G-oodyera 



(378) 



Gooseberry 



silver.- Minor is a pretty 

 vur. that is eveu smaller. 



velutina, grh.,wh., flushed 

 ro., Ivs. pur. gru. with 

 a wh. mid-rib. 



repens, 6", hdy. ev., wh. 



rubicunda, Jy., St., red. 



Veitchii, st., Ivs. red br., 

 ribbe<t wh. ; a hybrid 

 (discolor X Auoecto- 

 cliilus Veitchii). 



Photo: Cansell <t Cmayamj, Ltil. 



GOOSEBERRY LANGLEY BEAUTY (see p. 379). 



Other Species : 

 cordata, Sep., st., yel., br. 



(xt/it. Georchis cordata). 

 macrantha, Je. , grh. , 



nearly hdy., ro. (XIJH. 



picta). 

 Meuxiesii, grh., greeni;h 



wh., Ivs. variegated. 



GOOSEBERRY. 



Blessed, as it is, with a constitution that enables 

 it to defy oven the most unsuitable conditions, 

 the Gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia) will thrive en 

 most soils and in most situations. It likes best of 

 all a fairly deep and fertile loam of medium 

 texture, with free drainage, and given this, with 

 careful pruning, it will bear enormous crops. 



Methods of Training. The bush tree, with a 

 clean stem of about t>" above the ground, and a 

 more or less spherical head from 3' to (>' iu 

 diameter, is the favourite method of training. 

 These bushes may be planted from 4' to 5' apart 

 each way. If regularly pruned they produce 

 plenty of fruit. The best fruit, however, is borne 

 upon the trained and cordon trees which are 

 so useful for fences and walls. On these the fruit 

 not only ripens better and is of superior flavour, 

 but it can be gathered much more easily. Cordon 

 Gooseberries planted against a north wall will 

 carry their fruit until well into November if covered 

 with mats. 



Pruning. With the ordinary bush the first thing 

 to do is to cut out old and, worn out wood that is 

 not wanted as a framework for the young. Any 

 suckers that may be observed in the centre should 

 follow. Then the young shoots should be thinned, 

 the weak and spindly ones being sacrificed first, 

 until the remaining ones have at. least 3" or 4" 

 of clear space between them. Finally, the weak, 

 unripe tips should be clipped off. With cordon 

 trees the spur system' is practised. The young 

 growths are spurred back to within a few buds of 

 their origin, and if these growths have been 

 summer pruned, i.e. pinched at the fifth or sixth 

 leaf in July, the basal buds should be chiefly fruit 

 buds. The leaders of each cordon or main branch 

 may be cut back to within two or three buds. 



Standards are obtained by working stocks with 

 clean stems, 4' or 5' high. The pruning may be 

 as for the bush tree, except that more may be 

 clipped from the tips of the growths left. 



Propagation. By cuttings of clean, well-ripened 

 young wood, taken off 12" to 14" in length. All 

 the buds save three or four at the top should be 

 carefully picked out with the point of a sharp 

 knife, or they will cause trouble in the way of 

 suckers afterwards. Plant the cuttings in rows, 

 (>" apart each way, let them be at least 0" deep in 

 the soil, and make the latter very firm about them. 

 A year afterwards they may be lifted and trans- 

 planted to nursery beds. 



Planting. From the middle to the end of 

 October is the best time of the year to plant 

 Gooseberries, as the warmth remaining in the soil 

 assists the formation of new roots ; the plants 

 winter correspondingly well, and start more briskly 

 in the spring. But planting may be done at any 

 time, weather permitting, from October to March, 

 inclusive. 



Goora Nut (see Cola acuminaia). 



