PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 31 



nurserymen can not raise Prince Albert and sell it with the other 

 varieties. 



Mr. Reid: 1 would like to ask if you have tried any of the English 

 varieties? A. Everyone knows that they can raise gooseberries in Eng- 

 land that would surprise us. We can not raise gooseberries here which 

 at all comjiare with them. There is an Englishman living near us who 

 has experimented a good deal and he claims to have one variety that he 

 can produce here. 



Q. Which variety is that? A. I don't know, in regard to that. I pre- 

 sume it was Industry. 



Q. Is it not a fact that the reason that the English gooseberry mildews 

 so much here, is that the shrub is kept fruited too near the ground? A. 

 I should think that would be the case. It might be that, if we could 

 raise them high enough, they would be all right. I have never seen 

 them except in the bush form. Perhaps they raise them in England in 

 the tree form. 



Mr. Wright : I think I can find them in America, where the bush has 

 been in the first place partly neglected and allowed to grow up into the 

 air, and then made a second growth, producing what I call an inde- 

 pendent trunk. Berries that grow on the top part of the tree are not 

 affected with mildew% but the berries on the shrub (the bottom part of 

 the plant) will be mildewed every time. I think if the people who under- 

 take to grow gooseberries, whether they be of the English or American 

 varieties, would prune them into tree form, and give them proper circula- 

 tion of air underneath the bush, they would avoid the mildew that the 

 English fruit is subject to here. 



Mr. Morrill : Does any one in Michigan produce them successfully? A. 

 Not in Michigan, but in Ohio they are produced successfully, both Indus- 

 try and Lancashire Lad. 



Q. But Industry has been a failure all over this state, with all sorts of 

 treatment? A. It is not a failure in Ohio, but they are Englishmen who 

 raise them, men who understand the proper cultivation in tree form. 

 The English gooseberry is raised in tree form at home. 



Mr. Gebhart: Is it not a fact that Industry is inclined to grow dow'n 

 and crawl along the ground? For several years I have tried it and I 

 had an excellent crop of berries the first two years; but since then they 

 are inclined to grow down and lie on the ground, and they have mildewed, 

 even with spraying them half a dozen times. Now, the Lancashire Lad 

 bush (my experience is limited) seems to be more of an upright grower, 

 and I have had some fine berries. Also Champion, which is a great 

 producer. 



Mr. Morrill: Columbus is also promising and said to be an American 

 variety. 



Mr. Reid: If you take the precaution to keep the old wood pruned 

 sufficiently far from the ground, and keep the bottom limbs somewhat 

 pruned back, it will prevent them from drooping so much on the ground. 



Mr. C. E. Rollins: I have an experimental patch, set with gooseberries 

 and currants, and I have some in the tree form, and also in the bush; 

 those in the tree form are probably eighteen inches from the ground, and 

 are not troubled with mildew. By keeping them trimmed up, the new 



