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262 FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Viii. Oi/D Goosebeery A^D His Cuirakt Ee...
I or five times that height , the leaves-, too , becoming- at least twice as large for in . Anderson The fruit 's would ic Sketches seem of to the attain Kussian its greatest Empire size , ' it in is the affirmed north ,
that on the Altaian Mountains the red currants grow to the size of an ordinary cherry . In the south of Europe ifc is little known , nor
does it seem to have been originally a native of France , the name by which it was formerly known there , groseille d _"* outre-merevidently
indicating a foreign introduction . At the present day , however _, , the fruit occupies a very important position in Paris , less , however , as a
fruit than as furnishing * the popular sir op de groseille which supplies the lady ' s petit verveand admits her to a privilege unknown to her
, sister in London—that of finding in any place of refreshment she may visit wherewith to slake her thirst at trifling cost and with an
innocent and delicious beverage . Besides its cooling influence , currant juice has also the property of diminishing the secretion of "
bile . Wherever may have been its birthplace , it _aiDpears to have been in Holland that attention was first devoted to its improvement ,
and it is thence that our principal varieties have been procured , the English market continuing , too , to be largely supplied with Dutch
currants ready grown and gathered . The plant , however , thrives here as -well as anywhereand is seen as often as anywhere trained
against a cottage wall , its , handsome lobed leaves of rich green and jewelled clusters of ruby drops beautifying the poor man ' s lowly
dwelling while presenting him with a feast wholesome as refreshing . And though _the'banquet it spreads endures but for a short period ,
if left entirely to Nature , yet by choosing a northern aspect , and covering the bushes with mattingthe gathering * ' season may be
, prolonged from July even until December . The white _CLirrant is only a variety of the red produced -by
cultivation , and offering no further peculiarity than the color of the fruit , for the flavor varies according to the situation in which it is
grown , sometimes being less sometimes more acid than its ruddy relative . A pink variety is also sometimes grown , and there is a
sort cultivated in Austria which is marked with alternate stripes of white . and red . The black currant is much more decidedly distinct .
It has the same _geographical range as the red , but is more abundant than the latter in the north , and comparatively scarcer-in southern
latitudes , though a few species of ribes even in India and South America have black fruit ; and though sometimes found in British
woods and hedges , is not known to be truly indigenous to this country . The taste for ittooseems to be developed progressively
northwards . Du Hamel sp , eaks , of it as simply medicinal , though the virtues he enumerates as appertaining to it might well induce
his countrymen to endeavor to acquire a relish for it . Among ourselves , though one of our old botanists spoke of the fruit as being
" of a stinking and somewhat loathing savour / ' and many still dislike it , this is perhaps compensated for by its friends being
usually passionately fond of it , for it is one of those strongly
262 Fruits In Their Season.
262 FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1861, page 262, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061861/page/46/
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