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Page 37
From the currant we pass on naturally to the gooseberry, for in
origin and requirements it is very similar. Both belong to the
Ribes family of plants, and they are to be cultivated on the same
general principles. What I have written in regard to partial
shade, cool, sheltered localities, rich, heavy soils, good
culture, and especially rigorous pruning, applies with even
greater force to this fruit, especially if we endeavor to raise
the foreign varieties, in cultivating this fruit it is even more
important than was true of raspberries that the reader should
distinguish between the native and foreign species. The latter are
so inclined to mildew in almost every locality that there is
rarely any certainty of satisfactory fruit. The same evil pursues
the seedling children of the foreign sorts, and I have never seen
a hybrid or cross between the English and native species that was
with any certainty free from a brown disfiguring rust wholly or
partially enveloping the berries. Here and there the fruit in some
gardens will escape year after year; again, on places not far
away, the blighting mildew is sure to appear before the berries
are fully grown. Nevertheless, the foreign varieties are so fine
that it is well to give them a fair trial. The three kinds which
appear best adapted to our climate are Crown Bob, Roaring Lion,
and Whitesmith. A new large variety, named Industry, is now being
introduced, and if half of what is claimed for it is true, it is
worth a place in all gardens.
In order to be certain of clean, fair gooseberries every year, we
must turn to our native species, which has already given us
several good varieties. The Downing is the largest and best, and
the Houghton the hardiest, most productive and easily raised. When
we remember the superb fruit which English gardeners have
developed from wild kinds inferior to ours, we can well understand
that the true American gooseberries are yet to be developed. In my
work "Success with Small Fruits" those who are interested in this
fruit will find much fuller treatment than is warranted in the
present essay.
Not only do currants and gooseberries require similar treatment
and cultivation, but they also have a common enemy that must be
vigilantly guarded against, or the bushes will be defoliated in
many localities almost before its existence is known. After an
absence of a few days I have found some of my bushes stripped of
every leaf. When this happens, the fruit is comparatively
worthless. Foliage is as necessary to a plant as are lungs to a
man. It is not essential that I should go into the natural history
of the currant worm and moth. Having once seen the yellowish-green
caterpillars at their destructive work, the reader's thoughts will
not revert to the science of entomology, but will at once become
bloody and implacable. I hasten to suggest the means of rescue and
vengeance. The moment these worms appear, be on your guard, for
they usually spread like fire in stubble. Procure of your druggist
white hellebore, scald and mix a tablespoonful in a bowl of hot
water, and then pour it in a full watering-can. This gives you an
infusion of about a tablespoonful to an ordinary pail of water at
its ordinary summer temperature. Sprinkle the infected bushes with
this as often as there is a worm to be seen. I have never failed
in destroying the pests by this course. It should be remembered,
however, that new eggs are often hatched out daily. You may kill
every worm to-day, yet find plenty on the morrow. Vigilance,
however, will soon so check the evil that your currants are safe;
and if every one would fight the pests, they would eventually be
almost exterminated. The trouble is that, while you do your duty,
your next-door neighbor may grow nothing on his bushes but
currant-worms. Thus the evil is continued, and even increased, in
spite of all that you can do; but by a little vigilance and the
use of hellebore you can always save YOUR currants. I have kept my
bushes green, luxuriant, and loaded with fruit when, at a short
distance, the patches of careless neighbors were rendered utterly
worthless. Our laws but half protect the birds, the best
insecticides, and there is no law to prevent a man from allowing
his acres to be the breeding-place of every pest prevailing.
There are three species of the currant-borer, and their presence
is indicated by yellow foliage and shrivelling fruit. The only
remedy is to cut out and burn the affected stems. These pests are
not often sufficiently numerous to do much harm.
I earnestly urge that virulent poisons like Paris green, London
purple, etc., never be used on fruit or edible vegetables. There
cannot be safety in this course. I never heard of any one that was
injured by white hellebore, used as I have directed; and I have
found that if the worms were kept off until the fruit began to
ripen, the danger was practically over. If I had to use hellebore
after the fruit was fit to use, I should first kill the worms, and
then cleanse the bushes thoroughly by spraying them with clean
water.
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