PRIZE GOOSEBERRIES. 263 



did not find their way into England till the time of 

 the restoration of Charles II. This country, there- 

 fore,, does not appear to have been originally favoured 

 with any of the choicest gifts of nature, either in 

 respect to fruits, vegetables, or flowers. Its native 

 fruits, if they are deserving at all of the name, are 

 the acorn, crab, sloe, blackberry, juniperberry, 

 elderberry, hips, and haws : all others are exotics, 

 and have been introduced into it. 



Gooseberry bushes produce the finest fruit when 

 young ; that is, about the third or fourth year after 

 planting : they should be renewed every seventh 

 year, and well pruned every year, or they soon de- 

 generate. The same observation applies with equal 

 truth to raspberries and currants. 



The experienced gardener is aware, that if any 

 tree is suffered to bear and ripen its whole crop of 

 fruit, no matter whether it be the peach, the apricot, 

 the nectarine, the vine, or gooseberry, the fruit will 

 be small, and appear not like the same, provided it 

 had been properly thinned. If you wish to try 

 what effect the following mode of treating tjhe goose- 



