THE GARDENING WORLD. 
field, not on the level, but on ridges; two rows 
of bushes on each ridge, and about 6 ft. or 7 ft. 
between each row. Our business then was to keep 
the land quite clear of weeds, and wait on our 
young plantations. We were not impatient, as we 
had plenty to do on the rest of the farm, so we kept 
our bushes in trim and manured them occasionally. 
No manure we ever used pushed them on like nitrate 
of soda; but we used it only to promote growth, 
and not fruit. About the third year, when a fair 
sprinkling of fruit was beginning to appear—nearly 
677 
The quicklime was the best, but it stuck to the 
fruit as well as the leaves, and who would eat fruit 
with specks of lime on it. Next we tried hand¬ 
picking. 
A lot of labourers were employed with cans, and 
nearly a J-ewt. of caterpillars were caught and buried 
in the adjacent county. It did not, however, stop 
the plague ; caterpillars were always forthcoming, and 
the supply far more than kept pace with the demand. 
The Gooseberry caterpillar is the larva of the magpie 
moth, and in some nondescript shape or other, it 
shelters itself in the soil at the bottom of the bushes 
every winter, and recuperates itself for fresh opera¬ 
tions in the spring. Of course, it is in a different stage 
of insect-life during the winter months, and only 
assumes the caterpillar form in the months of May or 
June. Our disappointment and vexation were very 
great on finding our Gooseberry plantations ravaged, 
and rendered almost worthless. We had spent 
upwards of £10 on the project of producing Goose¬ 
berries by the ton, and were nearly foiled. 
After further wasting a couple of years we began 
to think that the bushes would have to be removed 
and the land put to tillage or pasture again, but we 
kept pegging on, and solved the great caterpillar 
difficulty. One morning we were standing in the 
midst of our spoiled plantations, concluding that the 
caterpillar must have its way. Looking over the 
hedge that separated our field from a slovenly neigh¬ 
bour’s garden, we observed with surprise that not a 
Gooseberry bush in his enclosure was touched. Every 
leaf was as green as emerald, and not perforated in 
the least. 
Here was a problem, and we resolved to get to 
the bottom of it. We observed that our neigh¬ 
bour had not dug the ground under his bushes 
since the crop had been taken the previous autumn, 
though now it was advanced spring. This was purely 
the outcome of neglect on his part, but his bushes 
were bearing well, and he had no caterpillars. We 
resolved now not to dig the ground after the crop was 
taken, but simply to remove all weeds, and allow the 
surface to remain pretty hard till the winter frosts 
had scourged it, and the frosty winds had winnowed 
all insect life away, as far as possible. Gardeners 
may turn up their noses at this because it looks so 
simple, but next year, after the treatment we have 
just described, the caterpillars were gone, and our 
experiment just amounts to this—we did not by 
forking and pulverizing the soil render it a fit and 
ready habitat for the insect life that was to rise 
in spring and devour our bushes for food. We 
allowed the ground to harden on the surface 
in autumn when the growing season was nearly 
over, and either dug or forked it in spring, say 
early in March, when the rigour of the frosts was 
abating. 
Thus the caterpillars, in whatever embryo state they 
exist during the winter, were left without a cover, 
and the frosts and frosty winds, it is presumed, made 
an end of them. We have followed this plan now for 
five years, and during that time our Gooseberry plots, 
containing at least seven or eight thousand bushes, 
have not to our knowdedge bred a single caterpillar. 
In manuring w T e do not fork in the manure, but spread 
it on the surface and allow the winter rains to carry 
it down. Our bushes are at present growing more 
vigorously than we could wish, for it is not easy 
keeping such a large number pruned down to the 
proper standard, but bulk in the fruit is our object; 
and this is the way we solved the caterpillar question. 
—Thomas Swann, The Blaze, Lisburn, in The Agri¬ 
cultural Gazette. 
- -TO «^» C r i -o — 
June 27th, 1885. 
keep such a large plant so clean and healthy.” I 
reply by pointing to the hose near by, and adding, 
“ A shower-bath off the main once a week.” Days 
are often spent with the sponge, where ten minutes 
with the hose or garden engine once a week would 
bring about far better results. If left till they appear 
in numbers, as is too often the case, there is the danger 
of their spreading over the house ; but when once got 
under keep them under, for prevention is better than 
cure. In the case of the brown and white scale, it 
must come to a hand-to-hand battle if the foe is to be 
dislodged, for the syringe and most insecticides are 
of little avail if used at a strength that would not be 
injurious to the plant. For hard-wooded plants I find 
the following the most effectual:—Kub over the 
infested parts with a fairly hard brush, say a well- 
worn paint-brush, cutting away the soft ends, then 
dip or syringe with the solution recommended for 
green-fly, with the addition of a wine-glassful of 
paraffin oil well mixed and kept stirred while using, 
which will ensure the total annihilation of the pest. 
For tender plants the sponge and a little soapy water 
can only be used.— R. C. F. 
- ~= 9 - 
GOOSEBERRIES BY THE TON, 
Me. Gladstone hit a gold nail on the head when 
he told the farmers of Great Britain that, although 
they might not be able to make money by growing 
grain, yet there was still an “ agricultural fringe ” 
worth looking after, and that in fruit-growing and 
market gardening, there existed a supplemental 
means of increasing the profits of the farm. The late 
Premier believes that jam is a word to conjure with, 
in attracting gold sovereigns from odd corners. Of 
one thing we are certain, the Irish farmer might, 
with very little cost indeed, draw luxuries worthy 
of the palates of nobles out of that neglected spot— 
the garden. When sugar is cheap enough to give 
to cattle, and small fruit can be grown by the cwt. 
at so little cost, what farmer cr cottager should be 
without that delicious compound of sugar and fruit 
that sets children dreaming about when they are 
asleep, and crying about when they are awake? 
Indeed, we cannot imagine any children’s wonderland 
or fairyland without multitudinous pots of jam in if. 
It is nearly ten years ago since we conceived the 
laudable ambition of producing Gooseberries by the 
ton. Of course, the project would have been a 
foolish one if we had not previously calculated that 
a ready market could be obtained for the produce of 
our Gooseberry plots. We had, however, the prospect 
of a ready market situated about ten Irish miles 
distant. The market was indeed too far away, if 
it could have been helped ; but as part of the distance 
was traversed by railway, the objection of distance 
did not appear quite insurmountable. In working up 
the Gooseberry business we experienced a number of 
good and bad fortunes, an account of which may 
prove useful to every man who owns a Gooseberry 
bush. In superintending some science examinations 
lately, we came into contact with an officer of Eoyal 
Engineers who was an enthusiast in gardening. In 
talking over Gooseberry culture we gave him our 
experience, and some points of our management he 
regarded as positive discoveries, and urged us to 
make them public. Every one who owns a Gooseberry 
bush knows that the plague of the Gooseberry is the 
caterpillar. Well, we fancy we have discovered a 
new method of dealing with that green-and-yellow 
individual. We have stopped him on our own grounds, 
and others, we believe, may do the same by a few 
precautions, so simple that probably they may not 
be regarded as discoveries at all. 
In beginning our Gooseberry culture, we laid off a 
considerable portion of a fairly fertile field—there is no 
use in talking about gardens when you want to grow 
Gooseberries by the ton; then we purchased about 
3,000 young bushes at three-halfpence each, obtained 
at a nurseryman’s auction. We did not stop here. 
We began to raise several thousand more young 
bushes from cuttings. Let us observe that young 
bushes are almost as easily propagated as Cabbages, 
if you only know how to go about the matter. 
They are slow growers, however, and you must wait 
five or six years for a heavy crop, though they 
bear sparingly in a much shorter time. We planted 
our bushes in long rows the whole length of the 
as much as would pay the rent of the land—a for¬ 
midable disaster happened ; the caterpillar came in 
tens of thousands and began to strip the leaves off 
our bushes. We were “ entirely bothered,” and some¬ 
thing more. The growth of our bushes was stopped, 
for no vegetable product can advance without 
leaves. We wrote to the agricultural journals 
demanding information and relief. We were advised 
to dust the bushes with newly slaked lime on a windy 
day, to try hellebore powder, to prepare a decoc¬ 
tion of quassia chips, &c. Such were the remedies 
prescribed, and not one of them was worth a button. 
Ants.- —In The Revue Horticole, the following method 
of destroying or banishing ants is described as having 
proved quite successful:—Take 2 ozs. of soft soap, 
1 lb. of potash, and 2£ pints of water. Boil the whole 
together for some time, stirring the ingredients 
occasionally. The liquor may then be allowed to 
cool. With a pointed stick or dibble make holes here 
and there in the soil infested by the ants, at a safe 
distance from any plants which may be growing there, 
to avoid any chance of their roots being injured by the 
mixture (although this is doubtful), and fill the holes 
once or twice with the preparation. By this means 
M. de Forghet was completely successful in clearing 
his Melon beds of these troublesome insects. 
