Currant bush. Currants thrive better when they are raised from cuttings rather than from seed, but once the cuttings have struck root, the tips of the branches should not be cut or stopped unless they are detrimental. One can propagate currants easily by planting the cuttings in October, watering them in dry weather, and protecting them from weeds. They thrive in sandy soil, and if one wishes to obtain fine currants, the soil should be enriched and dug. This shrub should also be replaced every ten years, because at the end of this term it produces only small currants and no longer grows fine wood.

These shrubs are usually planted in the shade of other trees. However, in our temperate climates they produce far better fruit if they are planted in the open air, as in Holland, the country of Europe in which the cultivation of the currant bush is most widespread and best understood. There, they are cultivated in every conceivable manner: they are grown as bushes or kept as shrubs with stems of 1-2 feet, staked, aligned in allées, planted against walls or trellis fences as espaliers with stems of six or seven feet, and used as contre-espaliers. In each of these ways, they offer a charming spectacle in season and yield an abundance of fruit, which is much sought after for its beauty, size, quality, and vividness.

In order to grow currants as bushes profitably, they should be spaced at appropriate intervals and given two or three diggings each year.

Currants grown as bushes should be round and open-centred. Their stems should be bushy at the bottom and reasonably broad, and the branches should grow from the base to form the main part of each bush. They should not be pruned during the first two years so that the spur- bearing branches may be preserved, but they should be pruned in subsequent years, otherwise the resulting confusion of crossing branches would make them look unsightly, and they would no longer benefit from the sun’s rays or continue to produce such fine fruit.

When currant trees are aligned in straight rows, 4 feet should be left between each row and about 10 feet between each tree. Espaliers should be spaced at intervals of 8 feet so that their branches may be stretched out horizontally, which helps to improve fructification. Trees planted against walls or trellis fences will fruit earlier than those which are planted in the open air and will also bear ripe fruit a fortnight earlier or later, depending on whether they are given a southerly or northerly exposure.

The correct method of pruning currant bushes is to cut the branches short in order to have fruit which is large, full, and firm the following year. However, since currants fruit on shoots which grow from the nodes on old wood, these nodes must be preserved and the young shoots shortened in proportion to their strength. It is therefore essential not to touch these nodes in an attempt to smooth them.

Currant bushes not only bear fruit promptly, but also bear fruit which is long-lasting, and which one may pick for eating until the weather turns frosty by placing the seedlings in the shade, between two bushes large enough to protect them from excessive sunlight. If the bushes do not provide enough shade, the currant bushes may be covered with straw litter, which will preserve the fruit well into the season. One should try to kill ants, which are the enemies of this shrub, with boiling water, or by some other means detailed in article Anthill.