GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR 29* 



:..nuerl\ regarded a- di-tinci -.pcc-i.-, : (1) 

 now merely vur. [inlu-wns, ill \\hich 



ill.- hah- an- glandular and rover the iwrrie-, ; 



n i-n^/iii, in which the hairs HIV imn- 



lulur. uinl full oil' tin- berries before i ipening ; 



ir. n>-/i,i,i tiini, iii which hairs an- found only 



mi tin- leaf -margins. The varieties produced hv 



cultivation un> verv numerous, chiefly in England, 



\\heie. .-mil particularly in Lancashire, the greatest 



ati'Mition luis I ii paid to tlie cultivation of this 



valuable fruit -shrnli. In the south of Knrope it in 

 little known. It ln-s not apnear to have been 

 known to the undents. Its cultivation cannot lie 

 .inly referred to an earlier date tlian the 17th 

 ci -lit 111 \, and was only in its infancy at the middle 

 of the'lxth. when I lie' largest gooselWries produced 

 in Lancashire scarcely weighed more than ^ oz., 

 whereas prize goosel>erries now sometimes reach 2 

 oz. Many well-known diversities of form, colour, 

 and flavour, as well as of size, mark the different 

 varieties. For the production of new varieties 

 the gooseberry is propagated by seed ; otherwise, 

 generally by cuttings, which grow very freely. 

 Any good Burden soil suits the gooseberry. It is 

 rather the better for a little shade, but suffers from 

 much. The bushes are trained in various ways, 

 lnit it is necessary to prune so that they may not 

 be choked up with shoots ; yet care ought to be 

 taken to have an abundant supply of young wood, 

 which produces the largest berries. Summer 

 rather than winter pruning is now largely recom- 

 mended. Besides its well-known wholesomeness 

 and pleasantness, and its use for making an 

 excellent preserve and jelly, the ripe fruit is used 

 for making wine and vinegar. An effervescent 

 gooselierry wine, which might well claim attention 

 under its own name, is often fraudulently sold as 

 champagne. The use of unripe gooseberries for 

 tarts increases the value of this fruit-shrnb. The 

 gooseberry season is prolonged by training plants 

 on north walls, and oy covering the bushes with 

 matting when the fruit is nearly ripe. Unripe 

 gooseberries may l>e kept in jars or bottles, which 

 are closely sealed while heated to expel air, and 

 placed in a cool cellar, to be used for tarts in 

 winter. 



Various derivations have been given of the name 

 gooselierrv, but most probably the first syllable is 

 a corruption of groseiile, the French name of the 

 fruit, from which also comes the Scotch yruzet or 

 grozurt. Attempts to introduce the European 

 gooseberry into North America have invariably 

 failed, owing to the appearance, sooner or later, 

 of mildew among the plants. Among the other 

 species or varieties most worthy of notice ar,e R. 

 n, i/iii-nnthoides, extending across the upper North 

 American continent from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, and now largely grown for market in the 

 middle states; R. aivaricatiim and R. irriifiimn, 

 both of north-west America all agreeable, though 

 small and more or less acid ; R. gracile, found in 

 mountain-meadows from New York to Virginia, 

 with blue or purplish berries of exquisite flavour ; 

 R. ncicitlare, a Siberian species, with sweet, well- 

 tlavonred yellowish or purplish smooth l*erries ; all 

 of which, and probably others, seem to deserve 

 more attention than they have yet received from 

 horticulturists. The Snowy-flowered Gooseberry 

 (R. niveum), a native of America, is remarkable for 

 it- beautiful white pendulous flowers. Its berries 

 in size and colour resemble black currants, and 

 make delicious tarte. R. speciosum, from the 

 same region, is very ornamental. R. saxatile, of 

 Siberia, and other species, forming the sub-genus 

 Botrycarpum, have a character intermediate le- 

 tween currants and gooseberries, being prickly 

 -linilis, with their berries in racemes. The so-called 

 < '.ipe or Peruvian Gooseberry is a 1'hysalis (q.v.). 



For the Command**) (!ooel*erry, ee CARAMBOLA. 



The GoosKHKitKY Hi:<; is tin; Harvest Bug (q.v.). 



Gooseberry Caterpillar, a name applied u> 



the larva- of two very difu-rent insect*, both injuri- 

 ous to gooseberry and currant hushes. ( 1 ) The 

 Magpie Moth (Abnucwi grossulariutti), appearing 

 alxmt niid.Mimmer, has usually a black head, yellow 



The Magpie Moth ( Abraxas grossulariata ) : 

 a, caterpillar ; b, chrysalis. 



body, and white wings spotted with black. From 

 eggs laid on the leaves of the above-mentioned 

 bushes caterpillars hatch in September, feed for a 

 brief space, and then hide themselves till May or 

 June of the next year. The caterpillar is a ' looper,' 

 drawing itself up into a peculiar curve when alarmed, 

 and has a black head, creamy body with some stripes 

 of reddish-orange along the side and elsewhere, and 

 with a row of black spots along the middle line of 

 the back. After a period of voracity, it spins a 

 transparent cocoon and passes into a chrysalis, 

 'yellow at first, but afterwards shining black, with 

 orange-coloured rings.' Care of the bushes, syring- 

 ing with various washes, and gathering the torpid 

 caterpillars are the usual means of prevention and 

 remedy. (2) More destructive than the above is 

 the larva of the Gooseberry Sawfly (Nematus ribesii ), 

 which plays havoc with the leaves of our bushes. 

 The female saw- 

 fly appeal's about 

 April and lays 

 her eggs on the 

 leaves. The 

 grubs hatch in a 

 week or less, and 

 eat small round 

 holes first in the 

 leaf on which 

 they are born, 

 then all over the 

 bush. The adult 

 fly is a yellowish 

 insect with trans- 

 parent wings, 

 and measures 

 about a third of Gooseberry Sawfly (Nematiu riberii): 

 an inch in length. a, adult fly ; 6, natural size ; c, Urra ; 

 The larva is <*. P"P*- 



bluish-green, 



with black head, feet, tail, and spots, with twenty 

 feet, and a length of about three-fourths of an 

 inch when full grown. At maturity they drop 

 from the bushes, and bury themselves in the 

 ground to undergo their metamorphoses. The 

 grubs of late summer broods remain as such, 

 lnit within cocoons, throughout winter, finishing 

 their metamorphoses as the goosel>erry bushes 

 are Incoming leafy in spring. Miss Ormerod 

 recommends removing the surface soil in early 

 spring from under the trashes, treatment with lime, 

 picking off attacked leaves, drenching the bush 

 with warm water not hot enough to hurt the leaves, 

 lusting with flour of sulphur, &c. Dusting 



