[389 ] 



GOS 



theless, they are very partial to a perma 

 nency of surface moisture in the growing 

 season, and for that purpose top-dressings 

 are had recourse to. Wherever fine 

 gooseberries are required, the situation 

 must he totally unshaded ; it, however 

 becomes good policy at times to plant 

 some under the partial shade of small 

 trees. In such situations they will set in 

 a frosty spring, when those exposed are 

 cut off. 



Culture in Growing Period. A due 

 training, especially whilst young, is neces 

 sary. Those who grow them for exhibi- 

 tion use two sorts of sticks, viz., forks 

 and hooks. These are cut out of any 

 ordinary brush-wood, about half a yard 

 long, and they must be neatly pointed. 

 Thus the hooks are made to draw down 

 refractory shoots, and the forks to prop 

 up the drooping ones. It is a good prac- 

 tice to apply a top-dressing of half-rotten 

 manure in the beginning of May ; and 

 just before the fruit has completed its 

 last swelling, the points of all the longest 

 straggling shoots may be pinched or 

 dubbed. It is well to go over the bushes 

 in the early part of June, and remove 

 much of the waste spray which chokes 

 the interior of the bush. Some of the 

 grosser shoots may be entirely removed, 

 and all others of a doubtful character 

 may have the points pinched. This will 

 throw both size and flavour into the 

 berry, and add to the value of the 

 remaining wood for the ensuing crop. 



Culture in the Rest Period. Pruning 

 is the first point; and the sooner this is 

 performed after the fall of the leaf the 

 better. It consists, mainly, in thinning 

 out. When a bush is well thinned, no 

 two shoots will touch ; indeed, they should 

 be, on an average, three inches apart all 

 over the bush. Most good cultivators 

 keep the middle of the bush very open. 

 This is especially necessary during the 

 first three years from striking the cutting; 

 and the principle should be attended to, 

 less or more, at every annual pruning 

 afterwards. In selecting wood to remain, 

 choose that which is strong, but not over 

 luxuriant ; the latter, with all weakly and 

 inferior wood, may be cut clear away; 

 cutting away, also, all coarse snags in 

 the interior of the branches. Lastly, 

 shorten every point which appears weakly 

 or incomplete in character, just so far as 

 such inferiority is manifest. The root 

 must now receive attention. Some of our 



show gooseberry growers open a trench 

 around their bushes annually, at about 

 the distance the branches extend, cutting 

 away all coarse roots beyond that line. 

 They then fill in the trench with good 

 fresh loam and cow-dung blended. Whe- 

 ther this be done or not, a top-dressing of 

 half- decayed manure should be annually 

 applied, scraping away the loose surface, 

 and placing the manure next the top 

 fibres, and then soiling the whole over. 



Insects. See ABRAXUS, APHIS, and 

 NEMATUS. 



GORDO'NIA. (Named after Mr. Gordon, 

 a London nurseryman. Nat. ord., Theads 

 [Ternstromiaceae], Linn., 16-Monadel- 

 phia 8-Polyandria. Allied to Stuartia.) 



Hardy deciduous shrubs, except hainnto'xylon, 

 which is a stove evergreen, and requires peat soil; 

 cuttings of young shoots in sand, under a bell- 

 glass, in heat. The others, though hardy, flower- 

 ing late, are ornaments for the greenhouse ; lay- 

 ers in autumn, seeds in spring, and cuttings in 

 sandy peat, under a hand-light, in summer, in a 

 shady place. Pube'scens and Frankli'ni are the 

 hardiest; but lasia'nthus is the most beautiful, 

 and blooms chiefly in summer and autumn. Peat, 

 leaf -mould, and sand, with a trifle of loam, deep, 

 and on a retentive sub-soil ; if not naturally so, 

 puddled with clay, so that the plant may obtain 

 something of its native position in swampy soil. 

 <?. Frankli'ni (Franklin's). 4. White. September. 

 N. Amer. 1774. 



hasmato'xylon (red-wood). 40, White. Jamaica. 



1820. 



lasia'nthus (hairy-flower). 6. Yellow. Sep- 



tember. N. Amer. 173Q. 



pub^scens (downy). 4. White. July. Carolina. 



1774. 



GORTE'KIA. (Named after D. Qorter t 

 a Dutch botanist. Nat. ord., Composites 

 [Asteracese], Linn., 19 - Syngenesia 3- 

 Frustranea. Allied to Gazania.) 



Greenhouse annual. Sow in common soil in 

 the greenhouse, in March ; or in the open border 

 at the end of May. 



G. persona'ta (masked). . Yellow. August. Cape 

 of Good Hope. 1774. 



GOSSY'PIUIT. Cotton-tree. (From yoz> 

 Arabic for a soft substance. Nat. ord., 

 Mallowworls [Malvacees]. Linn., 16- 

 Monadelphia 8-Polyandria.) 



The cotton of commerce is the hairy covering 

 of the seeds of several species of this genus. Bar- 

 bade'nse and herba'ceum, especially the former, 

 furnish the best cotton. Stove plants. Annuals 

 and biennials, by seed in moist heat, in spring ; 

 perennial herbaceous, by seed and divisions, in 

 similar circumstances; shrubs, by cuttings of 

 young shoots, just getting firm, in sandy soil, 

 under a bell-glass, and in bottom-heat; rich, 

 sandy loam. Summer temp., 60 to 85; winter, 

 50 to 60. 



G. arbo'reum (tree). 12. Yellow. July. E, Ind, 

 1694. Evergreen shrub. 



Barbade>nse (Barbadoes). 5. Yellow. Sep. 



tember. Barbadoea. 1739' Biennial. 



