Currant
Currant names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Currant a well known garden fruit
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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This page recommends pest-control substances such as arsenic compounds, strychnine, or cyanide — in some cases applied to food crops. These substances are lethal to humans and animals, and their use is now banned or strictly controlled.
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a well known garden fruit. The currant is closely allied to the gooseberry, but it is smooth and more juicy. A number of kinds, both red and black, grow wild; but the red currant (ribes rubrum) and the black currant are the currants of the garden. It is a native of cool climates, but may be cultivated farther south in shaded places, such as orchards. The Gulf States are too warm, but with mulching, currants do remarkably well in the dry climate of the plains. Currants are hardy and endure neglect, but respond quickly to rich soil and cultivation. Currants are started by cuttings about ten inches long, planted with two or three buds above ground. Young wood is more productive than old. The old stems should be cut out as fast as young stems offer to take their place. Allow from six to eight stems to grow in each clump. Currant growers find it profitable to set new plants each year and root out those that exceed eight years. The currant worm is a great pest and can be fought to best advantage by sprinkling with a teaspoonful of powdered hellebore to a gallon of water. Currant borers can be gotten rid of best by digging up and burning the plants. Care should be used to start again with healthy cuttings. The name of the garden currant is derived from a similarity in size to the eastern currant, for which see the following article.
Currant a delicious fruit
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a delicious fruit. The dried currants of the stores are the fruit of a small grape cultivated in what was the ancient Ithaca (the island of Ulysses), at Patras in the Morea, in Zante, Cephalonia, etc. Currants in this sense were introduced into England in the 16th century, under the name of corinthes. The name is also given to a number of shrubs, placed in the genus Ribes, and by De Candolle in the sub-genus Ribesia. About 40 so-called species are known. Red currant (Ribes rubrum) is a wellknown garden shrub in various respects resembling its ally the black currant, but having red fruit. It is found apparently N. wild in mountainous districts in the parts of the United States, in Scotland, and the N. of England, as well as in the N. of Continental Europe, and in Siberia. Red-flowered currant, or bloody currant, is an ornamental species with large racemes of deep rose-colored flowers, and bluish-black berries. It is indigenous to the N. W. coast of this country. Hawthorn currant-tree (Ribes oxyacanthoides) is indigenous to Canada and the Northern States. Golden-flowered currant (Ribes aureum) is another American species. Dark purple-flowered currant is a species of currant wild on the Altai Mountains, and the mountainous regions near the Ural river. Black currant (Ribes nigrum) has leaves of a strong smell. The black currant is found at large, but probably not really wild, in Great Britain, besides which it is found in Sweden and the N. of Russia, and in the S. of Europe, though there more sparingly.
Currant a Grecian raisin
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a Grecian raisin, produced by drying the small, sweet, seedless grape of that country. These grape currants are one of the chief crops of Greece and are much in demand by makers of cakes and puddings. Currants of this sort are really Grecian raisins. They get their name from Corinth, the city that sent most of them to market. Corinth has been changed to currant, much as "Worcester" has become "Wooster." See Greece
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Neither 1910 account mentions the disease that was about to reshape the currant's fortunes: Ribes species host part of the life cycle of white pine blister rust, and from the 1910s American states and then the federal government restricted or banned currant planting outright to protect white pine, with crews grubbing out bushes for decades. The federal ban was lifted in 1966 but state prohibitions lingered — New York only legalised resistant varieties in 2003 — which is why the currant, a staple of Aiton's kitchen garden, is a near-unknown fruit to most Americans today. Rust-resistant cultivars such as 'Consort' and 'Titania' now exist, and the hellebore spray Aiton's recommends for the currant worm has long since been replaced. Meanwhile the black currant, treated here as a minor relation, became a major British crop after wartime interest in its very high vitamin C content, while the dried "Grecian raisin" of Zante and Patras is still grown and still sold under the same misleading name.
Written for this edition, 2026.