the he&t-jlanoured Gooseberries, 331 



about the usual gooseberry season. I will mention a third 

 sort, which, though not to be compared with either of the 

 above described in point of flavour and intrinsic merit, is yet 

 valuable and well worthy of cultivation, from the circumstance 

 of its coming into season the latest of any I happen to be 

 acquainted with. I never heard any name assigned to it; 

 but it may perhaps be known to cultivators by the following 

 brief description : the berry is of a moderate size, larger than 

 the champagne (and quite as large as any gooseberry need 

 be *), rather oblong, smooth, and assuming a bright red 

 colour as early almost as any begin to turn, but not ripening 

 nor attaining its full flavour till late in the season, when it 

 becomes of a very dark red, approaching to black ; the skin 

 is firm and tough ; and whether it be owing to this circum- 

 stance, or to its ripening later than most others, it is generally 

 the last gooseberry that is attacked by the wasps, and even 

 when full ripe will often remain almost untouched by those 

 pests after all others have been devoured. The bush, which 

 is a great bearer, forms arching shoots. 



Should your correspondent Mr. Vallance be desirous of 

 cultivating either of the above gooseberries, which, I must 

 add, are neither new nor (I believe) uncommon, I shall be 

 happy to supply you with cuttings for his use. I have heard 

 much in praise of the Warrington ; but what I have received 



* I shall, perhaps, incur the disapprobation of the Fancy, and such as 

 frequent gooseberry feasts, when T make the remark, that the large prize 

 gooseberries (crown bobs, roaring lions, top sawyers, &c. &c,) are for the 

 most part very inferior to the smaller ones, for the table at least, if not for 

 preserving also, and are calculated rather to gratify the eye than the palate. 

 In this opinion I am not singular ; for many of those who cultivate the large 

 sorts are yet ready to acknowledge the superiority of the smaller ones. 

 I once knew an old nailer in Staffordshire, a great florist, who appropriated 

 a considerable portion of his garden to the cultivation of gooseberries, by 

 which he made a surprising sum of money in the year, — more, indeed, 

 than he liked to acknowledge, — selling the fruit by the pennyworth to 

 people who came to the garden for the purpose of eating it. Observing 

 that almost all his trees were of the large-berried kinds, I asked him why 

 he grew such large sorts, for that they were not half so good to eat as the 

 small ones, " You are right, Sii-," he replied ; " I know it : but then 

 these big ones give less trouble in gathering ; they fill the measure soonest, 

 and they do well enough for the sawniesr Of course I had nothing 

 further to urge against my friend's practice, as his gooseberries, like Peter 

 Pindar's razors, were intended purposely for sale. I would, however, 

 strongly recommend that Virgil's advice as to the size of a farm should 

 also be adopted {inidatis mutandis) in the choice of gooseberries, at least 

 when they are cultivated for private use. 



" Laudato ingentia rura, 

 Exiguum colito." 



" Praise thou large farms ; a small one. choose to till." 



Trapp's Trajislation. 



