98 TREATISE ON THE CULTURE AND 



You may observe, that those branches which were cut the 

 first year, will in the second throw out short dugs, or spurs, 

 which produce the fruit ; and these should b}^ no means be cut 

 off, unless the branches are in a sickly state, and require to 

 be cut close down (as is the case this year, 1800), when the 

 bushes are overloaded with fruit. It will then be necessary to 

 cut oat a good deal of the old wood, to assist nature to recover 

 herself after producing so great a quantity of fruit. This year 

 the bushes are so loaded that the branches are bent down to 

 the ground. 



Gooseberries are well worth paying attention to, as they 

 supply the table so amply till the other fruits come in. 



There have been considerable additions made to them, of 

 late years, from the great attention that has been paid, by the 

 Gardeners and others of Manchester audits neighbourhood, to 

 raising gooseberries from seed*. 



Their catalogues now contain between four and five hun- 

 dred sorts or varieties ; but some are so near each other 

 as hardly to be distinguished. By mixing up a rich soil to 

 plant those in which have been raised from seed, and by 'wa- 

 tering, shading, and thinning the fruit, they have grovfn to a 

 size much larger than any that had ever been seen in this 

 country. They have made it their principal study to improve 

 this valuable fruit, and have given great encouragement, by 

 establishing societies for distributing prizes annually to those 

 who raise the largest and finest new sorts. But it must be al- 

 lowed, that some of the largest are much thicker in the skin, 

 and not so well flavoured as some of the old sorts. 



I enquired of Messrs. M'Niven, Nurserymen at Manches- 

 ter, how many good and distinct sorts they could send me out 

 of their numerous catalogue ; they told me, that they could 

 send about eighteen or twenty sorts, which they could answer 

 for being good and distinct. I accordingly gave an order, and 

 received all the sorts that they could warrant good, which turn- 

 ed out to my satisfaction. 



Great attention should be paid to the cultivation of the 

 early and late sorts. In some old gardens, in particular, there 

 are very valuable sorts that have been of late too much neg- 



* Such is the success of these unweai-ied endeavours, thnt it is now no 

 uncommon thing to see gooseberries as large as pullets' eggs. It is very 

 rare to see any of this fruit in America, where the sun is, indeed, rather 

 too hot for them ; but I have seen very tolerable gooseberries from the 

 garden of Mr. Clifton in Philadelphia, and I am certain, that if the mode of 

 cultivation here laid down were well attended to, and good sets got from 

 England, great plenty of this valuable fruit might be raised in all the Mid- 

 dle and Eastern States. 



