THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 317 



increased quantity and larger size of the product. Amelioration comes 

 rather through intercrossing of species. Different fruits respond very 

 differently as to increase in size. The currant, sour cherry, Damson plums, 

 and crabapples have not been greatly enlarged through cultural care given 

 by man. The apple, pear, peach, domestica plums, grapes, bramble fruits, 

 strawberries, and gooseberries have increased in size enormously under 

 cultivation. Let us take the fruit in hand, the gooseberry, as an example. 



Darwin, Animals and Plants under Domestication 1:378. 1893, 

 made a study of the increase in the size of gooseberries. He says: 



" Manchester is the metropolis of the fanciers, and prizes from five 

 shillings to five or ten pounds are yearly given for the heaviest fruit. The 

 ' Gooseberry Grower's Register ' is published annually; the earliest known 

 copy is dated 1786, but it is certain that meetings for the adjudication of 

 prizes were held some years previously.' The ' Register ' for 1845 gives an 

 account of 171 Gooseberry Shows, held in different places during that year; 

 and this fact shows on how large scale the culture has been carried on. The 

 fruit of the wild gooseberry is said- to weigh about a quarter of an ounce or 

 5 dwts, that is, 120 grains; about the year 1786 gooseberries were exhibited 

 weighing 10 dwts., so that the weight was then doubled; in 181 7 26 dwts. 

 17 grs. was attained; there was no advance till 1825, when 31 dwts. 16 grs. 

 was reached; in 1830 'Teazer' weighed 32 dwts. 13 grs.; in 1841 'Won- 

 derful' weighed 32 dwts. 16 grs.; in 1844 'London' weighed 35 dwts. 

 12 grs., and in the following year 36 dwts. 16 grs.; and in 1852, in Stafford- 

 shire, the fruit of the same variety reached the astonishing weight of 37 

 dwts. 7 grs.,^ or 896 grs.; that is, between seven or eight times the weight 

 of the wild fruit. I find that a small apple, 6| inches in circumference, 

 has exactly this same weight. The 'London' gooseberry (which in 1852 

 had altogether gained 333 prizes) has, up to the present year of 1875, 

 never reached a greater weight than that attained in 1852. Perhaps the 

 fruit of the gooseberry has now reached the greatest possible weight, unless 

 in the course of time some new and distinct variety shall arise. 



"This gradual, and on the whole steady increase of weight from the 

 latter part of the last century to the year 1852, is probably in large part due 

 to improved methods of ctoitivation, for extreme care is now taken; the 

 branches and roots are trained, composts are made, the soil is mulched, and 

 only a few berries are left on each bush ; * but the increase no doubt is in 



' Mr. Clarkson, of Manchester, on the Culture of the Gooseberry, in Loudon's " Gardener's Maga- 

 zine," vol. iv. 1828, p. 482. 



- Downing 's " Fruits of America," p. 213. 



' "Gardener's Chronicle," 1844, p. 811, where a table is given; and 1845, p. 819. For the extreme 

 weights gained, see '' Journal of Horticulture," July 26, 1864, p. 61. 



■• Mr. Saul, of Lancaster, in Loudon's '' Gardener's Mag.," vol. iii. 1828, p. 421 ; and vol. x. 1834, p. 

 42. 



