GROWING THE GOOSEBERRY 415 



Gooseberries are planted out and cultivated as already described for 

 currants, and the requirements of the plant in soil, moisture, and ma- 

 nuring, are much the same. 



If the gooseberry is to be grown in tree form, constant attention to 

 removal of suckers is necessary ; if in bush form, it will only be neces- 

 sary to remove too old wood and thin out the new shoots. Suckers 

 should be removed clean from the stem, so as to eradicate the latent 

 buds, and pulling off with a gloved hand, when the suckers become 

 woody enough to withstand breaking, is advised. As with the currant, 

 the borer is a constant menace to the life of a gooseberry plant confined 

 to a single stem. 



Diseases and Pests. The gooseberry is subject to insect depre- 

 dation both in wood and fruit and leaf. The prevailing trouble, how- 

 ever, and that which causes the failure of so many foreign kinds, is me 

 mildew. To escape this nothing is usually done except to select varieties 

 not subject to the disease, but susceptible varieties can be protected by 

 spraying just as the leaves are opening and once a month afterwards 

 with potassium sulphide half an ounce to the gallon of water. This does 

 not stain nor poison the fruit. The cooler and moister the air the less 

 the mildew. 



Varieties of the Gooseberry. The American varieties, Downing 

 and Houghton's Seedling, chiefly the latter, constituted for a long time 

 the main varieties marketed in San Francisco. Early experiments with 

 collections of English varieties showed that most of them were fail- 

 ures because of mildew ; still a few of the green and white sorts, nota- 

 bly the Whitesmith, have succeeded. The proportion of large berries 

 now being marketed is much greater than formerly, and the superior 

 price warrants especial effort to produce them. 



A large English variety, which was brought to California many 

 years ago by the late John W. Dwinelle, is now the most widely dis- 

 tributed large kind. Its true name was lost and it has been propagated 

 under various names, viz., Dwinelle, Kelsey, New French ; but the name 

 Berkeley, adopted by W. P. Hammon, in his wide distribution of it in 

 1884, now prevails. It is large and handsome, very prolific, ripens 

 early, and is usually free from mildew. 



The Champion, an Oregon seedling grown by Seth Lewelling, is 

 medium sized, very smooth, and thick fleshed, the seeds being few and 

 small. They are entirely free from mildew, and are clean, bright and 

 beautiful. The Columbus, a New York variety, is large and of good 

 quality and resists mildew well. 



THE MULBERRY 



Nearly all varieties of the mulberry have been introduced in Cali- 

 fornia and grown rapidly and thriftily. Most attention has been paid 

 to those varieties most suitable for feeding silk-worms, but the fruiting 

 varieties are also grown here, though the fruit has assumed no com- 

 mercial importance. The mulberry is grown readily from cuttings. 

 The fruiting varieties thus far chiefly distributed are the Downing, 

 Everbearing, the Persian, the New American, the Russian, and the 



