106 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



gardens, and it may have its cold, cheerless, and dull 

 days ; but it is not always so, and when we do get a 

 bright, sunny October it is a most cheerful and plea- 

 sant time, and especially so, as I think, in the gardens. 

 Certainly a bright English October is full of pleasant 

 sights in the garden. I spoke in my last chapter of 

 the beauty and interest of the fruits and seed-vessels, 

 which can be studied now better than at any other 

 time, but I left so much unsaid that I must return to 

 the same subject again. I am fond of a plant which is 

 very hardy and, in some places, very common, but is 

 almost unknown to many gardeners. This is the Phy- 

 salis alkekengi, or winter cherry, of no great beauty in 

 flower, but very handsome in fruit, and having two 

 curious stages in its fruit, both of which have their 

 separate beauty. The rather dull white flower is fol- 

 lowed by what looks a handsome scarlet fruit. This, 

 however, is only the remains of the calyx, but is more 

 like a bladder than a calyx. If opened, a green fruit 

 will be found inside, which is sometimes called the 

 Cape gooseberry, and eaten ; but the Cape gooseberry 

 (Physalis edulis) is a pleasant and wholesome fruit, and 

 may be easily grown in a cool greenhouse ; whereas 

 the winter cherry has a bad reputation, but I believe it 

 to be quite harmless, though it comes of a suspicious 

 family, the Solanacece. As the winter comes on the 



