216 SMALL FRUIT CTJLTUEIST. 



berries smooth or covered with prickles, red, green or yel- 

 low. Native of the whole of Northern Europe, and in 

 the woods of Britain. This species is the parent of all 

 the noted varieties of the English gardens. 



Other species are known, but not possessing merits 

 superior to the above, no attempt has been made to im- 

 prove them. The native species of America are really 

 superior to the R. Grossularia in its normal state. But in 

 England great attention has been paid to the cultivation 

 and improvement of this fruit, consequently varieties of 

 great size, beauty and excellence have been the result. 



HISTORY. 



The Gooseberry has no separate history from the Cur- 

 rant. It was, as we have before stated, not known as a 

 cultivated fruit until within the last two or three hundred 

 years. Parkinson, in 1640, mentions eight varieties, but 

 the varieties increased so rapidly in the next hundred 

 years, that Miller, in 1731, said that it was needless to un- 

 dertake to enumerate them. 



If this was true in the days of Miller, it is certainly so 

 at the present time, because varieties have been constantly 

 increasing ever since, until some of the English nursery- 

 men enumerate three hundred kinds in their catalogues. 



In this country very little attention has been paid to 

 the Gooseberry, and the list of kinds grown from native 

 species is very small, which is very much to be regretted, 

 inasmuch as the European sorts do not, as a general thing, 

 succeed in America. 



PROPAGATION. 



The same methods recommended for the Currant, with 

 one or two exceptions, are equally applicable to the 

 Gooseberry. 



