CULTURE OF THE GOOSEBERRY. 



557 



nues especially produce a meagre effect, 

 when they consist of formal or regular 

 trees. Even the Maple grows too uni- 

 form and globular. The Chestnut is very 

 desirable for this purpose. With the 

 exception of the Oak, which we cannot 

 wait for, the Chestnut, when growing 

 alone, produces the most massive and 

 varied forms of any tree I know in these 

 parts. 



The beautiful thorns that grow in abun- 

 dance among our hills, are a singular in- 

 stance of the effect of form apart from size. 

 Aged trees, of a century's growth, with 

 their broad flattened heads and short mas- 

 sive trunks, suggest ideas of venerable 

 antiquity, that the upstart Maples beside 

 them can never attain. I have noticed the 

 same effect in a few aged Apple trees, and 

 have two in my mind that I would gladly 

 transplant as ornaments to my house. 

 There is another form of the thorn which 

 is very beautiful, and easily produced. A 

 stocky thorn, transplanted into rich ground, 

 and headed down with those outside shoots 

 and suckers, which, with a little care to 

 prune a straggling limb, will produce a 

 rounded pyramid or sugar loaf of solid 

 green. I have seen beautiful thorns of 



this shape in the meadov/s, pruned only 

 by the mower's scythe. 



Unique effects are produced by the dwarf- 

 ing effect of the exposed and open sides oi 

 our bleak mountains. Oak trees of great 

 age, with v/ide spreading arms, their tops 

 not more than fifteen or twenty feet from 

 the ground, and diminutive forests of 

 Beech, of a similar character, make you 

 believe that you have reached the country 

 of elves and pigmies. The mountain pas- 

 tures and the charcoal tracts, sometimes oi 

 thousands of acres, without fence or house, 

 presenting large spaces of open ground, 

 broken by groups of second grovvth wood, 

 and with every varied form of ground, 

 from ravine to mountain, present a charm- 

 ing field for observation to the lover of 

 the picturesque effect of trees. W. 



[We recognize, in the above excellent 

 paper, one of the most cultivated and ar- 

 tistic minds in the country ; and we are 

 glad to find that the rich store of observa- 

 tions, which we know the writer has ac- 

 cumulated, are beginning to rise to the 

 surface, and overflow a little for the good 

 of others. We shall alwaj's welcome with 

 pleasure any contribution of " W." in this 

 journal. Ed.] 



"lytrt^l' "tCvrt-^ir 



NOTES ON THE CULTURE OF THE GOOSEBERRY. 



BY THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE IIORT. SOCIETY OF AUVERGNE.* 



The interest with v.'hich the English col- 

 lect, every year, new varieties of the goose- 

 berry, and institute special prizes for them, 

 in the various horticultural societies, is 

 well known. Indeed, in Great Britain, 

 where all fruits are rare, and where the 

 greater part of those we obtain so easily 

 are rendered impossible by the climate, it 

 is quite natural that every care and atten- 



tion should be given to an indigenous spe- 

 cies, which there comes under the most 

 favorable conditions of development. 



It is not even necessary that the fruit of 

 the gooseberry should be ripe, in order to 

 be prized by our neighbors. Tarts and 

 pastry are made of them before the matu- 

 rity of the fruit ; and the excellent sauce 



» Translated from the Revut Horticok. 



