New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 305 



Summary. — Summarizing what has been said of the two gen- 

 eral classes of cultivated gooseberries as to their value for 

 commercial fruit growing, it may be said that the European 

 class shows superiority in : 



1. The large size and variety of colors of the fruit. 



'2. The early marhetahle con iition of the green crop. This is 

 an adoantage because the green fruit is not as easily injured in 

 handling as is the ripe fruit; it is exposed for a shorter time to 

 sunscald^ cracking and attacks of mildew; the early prices are 

 usually as good as or even hetter than the prices of the ripe fruit; 

 when the fruit is m'lrketed green the plant is partially relieved 

 ^'rom the exhausting process of ripening the fruit and the seed. 



3. That European varieties are preferred at fruit preserving 

 estahlishments. 



The best of the American varieties are superior to the Euro- 

 pean gooseberries as a class in : 



1. Productiveness. 

 S. Hardiness. 



3. The ease with which they may he propagated. 

 Jf,. Quality., delicacy of favor and thin texture of the skin of the 

 -^ruit. 

 5. Freedom from mildew. 



Productiveness of Some American Varieties. 



Some inquiry has been made among good fruit growers in 

 widely separated sections of the state to learn what is the aver- 

 age yield of gooseberries under good cultivation. Messrs. C. A. 

 Sharp & Co., located in Niagara county, write as follows : " With 

 us the Downing has averaged about one-half ton per acre and 

 the Houghton about one ton. Some years they will go from 25 

 per cent, to 33 per cent, better, but it would be offset in other 

 years by a lighter yield. The above figures are about the average 

 for six years past." 



Mr. W. D. Barns, Middle Hope, Orange county, N. Y., writes 

 that from 800 Downing plants set between vineyard rows in the 

 spring of 1892 he gathered 2,362 quarts in 1896. This he con- 

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