Fay's Prolific is a standard variety for home use. This is a dark, rich red, most beautiful to behold. White Grape is an ideal white variety. Combine the two and you have a table decoration quite as colorful as that furnished by any flowers, and almost as attractive.
The currant is one of the housewife's most valued fruits for jam- and jelly-making. One enterprising dealer has recently introduced to this country a French sort known as Bar-le-Duc, or Preserving Currant. This variety has a flavor that no other variety can lay claim to, and another feature of merit peculiar to it is that it is almost seedless. For a good many years the entire output of this currant was under the control of a French fruit company who manufactured it into jam which has been extensively sold in this country under the name of Confiture Bar-le-Duc. So superior has it been considered to home-made as well as imported jams, that it has readily sold at double the price of them. I would advise the amateur to procure a few plants of this variety and experiment with it.
The gooseberry must not be overlooked in this connection. Many persons claim that the bush mildews to such an extent that the crop is oftener than not a failure. This can largely be prevented by planting the bushes farther apart than the currant, and thinning out the branches so that there will at all times be a free circulation of air about them. It is well to give a heavy mulch of coarse manure in the hot weather of summer. Spray with the infusion recommended for currants to prevent injury from worms. If mildew of an apparently fungous nature attacks the plants, spray with Bordeaux mixture.
This hardly seems the place in which to say much about the culture of the apple, plum, pear, and cherry, for that is a phase of gardening quite distinct from that which this little book aims to interest the homemaker in. However, the writer would urge having all these fruits when conditions are favorable to their culture. The more fruit we eat the healthier we will be.
All kinds of small fruit can be planted in spring to better advantage than in fall, though the nurseryman will tell you, if you consult him, that it makes little difference whether you plant in spring or fall. The writer has tried both methods, and he has always been most successful when plants were put out in April and May, provided they were sent from the nursery that spring. If they are sent in fall they should be "heeled-in" over winter. "Heeling-in" consists in burying the roots in a place where they will be kept dry during the winter. It will not be necessary to cover all the top, though there is no objection to this if the owner thinks it safer to do so. Care should be taken to keep the plants well protected from storms. This can be done very effectively by spreading tarred paper over them, pains being taken to weight it down with stones or something else equally heavy to prevent its being blown out of place.
Plants that have been "heeled-in" over winter should be set out as soon as possible in spring.
IX
HOTBEDS AND COLD-FRAMES