586 CURRENCY CURRY open sun or in the shade of fences, where the fruit is longer in ripening but still sure. The best mode is, never to allow suckers taken from the roots of old plants to be used for new planting out; but to employ well ripened, straight, and stout shoots, removing all the buds or eyes from the lower portions which are to be in- serted in the soil, which will prevent future suckers from springing up around the stem. Sometimes, after the stem has been trained up- right for two or three feet, the branches are spread thinly upon a low espalier ; or, in case this is not used, a thin, spreading head is care- fully grown. All superfluous wood, as it makes its appearance, is removed, and about midsum- mer the ends of the fruit-bearing branches are pinched off, in order to allow the fruit to swell and increase. But the currant will reward the least degree of attention that is given to it. The juice of the currant contains sugar and malic acid, to which is owing its pleasant flavor. Currant wine is considered a valuable beverage, and for preserves and tarts, or for the dessert, currants are especially esteemed. An excellent jelly is prepared from them, and for other domestic purposes their reputation is well known. The fruit of the black currant is far less esteemed, and to many persons is posi- tively disagreeable. A jelly made of it is used for hoarseness or sore throat, and lozenges made of the berries, and especially of their skins, are of much service in pectoral com- plaints. A wine is made in Russia from the black currant berries, and in Siberia the leaves, dried and mixed with souchong, are made into a drink resembling in flavor green tea. The fruit, leaves, and wood are tonic and stimulant. The word currant is said to be a corruption of Corinth, the original place whence the small raisins were brought known as the currants of commerce. (See RAISIN.) CURRENCY. See MONEY. CURRENT RIVER, an affluent of Black river, rises in Texas co., Missouri, and has a S. E. course of over 250 m. to near Pocahontas, Ran- dolph co., Arkansas. It is navigable by flat- boats, and abounds in excellent fish. Jack's Fork is its principal branch. CURRENTS. See ATLANTIC OCEAN. CURRIE, James, a Scottish physician, born at Kirkpatrick-Fleming, Dumfriesshire, May 31, 1756, died at Sidmouth, Devonshire, Aug. 31, 1805. In early life he went to Virginia, but returned after the breaking out of the revo- lution, commenced the study of medicine at Edinburgh, graduated at Glasgow in 1780, and began to practise in Liverpool. He applied afrusions of cold and tepid water to the cure of disease, and published " Medical Reports on the Effects of Water, cold and warm, as a Remedy in Febrile Diseases" (2 vols., 1797 and 1804; 5th ed., 1814). Besides several other medical works, he wrote "A Letter, Commercial and Political, to William Pitt," under the assumed name of Jasper Wilson, which attracted much attention. In 1800 he published the first collected edition of the works of Robert Burns, in 4 vols., which has been frequently reprinted. CURRITUCK, the N. E. county of North Caro- lina, bordering on Virginia, named from a tribe of Indians who formerly occupied the terri- tory; area about 200 sq. in.; pop. in 1870, 5,131, of whom 1,140 were colored. It em- braces several islands separated from the main- land by Currituck sound. The surface is level, and the soil sandy. The area has recently been somewhat diminished by the taking of a portion to form Dare county. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 270,699 bushels of Indian corn, 14,380 of Irish and 69,708 of sweet pota- toes, and 64 bales of cotton. There were 711 horses, 1,154 milch cows, 2,513 other cattle, 2,409 sheep, and 10,012 swine. Capital, Cur- rituck Court House. CURRY, a very highly seasoned, aromatic condiment, originally prepared in the East Indies. It derives its name from the plant which forms the basis of the preparation, the curcuma, a genus of zingiberacece, which fur- nishes the turmeric of commerce. The spe- cies used is the curcuma longa, and a variety of it called C. rotunda. Turmeric was formerly quite popular as a medicinal dietetic article, and had the reputation of giving tone to the digestive organs. The small proportion, how- ever, which is used in some of the forms of curry makes it often an unimportant ingre- dient. In the East the mixed ingredients form- ing the powder are hawked about the country as an article of merchandise. It is prepared for use by the consumer by mixing with fresh acid vegetables or their juices; and the supe- riority of the East Indian over the European curries is said to be owing to this mode of preparation. Soyer has been censured for advising, in his "Modern Housewife," the ad- mixture of sugar with curry. The Ceylon curry stuff, according to Simmonds's " Diction- ary of Trade Products," consists of " a piece of green ginger, a few coriander and cardamom seeds, one dry capsicum pod, six or eight black pepper corns, two cloves of garlic, six small onions, half a cocoanut, half a lime, a small piece of turmeric, and half a dessert spoonful of butter, well mixed together." The following table contains five recipes for making curry : INGREDIENTS. i. 2. 3. C 2 8 2 8
4. 8 2
1 4 12 i 5. 2 6 i
f 1
Turmeric .... 6 5 1 4 4 1 2 2 2 6 Black pepper . Cayenne pepper . . . Fenugreek 3 8 Cumin seeds Coriander seeds Pimento . Cinnamon Cloves Nutmeg CURRY, the S. W. county of Oregon, bounded S. by California, W. by the Pacific, and watered
