34:6 



HISTORY OF THE VKGETABLE KINGDOM. 



Botli currants and gooseberries are of very 

 easy culture. They may be raised from slips, 

 which is the usual mode of perpetuating varie- 

 ties, or by all the other methods used in propa- 

 gating shrubs and trees. New varieties are ob- 

 tained from seed. Any good soft soil is suitable 

 to them. A moist soft soil is most favourable 

 to the gooseberry. The bushes require a prun- 

 ing twice a year. The gooseberry plant of four 

 years old produces the largest and finest fruit ; 

 afterwards the fruit becomes smaller, though it 

 increases in quantity. The fruit is produced not 

 only on the shoots of last summer, and on shoots 

 two or three years old, but also on spurs arising 

 from the older branches along the sides. Many 

 insects attack the gooseberry, such as the aphis, 

 caterpillar, and saw fly. The currant moth, 

 abraxas grossulariata, is a middle-sized moth, 

 white, with numerous black spots. It deposits 

 its eggs on the under side of both currant and 

 goosebeny leaves. The gooseberry moth is ra- 

 ther smaller, and feeds on the leaves of both 

 slirubs. The saw fly, nematus rihesii, is still 

 more destructive to the gooseberry. Early in 

 jMarch this small fly, of a greenish colour, sha- 

 greened with deep black tubercles, deposits a 

 string of minute eggs along the under ribs of 

 the lower leaves. A single fly will fill the ribs 

 of many leaves. In ten days those eggs will be 

 hatched into caterpillars; then after feeding vora- 

 ciously on the leaves for about ten days more, they 

 drop unto the ground, and change into the chry- 

 salis state. In this state they remain for four- 

 teen or fifteen days, when another fly is produced, 

 Vi'hich mounts up and deposits a fresh progeny 

 among the leaves. In this way the bushes of a 

 whole garden are stripped of their foliage in a 

 few weeks. The best preventive is to hand pick 

 the bushes early in the season, and destroy all 

 the eggs and flies that can be found. Digging 

 up the earth about the roots of the bushes fre- 

 quently, but especially in autumn, previous to 

 the winter frosts, is also advisable. Sprinkling 

 with lime-water, tobacco juice, and other fluids, 

 has also been recommended. 



The Barbeekt, (ierleris vulgaris.) Natural 

 family Berherideoe. Hexandria monogynia, Linn. 



This is an ornamental as well as useful shrub. 

 When covered with flowers in spring, or fruit in 

 autumn, it forma a pleasing object. The leaves 

 are of a yellowish or bluish green, and gratefully 

 acid to the taste; the odour of the flowers is 

 pleasant at some distance, though too strong, and 

 offensive when near. 



This shrub is a native originally of the eastern 

 countries, though it is now found in most parts 

 of Europe, where it thrives best upon light and 

 chalky soils. It grew formerly wild, in great 

 quantities, in the hedgerows of England, but has 

 been universally banished, from a general belief 

 that its presence is injurious to the growth of 



com. Du Hamel, Broussonet, and other scien- 

 tific writers, treat this belief as a vulgar preju- 

 dice. It should, however, be remarked, that the 

 fructification of the barberry is incomplete, un- 

 less the stamens be irritated by insects, when the 

 filaments suddenly contract in a most remarka- 

 ble manner towards the gei-m. The flowers are, 

 therefore, by a beautiful arrangement of nature, 

 peculiarly attractive to insects; and thus the 

 barberry may become injurious to neighbouring 

 plants. The berries grow in bunches, and are 

 so very acid, that they are seldom eaten; but 

 with the requisite quantity of sugar, they make 

 an excellent jelly. They are used also as a sweet 

 meat, and put into sugar plums or comfits. The 

 fruit is sometimes used in medicine, as a mild 

 and cooling refrigerant. The roots boiled in an 

 alkaline ley, yield a yellow colour, used in Poland 

 fordyingleather. ThebarkalsoyieldsayeUowdye. 

 Cattle, sheep, and goats browse on this shrub, 

 and numerous kinds of insects are remarkably 

 fond of the flowers and leaves. 



The Elder Bbbry, (sambiicus nigra.) Pen- 

 tandria trigynia of Linn. 



The elder is a native of this country; is very 

 generally diffused; grows with singular rapidity', 

 though it never arrives at great size; and endui'es 

 the most bleak situations, though in the northern 

 parts of Scotland the fruit seldom ripens. The 

 berries of the elder are fermented into a wine, 

 which, when spiced and drunk warm, is a pleas- 

 ing winter beverage. They are supposed to con- 

 tain a portion of the narcotic principle. The 

 black variety is chiefly cultivated for this pur- 

 pose; but the berries of the yellow and green are 

 also appUcable to wine making. 



The elder tree furnishes the unscientific prac- 

 titioner of the healing art with many of the 

 most approved remedies; and perhaps not with- 

 ou: reason. Boerhaave, the great physician, is 

 said to have regarded the elder with such rever- 

 ence, for its medicinal virtues, that he sometimes 

 took off his hat in passing a tree of this species. 

 The leaves are narcotic, purgative, and acrid; the 

 flowers in decoction are diaphoretic, and are used 

 to give a flavour to vinegar. The French strew 

 them among casks of apples, to which they com- 

 municate an agi-eeable odour. 



The berries are said to prove poisonous to 

 poultry, and especially to turkies. 



The Bilberry, or Blae- 

 berry, (iiaccinium myrtillus.) 

 This berry grows plentifully 

 on heaths and waste places ; and 

 is very hardy. It is a hand- 

 some berry, with a delicate 

 bloom when in perfection; 

 but it is tender, and, when 

 kept for some time, ferments. 

 The Blaeberry. In some of the pine forests 

 in Scotland it grows to the height of three 



