254 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



tards, and, in late springs, shaded 

 bushes sometimes set the best crops ; 

 but, as a rule, the gooseberry delights 

 in free air and sunshine. Every me- 

 thod of training and pruning should 

 have one leading object, — namely, 

 to keep the centre of the tree well 

 open. If treated from the first so 

 as to cause the regular production of 

 branches, and all spray from the 

 centre kept in check, and the largest 

 of the branches merely shortened back 

 to good buds at the winter pruning, 

 the trees will be handsome and strong, 

 and hold their fruit sufficiently high 

 above ground, to prevent it being 

 soiled by rains. If grown with a clear 

 stem, three or four feet high, the 

 branches may be trained down all 

 round, so as to weep, and the trees are 

 then very pretty objects. But when 

 they have short legs, the tendency of 

 the branches to grow downward re- 

 quires correction, and they may be 

 trained upright on hoops. The hoops 

 should bo of hazel-wood, and the 

 shoots must be trained out to the cir- 

 cumference of one of them from the 

 first, and then brought over the hoop, 

 and carried straight up to a second 

 one, and regularly tied in as necessary. 

 The growth must be kept entirely 

 outside ; no spray must be allowed to 

 fill up the centre, which is required to 

 be open for the full admission of sun- 

 shine to every branch. This plan of 

 training ensures clean, well-ripened 

 fruit, and the trees are most com- 

 pletely under the control of the cul- 

 tivator. The Lancashire growers 

 train their bushes out on the plan of a 

 table-trellis, so as to expose a large, 

 horizontal surface to the sun. For this 

 purpose they use forked and hooked 

 sticks, the first to support the shoots 

 that droop too low, and the second to 

 pull down those that take an opposite 

 direction. Their bushes are generally 

 low, and cover a great breadth of sur- 

 face. This horizontal mode of train- 

 ing may also be adopted in connection 

 with one large hoop, supported by a 

 few strong stakes. The habits of the 

 several varieties must, to some extent, 

 determine the mode of both training 

 and pruning them. _ The Warrington 

 is of a drooping habit, and the Cham- 

 pagne very upright, and the same 



course of treatment must not be ap- 

 plied to them indiscriminately. 



In regard to the selection of sorts, 

 the best of the old varieties still hold 

 their ground. There are none equal to 

 the Champagne for flavour, and it is 

 the best yellow gooseberry for all ordi- 

 nary purposes. The lied Champagne 

 is of the same quality, differing only in 

 colour. The Old Rough is the best for 

 preserving, and Warrington is un- 

 equalled as a profitable late goose- 

 berry. For early work, take Golden 

 Drop, Ostrich, and Early Green 

 Hair}'. For the latest crop, and for 

 retarding, the best are Warrington, 

 Avhite; Viper, yellow; Pitmaston, 

 green ; and Coe's Late Red. The most 

 profitable sorts are Keen's Seedling, and 

 Warrington, red; Globe, and Hus- 

 bandman, yellow; Profit and Glenton, 

 green; Eagle, and Wellington Glory, 

 white. For large exhibition berries, 

 the following are a few of the best 

 established sorts : — Red .• Companion, 

 Slaughterman, Conquering Hero, 

 Dan's Mistake. Yellow : Leader, 



Leveller, Goldfinder, Peru, Catherina. 

 Green: Thumper, Gretna Green, 

 Rough Green, General, Turnout. 

 White : Snowdrop, Antagonist, Lad}' 

 Leicester. At the last Manchester 

 Gooseberry Show, the following were 

 the awards, with the weights of the 

 berries in the several classes : Seed- 

 ling of any colour, first prize to 

 Mr. Walton's Leviathan (yellow) 

 26dwts. lgr. Red; first, Mr. Etchell's 

 Major Hibbert, 25 dwts. 23 grs. ; 

 second, Mr. Biddulph's Try it Again, 

 22 dwts. ; third, Mr. Barker's Heath- 

 cote, 20 dwts. 18 grs.; fourth, Mr. 

 Walton's Plough Boy, 20 dwts. 6 grs. ; 

 fifth, Mr. Maddox's Lungeous, 19 dwts. 

 13 grs. Yellow: first, Mr. Far's 

 Weenlee, 20 dwts. 14 grs. ; second, Mr. 

 Lancashire's Butcher, 1 9 dwts. 20 grs. ; 

 third, Mr. Chapman's High Sheriff; 

 fourth, Mr. Henshall's California, 

 19 dwts. 22 grs.; fifth, Mr. Leicester's 

 Pet, 17 dwts. 13 grs. Green: first, Mr. 

 Whittaker's Horse Pool, 20 dwts. 

 9 grs. ; second, Mr. Wilson's Let it, 

 19 dwts. 15 grs. ; third, Mr. Moscroft's 

 Miss Reed, 18 dwts. 20 grs. ; fourth, 

 Mr. Rhodes's Galloper, 18 dwts. 

 15 grs. ; fifth, Mr. Dennis's Charley, 

 17 dwts. 10 grs. White: first, Mr. 



