THE GOOSEBERRY. 



575 



to be the best time for attempting their destruc- 

 tion, and that by carefully examining the buds, 

 and squeezing the tender insects within them. 

 Should they deposit their eggs on the old bear- 

 ing-wood, those will of necessity be cleared 

 away at the winter pruning, as all that wood is 

 at that time cut away, and we can scarcely 

 believe them endowed with sufficient sagacity 

 to choose the young wood which is to be left. 



Kaspberries are often attacked by the omni- 

 vorous weevil Otiorhynchus sulcatus (see Vine) ; 

 they attack the stems in June, and often do 

 much mischief. No means have been as yet 

 found out of preventing or even destroying 

 them with any great degree of success. 



§ 3. — THE GOOSEBERRY. 



The smooth-fruited gooseberry (Ribes um- 

 crispa), and the rough-fruited kinds (Ribes gros- 

 sularia), so called because its berries resemble 

 half-ripe figs {grosse), are the types from which all 

 our cultivated sorts have sprung. These are 

 indigenous to many parts of Britain, inhabiting 

 the edges of thin sunny copses, and where the 

 ruins of ancient buildings are found. In its 

 wild and uncultivated state the fruit is small, 

 but of a rich and agreeable flavour, and, unlike 

 most other fruits, becomes deteriorated in fla- 

 vour as it increases in size by high cultivation. 

 At what period our forefathers directed their 

 attention to the improvement of this fruit is 

 unknown. The earliest notice taken of it that 

 we have met with is in the writings of Gerard, 

 Culpepper, and Tusser. The latter, in his 

 " Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry," 

 says — 



" The barbery, respis, and gooseberry too, 

 Look now to be planted, as other tilings do ; 

 The gooseberry, respis, and roses, all three, 

 With strawberries under them, trimly agree." 



And strange enough this ancient arrangement, 

 with the exception of the roses, is much the 

 same as is practised in market-gardens at this 

 day. The gooseberry is almost the only fruit 

 we can claim as in reality our own, for with the 

 exception of a pale-coloured sort imported from 

 Flanders in the time of Henry VIII., we have 

 met with no other instance of any of this fruit 

 having been imported before or since. The 

 Dutch have several varieties differing from ours, 

 but they possess no extra merit. 



The locality in which the gooseberry has 

 attained its highest cultural excellence is Lan- 

 cashire, a circumstance attributed to the taste 

 of its manufacturing population. 



It may be called the fruit of the poor, as 

 every cottager having a garden has the means 

 of cultivating it. In the warmer countries it is 

 almost unknown, and, excepting in some parts 

 of Holland and Germany, where the climate is 

 moderate and somewhat humid, it is greatly 

 disregarded, the grape-vine taking its place. 

 " The Manchester Gooseberry Book," published 

 annually, contains the names of all the leading 

 varieties and their weights, some of which are 

 so great as to be almost incredible, size and 

 weight being the objects aimed at by the Lan- 

 cashire growers, and curious expedients are 



called into action to effect this. The situation 

 chosen, say they, should not be shaded, nor 

 should it be exposed to the full rays of the sun, 

 because, under such circumstances, the fruit 

 would ripen too rapidly without giving sufficient 

 time for the swelling of the berries. To effect 

 a partial screen from the sun without creating 

 shade, it has been recommended by some to 

 plant rows of Jerusalem artichokes between the 

 lines of bushes, or to place them on the sunny 

 side; others have suggested growing lines of 

 scarlet runners between them for a like purpose. 

 Neither of these expedients come up to the 

 mark of high culture. It were better, therefore, 

 to screen the bushes while the fruit is swelling 

 with such portable screens as coarse paper, thin 

 canvass, or the like, which could be used or dis- 

 used according to circumstances. The process 

 of suckling consists in applying rich and stimu- 

 lating manure to the roots, by forking it in, or 

 better, by laying it on the surface to keep the 

 roots moist, and permitting its fertilising parts 

 to be washed down by the rains. No method, 

 however, is so good and so conveniently applied 

 as using liquid manure, poui'ed repeatedly on 

 the surface, and extending to the farthest rami- 

 fications of the roots, that the spongiolets may 

 pump it into the system of the plant. Besides 

 feeding by the roots, " those high in the fancy" 

 place a shallow vessel of water immediately 

 under each berry, which is partially submerged 

 in it, leaving only three or four fruit on the tree, 

 according to its strength. They also water the 

 plants frequently over the tops, particularly in 

 dry weather; and with a view still farther to 

 throw the whole energies of the plant into the 

 fruit, they remove almost every young shoot 

 that is not absolutely required for the formation 

 of the bush. These operations are not gone into 

 in private gardens, but in all rich soil liquid 

 manure, in preference to solid, is or should be 

 applied. The ground should be as little dis- 

 turbed beyond hoeing as possible, as deep dig- 

 ging destroys the best of the roots. 



Where high-flavoured and small fruit is de- 

 sired, a warm sunny spot should be chosen, the 

 soil light, and not much enriched by manure. 

 The richest-flavoured gooseberries we ever tasted 

 were grown accidentally on the ruined walls of 

 Cawdor Castle, insinuating their roots between 

 the fragments of stone and mortar — a pretty 

 good hint that the debris of a limestone quarry, 

 if well exposed to the sun, may not be a bad 

 situation where high flavour is aimed at. 

 Amongst the earlier ripening is the Yellow 

 sulphur, and amongst the latest the Red War- 

 rington. If the former be planted in a w 7 arm 

 sunny exposure, or on a south wall, they will 

 ripen early in June ; while the latter, planted 

 against a northern wall, or in a cold northerly 

 border, and protected by a net, may be had in 

 good condition to the end of October. 



Our earliest writers give little information 

 regarding this fruit. Tusser, Mascall, Turner, 

 Parkinson, Ray, Rea, and Philip Miller, all 

 mention it ; the latter observes, " There are 

 several varieties obtained from seed, but as 

 there are frequently new ones obtained, it is 

 needless to enumerate them." Forsyth, in 1800, 



