THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



249 



Keens Seedling, and Victory, and you 

 will have the cream of the useful 

 gooseberries. Better plant two, four, 

 six, or a dozen each of all these 

 varieties, than depend upon any one ; 

 those who stubbornly cling to one 

 variety, however good, have no choice 

 of flavours ; they have a glut of fruit 

 for a short period, instead of regular 

 supplies for a long period, and they 

 makeamerely mechanical and droning 

 business of that which should be an 

 art, and the cultivation of it replete 

 with recreative as well as gastrono- 

 mic pleasures. 



In order not to forget the would- 

 be exhibitor, let me recommend the 

 following two dozen for weight only. 

 It is out of all question to talk of 

 quality — some are good in that re- 

 spect, some are not good ; but all are 

 in their way useful fruits ; and if 

 the bushes are not thinned to pro- 

 duce immense berries, most of them 

 are tolerably prolific. 



Red. — London, very large and 

 handsome ; has been grown to 37 

 dwts. Companion, described above ; 

 weight, 26 to 32 dwts. Crown Bob, 

 a favourite market fruit, being bold 

 and showy, but the flavour very poor, 

 and in my opinion not worth a place 

 in a private garden. Roaring Lion, 

 a long berry, smooth, colour deep 

 red ; weight, 26 dwts. to 31 dwts. 

 Young Wonderful, like London, but 

 a week or more earlier ; weight, 21 

 dwts. to 32 dwts. Atlas, oblong, 

 hairy, the flavour good. 



Yellow. — Leader, a very hand- 

 some and altogether superb goose- 

 berry ; weight, 24 dwts. to 27 dwts. 



Yellow Gunner, another first-rate 

 berry, very rough ; colour, olive- 

 green, with a yellow tinge, the fla- 

 vour superb ; weight 23 dwts. to 27 

 dwts. Pilot, a fine early berry, with 

 good flavour ; 23 dwts. Husbandman, 

 a fine, large, downy berry ; Sanies 

 Dublin, and Broom Girl. 



Green. — Thumper, very late, 

 large, handsome, and good flavour ; 

 weight, 25 dwts. to 32 dwts. Turn 

 Out, Conquering Hero, Angler, Wistas- 

 ton LTero, Independent. 



White. — Queen of Trumps, 25 

 dwts. ; Skeha's Queen, like White- 

 smith, and first-rate ; Ostrich, a capi- 

 tal early sort, weight 21 dwts. to 24 

 dwts. ; Eaqle, very long, weight 21 

 dwts. to 2> dwts. ; White Swan, 24 

 dwts. ; and Smiling Beauty. 



To grow gooseberries well, re- 

 quires a deep, mellow, well-drained, 

 and abundantly-manured loam. If 

 the soil is calcareous, the fruit will 

 generally be better flavoured than if 

 deficient of calcareous matters ; 

 hence, an occasional dressing of soils 

 in which there is naturally no chalky 

 ingredients, with old plaster or chalk, 

 is advisable. Generally, the goose- 

 berry requires but little pruning, and 

 the best way to manage the common 

 kinds for the supply of the kitchen 

 is to thin the branches very mode- 

 rately, leaving all the young shoots 

 nearly their full length. The more 

 severely they are pruned, the more 

 do they suffer from spring frosts. 

 When trained to walls, a system of 

 close spurring back is found advan- 

 tageous, as is the case also in grow- 

 ing for exhibition. S. H. 



TREES AND SHRUBS FOR TOWN GARDENS. 



BY MR. DALE, OE THE TEMPLE GARDENS. 



The finest trees, and those which 

 seem to do best in town, are the 

 following : — The common ash — there 

 are some fine specimens in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Thames Street ; Alian- 

 thus glandulosa— this is a very orna- 

 mental tree, and does well in town ; 



there was a very fine tree in the 

 Temple Gardens ; the weeping ash 

 — this is a very beautiful and useful 

 tree in most of the squares ; the 

 thorny acacia will do well if not 

 planted in a sharp draught ; almonds, 

 both sweet and bitter, particularly 



