1876 . ] 
GOOSEBEREY SHOWS. 
207 
16 gr., and from 1824 to 1831 Lion, with, two exceptions, tookthe premier prize ; 
but in 1830 the variety named Teazer, weighing 32 dwt. 13 gr., was in reality a 
teazer for the Lion, and put his nose out of joint as a competing berry for weight 
that year. In 1832 a variety named Bumper, which seems to have fallen out of 
cultivation, scaled 30 dwt. 18 gr., and although Wonderful, Companion, and 
London continued from 1833 to 1840 to be the premier berries, it was not until 
1840 that Bumper was beaten in weight, and then London, a fine variety, took 
honours. From 1842 to 1854 London continuously won the blue riband, but 
lost it in 1855, as Paris, 1 dwt. heavier than London of the preceding year, won 
the^battle. In 1845 London weighed 36 dwt. 16 gr., and in 1852, 37 dwt. 7 gr. 
—a weight not exceeded by any berry from 1809 to the close of last year, in fact, 
this berry is the heaviest on record. It is not impossible that heavier berries 
have been grown, but, alas! there is such a thing as “ bursting,” and many bright 
hopes have resulted in grief from a fatal bursting just before the show. This 
old and still favourite variety, London, carried off the blue riband twenty-five 
times in the sixty-seven years recorded in the Register^ but a new variety, Bobby, 
also a red variety, seems destined to run it very hard. On reference to a tabulated 
list of prize-winning berries of all colours for last year, it appears that— 
Shiner (green) ... 
Dan’s Mistake (red) 
Stockwell (green) 
Antagonist (white) 
Careless (white)... 
Ringer (yellow) ... 
took 213 Prizes. 
Hero of the Nile (white) ... 
took 
140 Prizes 
„ 178 
Stanton (red) 
125 
„ 164 
Mount Pleasant (yellow)... 
>> 
125 
„ 163 
» 
High Sheriff (yellow) 
115 
„ 149 
n 
Surprise (green). 
107 
» 147 
5 > 
—whilst 217 other varieties were also prize-winners last year, many of them 
obtaining a large number of prizes. Some idea of the interest taken in Goose¬ 
berry-growing may be realised, when it is borne in mind that 124 exhibitions 
are reported in the Register in 1875. 
The Falstaff Hotel, in the Market Place, Manchester, a well-known house to 
hundreds of old florists, is the head-quarters of the Gooseberry, inasmuch as the 
National Gooseberry Show, as well as that of the Seedling Gooseberry Society, 
are held here. Last year, a variety named Shiner, weight 32 dwt. 6 gr., took the 
premier prize, Ploughboy coming in second; and on that occasion several 
seedlings were exhibited. Cheerful, a green variety, weighing 30 dwt. 9 gr., was 
exhibited by Mr. C. Leicester, a veteran grower, full of Gooseberry lore, and 
the editor and compiler of the Register above referred to—an authority accepted 
as the Blachstone of Gooseberry law. 
At the National, prizes are offered for the finest-flavoured Gooseberries, 
irrespective of size, twelve berries of each. The result of last year’s competition 
was as follows :— 
Ploughboy (red) 
Lord Derby (red) 
Leveller (yellow) 
Seedling (yellow) 
Ist Prize. 
2nd 
Ist 
2nd 
Telegraph (green) 
Stockwell (green) 
Succeed (white) ... 
Careless (white) ... 
1st Prize. 
2nd 
1st 
2nd 
5? 
