WHITE AND PINK BRAMBLES 335
Garden at Berlin and described and figured by Willdenow, in Wat-
son's Dendrologia Britannica, 1825. It was imported to the
United States from France by Charles More", of Yorkville, N. Y.
35. R. ULMIFOLIUS var. BELLIDIFLORUS hort. E. bettidiflorus hort.
E. fruticosus flore pleno hort.
Stem recurved -prostrate or climbing, strong, angular find fur-
rowed, finely pubescent above, but not glandular; prickles large,
strongly reflexed, from a large, dilated, compressed base; leaves
3-5-foliolate, partially persistent; leaflets broadly oval or obovate,
acute or cuspidate, coriaceous, slightly rugose above, with very
fine close white felt beneath; petioles prickly ; panicles upright,
terminal, felted, with prominent angles and large-based strongly
recurved prickles, which are more numerous on the pedicels,
lower branches of the panicle axillary, the upper subtended by
linear- lanceolate bracts, which are more or less deeply 3-cleft at
the apex; flowers double, red or white; sepals broadly ovate, cus-
pidate, finely white-felted, reflexed in flower; outer petals par-
taking somewhat of the f elty character of the calyx ; stamens and
styles similar to the petals in color.
Cultivated both in Europe and America, the parent form a
native of southern and western Europe and northwestern Africa.
This plant was found plentiful and well established at Freder-
ick, Maryland, by A. Commons, in 1876. It is there known
as "Blackberry Rose," owing to its comparatively double and
showy flowers The white -flowered form was received at the
horticultural department of Cornell University, from Berlin,
under the name E. spcctabilis, although in no way resembling
the true B. spectabilis of the United States.
These appear to be the forms which have long been known as
Double White and Double Pink Brambles. Downing describes
them* as follows: "They are beautiful climbing shrubs of re-
markably luxuriant growth, which may be trained for a great
length in a season, and are admirably adapted for covering walls
and unsightly buildings. The flowers are like small double roses,
and are produced in numerous clusters in June."
The foregoing list includes the important species
which have found a home in the United States, but
*Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, 446,
336 BUSH-FRUITS
still others have been introduced, chiefly from Japan.
In the American Horticultural Annual for 1871,
p. 93, A. S. Fuller mentions Rubus Armeniacus and
R. Effifmeisterianus, though the latter may have been a
misprint for Hoffmeisterianus. The plant referred to
was apparently the one better known as Grape-vine
Raspberry. The same author mentions* R. Japonicus
as having been sent out by the U. S. Department of
Agriculture. These long ago passed out of cultivation.
Among the newer ones may be mentioned R. trifidus,
Thunb., known as the "Fire Raspberry." This Japa-
nese species is described by Professor Georgeson,t as
follows: "The canes are very stout, seven to ten feet
high, upright, cylindrical, smooth, no prickles; leaves
large, palmately veined, mostly seven -cleft, serrate,
dark green above and but slightly lighter below;
berry of good size, scarlet; drupes pointed. It ripens
gradually through July."
The Kew Index mentions R. decumbens, Thunb.,
R. longipetalus , Dougl., and R. tetraphyllus , Willd., as
recognized North American species. Of these, R. longi-
petalus is given as a name only, while R. tetraphyllus
is apparently a misprint, for at the place referred to
the name is R. heterophylhis . R. decumbens I have
not been able to trace. R. nanus, mentioned in
Heller's Catalogue of North American Plants, was
collected on the Island of Ascension, and is not an
American species.
*Small Fruit Culturist, 116. tAmer. Garden, 1891, p. 204.
PAKT III
THE GROSELLES*
CHAPTEE XII
CURRANTS
The currant, though less extensively cultivated than
some of the other small fruits, fills an important
place in the pomology of our country. Its sprightly
and healthful qualities render it desirable to the con-
sumer, and its staple character makes it a compara-
tively safe crop for the producer. As before inti-
mated, it is almost wholly a northern fruit, having
no commercial importance in the southern states.
Neither currants nor gooseberries receive notice in
"Florida Fruits," by Helen Harcourt, though other
small fruits do. It does not prosper in hot and dry
climates. Even in Nebraska it does not succeed well.
The plants thrive and look healthy, but are com-
paratively unproductive, so far as I have been able to
*I find no English word in use which includes both currants and gooseberries.
Since there is an evident need for such a term, I have adopted the word groselle.
This is a modification of the old French word groiselle, or groisselle, which was
used for both these fruits before a separate term was employed to designate the
currant. The present French word groseille, meaning a gooseberry, also formerly
included both.
V (337)
338 BUSH-FRUITS
observe them. The fruit is but little seen in market,
which is probably the result of unfavorable experience.
Figures in regard to the extent and value of the
crop are not readily available, but something, 'of its
importance can be estimated from the number of
acres devoted to the production of plants by nursery-
men, as shown by the census report of 1890. The
returns at that time showed 2,020 acres devoted to
currants in the nurseries. Of this number 1,316 acres
were in one-year-old plants and 704 acres in two-
year -old plants. Ohio leads in the production, with
451 acres, followed by New York with 405 acres and
Illinois with 383 acres. But 23 acres are reported
from the south Atlantic division, which includes New
Jersey, 7 from the south central, and 11 from the
western division. The total acreage is less than half
that of either strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or
grape vines. About twenty -five thousand plants are
grown on each acre. The estimated cost of producing
one-year-old plants is about $1 per hundred. The
average selling price reported in the north Atlantic
division is about $1.85, and in the north central
division $2.08 per hundred. The estimated cost of
two -year -old plants is about $1.50 per hundred, and
the average wholesale selling price $3 in the north
Atlantic and $2.60 in the north central division.
These figures show plainly the region of adaptation
of the currant, though the small acreage in the ex-
treme western portion may be due to a want of sat-
isfactory markets rather than to a Jack of .adaptation
in climate.
SOIL FOB THE CURRANT 339
There seems to have been a boom in currant cul-
ture about 1856, and American nurserymen were not
able to keep pace with the demand,* but in recent
years there has been little fluctuation, the demand
having been steady with the markets seldom glutted.
SOIL AND LOCATION
Currants will thrive and bear some fruit on almost
any soil, but, as their natural habitat indicates, in
order to produce really satisfactory and profitable
crops they need a cool and moist soil. Experience
has fully demonstrated this fact. The best results
are, therefore, to be expected from strong clay loams.
Even a stiff clay, under good culture, will be found
satisfactory. Strong, moist, sandy loams, if not too
light, are also good. In the selection of a site, the
natural habitat of the plant will point to a cool
northern exposure. A proper site may in part offset
the disadvantage of an unfavorable soil. Low, moist
ground, with some reduction in the intensity of the
sun's rays, will be found advantageous. For this rea-
son the currant often thrives well in orchards. This
is most satisfactory in those regions approaching the
limit of its adaptability to culture. For family use,
it may be planted on the north side of buildings or
fences. Mulching tends to accomplish the same end,
since it keeps the soil shaded and cool.
Regions somewhat elevated are generally more sat-
* Horticulturist, 1856:210.
340 BUSH-FRUITS
isfactory than lower altitudes, especially toward the
southern limits of its range. It is stated* that in
Pennsylvania better fruit is produced at an elevation
of 1,000 feet than on plateaus near the sea, the
leaves falling earlier on the lower lands, and the fruit
being smaller in consequence the succeeding year.
FERTILIZERS
The currant is a rank feeder, and needs a rich
soil, with liberal fertilizing. Yet the roots are small
and fibrous, and do not extend far for their food. It
must be supplied in liberal quantities and close at
hand. While no fruit will live and apparently thrive
under greater neglect than will the currant, it is
equally true that no fruit will more quickly or fully
respond to liberal treatment. Too often it is relegated
to the fence corners, without care or culture, there to
battle with sod and currant worms from year to year.
Little wonder that the returns are sour and small!
Liberal applications of stable manure, preferably in the
fall, supplemented with the addition of wood ashes or
potash in the form of commercial fertilizers in the
spring, are always in order. Currants contain t 0.11
per cent of phosphoric acid and 0.27 per cent of
potash, while stable manure contains only about one-
third more potash than phosphoric acid, which shows
the need of additional potash. There is little danger
*Gardeners's Monthly, 1887:208.
tExp. Sta. Handbook, p. 402.
PRO PA O ATI ON 34 1
of too rank growth or of diminished fruitfulness
from an excess of stable manure. Observations at
the Massachusetts State Experiment Station* show
that the desirable qualities of the fruit were in-
creased in every case by the application of potash
fertilizers. A comparison of sulphate and muriate
of potash at the Geneva (N. Y.) Experiment Sta-
tion showed no practical difference in favor of either. t
To sum up, fertilizing for the currant does not differ
from that required for other fruits, except that it
needs to be more liberal than in most other cases,
if satisfactory returns are to be obtained.
PROPAGATION
Currants are readily propagated from hard -wood
cuttings made from well -ripened shoots of one sea-
son's growth. The cuttings may be taken and planted
either in fall or in spring, but the common custom
among nurserymen is to take them in early autumn,
as soon as the leaves mature. The leaves commonly
begin falling as early as August, but they are fre-
quently stripped a week or so before the cuttings
are taken, which is usually done the last of August
or first of September. They may then be planted at
once, or tied in bundles and buried upside down with
two inches of soil over the butts. In this position
they may callus, and even form roots, before winter.
*Mass. Agr. Kept. 1884:444. Exp. Station Bull. 7.
tAnnual Kept. 1890:283.
342 BUSH-FRUITS
They may be taken up and planted later, removed to
a cellar and buried in sand during the winter, or be
given an additional covering and be left where they
are until spring. If planting is deferred until spring,
it must be done very early, as they begin growth at
a low temperature, and must receive attention at the
earliest possible moment. The commoner practice is
to plant in nursery rows soon after the cuttings are
taken. They are said to root more quickly if packed
in damp moss a week or two before planting. The
cuttings are ordinarily made from six to eight inches
long, though the older writings recommended them to
be a foot long. The base should be formed with a
aleaa, square cut just beneath a bud. The top is
commonly a slanting cut some distance above the
uppermost bud. Planting may be done by means of
a spade, but is more conveniently and rapidly done
by plowing furrows and setting the cuttings against
the land -side of the furrow. One or two buds only
are left above the surface of the ground, and the
earth should be firmly packed about the base of the
cuttings. If set early in September, many of the
plants will form roots and establish themselves before
winter, being in condition to begin growth immediately
in spring. As freezing weather approaches, a shovel
plow is sometimes run through the rows, in order
to throw the earth toward but not over the cuttings.
This leaves a depression along the rows, and the
plants are then easily protected by covering with
straw or coarse manure. Mulching in some form is
essential during the winter, if currant cuttings are
CUTTINGS 343
planted in the fall. Rich land should be selected,
and heavy dressings of well -rotted manure are useful.
G. A. Marshall, of Arlington, Nebr., gives the fol-
lowing method of propagating the currant. As soon
as the leaves fall, which is about September first, the
cuttings are made, nine inches long, much of the suc-
cess of the operation depending upon long cuttings
in the dry climate and light soil of Nebraska. They
are then buried with the butts up and about three
inches beneath the surface of the ground. About the
first of November they are taken up and planted in
nursery rows, and a ridge of earth thrown over them
so that they are covered about two inches deep.
In the spring this covering is raked away, so that
the tips are left just below the surface of the ground.
This method is interesting, because it shows some-
thing of the modifications demanded by a dry climate.
Single -eye cuttings under glass, or green -wood cut-
tings may be used, but are less satisfactory than hard-
wood cuttings, and are only used under special cir-
cumstances. Plants may also be grown from layers,
and even from tip layers, like the black raspberries,
but these methods have little to recommend them.
It was formerly advised to cut out all the lower buds
in planting cuttings, in order to insure a tree form
of growth, but this is seldom practiced now. Plants
so grown are of interest as curiosities or novelties,
but are not satisfactory in field culture.
New varieties are grown from seeds, which should
be taken as soon as the fruit is ripe. They may be
washed from the pulp and dried like vegetable seeds,
344 BUSH-FRUITS
but it is better to sow or mix them with sand at once,
and not allow them to dry. If mixed with sand, they
should be buried or kept in a cool, shady place, and sown
very early in spring. They may be sown, not over half
an inch deep, in flats or in the open ground, in fine, rich
and mellow soil. Partial shade and a light mulch of
fine manure will aid in retaining moisture and prevent
the ground from baking. The seeds germinate at a
low temperature, and are likely to start too early unless
kept in a shaded place. If sown at once in flats, the
flats can be kept in a cool, shaded place during the
winter, and given partial exposure in spring. Plung-
ing them in the soil will aid in preserving uniform
conditions of moisture, and covering with a wire
screen will insure safety from destruction by mice or
other animals. If a greenhouse is available they may
be brought inside toward spring, where the seeds will
germinate quickly. The young plants may be potted
off when two or three inches high, and planted out
when well established.
PLANTING
The first essential in planting fruit is a thorough
preparation of the soil. For currants, the land
should receive a heavy dressing of well -rotted stable
manure, be plowed deep, and, if the underlying layers
are hard and impervious to roots and moisture, sub-
soiled. One may choose almost any distance apart
to set the plants, and find it recommended some-
where in horticultural literature. The distances ad-
PLANTING THE CURRANT 345
vocated vary from three -by -four feet to five -by -eight
feet, with every possible intermediate combination. It
will generally be found satisfactory to place the rows
six feet apart, with the plants four feet apart in
the rows. If the design is to cultivate both ways,
five feet apart each way may be better. Cross -cultiva-
tion is commonly only needed at intervals, and the
wider row should be in the direction most conven-
ient for cultivating.
The land should be in fine, mellow tilth as deep
as plowed. It should then be marked both ways,
with furrows in one direction. It will be all the bet-
ter if these furrows are made deeper than necessary
to receive the plants, in order to insure their being
set in a well -fined bed. The setting is easily done
by placing the plants against the land -side of the
furrow and drawing the earth about them, packing it
firmly about the roots with the feet. No one point
is more essential than this thorough firming of the soil
about the roots. A layer of loose, fine soil should
be left at the surface, to act as a mulch and prevent
the packed soil beneath from drying out. The re-
mainder of the furrow may be left to be filled in
as cultivation progresses later on. One-year-old
plants, if vigorous and well grown, are quite as sat-
isfactory and cost less money. They are easily set,
meet with little check in transplanting, and make a
better growth than if left in the crowded nursery
row during the same time.
The earliness of -tlie currant in starting into growth
in spring is a point in favor of fall planting. This
346 BUSH-FRUITS
depends so much upon climate, however, that it is
unsafe to lay down a general rule. Throughout the
western plains, where the winters are dry and open,
fall planting is always uncertain, though with care-
ful protection it may succeed. Whatever the location,
if the planting is done early enough in spring there
is nothing to fear. If neglected until the plants have
started into growth, the check must always seri-
ously affect the first season's results.
SUBSEQUENT TILLAGE
Cultivation of the currant should be shallow. The
roots run near the surface, and are likely to be in-
jured by plowing, or even by the ordinary cultiva-
tor. Frequent stirring of the soil with a light 'har-
row-tooth cultivator or a spring -tooth cultivator hav-
ing the teeth set well back, is most desirable. It
may be owing to this habit of shallow rooting, that
both the currant and the gooseberry succeed especially
well with mulching. Any refuse material like straw,
weeds, wild grass, or even coal ashes, may be used.
The mulching not only replaces cultivation in keeping
down weeds and retaining moisture, but helps to keep
the fruit clean as well. This is a good way to grow
currants for family use, especially if they occupy
small or inaccessible corners of the yard or garden,
where cultivation is inconvenient or must be done by
hand. In the well arranged fruit -garden, where the
plants occupy definite rows, and also in field culture,
cultivation is far more practicable than mulching.
PRUNING THE CURRANT
347
PRUNING
Pruning the currant is often neglected, yet pro-
ductiveness largely depends upon it. Plants will pro-
duce some fruit no mat-
ter how treated, and
hence are likely to be
treated very indiffer-
ently. The fruit is
borne both on old and
young wood, the best
and most of it appar-
ently near the base of
the one-year-old shoots
and on short one year-
old spurs from the older
wood. Consequently,
most of the young wood
may be cut away, or the
old wood may be cut
out, leaving young
shoots, and fruit will
still be produced. The
younger the wood the
finer the fruit, as a
rule, but the plants are
likely to be less produc-
tive unless a fair supply
of wood more than one year old is left. Yet this
older wood soon becomes weak, and produces small
and inferior fruit.
Fig. 66. Tree-form currant.
348 BUSH-FRUITS
The older plan of training to a tree form (Fig. 66),
by removing the lower buds from the cuttings when
planted, is now practically discarded. The plants are
less productive, and if attacked by the currant borer,
the whole plant is destroyed instead of a single stalk,
as when grown in the bush form. If the tree form is
desirable for novelty or ornament, six or eight shoots
are selected, as the bush develops, to form permanent
branches. These are cut back to four to six inches
every year till the bush is full grown, and afterward
to only two or three buds. All lateral shoots are cut
to within an inch of the old wood each year.
For practical field culture, from four to eight main
stems are allowed, and these should be frequently
renewed. It is safe to say that wood over three years
old should not be allowed to remain. Some expert
growers of long experience say that none over two
years old should be left. Superfluous young shoots
should also be cut away, but the buds at the base of
these may well be left, as they develop into fruit -bear-
ing spurs. A difference of opinion exists in regard
to cutting back the young growth. The longer the old
wood is left the greater will be the demand for cut-
ting back. This method may give increased produc-
tiveness, but finer fruit will result from frequent renew-
ing. In any event, the more vigorous shoots should be
shortened -in, to prevent the bush from becoming strag-
gling and to preserve its balance. Since the greater
part of the fruit is borne near the base of the shoots,
shortening these may tend toward a better develop-
ment of the fruit spurs, especially if the shoots are
THINNING AND TRAINING 349
nipped back in summer, when they have reached suf-
ficient height. In common practice, a liberal and judi-
cious thinning out of old wood and superfluous young
wood in early spring will be all that is required.
Experiments in thinning the fruit, made in New
Jersey,* showed that when the outer half of the flower
cluster was removed with a pair of scissors there were
15 per cent more berries to the cluster, and the berries
were 7 per cent heavier. The quality also seemed to
be better.
Various fancy methods of training are resorted to
by those with a taste for oddities. Sometimes they
are trained in "pillar" form, one upright shoot being
tied to a stake and the side branches kept very short.
They may also be readily trained against a wall, and
it is said that specialty fine fruit may be obtained on
a north wall. They have even been grafted, from
time to time, in order to secure standard or tree
forms, Ribes aureum being most commonly employed
as a stock for this purpose. These methods were
chiefly in vogue early in the horticultural develop-
ment of our own country, but are now little used.
GATHERING AND MARKETING
The currant, like all other fruits, should be picked
only when dry. Although a firm fruit, which stands
shipment well when properly treated, it will readily
spoil if gathered and packed when wet. Much care
*Garden and Forest, 3:19.
350 BUSH-FRUITS
is needed to prevent pickers from crushing the berries
or tearing them from the stems. It is so much easier
to grasp a cluster and give it a pull than it is to care-
fully sever the stem, that only the strictest vigilance
will insure proper care in the work. This, is written
with a very distinct remembrance of the work of some
Irish girls, who thought it much more convenient to
strip the berries from the clusters and throw them
in loose than to pick the stems at all, especially in
the middle of the baskets, where less likely to be
detected. All such berries will quickly spoil, the juice
which exudes from them will soon render the others
wet and sticky, and a general collapse of the whole
package is likely to result. Varieties like the Fay,
which have more clear space of stem at the base of
the clusters, have a distinct advantage in this regard,
for they may be more readily picked without crushing
any of the fruits. For shipping purposes, the fruit
must be picked while still hard and firm, in order to
carry well, but for home use or near market it should
not be picked too soon, especially for dessert use.
If left on the bushes until thoroughly ripe and soft,
they make an admirable dessert fruit. For this
purpose the White Grape is one of the best,
being less acid than most varieties. The fruiting
season may be prolonged until autumn, if the fruit
is protected by covering the plants with light cheese-
cloth or netting.
The fruit is commonly marketed in quart baskets,
put up in bushel crates like other berries, but of late
years the grape basket has been gaining in favor as
USES OF TRE CURRANT 351
a package, and is now very largely used. The nine-
pound basket is the size preferred by most markets.
This is a convenient size for the consumer, especially
if purchased for jelly or preserving.
USES
The paramount use of the currant is in making
jelly, for which purpose it is unsurpassed. The red