THE SMALL FRUITS. 



From the gardener's point of view the small fruits 

 are a class by themselves, and are not included under 

 the general term of fruit tret s, for the reason that they 

 are not trees, but merely perennial plants or bushes. 

 They include the Gooseberry, the Currant, the Rasp- 

 berry, the Blackberry and the Strawberry, and they are 

 qualified as small on account of the size of the plant, 

 rather than that of the fruit. 



In these Islands the cultivation of small fruits on a 

 commercial scale is limited to that of the strawberry, the 

 other small fruits being only met with here and there in 

 the gardens of amateurs, but as they are generally grown 

 apart, either in the kitchen garden or in the orchard, and 

 some of them claim the same general treatment as fruit 

 trees proper, it may not be desirable to omit them 

 altogether from this work. The corresponding Italian 

 denomination for small fruits is friitta minori and in- 

 clude also the melon and watermelon, which are annual 

 plants and are more properly classed as field crops. 



THE GOOSEBERRY. 

 Ribes Grossularia, L. and R. Uva-crispa, L. 



G ROSSULARIACE A E . 



li. Uva-spina^ Ribes d "> Inghilterra. v.Groseillier tpineuse 

 or Groseillier d marqueranx. 



The Gooseberry requires a cooler climate than ours, 

 but thrives fairly well in moist soils and cool situations 

 along a northern wall. The plant may be grown from 

 seed sown in autumn, or the seed may be stratified for 

 the winter and then sown in early spring, in pans or pots 



