GOOSEBERRY 



" Happily, this wholesome and useful fruit is to be found in 

 almost every cottage garden in Britain, and it ought to be . 

 considered a part of every gardener's duty to encourage the 

 introduction of its most useful varieties in these humble en- 

 closures. In Lancashire and some of the adjoining coun- 

 ties, almost every cottager, who has a garden, cultivates the 

 gooseberry with a view to prizes, given at what are called 

 gooseberry prize meetings ; of these there is annually pub- 

 lished an account, with the names and weight of the suc- 

 cessful sorts, in what is called the Manchester Gooseberry- 

 Book, The prizes vary from 10 s. to £5 or £ 10 ; the sec- , 

 ond, third, to the sixth and tenth degrees of merit, receiv- I 

 ing often proportionate prizes. There are meetings held 

 in the spring to ' make up,' as the term is, the sorts, the 

 persons, and the conditions of the exhibition ; and in Au- 

 gust, to weigh and taste the fruit, and determine the prizes." 



Varieties, — Loudon says, " The present lists of the Lon- 

 don nnrsery-men contain from eighty to one hundred names ; 

 but those of some of the Lancashire growers above three 

 hundred. Forsyth, in ISOO, mentions ten sorts as com- 

 mon ; and adds a list of forty-three new sorts grown in 

 Manchester." 



Propagation, — The gooseberry may be propagated by all 

 the modes applicable to trees, or shrubs ; even by pieces 

 of the roots ; but the mode by cuttings is usually adopted 

 for continuing varieties, and that by seeds for procuring 

 them. 



By seeds, — So far as we know, the scientific mode of im- 

 pregnating one variety with another has not been applied 

 to this fruit. In general, the seed of some choice variety, 

 thoroughly ripe, is taken, and sown in autumn, or early in 

 the spring, in beds or pots of rich, light, mellow earth : 

 when the plants are a year old, they are planted out in 

 nursery rows, to be cultivated and trained there a year or^ 

 two : in general, they will bear the third year. 



By cuttings, — The best season for planting gooseberry 

 cuttings is in autumn, just before the leaves begin to fall : 

 early in the spring, as soon as the ground is sufficiently 

 thawed, however, will answer nearly as well. The cut- 

 tings should be taken from the bearing shoots. Cut them 

 to such a length as the strength and ripeness of the wood 

 will bear, and cut off all the buds except three, or at most 

 four, at top, and train the plants with a single stem of nine 

 inches or a foot high, from the top of which the branches 

 should radiate upwards at an angle of 40^, or bet^^p^ 



