May 21, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
597 
commence to dwindle, until they frequently die out¬ 
right. The removal of the old and decayed material 
in the baskets, even to the washing out of any old 
material which may be left, and then filling in with 
fresh compost, often proves better than putting the 
plants into baskets of larger size. 
-- 
THE GOOSEBERRY. 
The Gooseberry is one of our most popular fruits, 
and it would be difficult to find a garden that does 
not include a few trees. It is the Ribes Grossularia 
of the botanists, and therefore it belongs to the same 
genus as the Currant, which is also a Ribes. Ribes 
appears to be an Arabic name signifying currant, 
and it represents a genus 
of hardy deciduous shrubs 
comprising about sixty 
species. One of the best 
known members of the 
tribe is R.sanguineum.the 
ordinary flowering Cur¬ 
rant of English gardens- a 
North American plantvery 
widely cultivated for the 
abundance of rosy-red 
flowers,just now to be seen 
in fine bloom ; there are 
some good examples of this 
handsome shrub at Ealing 
Broadway station of the 
Great Western Railway. 
It will be observed it 
throws racemes of flowers 
quite outside the foliage 
all over the plant,and they 
are thus displayed to the 
best advantage. There are 
several varieties of it—one 
named atrosanguineum, 
is much deeper in colour 
than the type, while 
some are paler. Another, 
named albida, is white, 
faintly touched with rose. 
R. sanguineum fruits, but 
they are of a greyish- 
black colour, and quite 
useless for oranamental or 
eating purposes. The 
flowers of the Red, White 
and Black Currants are 
of a dull yellowish green, 
without any pretence to 
beauty, and much hidden 
by the foliage, but they 
produce luscious high- 
coloured, and handsome 
fruit, highly serviceable 
to man, which are borne 
in great abundance. The 
specific name of theGoose- 
berry, Grossularia, is no 
doubt from Grossular, 
having reference to the 
green colour of the fruit 
in an unripe state. The 
common name. Goose¬ 
berry, appears to be de¬ 
rived from two Flemish 
words, meaning “ Cross¬ 
berry,” given, it is 
supposed, on account of the triple spine which not 
unfrequently presents to view on the green fruit the 
form of a cross. 
The Gooseberry is a native of several parts of 
Europe, and abounds in the valleys and in copse 
woods in a wild state, where it produces a small, 
green, hairy berry. In the South of Europe the fruit 
of the Gooseberry is small, tasteless, and neglected, 
and it is said its flavour in the warmer parts of 
England is very inferior to the fruit grown in Scot¬ 
land. The Gooseberries grown in Edinburgh are 
declared, on good authority,never to equal in flavour 
those grown at Dundee, Aberdeen, or Inverness. 
The culture of the Gooseberry appears to have 
been first attended to at the time of the Reforma¬ 
tion, as a poet who lived in the time of Henry VIII. 
alludes to it. It was cultivated about the same time 
in Holland and Germany, but it is during the last 
hundred years progress has been made with it. 
The Gooseberry is no respecter of persons, for it 
ripens delightfully in every part of the country, and 
it bears as abundantly in the garden of the poor man 
as in that of the rich. In one particular it is said 
never to change — namely, it never forgets its prickles; 
but it is stated in a recent issue of the Gardeners, 
Chronicle that Gooseberry trees have been obtained 
that are destitute of spines. 
The botanist divides the Gooseberries into two 
types—one the hairy fruits, the other the hairless ; 
the former is known as Ribes Grossularia, the latter 
as R. Grossularia crispa. The hairy kinds are said 
to be the best for preserving, while the smooth sorts, 
or those which are nearly smooth, are preferred for 
vinegar, and for that domestic old English beverage 
(From a Photograph of a Plant grown by G. Singer, Esq.) 
Gooseberry wine. They are reputed to be the best 
for tarts and pies. 
Gooseberries vary also in colour and size. There 
are red, green, yellow, and white Gooseberries, and 
seed taken from any one of them will produce all, so 
there is reason to believe all have come from a 
common stock. The yellow Gooseberries are con¬ 
sidered to be both the richest and most vinous in 
flavour ; the green varieties, especially when large, 
are the least meritorious. Our popular Gooseberries, 
Warrington, Lancashire Lad, Whitesmith, Yellow 
Rough, and a few others are small or only medium 
size, but all are of very fine flavour. 
Big Gooseberries and Gooseberry Shows. 
Lancashire, Cheshire, Warwickshire, and other 
counties have long been famous for their Goose¬ 
berries, for they are grown to a large size for 
exhibition purposes. Thus a good number of 
Gooseberry shows are held at that time of the year 
when the fruit are ripe. The growers of these 
Gooseberries, the arts of growing, and the shows 
themselves, furnish illustrations of character alike 
original and entertaining. The men who devote 
their energies to the work are almost exclusively 
of the same race as those who, towards the 
middle of the eighteenth century, began to render 
South Lancashire so noted for its "naturalists 
in humble life ”; and who, while occupied as 
hand-loom weavers, earned so much fame as culti¬ 
vators of various kinds of choice flowers, such as 
the Auricula, Tulip, etc. Their number has, un¬ 
happily, diminished under the influence of the 
employment of steam power, the introduction of 
which induced a change no less great in the social 
condition of the Lanca¬ 
shire operativesthan inthe 
complexion of their manu¬ 
factures. There are plenty 
living, nevertheless, who 
inherit the taste and 
enthusiasm of the patri¬ 
archs of two or three gene¬ 
rations ago, and as far as 
the scope permits, the old 
spirit is as keen as ever. 
The prime object with 
these cottage and allot¬ 
ment cultivators is not re¬ 
fined flavour, nor yet a 
plentiful crop. The prizes 
go to -the biggest and 
heaviest individual ber¬ 
ries. To secure triumph it 
is enough that a single 
fruit outweighs all rivals. 
Upon this one great end 
the grower sets his whole 
heart; to the attainment 
of this he devotes all his 
thoughts and energies , he 
foregoes no labour, and 
cheerfully sacrifices per¬ 
sonal comforts. Mr. Leo 
Grindon, to whom I am 
largely indebted for this 
information, mentions a 
well authenticated storyof 
a Middleton silk weaver, 
who, a thunderstorm im¬ 
pending, lay awake as if 
for his life, and with the 
first patter of the rain 
against his window panes, 
rushed to the rescue with 
his bed-quilt, and covered 
up his beloved Goose¬ 
berries that the rain 
should not injure them. 
Procedure at a Goose¬ 
berry Show. 
This is -worth mention¬ 
ing. The show is 
generally held at a 
country inn. A chairman 
is appointed ; he takes his 
place at the head of the 
table, and, scales in hand, 
calls for the heaviest 
red, or the heaviest yel¬ 
low, as required by the 
programme. A berry is 
then produced, weighed with an accuracy of minute¬ 
ness that would have been rapture to old Shylock, 
and the weight carefully noted in writing by a 
secretary. This process is repeated until every¬ 
thing brought for competition has been tested, the 
berry which lies quietly in the scale until defeated 
by a heavier one taking honours when all is over 
Mr. Grindon mentions a show held at Harborne, near 
Birmingham, where 450 berries were weighed, and 
of these 95 took prizes. It is a rule that all berries 
be shown with the stem at oneeud, and the " snuff,” 
as it is termed, at the other. These are cut away 
from all berries which take prizes; they are thus in¬ 
eligible to compete at further exhibitions. The 
entire performance occupies from three to four 
hours. 
A " Gooseberry Growers’ Register is published 
annually, giving an account of all the Gooseberry 
shows held, the weights of the berries, and the 
