GOOSEBERRIES. 277 



varieties, for in this direction lies the future of this fruit in 

 America. 



In support of this opinion, I am led to quote the following 

 letter, recently received : — 



" I write to call your attention to a native variety of goose- 

 berry, of which you make no mention in your ' Scribner 

 Papers,' growing in great abundance in the Sierra Nevada, at 

 an elevation of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, often in the most ex- 

 posed places, generally on northern slopes. Thinking it may 

 not have come to your knowledge, I will describe it. The bush 

 is of stiff, erect habit, two to three feet high, a stocky grower 

 and an abundant bearer. The berries vary from one-half to one 

 and one-quarter inches in diameter, are covered with innumera- 

 ble thorns, scarcely less savage in the green state than those on 

 an ordinary wild bush of this country. When cooked, the prickles 

 soften down to the same consistence as the skin, which is rather 

 thick. When ripe, they are easily peeled, and well repay the 

 trouble, the spines being then much less obdurate than when 

 green. The mature fruit is of a deep, dull, coppery red color, 

 and in flavor is equal, if not superior, to any of the r^^ varieties 

 which I have eaten in England. I have often wondered whether 

 cultivation might not remove the spines from the berries, or, that 

 failing, whether a seedling could not be raised from them which 

 would give us a berry far more reliable than any good goose- 

 berry we now have. The scorching sun of the long, dry season 

 of California seemed to have no effect on the foliage, and in 

 five years' experience I never found a mildewed berry. 



" The berry is rotind, like the red EngHsh berries, instead of 

 ellipsoid, like their white or golden ones. 



" There is also another variety, hairy instead of spiny, about 

 the size of your picture of the Downing ; bush not so free a 

 grower, rarely reaching two feet, and the berry, to my taste, 

 much inferior. Tastes, however, differ, and it may be the 

 more promising fruit. 



" Both varieties are common throughout the eastern end of 

 El Dorado, Placer, and Nevada counties." 



