20 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 



red fruit, and answers for picking green or ripe. Probably 

 the best of all is the Warrington for picking green or for 

 picking ripe for preserving. It is an early sort for picking 

 green, yet is about one of the last to come to full ripeness. A 

 good proportion of a farm plantation should be planted with this. 

 The Lancashire Lad is a useful sort for farms, as also are the 

 Red Rifleman, Golden Drop and Monarch. There are other 

 sorts raised in Lancashire, the great centre of prize gooseberries 

 concerning which fables are narrated. Of these the best are the 

 Roaring Lion, Leveller, Leader, Napoleon, and Careless. These 

 may be cultivated with good results in the gardens attached to 

 farms, and should be sent for sale in small quantities, being 

 showy fruit, and should be packed in neat baskets and tastefully 

 set off. The garden may also be turned to good account in the 

 production of early gooseberries in sheltered spots, for sending 

 to market green for puddings and tarts, for which sometimes as 

 much as %d. or ^d. per lb. is given. The ground is dug with a 

 three-pronged spud in the winter, and is manured with rags or 

 shoddy, or refuse substances. It is hoed in the summer once, 

 or twice if necessary. Directly the berries are large enough the 

 bushes are picked over, and the largest are sent to market, when 

 they make from '6d. to 2)\d. per lb., or even more at the 

 beginning of the season ; but the price soon falls to 2d. and l\d. 

 per lb., and even to 1^6?. per lb. An average crop from goose- 

 berry-bushes in full vigour would be between 6500 and 7500 lbs. 

 per acre, and the price between l^d. and 2c/. per lb. Occasionally, 

 when the soil is well suited for these bushes, very large profits 

 and very quick returns are made. The expense would depend 

 upon the amount of the crop, in respect of picking, carriage, and 

 salesmen's charges. The expenses in connection with the culti- 

 vation alone would range from 10/. to 12/. per acre, and all other 

 charges in the case of an average crop would amount to 11. or 8/. 

 per acre. There is a very great demand for this fruit for 

 bottling and preserving, as well as for eating. Gooseberry- 

 bushes are liable to be attacked in the early spring by the larvae 

 of an insect known to entomologists as the gooseberry sawfly 

 {Nematus Rihesii). To prevent this, it is desirable after an 

 attack to dig quicklime, or lime-ashes or soot, close round the 

 bushes in the late autumn. Syringing with soft soap and soda 

 and water has been found efficacious. Sprinkling with powdered 

 hellebore also is effective, but it is dangerous to apply this 

 when there is fruit on the bushes, as hellebore is a deadly 

 poison.* 



* See ' Manual of Injurious Insects, and Methods of Prevention,' by E. A. 

 Ormerod. Sonnenschein and Allen, Paternoster Square. 



