44 ANNUAL REPORT 



SWEEDISH SEEDLING GOOSEBEEKIES. 



By Gust. Malmquist, of Minneapolis. 

 A few years ago, disgusted with the small gooseberries I had so 

 far seen here, I thought I would try how foreign gooseberries 

 would succeed here if raised from seed, as I knew that imported 

 plants soon succumb in this climate. So I sent to a friend in 

 Stockholm for the seeds of the two kinds mostly grown for market 

 purposes over there. One kind, large, smooth, green, and used for 

 eating; the other, red and hairy, used for preserves and always 

 picked half ripe. I received the seed in September and planted 

 it the same fall. The next spring fully five hundred plants came 

 up, from which I selected a few and gave away to some friends, and 

 kept a few myself. This summer both kinds fruited and the fruit 

 was fully twice as large as the America seedlings grown side by 

 side, and the bushes just as thrifty and healthy loooking, with no 

 sign of mildew so far. I believe the experiment will prove a suc- 

 cess. 



DISCUSSION. 



The President. Now, if you have anything to say in regard to 

 any of these points that have been brought out here, we would like 

 to have them expressed. 



Mr. Barrett. I suppose that experience is now in order, isn't it? 

 My experience is somewhat limited. I have been trying to raise 

 Downing gooseberries for three or four years. I find it not so hardy 

 as the Houghton, and as to its bearing properties it is decidedly 

 below par; it kills back in the winter time when I don't properly 

 protect it with straw. This last year the Downing bore slightly on 

 the under branches, but the Houghton leads the van with me. My 

 experience is that the Downing is not so hardy a plant as we need 

 in my section of the country. 



Prof. Green. Isn't it worth protecting? 



Mr. Pierce. The great drawback to growing gooseberries in this 

 country is that there is such little demand for them. We have 

 raised them, but they are the worst drug we get on the market. 

 With us, they do not have ready sale, and a great many have 

 become discouraged. If the gooseberry would sell in Minneapolis 

 as readily as the strawberry or raspberry, we would grow it. There 

 is no difficulty in growing the gooseberry, but the profit is what 

 we are after. 



The President. If it will pay Mr. Strubler to ship his goose- 

 berries to Minneapolis, would it not pay us to produce them and 

 market them at home? That is the question. There is one point 

 that I want to call your attention to, as Mr. Barrett has struck the 

 key-note of the whole thing, and that is in regard to growing the 

 Downing. The only way we can grow the Downing in this country, 

 is to protect it. It is just as easy to protect as currants and black- 



