THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 



321 



" Of all the foreign or native Gooseberries which we have had oppor- 

 tunities to taste, for some years past, from Canada to Delaware, no variety, 

 in our opinion, can compare with Mr. Charles Downing's Seedling, obtained 

 from the Houghton's seed some three years ago, establishing once more the 

 fact once so startling to the pomological world — so much disputed and 

 ridiculed — but, in our opinion, so perfectly logical, that ' the artificial 

 products of nature improve by successive generations of seedlings.' 



" The berries before us (which kept ripe for more than ten hot days with- 

 out any sign of decay) are about double the size of the parent (Houghton's) ; 

 pale, or light green, without any blush, and smooth. The skin is very thin, 

 and the fruit as delicate and tender as any European Gooseberry, in its 

 native soil. The flavor and aroma are perfect; sweet, with plenty of vinous 

 subacid. In enjoying a goodly supply of these berries, we, for the first 

 time for six years, could not regret the relative and very marked inferiority 

 of the best English varieties in our very different climate. 



" "We experienced the same satisfaction as we did in the tasting the Dela- 

 ware and Rebecca Grapes, coming up so very nearly to the European 

 standard as to be almost taken for good foreign varieties. 



" Let us have our native varieties of all kinds of fruit. Already the pear, 

 the strawberry, the raspberry, and chiefly the apple, have come in hand- 

 some competition with, or superseded, their European relative varieties. 

 We never could see, after those successful experiments, what could prevent 

 us from having just as fine gooseberries, grapes, &c., and better, too, than 

 the transatlantic products. Gentlemen amateurs! do try all kinds of seed- 

 lings; the Phoenix is yet in its ' ashes.' Patience alone, and (in the impres- 

 sive words of our honored President, Col. Wilder) ' eternal vigilance,' 

 can only bring out the desired results. 



" Thanks to Mr. Charles Downing for his constant efforts. The present 

 seedling is one out of a lot of seedlings from the Houghton, but it is the only 

 superior one in quality and size, as it is one of the finest erect bushes among 

 this family; a vigorous and sturdy grower. 



"Like its parent, it seems rather more exempt from mould; we have 

 indeed seen no disposition to moulding in any of these seedlings. We 

 urged Mr. Downing to let it be propagated; but, as usual, his modesty is 

 rather in the way of his love of progress and improvement." 



Houghton, and therefore Downing, its seedling, are, as we have seen 

 in the discussion of the botany of the gooseberry, hybrids between the native 

 and the European species of this fruit. No pure-bred derivative of the 

 several American wild gooseberries has ever come into prominence and 

 but one, Pale Red, can now be foimd in gardens if, indeed, it is still to be 

 found. Some ten or twelve other varieties may possibly be foimd in one 

 part of the country or another in which the characters of the native species 



