266 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



who flourished in the reign of Henry VIII. He 



says, 



" The barber}', respis*, and gooseberry too, 

 Look now to be planted as other things do." 



In the south of Europe, it is small, tasteless, and 

 neglected ; and though it grows to a large size in the 

 warmer parts of England, its flavour there is very in- 

 ferior to that which it has in Scotland. Even in that 

 country, the flavour seems to increase with the cold ; 

 for if there be warmth enough for bringing gooseber- 

 ries to maturity and ripening them, the farther north 

 they are grown the better. The market-gardeners 

 about Edinburgh pay much attention to the culture 

 and kinds of their gooseberries ; but they are never 

 equal in flavour to those which are grown at Dun- 

 dee, Aberdeen, or Inverness. 



In England, the Lancashire gooseberries are the 

 finest in appearance. They are very large ; but still 

 their flavour is far inferior to that of the Scotch. 

 Perhaps the inferiority of the English berries may 

 be in great part owing to the large sorts that are 

 cultivated, — the finest, even in Scotland, being those 

 that are of a middle size. 



Gooseberries are of various colours, — white, yel- 

 low, green, and red ; and of each colour there are 

 many sorts. If, however, any particular sort be 

 wished to be preserved, it must be done by cuttings, 

 because the seeds of any one sort are apt to produce 

 not only all the known sorts, but new ones. In 

 almost all fruit trees, indeed, that run into sorts, the 

 only way of securing a favourite sort is by budding, 

 grafting, or planting cuttings. The bud or the 

 branch does not change, but the seed does ; and 

 most of the varieties of apples called pippins have 

 been obtained by sowing the seeds or pips of other 



* Raspberry, 



