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.
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