GOOSEBERRIES. lyc^ 



are held in the North, where size rather than quality is rewarded, and a 

 book is annually published detailing the varieties of gooseberries which 

 obtain prizes, and the weight to which each individual berry has attained. 

 Gooseberries are propagated by seed when new varieties are sought, and 

 the varieties are propagated in the easiest manner by cuttings or layers : 

 in fact, a shoot touching the ground often roots by itself The tree is 

 best grown as a standard, with a stem about a foot high, from which 

 the boughs radiate in every direction. I have seen bushes trained 

 upon wire trellises, but this is a bad plan, as the fruit in early spring 

 is not protected by the leaves, and is apt to be injured by the frost. 

 The pruning of the gooseberry must be performed with scrupulous 

 care, as only the new wood bears. A reasonable amount of the old 

 and of the new wood must be cut out, to let air and sunshine into all 

 the parts of the bushes, and a due amount of new wood must be left, 

 from which the crop proceeds. When trees are grown to produce 

 exhibition fruit, only two or three of the same year's shoots are left. 

 This plan I never practise, as the fruit should be tested by its qualities 

 for the table, and not by its magnitude and weight. 



The Gooseberry is particularly liable to be affected by spring frosts, 

 as then nearly the entire crop of little berries drop. This happened in 

 1 87 1. The bush is also liable to be attacked by the Currant moth, 

 but the birds have prevented this at my garden. Sometimes I have 

 known an Acarus, or species of red spider, severely to injure the trees 

 but this has not happened at my garden, as my trees, when properly 

 exposed to light, are pictures of health and of vigorous growth. The 

 trees like manure, and some should be given to the ground every year 

 I have grown more than a hundred varieties, but have not found it 

 worth while particularly to record their names, and if many varieties are 

 desired it is advisable to have recourse to the Manchester nurserymen. 

 Mr. Turner of Slough exhibited at the Horticultural Society a fine 

 collection of seventy varieties, and he has kindly supplied me with the 

 named fruit to figure. Of one of the finest varieties, but a very bad 

 bearer, called Companion, I was unable to find a berry anywhere, as 

 all had been killed by frost. 



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