576 [Assembly 



wine of them, and liqucrs of various kinds j these arc medicinal. 

 The French graft their pears upon a quince stock; it improves 

 the flavor of the former, and also produces a larger and more 

 beautiful fruit, and in greater quantity. 



Gooseberry. — The gooseberry is a native of Europe and Ame- 

 rica — a low, branching, prickly shrub ; although found on many 

 parts of the continent wild, they do not attain the perfection 

 there they do in England. In Spain, Italy and France, they are 

 very little cultivated. A moderate temperature and humid cli- 

 mate seem best to suit the fruit. The fruit is thought to be cul- 

 tivated in greater perfection in Lancashire, England, than any 

 other place in the world, being larger and of a finer flavor. 

 When ripe, certain kinds of them, as there are many varieties, 

 are very good without cooking; they are excellent for dessert in 

 any way, cooked or uncooked. The English make a good wine 

 of them, very little inferior to champagne. Niel, a celebrated 

 cultivator of small fruit near Edinburgh says, " it nuist ])e ad- 

 mitted that although the largest gooseberries make a tine appear- 

 ance on the table, they are deficient in flavor, or their skins are 

 thick and strong, compared with some of smaller size." Tlie 

 greatest enemy of the gooseberry is mildew, or rust. This an- 

 noys the growers of them much in Great Britain, and it troubles 

 us some here. There are various remedies for it. Warm, sul- 

 try, close, moist weather, and the fruit located in low, moist 

 ground, where there is not free circulation of air, is supposed to 

 be the cause. In England and Scotland they generally plant the 

 fruit on the highest ground they have, and in this way escape 

 much of the evil. Ventilation is the great object ; keep the neigh- 

 borhood of the shrub clear of everything that obstructs free cir- 

 culation. 



Currants. — Currants are one of the most abundant, useful and 

 easiest raised of the small fruits, used in various ways, in pies, 

 tarts, jellies, wine. Good pies can be made of them, wlien they 

 are a little more than half ripe — -not so sour as when fully ripe, 

 and take less sugar. No jelly perhaps can be compared with the 

 currant; it is very pleasant to the taste, and healthy; it cools 



