124 



THE CA.NADIAN H0RTICULTDRI8T, 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE GOOSEBERRY. 



The Gooseberry is a fruit which 

 seems rather at a disadvantasfe in 

 Ontario, as the standard English sorts 

 do not succeed, both from their liability 

 to mildew and because their mode of 

 growth is unsuited to the climate. 



Only two kinds are considered reli- 

 able — the Downing and the Houghton, 

 and these in quality, growth and size of 

 fruit are but middling. From their 

 appearance I should suppose these to 

 be hybrids, and that the small, smooth, 

 swamp berry is the female parent. 



If this be correct, it is quite possible 

 and probable that we may yet have a 

 considerable number of new sorts, and 

 of a much better quality ; but the mat- 

 ter must be taken up without loss of 

 time, or it may be too late. 



It has often been said that this was 

 a land of wild grapes, but when first 

 settled it was even more a country of 

 wild gooseberries, and the varieties 

 were endless ; red, green, rusty-purple, 

 and even blue; small, middling and 

 large; prickly, spiny, hairy and smooth. 



Some of the two last are, or were, of 

 very fine flavour, almost equalling the 

 finest English kind, which is also hairy. 



In many old settled and improved 

 districts the native gooseberry is prac- 

 tically extinct, and ere the march of 

 civilization completely annihilates it, 

 we need men of observation, practical 

 and scientific knowledge, who have 

 taste and leisure, to experiment and 

 improve this fruit. Seedlings with the 

 native habit of growth, and the fruit 

 more like the English in size, would 

 make a name and a profit for the suc- 

 cessful originator. But even if good 

 hybrids cannot be produced, we need 

 not confine ourselves to two sorts, nor 

 to twenty. 



When this district was new, I was 

 struck with the superior habit of growth 

 and the efficient mode of renewal of the 

 native bushes in the woods. 



On trying the fruit I found the 

 quality not only bad and indifferent, 

 but also good, and used to mark plants 

 of superior flavour when ripe that I 

 might transplant in the fall. 



In this way I selected and removed 

 three or four dozen bushes, which filled 

 a considerable plot of ground when 

 placed at a due distance from each 

 other, intending to prune, mulch and 

 manure them, but owing to various un- 

 toward circumstances they were quite 

 neglected. 



Notwithstanding want of care they 

 have borne for more than twenty-five 

 years, and for pies, preserves and ripe 

 use, we think them better, and cer- 

 tainly more reliable, than the two 

 standard sorts. 



Several years ago I saved and sowed 

 seed from the best and largest, but did 

 not find the fruit of the seedlings equal 

 to the parents. Cultivation will not 

 improve them. 



They differ from the English sorts 

 in having a disinclination to take root 

 from cuttings, but any sucker or off- 

 shoot with the least portion of root 

 will grow. 



Partial shade is desirable, as in some 

 kinds the fruit drops considerably in 

 arid situations. 



C. Orillia. 



RKPORT OF FKlJIT TREEvS. 



To THK Editor of the Canadian Horticclturist. 



Dear Sir, — I am a little late with 

 my report for 1881. The winter of 

 1 880 and *81 was a very hard one here. 

 My Ontario apple tree was winter killed 

 dead to the snow line. I had a graft 

 of the same variety, which was grafted 

 into a seedling stalk ; it was also killed. 



