154 THE OECHARD AISTD PEITIT aAEDElS-. 



The premiums offered in Lancashire for new sorts of 

 gooseberries, for many years past, have occasioned the 

 production of an almost endless variety of this useful 

 fruit. The prizes are given for size and flavour, and 

 good sorts are so abundant, that it is difficult to select a 

 few from among so many. A numher of the kinds I 

 have named are Lancashire prize kinds, but many of 

 our older kinds are quite equal to them in flavour, if 

 not in size. The Ked, White, and Yellow Champagne, 

 Eough Red, and Early Green Hairy are of the older 

 kinds, and are unsurpassed in flavour. The price of 

 gooseberry hushes is from 85. to 65. per dozen. Prize 

 gooseberries have weighed 27 dwts. 14 grs. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



YARIETIES OF CTTEEAKTS. 



Good kinds of currants may be selected with much 

 less difficulty than gooseberries, as there has never been 

 either scope or fancy to increase their number so exten- 

 sively. The White Dutch is the host and sv/eetest white 

 currant, and some bushes of it should be grown in every 

 garden. The bunches are of a good size, the stalks and 

 currants are yellow, and the skin rather transparent. 

 The White Crystal is very large and white, not so sweet 

 as the White Dutch. Many poor, small, white currants, 

 without much sweetness, are grown which little deserve 

 the room they occupy. 



Among black currants, the Black Naples, or New 

 Black, is by far the best, being very fine, excellent in 

 productiveness, and milder and sweeter than any 

 others. The bunches are short, but very numerous, 

 and some of the currants will sometimes measure three 

 quarters of an inch in diameter. Ogden's Black is not 

 so large, but it too is very good, and the bush is hardier 

 than the Black Naples. Common black currants are 

 little worth the room they fill. The kinds of red 



