November SD, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIGDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



409 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR, 















^0? 



Month 



Day 



of 



Week. 





Average Tempera- 



Eain in 



Sun 



Snn 









Clock 



Day 





ture near London. 



43 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Kises. 



Sjir. 



Age. 



Sun. 



of 

 Year. 









Day. 



Nisht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. ' m. h. 







Days. 







80 



Th 



St. Andrew. 



48.0 



84.5 



41.3 



22 



44af7 1 64af8 



26 at 6 



46afl0 



18 



11 15 



834 



1 



P 



Pkikcess of Wales Boen, 1844. 



48.5 



34.9 



41.7 



22 



46 7 



53 8 



25 7 



29 11 



19 



10 53 



335 



2 



S 





47 4 



887 



40.6 



19 



47 7 



52 8 



81 8 



1 



20 



10 80 



336 



S 



Son 



1 Sdndat ih Advent. 



47.0 



85.8 



41.4 



24 



48 7 



52 3 



38 9 



SO 



21 



10 6 



837 



4 



M 



Length of Day, 8h. 2m. 



4-.1 



86.4 



42.2 



20 



49 7 



51 3 



50 10 



63 



23 



9 42 



888 



5 



To 





49.0 



35.3 



42.1 



25 



61 7 



61 8 



morn. 



12 1 



( 



9 18 



339 



6 



W 



Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit, Floral, 

 and General Meeting. 



48.2 



36.7 



42.4 



22 



62 7 



61 3 



8 



30 1 



24 



8 52 



340 



From obgervationa taken near London dnrinff forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 48.0" 



, and itg 



night tem- 



perature 35.3°. The greatest heat was 62'^, on the lat, 1837 ; and the lowest cold 14', on the 5th and 6th, 1844, The 



greatest 



ffl.ll of rain 



was 1.03 inch. 







SMALL FARMS— HOW THEY CAN BE MADE 



TO ANSWER.— No. 2. 



Sy Rev. WtTiT.tam Lea, Vicar of St. Peter's, Droitwich, and 



Hon, Canon of Worcester. 



ll? OOSEBERRIES — As the Gooseberry pro- 

 duces a profitable return earlier than any 

 other fruit, we will give it the place of honour, 

 and begin with it. The Goosebeny is now 

 extensively grown for market in the midland 

 counties. A great portion of the crop is 

 gathered green, and is sent off in " pots " by 

 rail to the large towns of the north — Man- 

 chester, Glasgow, and Sunderland, as well 

 . as to the " Black Country." When I speak 

 of green Gooseberries I do not mean those small buttons 

 tasting of the wood, which may be seen early in the season 

 in Covent Garden, but large, full-grown fruit gathered 

 from the beginning to the end of June for the delectation 

 of the dura ilia of colliers and miners ; and they, too, have 

 tastes of their own, which the fruit-farmer will do well to 

 consider. It is of no use his sending Gooseberries to 

 market when Cherries have once been seen. Cherries, 

 too, have their season, and then give place to Plums ; but 

 from the time Gooseberries come in till Cherries appear 

 there is a steady demand for them : after that time they 

 are only in demand when ripe, which means when they 

 are partially coloured. Hence it is a common practice 

 to gather the greater portion of the crop when green, 

 and leave only a small part of it to ripen. Some do not 

 even do this, but gather the whole of the crop when green, 

 as the blackbirds commence a raid upon it directly the 

 fruit begins to colour, and also because the ripe fruit is apt 

 to arrive at the end of a long journey in the condition 

 of jam. 



In maldng a plantation of Gooseberries the bushes 

 should be planted 6 feet apart, and in rows C feet from 

 each other. This will take 1225 bushes to an acre. The 

 best soil for them is a light loam. There should not be 

 too much moisture, otherwise the trees are soon covered 

 with moss, and cease to flourish. Here I may mention 

 the best cure for moss is to sprinkle the branches with 

 soot. If, therefore, the subsoil should be of clay, the 

 ground should be deeply and thoroughly drained before 

 the bushes are planted. The safest plan for a beginner 

 will be to commence with a variety of sorts, and when he 

 has discovered which of them is most congenial to his 

 soil, to propagate largely from it. This is easily done, as 

 the Gooseberry grows readily from cuttings if taken when 

 the leaf has fallen and the wood is sufficiently hardened. 

 I see the usual way, as recommended in garden books, is 

 to take out all the eyes but two or three of the top ones. 

 This will produce a bush with a long single stem, which 

 may do very well for a dressed garden where appearances 

 are to be consulted, but not for a fruit farm ; for if your 

 single stem is broken by the weight of fruit or any acci- 

 dent, or decays in the course of nature, your bush is gone. 

 Instead of this, put in your cuttings, whether of Goose- 

 berries or Currants, without taking out any eyes ; by this 



No. 567.— Vol. XXI., New Sebies. 



means you will get in a much shorter space of time a large 

 wide- spreading bush, which will not be liable to any of 

 the accidents above-named. The way to set about it is 

 this — Dig a long trench, and slope the side to about an 

 angle of 4.5" ; put in your cuttings G inches apart, cover 

 them with light well-pulverised soil, and then press it 

 down upon them as hard as possible, and in the next 

 summer you find few gaps in your line. In pruning, all 

 that is required is to cut off the branches which touch the 

 ground, to let light and air into the middle of the bush, 

 and to shorten some of the too-rampant shoots. The 

 object should be to produce the largest possible bush and 

 the greatest quantity of fruit. 

 ' And now tomes the question. What sorts are best for 

 tliis purpose ? and the only answer to be given is, that it 

 depends to a certain extent upon the soil. The three quali- 

 fications for excellence in a farm Gooseberry are — 1st, That 

 it possess sufficient toughness of skin to enable it to carry 

 well ; 2nd, That it shall be a free cropper ; and 3rd, That 

 it shall be dark- coloured, as dark Gooseberries sell better 

 than green or yellow ones when they are ripe. The Goose- 

 berry which is named Crown Bob unites all these requi- 

 sites, and I believe suits most soils. When I began I 

 ordered a large number of this variety, but the nursery- 

 man, not having sufficient stock, sent me 100 Whitesmith, 

 which I find suit my purpose and soil even better than the 

 Crown Bob. Whitesmith is earlier, which is important 

 if the fruit is to be picked green, and never fails to produce 

 a crop, and to grow into strong bushes in two or three years 

 from the cutting. From my own experience I should put 

 the Whitesmith first. The Red Warrington is also a 

 good market sort ; so, too, are the Green Overall and Lord 

 Ranclifi'e, the last two when ripe are excellent for the 

 table. But for this purpose nothing is really equal to the 

 two well-known old small varieties, the Pitmaston Green 

 Gage and the Rough Red. The best out of some thirty 

 new varieties which I have grown are Hopley's Companion 

 (red). Leader (yellow), and Pet (green). 



And now for a few words on the Gooseberry-grower's 

 enemies. Blackbirds and missel thrushes, of course, are 

 destructive to this as to all other varieties of ripe fruit, but 

 by picking your crop when green you avoid all annoyance 

 from them. Not so with your insect foes. The red spider 

 will sometimes infest the bushes in such quantities as to 

 shrivel-up all the leaves before the fruit is gathered, and 

 seemingly to prevent the possibility of any healthy shoots ; 

 but the most destructive of all enemies is an abominable 

 green grub, about half an inch in length, with black lines 

 round its body. It comes in such numbers as to strip 

 a whole plantation of its leaves, and, as I now write, my 

 acre of Gooseberries is most indecent to look upon ; line 

 after line of trees with naked shoots, and not an atom of 

 green to cover them. My bushes have often been infested 

 with these hateful grubs, but never to such an extent 

 as in the present season of 1871, which seems to be pre- 

 eminent for blight of every kind. They appeared first of 

 all about the first week in May, and here and there a 

 bush was stripped by them, but they did not make much 

 way, and on examining the bushes I found the head and 



No. 1209.— Vol. XL VI., Old Series. 



