Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1879 — Currant Culture. [ARTICLE]

Currant Culture.

The currant-worm has discouraged the culture of one of the most productive and healthful of our fruits to such an extent that those who have continued its cultivation are reaping rich harvests. Many farmers have given up their currant-bushes to be ravaged by the worm without the faintest attempt to fight the little enemy. The consequence is that the price has quadrupled within a few years, and in some villages it is almost 1 impossible to purchase enough of this fruit to make currant jelly, or even a pitcher of refreshing shrub. The market gardeners have kept the cities better supplied, and are getting good pay for their perseverance, as currants that formerly commanded oply four or five cents per quart on the string are now eagerly sought for at fifteen to twenty cents. As no fruit, not even apples, is more easily raised, as the acid of none gives a better tone to billious stomachs, and as the money returns of none are more compensating, we desire to call the attention of farmers to the renewed cultivation of currants. The worm (Ahaxis ribeana') has done comparatively little damage the present season, and if he should put in an appearance again he is not such a formidable top as to render it necessary for farmers to yield the ground to him. Poppet him well with powdered hellebore, and fie retreats more speedily than did the enenjy before Bragg’s grapeshot. There is no drcat loss without some small gain, and the loss of currant bushes in farmers’ gardens for a few years will be compensated, and possibly bo more than made good, by the culture of better berries and improved mode of Cultivating them.' The currants in tjie old gardens were small and sour, just as good tor medicine and jelljdhs -the White Dutch, but as a relish for the tea-table very inferior. We thought they were good, and ate them with great gusto directly from the bushes, and when well sweetened with maple molasses, they made- bread and butter taste better than cake. These little sour currants were the standard sweetmeat of our youth, from early in July till September, and then what remained on the bushes were picked and dried in the sun, to be stewed in the spring when apples failed. As we were brought up on currants, we may be pardoned for a little enthusiasm for their cultivation, and especially since we have substituted the red and white Dutch and cherry Varieties for the little sour fellows of our boyhood. With the Cid mode of cultivating currants, the wonder is that they grew as large as they did. The bushes were planted next to the fence that surrounded the garden, and all the cultivation they received was from having potato tops ami other rubbish throw n among them. If our hoe struck a stone there was no such convenient place to throw the stohe as under the currant bushes, and

thither went also the sticks and every* thing that defiled the garden proper. In spite of this maltreatment the bushes bore bountifully. Possibly the stones and refuse acted as a mulch. It was, however, difficult to pick the fruit and to keep the weeds* out of the bushes. The fence was a favorite resort of birds, and here they dropped the seeds of raspberries and blackberries, the shoots from which loomed up above the currant bushes and often rasped the hands of the currant-pick-ers. But this was fun in comparison with the pricks of nettles which insidiously sprang up among the bushes. Long since we learned to do away with garden fences and to cultivate currants, as everything else in rows, so that the work could mainly be done by. horse power, and the fruit could have at least an equal chance with the briers and nettles. With good culture the o)d bushes will almost double the size and quantity of fruit, but it is better to plant the improved varieties. The currant will grow in any soil where corn grows. The fruit is best, however, in a rich, sandy loam, kept well pulverized and free from weeds. No fruit responds more gratefully to generous treatment. Not only are the berries large and more abundant when grown in a congenial soil and well cultivated, but the juice is richer and better flavored, while the seeds diminish in number and size. It is one of the peculiarities of fruit-growing that high cultivation increases the pulp and lessens the seeds. Wood-ashes make the best fertilizer for the currant. Professor Emmon’s analysis of the currant shows it to be rich in soda, the phosphates and potash, and these are all supplied by wood ashes. If ashes are not to be had, mulch the bushes with leaves or leaf mold from the forest. We are certain that currants pay for good cultivation, just as surely as do strawberries or pears and apples. Some recommend that the currant should be grown tree-shape, that is with a single stem from the roots, with branches a foot or more from the ground. Such is not our experience. The natural growth is busy, and we get more fruit when the sap is permitted to ascend through many stems. It is a constant fight with suckers when we undertake to grow currant-trees instead of bushes, and though it is possible to conquer the suckers, it is a victory without spoils. The berries may measure more severally but not collectively. The propagation of the currant is so simple and easy that no farmer need go to a nurseryman for his stock, if he only has a kind neighbor who is a currant-grow-er. The best mode of propagating is by slips or cuttings. The slips, a foot long may be cut in the fall and planted immediately where they are desired to grow permanently, or thickly in some good dry soil, where they can be left till spring. In either case one or two buds should be left just at the surface of the ground, and as soon as severe cold weather comes on the cuttings should be covered with coarse straw, manure or a mulch of leaves to be removed early in the spring. The permanent planting should be attended to as soon as the ground can be stirred, as the currant pushes its buds early. It is just about as well to make and set the cuttings in the spring, if only the work is done in season. If any one has a few bushes of his own, he can multiply them indefinitely by transplanting suckers. We trust farmers will give currant-culture its due share of attention, as we are confident they vyill find comfort and cash for their labor.—N. Y. Times.