62 On training the Gooseberry. 



We shall feel particularly obliged to this scientific and ex- 

 perienced writer, if he will communicate as frequently as pos- 

 sible. We consider the above letter as worth half a Magazine. 

 We have always stated it as our opinion, that ringing, and all 

 the unnatural schemes of training and pruning trees, in order 

 to produce blossoms or fruit, were only ingenious expedients 

 of temporary application : that there is only one mode of train- 

 ing, viz. the fan-manner ; and one mode of reducing the over- 

 luxuriance of a tree, viz. that of operating on the soil. The 

 various ingenious devices of training, pruning, culture, &c., 

 which appear in the Horticultural Transactions of different 

 Societies, and in this Magazine, are all exceedingly useful to 

 young gardeners and amateurs, as physiological exercises; 

 but those points of culture and propagation fit to enter into 

 tlie general gardening or agriculture^of a country are few in- 

 deed, and as simple as they are few. — Cond. 



Art. XX. On training the Gooseberry. By Mr. William 

 Wilson, Merly Gardens, Dorset. 



Sir, 



Availing myself of the privilege afforded by your truly 

 useful Magazine, I beg leave to offer a few remarks on 

 training the gooseberry on trellises in the open garden, as 

 practised by me here for the last six years. 



I would recommend it to all who are restricted to a limited 

 space of ground ; to the tradesman, mechanic, or cottager, it 

 is by far the most convenient and economical plan : it requires 

 but a small share of the garden, and in the vicinity of towns 

 this is a most material consideration. Even to the nobility 

 and gentry it offers advantages, by furnishing an earlier sup- 

 ply of fruit for culinary purposes ; and at the same time, by 

 careful thinning, enough of superior fruit may be left for the 

 table. 



To those who may be inclined to try my plan (I mean 

 those not practising gardening, for I neither need, nor would 

 I presume, to teach professional men) I shall describe my 

 process as briefly as possible. About six years ago I planted 

 a considerable number of gooseberry trees on a border in the 

 kitchen-garden. The trees were three years from the cuttings, 

 and had been previously trained to two shoots each. They 

 were planted out finally in the month of February, at a dis- 

 tance of 4 ft. apart ; one branch being trained horizontally 

 on each side at about 3 in. from the ground. Being in- 

 tended to be trained to a trellis, composed of upright stakes, 



