562 



THE GOOSEBERRY. 



1217. Large Lancashire Gooseberries adapted for a cottage gardens- 

 Bed : ^ Prince Regent, Wonderful, ^ Top Sawyer, * Huntsman, Companion, 

 Lion, Lancaster Lad. Yellow : * Rockwood, * Sovereign, * Smuggler. 

 Green : * Niger, * Greenwood, * No Bribery, Peacock. White : * Wel- 

 lington's Glory, * Whitesmith, * Queen Charlotte, Eagle, Fleur de lis. — 

 (J Townsman in Gard, Chron. 1841, p. 84.) 



The most valuable red gooseberry in cultivation is perhaps the red Cham- 

 pagne, generally called the Ironmonger in Scotland, the fruit of which is of 

 superior flavour, is well adapted for all the purposes to which gooseberries 

 are applied, and by matting it may be preserved on the bush till December. 

 The branches of this variety grow more upright than those of any other 

 gooseberry, and hence the plants occupy less space, and are in no danger of 

 having the fruit soiled by being too near the ground. They are also parti- 

 cularly well adapted for training in the upright manner on espaliers. The 

 fruit of the Pitmaston green gage will hang on the branches till it shrivels 

 and almost candies. The red Warrington is an excellent gooseberry, either 

 for the table or wine-making, but it is of pendulous growth, and part of the 

 fruit is apt to be rotted in wet seasons. There is a general prejudice against 

 the large Lancashire kinds, which, it is alleged, are deficient in flavour; but 

 this is not the case with many of them ; for example, those recommended 

 (1217) for a cottage garden ; and from our own experience we can assert 

 that it is not the case with the sorts marked * in the above selection. 



1218. Propagation, nursery culture, and choice of plants. — The common 

 mode of propagation is by cuttings, which should be formed from shoots 

 taken from healthy vigorous plants in autumn, as long and straight as they 

 can be got. The point of the shoot should be shortened two or three 

 inches, to where the wood is firm, and the buds mature ; and the cutting, 

 which should, if possible, be twelve or fifteen inches in length, should after- 

 wards be treated as directed in p. 2G0. They should be planted in sandy 

 loam, in a moist situation, shaded from the direct influence of the sun, but 

 not covered or confined by the branches of large trees. Some of the Lan- 

 cashire growers tie a little moss round the lower part of the catting, which 

 is said to cause it to strike stronger roots. In loamy moist soil they need 

 not be planted above three inches deep, but in ordinary garden soil six inches 

 will be safer; in either case the cutting must be made quite firm at its lower 

 extremity. Cuttings of the growing wood will succeed under a hand-glass, 

 but it can seldom be necessary to take so much trouble. Where there is 

 only one plant of a rare kind, the most certain and rapid mode of propa- 

 gation is by laying down the branches along the surface of the ground, as 

 practised by the stock-growers in propagating plum and Paradise stocks 

 (625). Suckers are occasionally resorted to, but as they generally contain a 

 greater number of adventitious buds at the lower extremities than shoots 

 from the branches, they are apt to throw up more suckers than them. 

 Gooseberries seldom remain longer in the nursery than two years, being 

 transplanted into rows two feet by one foot the autumn of the same season 

 in which they are struck. No other pruning is requisite than removing 

 suckers or shoots from the stem, so as to leave three, or at most four, 

 divergent shoots to form the head. 



1219. — *S'oi7, situation, and final planting. — The best soil is a cool marl}'- 

 loam, warm, deep, well manured, and kept moderately moist ; either by the 



