GOOSEBERRIES. 



'I'l'H reference to question 955, 

 by Mr. L). J. Stewart, of Ailkens" 

 Ferry, P. E. I., I make the fol- 

 lowing observations : In Eng 

 land, of red gooseberries, the Industry 

 takes the lead, being not only of fine 

 flavor, but also very productive. Crown 

 Bob, Ashton Red, and Lancashire Lad 

 also stand high. Red Champagne is 

 smaller, but of fine flavor ; it has not 

 yet mildewed with me. Sulphur is a 

 good yellow, of fair size, and mildews a 

 little with me. Lewis's Amber is a 

 larger yellow, of fine flavor, and mildews 

 but slightly; generally not at all. White- 

 smith is very productive ; I have seen 

 fully eight quarts on a tree, of an agree- 

 able mild flavor, but mildewed some- 

 what some years, other years it will be 

 quite free. White Eagle is a larger berry 

 than Whitesmith, much less subject to 

 mildew, in fact I have not yet seen mil- 

 dew upon it; of good pronounced flavor, 

 productive, and a more vigorous grower 

 than Industry At present I think more 

 of this variety than of any other English 

 kind. When in a good rich soil, the 

 berries grow surprisingly large ; some- 

 times they are pyriform or pear-shaped, 

 and at other times nearly perfect ovals. 

 Of the English hairy green sweet berries, 

 Glenton Green is very good; I have not 

 seen any mildew on it. It is not a large 

 berry, and about the size of Downing. 

 Crown Bob, Ashton Red (Red War- 

 rington), Industry and Lancashire Lad 

 have all mildewed badly with me this 

 year. There are some American varie- 

 ties, such as Chautauqua, Columbus 

 and Triumph, which have all mildewed 

 badly with me this year, but last year 

 they did not. These appear to me to 



be only seedlings of Whitesmith, and 

 resemble it closely. 



With regard to mildew, I have tried 

 everything to cure it, and I come to the 

 conclusion that it cannot be cured when 

 once it has begun. Sometimes it only 

 slightly affects the tips of the young 

 shoots, but frequently the berries also. 

 I tried liver of sulphur, sulphate of cop- 

 per, kerosene emulsion, digging flower 

 of sulphur in round the bush, fertilizing 

 freely with ashes, watering the bush well 

 in dry weather, and all to no purpose. 

 I have cleaned the infested berries with 

 a weak soap and kerosene wash, and 

 the disease formed again on the berries. 

 But I have not tried spraying the bush 

 before coming into leaf. Perhaps this 

 might prevent it. 



I have my bushes on two or three 

 classes of soil ; clay loam and light clay 

 loam, on my own farm ; and a sort of 

 sandy, or gravelly loam, on the place 

 where I live. On this latter soil, the 

 mildew is far worse than on the clay 

 loam. In Halton county, at Milton, 

 where I was six years, the soil was a 

 good stifif clay loam, on a clay subsoil. 

 I did not see any mildew there; and in 

 Judge Miller's garden, there were sev- 

 eral kinds of the best English goose- 

 berries, which did well with him. Evi- 

 dentl)', Prince Edward Island would be 

 the place for gooseberries, if there be a 

 suitable stiff soil there ; but the " light 

 sandy soil " is not the thing, either for 

 gooseberries or raspberries. But in Eng- 

 land they have good gooseberries, on 

 all sorts of soils, the sea-air being the 

 main desideratum. 



W. 1;. Brouks. 



Mount Forest. 



335 



