September 20.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
391 
ancl we will boldly affirm that those who can spare time 
and a trifling amount of expense, may with certainty 
produce them from the first week in July until the 
middle, if not the end, of October. Here, then, we have 
a constant supply from one sort of fruit only, and that a 
good flavoured one, and produced with great economy 
and certainty. Still, one more consideration remains in 
making a proper selection, and that is, to procure a few 
proper sorts for preserving and for bottling. Having 
J now stated the principle objects in gooseberry culture, 
as connected with moderate sized gardens, we mav 
proceed to suggest points of culture, and, before we 
finish, will add a list of truly good and useful kinds 
classified. 
The principles of accelerating and retarding are ap¬ 
plicable to the gooseberry as well as to most of our other 
fruits. They are, indeed, sometimes forced in hothouses, 
but not with that degree of success to entitle them to 
general consideration. They are trained on the southern 
aspect of walls in some gardens, in order to produce 
early berries, as also on northern or colder aspects, in 
order to obtain late berries. Roth these are good prac¬ 
tice when an opportunity offers. As it is, however, 
few amateurs can spare room for them; for an ample 
demand exists in such situations on behalf of the pears, 
peaches, nectarines, and apricots. 
We now desire to suggest a mode which we feel per¬ 
suaded would, if properly carried out, prove superior to 
most now in practice, at least for prolonging the season 
of the more valuable late kinds. Such would consist 
in adopting trellises, such as we frequently find apples 
and pears trained on in the gardens of the wealthy, 
only somewhat more diminutive in character, for four 
feet in height would, perhaps, be sufficient for them. 
These might be formed of strained wire, in parallel 
lines, running north and south. The lines of wire 
should be about six inches apart. Now, as we have to 
recommend the adoption of a sort of pent-house or 
coping covering, as, also, a little canvass applied at 
certain periods, we must endeavour to show how the 
greatest amount of gooseberries can be obtained on a 
given space, in order that the expense incurred may not 
j outrun the value of the produce. Perhaps, then, a 
I double trellis would be the best; that is to say, such a 
one as would be formed by leaning two iron hurdles 
against each other, forming an acute-angled triangle, 
f with a base of about one foot, or, in other words, the 
two sides a foot apart at the bottom, and meeting within 
a couple of inches at the top. Plants may then be 
planted along both sides, and trained and kept separate, 
. allowing no shoots to occupy the interior, which should 
be kept free for a thorough circulation of air. As some 
kinds grow very upright, such as the Champagne kinds, 
whilst others have a constant tendency to spread almost 
at right angles, such as the Warrington, we would plant 
alternately an upright and a spreading kind, and encou¬ 
rage the upright kind to assume a longer stem, in fact, 
a stem nearly half the height of the trellis, and suffer 
the dwarf and spreading kinds to occupy all the lower 
portion of the trellis. As to distance, about six feet 
would be preferable; thus allowing three feet on each 
side of the stem of any given plant for the extension of 
the side branches. 
We will now suppose the arrangement completed, and 
the trellis covered with fruit, the next point will be the 
covering or protection from both bad weather and also 
from birds and wasps. 
We before said, that the two sides of the trellis 
might be two inches apart at the top; we would now 
place a wooden spout on the top, running horizontally, 
both in order to carry off water, to guard from severe 
frosts during the blooming season, and to suspend 
' canvass curtains from—the latter working like ordinary 
I bed curtains, with rings sliding along an iron rod. I 
The following will represent tho end section of the 
trellis:— 
It will be seen that a a are 
the two wire sides ; b b the 
curtain; and c the spout, at 
the extreme points of which 
tho curtain rod commences. 
The curtain of gauze or can¬ 
vass should be in divisions 
adapted for covering and un¬ 
covering with facility. Now, 
the water which may collect 
can be carried down little 
zinc pipes at the ends, and a 
little drain should be pro 
vided to meet them. The 
spout at top may be just 
wide enough to throw the 
drip beyond the foot of tho 
trellis ; and thus dryness—a 
great essential—is secured. 
The curtain would be 
of great use in February, March, and April, in ward¬ 
ing off late frosts; and equally useful in the end of 
June, to arrest, if necessary, the ripening a little; 
and during September, October, and November, its 
uses are equally manifest. With such a simple con¬ 
trivance we would engage to preserve gooseberries 
until nearly Christmas, and fruit of the very highest 
flavour, merely taking care to have them perfectly 
ripe by the end of August; for we would retard 
them a fortnight in the spring, and another week just 
before the ripening period. Indeed, the character of 
the trellis will of itself throw them many days later, for 
they would not be hurried by the mid-day sun; from 
eleven until one o’clock of each day they would be in 
comparative shade. Such a plan would surely pay as a 
commercial speculation; and we cannot but fancy the 
astonishment of our London fruiterers, should they by 
such a system one day receive fine gooseberries bv 
bushels in October and November. An acre of ground 
tints disposed would yield a vast amount; for the lines 
of trellises need not be more than about six feet apart 
in a parallel way. 
The gardens of the wealthy, too, or those who have 
extensive establishments, would possess much more 
interest if such formed part of a system for increasing 
the amount of retarded fruits; indeed, here something 
appears indispensable. Our late gooseberries now (the 
12th of September), as fine as can be, are matted up, 
but this is merely because we have it not in our power 
at present to adopt a better plan; for doubtless under 
the matting system there will be few remaining even in 
another fortnight. 
Having thus delivered our ideas of, at least, one eco¬ 
nomical and sure plan of producing, for a greater length 
of time, a very useful adjunct to good dessert, the next 
consideration will be an enumeration and classification 
of some well-known and truly good kinds. We will 
commence with those for special purposes :— 
LATE HANGING KINDS, OR THOSE FIT FOR THE TRELLIS. 
1. Warrington; hairy red; known also as Aston seed¬ 
ling. 
2. Pitmaston Greengage ; green; this is noted for shri¬ 
velling in the raisin character on the tree. 
3. Taylors Bright Venus ; white; also a shriveller. 
4. Coe’s Late Red; accounted a good late berry. 
5. Champagne Red; very rich, and of upright growth. 
6. Champagne Yellow ; very rich, and upright. 
The above we can safely recommend for trellis pur¬ 
poses, or, indeed, for general culture, as dessert fruit. 
KINDS OF GENERAL UTILITY. 
7. Rockwood’s Hairy Yellow; early. 
