This currant has been widely disseminated, and is doubtless to be found
in every collection of currants, not only in this Province, but in the
sister Provinces, and throughout the United States. Its large size and
deep, rich color combine to give it a very attractive and showy
appearance, so that it is a beautiful ornament upon the table, looking
exceedingly nice and tempting; and in the market attracts the attention
of purchasers, commanding a ready sale, and sometimes a higher price
than the smaller sorts. Yet in point of quality it is not equal to the
well known old Red Dutch, nor to the Victoria, being admittedly only
second rate; and is another instance of a fact well known to dealers in
fruit, that size and beauty of appearance are of more importance than
flavor.
In the writer’s experience with this variety, grown upon a moist sandy
loam, there has been a lack of that productiveness which has generally
been accorded to it. Those who have grown it on a stronger and heavier
soil have not seemed to find so much deficiency in this respect. At
times, too, it has seemed as though it suffered from the severity of our
climate, yet we have met with no complaints from others of this nature,
hence we are disposed to the belief that it will be found to thrive best
and be most productive on a strong clay soil. Those who find it to
thrive well and produce abundantly may plant it liberally for market
purposes.
The history of this handsome currant is not without interest. Mons.
Adrienne Seneclause, a distinguished horticulturist of Bourgargental,
Loire, France, received it from Italy among a lot of other currants, who
noticed the extraordinary size of the fruit, and gave it in consequence
the name it yet bears. In the year 1843 it was fruited in the nursery of
the Museum of Natural History, and figured from these samples in the
_Annales de Flore et de Pomone_ for February, 1844. Doctor Wm. W. Valk,
of Flushing, Long Island, State of New York, introduced it to the notice
of American fruit growers in 1846, having imported some of the plants in
the spring of that year.
Some years later a currant was introduced and disseminated under the
name of Versailles or La Versailles, for which it was claimed that it
was as large as the Cherry, longer in the bunch, and not so acid. Some
pains was taken to obtain this variety on different occasions, and from
the most reliable sources, so that there might be no mistake as to the
correctness of the name, but after many years of trial we are unable to
perceive any decided variation either in the quality of the fruit, the
length of the bunch, or the habit of the plant, from the Cherry Currant.
A great many names have been given to this currant besides that of
Versailles, and designing and dishonest men have taken the opportunity
to use them to increase their sales and prices. If any of our readers
should have offered to them plants of Red Imperial, La Caucase, Irish
Grape, Macrocarpa, or Napoleon Red, they may rest assured that they are
only the Cherry Currant under a new name.
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THE JAPANESE IRIS.
(_Iris Kæmpferi._)
This beautiful Iris is now attracting very considerable attention. The
editor of the _American Agriculturist_ says that he saw a bed of these
plants in the garden of James Hogg, of New York City, ten years ago, and
that after they had stood there long enough to show that they were
perfectly hardy, he gave an account of them in the October number for
1870, with an engraving, which though considerably reduced in size, was
sufficient to show their great beauty, and how unlike they were to any
heretofore known forms of cultivated Iris. He says they come into flower
after the ordinary varieties have done blooming; and the flowers are
spread out in a flat plate, so that they are best seen when looked down
upon; that the flowers are from four to six inches in diameter, and
present a great variety in form, color, and marking; there are pure
whites, pure blues, and some of the richest imaginable royal purple.
Also that in the markings there is the greatest imaginable variety; that
nothing can be richer than some of the intense purples and blues, with
lines of golden yellow; or more delicate than the whites, with net-work
of blue and purple.
We noticed in the same number, _American Agriculturist_ for August, a
description of twenty of the finest varieties which Mr. Hogg has
selected and named, and learn from it that some are double, some
semi-double, and others we infer are single; one is blue, mottled and
spotted with white, with a fine yellow eye; another is dark pink,
pencilled with white; another white, pencilled with purplish stripes,
and purple centre, and so on in great variety. Our enterprising florists
will doubtless procure them, and soon advertize them, so that our
readers will be able to give them a trial.
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