146 Encyclopaedia of Gardening 



FRUIT continued. 



also for preserving; it is less luscious than the good Plums. It is 

 suitable for culture as a standard. The remarks on culture made 

 under Plum apply to the Damson. It needs very little pruning 

 when once in bearing. Varieties: Prune, Bradley's King. The 

 Bullace is an inferior Damson, and need not be grown. 



Fig (Ficus Carica). The Fig is a very old and esteemed fruit, but 

 it is not cultivated in the majority of small gardens. There are two 

 things against it : its rampant habit and 

 its want of complete hardiness. It is 

 sometimes given a snug corner in the 

 angle of two walls, and then, with a 

 little shaping to keep it within bounds, 

 it justifies its existence; but if neglected 

 it is apt to straggle badly and become 

 rather a nuisance. In such a case root 

 pruning (see Fruit, p. 139) will do good. 

 A firm soil with plenty of lime is de- 

 sirable. The trees may be planted in 

 autumn or spring. If increase is desired 

 it may be effected by cuttings of mature 

 wood each containing a couple of buds, 

 which may be inserted in sandy soil in 

 winter and plunged in a mild hotbed or 

 stood in a warm house F\g<* are some- 

 times grown in pots in large establish- 

 ments, and the best varieties yield 



ripen. The second crop (see delicious fruit. They give two and even 

 the^i f nter\^fal\in n spring U three crops in a year. Thus pruning 

 must be done guardedly, or fruiting 



wood may be cut away. If the pruning is restricted to thinning 

 crowded bushes, and is mainly concentrated on removing shoots 

 from which fruit has been gathered, the grower does not go far 

 wrong. Brown Turkey is about the best variety for outdoors. It 

 is also good for pots, and so is Negro Largo. Where a feature is 

 made of Figs, St. John's may be added for its earliness, and Grizzly 

 Bourjasotte for its fine flavour. 



Gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia) . The Gooseberry is an old cottage 

 and hall garden fruit that is familiar on every countryside. It has 

 been growing in British gardens as long as the " immemorial Elms." 

 Unfortunately, familiarity has bred contempt, and the Gooseberry 

 bush has been left very much to itself. Such a course could have 

 but one end in any fertile soil a thick mass of interlacing shoots 

 and small fruit difficult to gather. The Gooseberry is a really useful 

 fruit, and it responds so readily to a very simple course of culture 

 that, common as it is, it ought to be treated well. Like the Currants, 

 it is generally grown on its own roots, being struck, as they are, 

 from cuttings in late summer, and subsequently shortened in the 

 same way. Like the red Currant it is best on a clean stem. Spiny 

 shoots springing up in a thicket from the roots are a nuisance to 

 the grower, and should be avoided by picking the lower buds from 



FRUITING OF OUTDOOR FIG. 

 The first (lower) fruits swell and 



