THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 333 



Hoenings Earliest, i. Maurer Staclielbeerbuch 246. 1913. 



In a plantation of some seventy or eighty varieties of European gooseberries, Hoenings 

 Earliest is one of the earliest and one of the best. The fruits are beautiful golden yellow, 

 the handsomest and best-flavored yellow gooseberry on otir grounds. The plants are vigor- 

 ous, hardy, productive, and fairly free from mildew. At any rate, the variety can be recom- 

 mended for home use if the sort can be had from American nurserymen. Hoenings Earliest 

 is very similar to a sort described by Hogg in England many years ago as Early Sulphur. 

 This gooseberry was raised about 1900 by Julius Hoenings, Neuss, Germany. It has 

 been disseminated on the continent by Herrn Hoenings, but as yet is little known in 

 America. 



Plants large, vigorous, upright, dense, variable in yield; young shoots stocky, dull 

 brown mingled with gray; prickles strong, usually in threes, medium in thickness and length, 

 numerous, with many bristles between the nodes especially towards the base of the shoots; 

 leaf -buds small, short, conical, lean, free or slightly appressed; leaves large, cordate-ovate, 

 medium in thickness and color, glossy, smooth, usually with five deeply cut lobes; petiole 

 long, glabrous. Flowers midseason, meditmi to large, 1-2; pedicels longish, pubescent; 

 calyx-tube pubescent; calyx-lobes tinged with red; ovary pubescent, glandiolar. Fruit 

 early; clings well; large, roundish oval, glossy, yellowish, with paler veins; skin hairy, 

 thick, tender, translucent; flesh juicy, melting, sweet, aromatic; quality very good. 



Houghton. I. Bailey Ev. Nat. Fruits 390. 1898. 



Houghton's Seedling. 2. Mag. Hort. 13:422. 1847. 3. Horticulturist 3:119, fig. 

 19. 1848-49. 



Although it has several faults, Houghton is widely and commonly planted wherever 

 gooseberries are grown in North America. It is without question the most popular 

 sort after Downing. Its most glaring faults are that the fruits are small and uninviting 

 in appearance; the foliage is a little too susceptible to mildew and aphis; and canners, 

 to whom gooseberries are mostly sold in large quantities, do not like the fruit. To 

 offset these faults, the plants are very hardy, vigorous, productive, thrive under a great 

 diversity of conditions, and the berries are rich and sweet, although not of the best quality. 

 Houghton is without question a hybrid between an European and an American gooseberry, 

 and is the oldest American variety of note, having originated from seed planted in 1833 by 

 Abel Houghton, Lynn, Massachusetts. Houghton was added to the recommended fruit 

 list of the American Pomological Society in 1852, a place it still retains. 



Plants very large, vigorous, upright becoming very spreading, rather dense, productive 

 to very productive, healthy; young shoots medium to slender, numerous, dark brownish 

 red overlaid with dull gray ; prickles medium in thickness and strength, short, usually singly 

 or in twos, with few bristles between the nodes; leaf-buds small, of medium length, conical, 

 lean, free; leaves medium in size and thickness, cordate, with obovate, open, deeply cut 

 lobes, dark green, semi-glossy, variable in smoothness; with hairy, crenate margins; petiole 

 short, of medium thickness, greenish, pubescent. Flowers late, small, 1-3; pedicels 

 medium in length and thickness, glabrous; calyx-tube green, glabrous, green mingled with 

 a slight reddish tinge; ovary glabrous, quite smooth and shining, greenish. Fruit mid- 

 season; verj' small, roundish, light silvery green changing at maturity to a rather handsome 



