500 



THE GOOSEBERRY. 



best. Only the finer varieties are planted against walls, and none of them 

 require a south aspect excepting in very cold exposed situations in the north, 

 or when the object is to have an early crop. The distances adopted in final 

 planting, are given in pp. 423, 429, and 431. 



1207. Mode of bearing, pruning, and training. — All the varieties produce 

 their blossoms on small spurs, which are protruded along the sides of the 

 shoots of one, two, or three years' growth, generally in the course of the 

 second and third year. These spurs, if duly thinned, and when necessary 

 cut in, will continue bearing for five or six years, or longer, in the case of 

 wall-trees and espaliers ; and when the fruit becomes too small, it is easy to 

 renew the branches, one at a time, by encouraging young shoots from the 

 main stem. Standard trees require very little pruning, beyond that of 

 occasionally thinning out the branches, and this should always be done before 

 midsummer, to prevent the gum from appearing on the wounds. Plum 

 trees against walls or espaliers are generally trained in the horizontal man- 

 ner. Old trees may be renovated by heading in or cutting down. 



1208. Gathering, keeping, packing, S^-c. — The fruit is generally gathered by 

 hand, and, with the exceptions mentioned, it cannot be kept longer than three 

 or four days without losing its flavour, or shrivelling. As the bloom of the 

 plum is more easily rubbed off than that of any other fruit, great care is 

 requisite in gathering it, and in packing, when the fruit is to be sent to a dis- 

 tance. Nettle leaves, on account of their roughness, are the best material in 

 which to envelop the fruit, and it ought to be sent in suspended boxes (860) . 

 As the plums brought to market are very liable to have the bloom rubbed 

 oiF, some fruiterers supply an artificial bloom, by putting the fruit in an 

 atmosphere charged with finely calcined magnesia, as is done in giving an 

 artificial bloom to the cucumber (1081). At first sight it may appear sur- 

 prising that a white powder should be employed to give a bloom to the 

 green surface of the cucumber, and the purple or yellow surface of the 

 plum ; but the colour of the fniit in these and all other cases, resides under 

 the bloom in the skin, and the bloom is merely a number of semi-trans- 

 parent colourless particles, secreted by nature for some useful purpose, 

 which are very well imitated by any very fine colourless powder. 



1209. Insects, diseases, casualties, S^c. — The red spider is the common 

 enemy of the plum against walls, and is to be kept under by frequent and 

 abundant waterings with the syringe. The Gages and all very rich plums, 

 when nearly ripe, are attacked by wasps, which may be lured away by 

 vessels of honied water (357), or excluded by netting (353). The gum and 

 canker are not unfrequent in the plum when it has been severely pruned, 

 or when it has been planted too deep, or the roots subjected to vicissitudes of 

 drought and wet (375 to 378). 



1210. The plum may be forced by the same treatment as the peach, but 

 with a temperature a few degrees lower. The sorts generally preferred for 

 forcing, are the precoce de Toui's, green gage, purple gage, white perdrigon, 

 Orleans, early Orleans, and Morocco ; all of which will force very well in 

 pots, either in the peach-house or the cherry-house. 



SuBSECT. VIII. — The Gooseberry . 



1211. The gooseberry, Ribes Grossularia, L., and R. Uva crispa, L. ; 

 (Groseille a maquereau, Fr. ; Stachelbeerstrauch, G^er. ; Kruisbes, Z)« . / 

 Uva-spino, Ital ; and Grosella, Span., E.B.^ 12Q2 — 2057 ; Arb. Brit. 



