THE HOUGHTON GOOSEBERRY 391 



I regret that the specimens are only the gleanings of 

 four bushes, my whole stock of this kind. This 

 gooseberry is a seedling, called here Houghton's. It, 

 I have no doubt, was raised from seed from our 

 native gooseberry. Its leaf, as you will perceive by 

 the enclosed shoot, bears evidence of this origin. 

 This is the only gooseberry cultivated that does not 

 mildew under any circumstances. The cultivators in 

 Lynn, Mass., where this fruit originated, have grown 

 it for three or four years, and their testimony accords 

 with my assertion. The growth is exceedingly thrifty, 

 making long pendent shoots, similar to an English 

 variety called 'Crown Bob.' I have nineteen table 

 varieties, received four years since from Cunningham 

 & Sons, Liverpool, and for my taste, Houghton's Seed- 

 ling surpasses them all, notwithstanding the fruit is 

 not so large as the European varieties. Most of the 

 fruits I now send you, were taken from shoots grown 

 within one inch of the soil. I have picked at least 

 ten quarts of fruit from four bushes, which were 

 layers two years since. I think that the Houghton's 

 Seedling will supplant almost every foreign variety 

 from our soil. The long shoots which spring from 

 the bottom of the stock often take root themselves. 

 It will be a fine variety for training, as it makes long 

 shoots, and fruits prodigiously, even to the extreme 

 end of the previous year's growth. 



"Yours very truly, in haste, 



"JOHN M. IVES. 



"SALEM, August 15, 1847." 



"(If this is a seedling from an indigenous goose- 

 berry, as it appears to be, and one which, being 

 entirely adapted to our climate, never mildews, it 



