THE GOOSEBERRY. 295 



the season of cherries, it is always most acceptable. Unripe 

 gooseberries are bottled in water for winter use, (placing- the 

 bottles nearly filled, a few moments in boiling water, after- 

 wards corking and sealing them, and burying them in a cool 

 cellar, with their necks downward.) As a luxury for the poor, 

 Mr. Loudon considers this the most valuable of all fi-uits, " since 

 it can be grown in less space, in more unfavourable circum- 

 stances, and brought sooner into bearing than any other." In 

 the United States the gooseberry, in humble gardens, is fre- 

 quently seen in a very wretched state — the fruit poor and small, 

 and covered with mildew. This arises partly from ignorance 

 of a proper mode of cultivation, but chiefly from the sorts grown 

 being very inferior ones, always much liable to this disease. 



Propagation. Gooseberry plants should only be raised from 

 cuttings. New varieties are of course raised from seed, but no 

 one here will attempt to do what, under more favourable cir- 

 cumstances, the Lancashire growers can do so much better. In 

 preparing cuttings select the strongest and straightest young 

 shoots of the current year, at the end of October (or very early 

 in the ensuing spring ;) cut out all the buds that you intend to 

 go below the ground (to prevent future suckers,) and plant the 

 cuttings in a deep rich soil, on the north side of a fence, or in 

 some shaded border. The cuttings should be inserted six inch- 

 es deep, and from three to six or eight inches should remain 

 above ground. The soil should be pressed very firmly about 

 the cuttings, and, in the case of autumn planting, it should be 

 examined in the spring, to render it firm again should the cut- 

 ting have been raised by severe frost. After they have become 

 well rooted — generally in a year's time — they may be trans- 

 planted to the borders, where they are finally to remain. 



Cultivation. The gooseberry in our climate is very impa- 

 tient of drought, and we have uniformly found that the best soil 

 for it is a deep strong loam, or at least whatever may be the 

 soil, and it will grow in a great variety, it should always be 

 deep — if not naturally so, it should be made deep by trenching 

 and manuring. It is the most common error to plant this fruit 

 shrub under the branches of other trees for the sake of their 

 shade — as it always renders the fruit inferior in size and fla- 

 vour, and more likely to become mouldy. On the contrary, we 

 would always advise planting in an open border, as, if the 

 soil is sufficiently deep, the plants will not suff'er from dryness, 

 and should it unfortunately be of a dry nature, it may be ren- 

 dered less injurious by covering the ground under the plants 

 with straw or litter. In any case a rich soil is necessary, and 

 as the gooseberry is fond of manure a pretty heavy top-dressing 

 should be dug in every year, around bearing plants. For a 

 later crop a few bushels may be set on the north side of a fence 

 or wali. 



