22 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



and the "birds are equally ravenous on sweet Goose- 

 berry-bushes, either in bud or berry- 

 Diseases. — The Gooseberry on good soil is 

 entirely exempt from disease of any sort. Unless 

 the soil is too stiff or too wet, it continues in the 

 most robust health for many years, being, in 

 fact, one of our longest-lived fruit- bushes or trees. 

 On such unfavourable soils as here indicated its 

 leaves show, by their excess of yellow in the green, 

 that the plants are declining in health, and the 

 stems are apt to get cumbered with moss and 

 lichens, which are injurious to the plants. The soil 

 or site, or both, should be changed, and local reme- 

 dies, such as smears of hot lime and soot, applied to 

 the stems and branches, to clear them of moss and 

 other incumbrances. 



Insects. — These, from their number and voracity, 

 furnish a sad per-contra and set-off against the im- 

 munity of the Gooseberry from disease. The worst 

 of all is what is termed the Gooseberry Caterpillar — 

 that is, the caterpillar of the Fhalcena vauaria. In 

 reality, however, there are, at least, three caterpillars 

 that play sad havoc with the leaves of the Goose- 

 berry. There are, in addition to the one just named, 

 the caterpillar of the Magpie Moth (Abraxus grossit- 

 lariata), and the larvae of the Gooseberry and 

 Currant Saw ■- fly (JVemat us Eibesii). They vary con- 

 siderably in size, colour, time of appearance, and 

 mode of operation. But the net results of their 

 attacks are very much the same — bushes wholly or 

 partially defoliated, the leaves riddled in all direc- 

 tions, or the whole of them destroyed but the mid- 

 ribs, main nerves, or petioles. The first-named, or 

 the last, is generally the first to appear, and this is 

 followed by the caterpillar of the Magpie Moth, while 

 the larva of the Gooseberry Saw-fly seems ubiqui- 

 tous throughout the season. 



Remedies. — The most efficient remedy consists 

 in dealing with the insects in their pupa state. The 

 pupae of the Saw-fly especially are mostly deposited 

 near the stem of the bushes, and may be destroyed 

 by removing the soil to a depth of four inches all 

 round them, and burning it, or burying it to the 

 depth of two feet or a yard. A simpler method still 

 is to dress the roots with a compost or mixture, con- 

 sisting of cinder-ashes, lime, soil, and soot, about 

 four inches deep, or, better still, spent tan, fresh out 

 of the steep in the tannery. These two last either 

 poison, or fix the pupae or chrysalides in, so that death 

 may make an end of them. Yet another mode con- 

 sists in fixing them in by mere pressure — that is, 

 firm treading with the feet, patting with the spade, 

 or the use of a mallet or rammer. 



Another series of remedies succeed in rendering 

 the bushes so nauseous and distasteful to the moths, . 

 that they decline to lay their eggs or deposit their 

 larvae on the leaves. Powdered soot, sulphur, 

 tobacco, salt, lime, guano, liquid manure, sewage, 

 tobacco- water ; poisonous powders, such as hellebore 

 and sugar of lead, and preparations of nux vomica 

 and arsenic, paraffin and other mineral oils, am- 

 moniacal liquor, weak brine, and other substances, 

 prevent the moths from converting the branches into 

 breeding-grounds. So soon as the leaves that have 

 been infested fall from the bushes, they should all 

 be picked up and burned. 



But the best remedy is really vigorous and per- 

 sistent picking off of the caterpillars. By beginning 

 so soon as the first appears, and keeping well ahead or 

 on the heels of the different broods, it is astonishing 

 how soon they may be picked off, and prevented from 

 multiplying to any seriously destructive extent. 



Wasps and birds are also at times most trying 

 among the Gooseberries. Fortunately the former 

 never touch them until the berries are almost over- 

 ripe. When the finest varieties give out their vinous 

 odours, the bushes not seldom become more like wasp- 

 hives than honest Gooseberry-bushes. So attractive 

 are the Gooseberries in that state, that it becomes 

 dangerous to attempt to gather them for the ex- 

 cited and infuriated wasps. The only remedy is to 

 destroy the wasps, or keep them out by the use of 

 hexagon or other netting. But this is seldom 

 effectual unless it is raised a foot or two above the 

 bushes. Let it at any point touch the fruit, and the 

 wasps, allured by the close proximity of the fruit, 

 will quickly cut their way through the strongest 

 netting, virtually sawing the textile fabric asunder 

 with their sharp mandibles. 



Wider meshes will exclude birds. But when about 

 it, it is better to enclose a whole row or brake with 

 wasp-proof as well as bird-proof muslin or other sub- 

 stances, for the wasps will skeletonise the fruit, leav- 

 ing nothing but the skins, even faster than the birds 

 can devour it, and they must be destroyed or kept 

 out at all hazards. But the birds must be kept from 

 the buds as well as the fruit, as otherwise the bull- 

 finches, tom-tits, and other birds will make such 

 raids on the sweet buds, that there will be few or no 

 ripe berries for either wasps or birds or the culti- 

 vator in the autumn. There is no better means of 

 saving the buds than several overhead soot-dustings 

 after a shower, or on mornings when the bushes are 

 heavily dewed over, with half-and-half of quicklime 

 and soot. 



Fortunately, too, a good proportion of the fruit is 

 gathered before either birds or wasps care to eat it. 

 The use of green Gooseberries, notwithstanding the 

 enormous consumption of Rhubarb, is daily extending, 



