History and Future 319 



the long red, and the prickly gooseberry." The further 

 statement is made that "These plants doe grow in London 

 gardens and elsewhere in great abundance." Under the 

 heading of names, the statement is that "this shrub hath 

 no name among old Writers, who as we deeme knew it not, 

 or else esteemed it not; the later writers call it in La tine, 

 Grossularia, and oftentimes of the berries, Uva Crispa, 

 Uva spina, Uva spinella, and Uva Crispina; in French, 

 Groiselles; in English, Gooseberry, Gooseberry bush and 

 Fea-berry bush in Cheshire, my native country." This 

 latter name was also known in other parts of England, 

 being abbreviated into Feabes or Fapes in some localities. 

 Most authors have thought that the name gooseberry 

 was derived from the fruit having been first used as a 

 sauce with "green goose." Others doubt this. Geo. W. 

 Johnson 1 says: "It is somewhat unfortunate for this deri- 

 vation that it has never been so used. It seems to me more 

 probable to be a corruption of the Dutch name Kruisbes, 

 or Gruisbes. Kruisbes, I believe, was derived from Kruis, 

 the Cross, and Bes, as Berry, because the fruit was ready 

 for use just after the Festival of the Invention of the Holy 

 Cross; just as Kruis-haring, in Dutch, is a herring caught 

 after the same festival." 2 



Loudon states 3 that the first marked improvement in 

 size was made by the Dutch. But its present remarkable 

 development has been brought about largely by the efforts 



1 The Cucumber and Gooseberry , p. 109. 



2 An excellent early account of the gooseberries, with colored 

 plates, is Thory's "Monographic on histoire naturelle du genre 

 Groseillier," Paris, 1829. L. H. B. 



3 Arboretum et Fruiticetum, 2: 973. 



