CHAPTER XL 



BUSH FRUITS 



THE amount of space that can be allotted in the amateur's 

 garden to the cultivation of small bush fruits will depend, 

 of course, upon the dimensions of his plot In the little 

 suburban garden which is sometimes not more than a dozen feet 

 square, fruit-growing is out of the question, but where there is 

 room to grow both flowers and vegetables, there also it will be 

 possible by the exercise of a little ingenuity to cultivate small 

 bush fruits. Included in this class are gooseberries, raspberries, 

 and currants, red, white and black, and I propose in this chapter 

 to discuss the methods of cultivation of each in turn. 



GOOSEBERRIES. The gooseberry has been cultivated in this 

 country since the sixteenth century, and the origin of the name is 

 supposed to be due to the fact that at one time it was the practice 

 to eat the berries with goslings An interesting point to re- 

 member is that the gooseberry has been found to bear better 

 flavoured fruit in the comparatively cool climate of Scotland and 

 the north of England, the reason being that the fruit is not so 

 good when brought to maturity by very hot weather as it is when 

 its development has been somewhat retarded in a moderate 

 temperature. 



The soil most suitable for gooseberries is one that is rather moist 

 than dry. The bush does not thrive well in stiff, clayey soils 

 which are prone to become consolidated during hot, dry weather. 

 Ordinary garden soil in which there is a fair proportion of good 

 turfy loam will be found an admirable medium. Before planting 

 the ground should be deeply dug or bastard-trenched, and at the 

 same time a good supply of rotten stable manure should be in- 

 corporated with it. Planting is best carried on in late autumn, 



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