Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1860-08-17
Currants.

Currants.
We insert this week the report from
Committee appointed by the Cincinnati Hor
ticultural Society, on the cultivation and the
general treatment of the Currant, as best
suited to that locality-and as we are otter
asked how to raise and manage, and which
are the best kind Of, Currants, we thought
that the publishing of the entire report would
not be out of place. We therefore woult
recommend the careful perusing and prescr
walton Of it for future reference. We are per
Esonally acquainted with the Committee, and
know that they understand their Calling
Reliance nbe placed on the report:
THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON cURRANrs
To the President of tie C;ncianati Horticultural
| Society:
SIR: The Committee to whom was refer
red the subject of the cultivation and gen
eral treatment of the Currant, as best suited
to this locality, respectfully submit the fol
lowing:
The growing interest taken in the cultiva
ton of what are termed the small fruits, is
exerting its influence on the subject under
consideration, and your Commute hope that
such enlightened and continued skillful man
agement will be awarded them, until we see
them exhibited in our markets in quantities
in as fine size and condition as they have
been shown on our tables this season.
Should there be an incentive need to produce
this result, the facts and figures presented to
Il % %I,nr
ject should satisfy the most skeptical that
such skillful care and attention will yield a
large profit on the outlay-in other words
will pay handsomely. Hitherto, it has been
too generally considered Cor rather acted up.
on without considering the wants of the sub.
ject) that the Currant will grow anywhere
gro,ciag is concerned-but when the produc-
tie attention and regards are to be paid to the
means by which such result is to be obtained
FIRST, the proper preparation of the soil by
trenching to the depth Of Is or 20 inches,
and the incorporation of fertilizing material,
as old stable manures, well worked into the
surface soil. Secondly, the selection of the
plants. On this point your Committee find
diversity of opinion, even among the prac-
teal men; some contending for the superb
ority Of such as have been grown to assume
the single stem or tree form, which is obtain
ed by the carefully cutting out, in preparing
the cutting, all the buds which would be be-
low the ground, and three or four inches
above. This system undoubtedly has its
advantages in concentrating the entire
strength of the plant in one stem or column,
and plants so grown may reasonably be ex.
pected to produce finer fruit than when the
productive strength is divided into more or
smaller columns.
The objection to the foregoing system is
very strong with some of our old experienced
cultivators who agree that we have local
enemy in one of the numerous family of the
Borers, the Algeria Tipuliformis, which de-
stroys the Currant by eating the pith or the
heart of the wood, and not being able to re.
new itself by new shoots from the root, the
plant is entirely lost; hence they prefer the
practice of growing the Currant in what may
be termed the bush form, in contradistinction
to the tree-that is, to allow one or more Of
the strongest of each years shoots from the
root to remain and cutting out the old bear
| ing wood, after the fourth or fifth years
growth. By this process, we contend, a
healthy vigor is attained in root and top
The advocates of the first system admit the
necessity of replanting every few years, va
rying from five to seven. Those for the sec
ond system contend, following it, such trouble
and loss of time is obviated, and thus more
than counterbalancing the advantages Of SUI.
perior quality Of. fruit and productiveness, as
claimed by the advocates Of the first.
We believe we have fairly stated the merits
Of each system, and hope to see them carried
into practice in spirit of generous rivalry
that in after years we may be able determine
which system to award the preference to.
PRUNING.-Thc best time for pruning the
currant is the month Of October. If grown
in the tree form, the thin weak shoots should
be cut entirely away, and the stronger ones
cut back to half or two-thirds of their length
In the bush system all the shoots, excepting
one or two of the strongest should be cut of
at the root, and the young shoots on the ole
or bearing wood cut back as directed in the
tree system.
Spring pruning, or nipping in the tender
growings with the thumb and finger, may b.
| profitably followed in both cases, rubbing of
the weak shoots and nipping terminal bud.
where any shoots show disposition to al
over exuberance Of growth.
| DlSFASCES FOX TLANTING.-In CnlS, as III
other points of management, individuals diff
fer. Some of our members recommend 4 by
4, some 3 by 5, others 3 by 9. Your Com
mittee believe that il grown in the tree form
3 by would be the best distance, that is, le
the rows be five feet apart, and the plant.
three feet from each other in the rows Ii
the bush form would recommend rows fiy,
feet, and the plants four feet apart in tn,
rows. During the first two or three years
crops Of vegetables might be probably grown
between the rows.
| MANuRING.-An annual topdressing of ma
nure should be applied each Fall, after prun
ing; say during the month Of November, ant
lightly forced into the soil early in the Spring
The plants should be cultivated by keeping
the ground clear Of weeds through the sum
mer. The Black Curant requires some diff
ference in pruning to the rules laid down fol
other varieties,-this bearing it's fruit mos
profusely on the wood, the growth of ths
previous year. An annual succession o.
bearing wood may be secured by cutting
away all the thin, weak shoots, and old wood
that has borne more than two years.
1 q II. = y, :,