minimum. 
In  connection  with  this,  a  word  or  two  may  be  given  respecting 
planting,  for  carelessness  is  more  frequently  manifest  in  the  treatment 
of  Currants  and  Gooseberries  than  with  other  fruits.  As  received  from 
the  nurseries  the  roots  are  commonly  bunched  and  tied  together 
closely,  and  quite  as  commonly  the  bushes  are  planted  without  any 
attempt  at  spreading  the  roots  out,  though  I  am  convinced  by 
experience  that  such  want  of  care  results  in  the  loss  of  a  season,  as  the 
roots  are  deprived  of  a  large  portion  of  their  recuperative  power  when 
bundled  together  in  a  hastily  dug  hole,  as  is  customary.  When  a 
large  number  have  to  be  planted  the  cost  of  labour  is  a  heavy  item, 
and  it  becomes  needful  to  hasten  the  work  as  far  as  practicable ;  but  it 
is  possible  to  realise  the  truth  of  the  saying,  “  The  more  haste  the  less 
speed,”  and  it  is  preferable  to  plant  a  few  hundreds  less  in  a  day  and 
insure  those  which  are  planted  being  placed  in  position  properly  than 
to  hurry  through  and  find  evil  results  afterwards.  It  might  appear  to 
some  that  I  am  attaching  too  much  importance  to  a  simple  operation 
and  an  ordinary  crop,  but  the  simple  things  are  the  very  ones  which 
are  overlooked,  and  Currants  are  very  much  more  than  an  ordinary 
crop  with  me  ;  they  are  equally  important  to  others,  and  might  be  so 
to  many  more. 
Journal  readers  were  at  one  time  favoured  by  articles  from  the  pen 
of  an  able  writer  whom  some  of  us  fancied  was  one  of  the  honoured 
leaders  of  practical  horticulture  in  the  present  time,  and  the  signature 
he  adopted  was  “  Experientia  Docet,”  which  someone  very  freely 
rendered  as  “  Experience  does  it.”  What  a  world  of  meaning  there 
is  in  that  word  Experience  !  How  much  it  teaches,  and  how  fast  all 
fantastic  theories  disappear  under  its  influence !  “  Practice  with 
science  ”  is  the  excellent  motto  of  tbe  Royal  Agricultural  Society;  but 
I  think  “  Experience  with  observation  ”  is  almost  as  good. 
Regarding  varieties  of  Currants  a  chapter  might  be  written,  and  if 
this  could  be  made  the  means  of  throwing  a  little  light  upon  the 
confusion  which  exists  in  the  nomenclature  of  these  fruits  it  would  be 
useful  indeed.  Unfortunately  this  is  a  serious  task,  for  at  the  outset 
We  are  confronted  by  the  difficulty  of  determining  which  are  the  true 
types  of  the  respective  varieties.  For  instance,  in  the  trial  of  Red 
Currants  at  Chiswick  some  five  or  six  years  ago  Raby  Castle  is  given 
as  a  synonym  of  the  Mallow-leaved,  yet  in  the  last  edition  of  Dr- 
Hogg’s  “  Fruit  Manual  ”  they  are  described  as  distinct  varieties,  one 
character  alone — that  of  the  foliage — sufficing  to  distinguish  them, 
the  Mallow-leaved  having  large  pale  soft  leaves,  while  Raby  Castle  has 
its  leaves  “  dark  bluish  green,  very  rugose,  and  darker  than  those  of 
any  other  variety.”  Again,  Red  Cherry  is  given  in  the  Chiswick 
Report  as  distinct  from  La  Versaillaise,  whereas  Dr.  Hogg  cites  the 
latter  as  a  synonym  of  the  former.  A  third  instance  is  afforded  by 
Fay’s  Prolific,  which,  in  the  R.H.S.  Report,  appears  as  a  synonym  of 
Red  Cherry,  yet  I  and  others  have  Fay’s  Prolific  totally  distinct  from 
the  variety  there  described,  and  superior  to  it  in  some  respects.  On 
another  occasion  I  may  have  something  more  to  say  about  the  varieties 
of  Currants,  but  1  wish  to  satisfy  myself  oir  a  few  points  first  in  the 
hope  that  my  observations  may  be  of  service. 
In  the  meantime,  I  have  not  found  anything  better  than  the 
following: — Red  Currants:  Raby  Castle,  Fay’s  Prolific,  New  Red 
Dutch,  and  Red  Cherry.  White  Currants:  White  Dutch.  Black 
Currants:  Baldwin’s  and  Black  Naples. --Fruit  Grower. 
[In  July  of  last  year  Mr.  Becker  of  Jersey  exhibited  at  the  Drill 
Hall  a  new  Red  Currant  named  The  Comet  to  which  the  Fruit 
Committee  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  attached  an  award  of 
merit.  The  variety  is  remarkable,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  woodcut 
(fig.  29),  for  the  length  of  the  bunches  of  fruit  and  for  the  size 
of  the  individual  berries.  One  noted  fruit  grower  asserts  that  The 
Comet  is  synonymous  with  Fay’s  Prolific,  and  perhaps  our  esteemed 
correspondent  will  give  his  opinion  on  this  point.  The  illustration  is 
exactly  life  size.] 
YEGETABLES  FOR  HOME  AND  EXHIBITION. 
Root  Grots— Beetroot  and  Carrots. 
In  a  former  article  I  mentioned  the  names  of  a  few  famous 
vegetable  growers  and  exhibitors,  and  it  is  to  such  produce  as  is 
shown  by  them  that  I  would  draw  the  reader’s  attention.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  see  the  straight,  clean,  and  perfect  specimens  of 
Beetroot  and  Carrots  that  figure  in  large  show  collections  without 
being  struck  with  the  standard  of  perfection  that  has  been  attained  in 
vegetable  culture.  Sometimes  one  hears  such  remarks  as  the  follow¬ 
ing: — “It’s  all  very  well  to  grow  a  few  vegetables  like  that  for  show, 
but  it’s  no  g?)od  if  one  has  to  supply  a  kitchen  all  the  year  round.” 
Now,  that  is  just  where  the  crucial  point  comes.  Those  men  who 
show  the  best  of  vegetables  have  all  got  kitchens  to  supply,  and  it  is 
often  out  of  the  beds  that  provide  the  needs  of  the  household  that  the 
