132 FRUIT BOOK. 



in quality ; some of the largest fruit, having a 

 thick skin, are fit only for cooking, while others 

 are fine for the table. In our importations of this 

 fruit, we have invariably sent for those only which 

 are considered the best table varieties, without 

 regard to names. We cultivate nineteen sorts, 

 received four years since from Europe, as the 

 best table varieties ; these differ in size and in 

 color. The gooseberry bush will flourish in 

 almost any soil, but that which is humid and rich- 

 ly manured will produce the largest fruit. " The 

 best soil," says Rogers, " is a fine fresh loam, 

 neither too heavy nor too light, eighteen inches 

 deep, and if resting on a sub-soil of clay, so much 

 the better." They should be set in the most open 

 and airy situation in the garden ; as in a confined 

 and close location, as well as in the hot sun with- 

 out a good circulation of air, they are exceedingly 

 inclined to mildew. To destroy the green worm, 

 as also the small orange-colored aphides, which 

 often injure the bushes and destroy the fruit, we 

 sprinkle the plants with salt and water early in 

 the spring, before the leaves are developed; the 

 'mixture may then be made so strong as to whiten 

 the branches, without affecting the future crop of 

 fruit. Should the leaves or buds be in part ex- 

 panded, the brine should be greatly reduced, say 

 one quart of salt to about eight gallons of soft 

 water, applied over the bushes from the nose of a 

 watering pot. One of the best situations for this 

 fruit is upon moist and warm hills. 



These bushes are easily raised from cuttings, 

 provided you have moist soil, by placing them into 

 the ground, immediately upon the falling of the 

 leaf, when the shoots of the summer are well rip- 



