128 



gooseberries is a pretty profitable business. I find that my gooseberries pay me as -well 

 as anything I raise, because I have a good crop. They are generally what you would call 

 a round crop each year — not off one year and on the next like apples. Downing's im- 

 proved have borne very well ; but I cannot see the size in the berries. They look to me 

 very like the Houghton's. My English varieties are a failure ; they are subject to mil- 

 dew. The Hon. Lewis Wallbridge has managed by heavy pruning to occasionally escape. 

 They think that mildew comes from moisture, and that if you prune them heavily so as 

 not to have so many leaves on them you may escape. Occasionally a person will succeed, 

 but there is not one that succeeds in twenty, and the foreign varieties are practically 

 becoming extinct. 



Mr. Beadle. — In regard to this matter of gooseberries I wanted to say as a fact that 

 near the sea shore, where the sea fogs prevail, the English gooseberries can be grown to 

 perfection ; they do not mildew at all or very rarely. But when you go a little inland, 

 away from tlie influence of these fogs, they mildew as Ijadly as they do here. A gentle- 

 man of my acquaintance, ascertaining that fact, made some experiments in the use of salt. 

 He took some grass from his lawn and spread it under his English gooseberry bushes, and 

 then sprinkled it very freely with salt water of as great a strength as he could well get it, 

 and he thought he had succeeded in finding a way to protect them without failure. He 

 did succeed for years ; but at last there came a year when they did mildew — I do not 

 know whether it was in spite of his salt water, or whether he had neglected it. He was 

 not at home when I was there, and I had not the opportunity of asking him. I believe 

 that for growing the Whitesmith and the Crown Bob we need here a good, strong, clayey 

 soil. I cannot grow them on my sand at home where I live. They grow small by degrees 

 and beautifully less every year I keep them. 



Mr. a. M. Smith. — In the vicinity of Niagara Falls, where they get considerable 

 spray and have a damp atmosphere, they have no trouble in raising English gooseberries. 

 I was told this by the gardener of the late Mr. Zimmerman several years ago ; and living 

 within a few miles of there, and being acquainted with the locality, I ascertained it to 

 be a fact. 



Mr. Mattheson. — That view is borne out by the experience of a friend of mine at 

 Ottawa, who is in the habit of sprinkling his gooseberries very liberally with water every 

 second or third evening. He grows very fine gooseberries indeed. I have grown quite a 

 number of English gooseberries. « 



Mr. Arnold. — Our friend Saunders has several that have resisted the mildew this 

 year, and the other bushes are covered. His berries are rapid growers, but miserable 

 fruiters. They get on the ground. This year we have had more moisture than we have 

 ever had, and my gooseberries generally are worse mildewed than I ever- saw them ; but 

 Mr. Saunders', standing within two or three feet of the others, have not a bit of mildew 

 on them. They are altogether superior to Houghton's Seedling, or Downing's Seedling, 

 or Smith's Seedling. They are quite superior in size and great bearers. It is neither 

 light sand nor stiff clay they are growing in. Salt sprinkled on the grass will to a great 

 extent prevent mildew. My opinion is that where we can grow the English varieties 

 without mildew they are profitable. But there is no profit in the Houghton Seedling in 

 our section of the country. 



Mr. Wellington. — I have a new gooseberry, a seedling, that was found in the first 

 place in an old stump of a hickory tree. It was then improved, and it made such a show 

 in the fall that the person undertook to take it up, but only succeeded in getting half a 

 root of it. However, it was saved ; and for three years now I have been watching it 

 carefully. It is a gooseberry as large if not larger than the Whitesmith, a deep golden 

 yellow, and a good fair quality ; and as for productiveness, it is ahead of anything I have 

 ever seen. It is not for sale yet, and will not be for another year anyway. I think it 

 is going to be a great acquisition. It has never shown any signs of mildew. It is ahead 

 of anything I ever saw for bearing. It is a perfect sight to see on account of the color 

 of the berries. 



Mr. Saunders. — A berry of that kind will indeed be a great acquisition if it proves 

 to be entirely free from mildew. My experiments have been principally with the Down- 

 ing Seedling and Houghton Seedling, crossing them with Whitesmith and Warrington 



