GROWING GOOSEBERRIES. 



27 ♦ 



ttiyTtie-lea.ved Camellia, which for twenty- 

 five years he had never seen to bear an an- 

 ther except in one season, when all the 

 flowers on every plant had thenij but the 

 seedlings by this pollen proved the worst 

 he ever raised ; he concluded from this, 

 that the same peculiarity in the season, 

 which induced the approach to a single 

 flower, also disposed the pollen to generate 

 single flowers. 



After all, the results which are obtained 



will frequently vary greatly from what are 

 supposed to be the general rules which in- 

 fluence this question, affording thereby a 

 certain proof that they are far from perfect. 

 It is to be hoped that spirited horticulturists 

 will turn more of their attention to this sub- 

 ject, and institute experiments upon a me- 

 thodical and systematic plan, for so only 

 can we hope to have the errors of our opi- 

 nions and practice removed, and their place 

 supplied by undoubted truth. 



ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL MODE OF GROOVING GOOSEBERRIES. 



BV R. H. T., DELAWARE. 



In an early number of the Horticulturist, 

 I observed a notice of a successful mode of 

 cultivating the gooseberry, in soils and lo- 

 cations where the mildew prevails so as to 

 render it difficult or impossible'to get good 

 crops of this fruit. 



The difficulty in growing the gooseberry, 

 in this part of the Union, is, I suppose, 

 wholly attributable to the want of a cool 

 and moist atmosphere in the spring and 

 early summer months. The bushes grow 

 vigorously, and they also blossom and set 

 fine crops of fruit ; but the latter become 

 covered with a thick brown mildew, or 

 scurf, when they are scarcely a quarter 

 grown. This, manuring and high cultiva- 

 tion will not in many cases remove ; and, 

 accordingly, we must look somewhere else 

 for the remedy. 



What induces me to believe that it is 

 the hot and dry climate here which makes 

 it difficult to grow the gooseberry, is the 

 following observation which I made last 

 season. I took a journey through Maine 

 and New-Brunswick, and it chanced to be 

 in the gooseberry season. I there found, to 

 my surprise, that wherever the culture of 

 the gooseberry was attempted it produced 

 fine abundant crops of clean fruit. The 



mildew was wholly unknown, and I have 

 never, (except in Great Britain,) seen such 

 fine and large berries as I then saw in 

 several private gardens in Maine. 



Attributing the easy cultivation of the 

 gooseberry there, as I have already men- 

 tioned, to the cool and comparatively humid 

 climate of that state, it occurred to me that 

 if we would succeed in growing this fruit 

 in our gardens farther south, we must en- 

 deavor to bring about, as far as possible, 

 the proper condition of the soil and site for 

 its growth. As I was about to make a trial, 

 I chanced to see the remarks of " A Jer- 

 seyman," in your journal, in which he so 

 strongly recommends the use of a layer of 

 salt hay underneath the branches. This 

 appeared a good hint ; its beneficial opera- 

 tion, as far as I am able to understand it, 

 arising from the cool and moist tempera- 

 ture at which the earth about the roots was 

 maintained, — thereby preventing that sud- 

 den check of growth which induces mil- 

 dew. 



Not having "salt hay" at hand, I cast 

 about me for some substitute. This I found 

 in the shape of a large heap of sea-weed, 

 which had been brought up from the sea 

 shore. I spread a layer of this sea-weed 



