224 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 30, 1907. 
Growing 
Gooseberries 
-for Profit. 
| 2 > 
time learning that he may also teach—by 
experiment—the best method of culti¬ 
vating any speciality. 
Even those living in one room can 
achieve remarkable results by daring to 
attempt to win them. For instance, only 
one flower pot or even a small propagator 
is well within the reach of the poorest, 
but the well-to-do amateur has no excuse 
for muddling on when he can so easily 
excel. One man may take up a shrub, 
another a vegetable, another a flower, 
each as his fancy dictates; and by careful 
study even the humblest may achieve as 
much as the best equipped amateur. For 
ladies, invalids, and those who suffer 
from nerves, as well as for men of all 
ages and conditions, there can be no 
better amusement, investment and study, 
than that of being garden specialists. 
Baynton-Taylor. 
- ♦+> - 
Todea Barbara. 
An exceptionally fine specimen of this 
species of Todea may be seen growing 
in the Temperate House of the University 
Botanic Garden, Cambridge. It was 
planted out in its present position some 
fifteen or sixteen years ago, and is at the 
present time in a remarkably flourishing 
condition. Needless to say, it has formed 
a massive trunk, from whence are pro¬ 
duced large quantities of dark shining 
green fronds, from 4 ft. to 5 ft. long and 
1 foot broad. Notwithstanding the con¬ 
tinual cutting of its huge fronds for use 
in the botanical studies of the University 
students, the vitality of the plant has been 
in no way impaired. On account of the 
leathery te'xture of the leaflets, it is very 
subiect to the attacks of thrip. To 
successfully combat the ravages of these 
pests, it is* necessary during the hot sum¬ 
mer months to resort to frequent syring¬ 
ing and slight fumigation. 
F. G. TUTCHER. 
-- 
Commons and Footpaths Preservation Society. 
At the last meeting of this society, Lord 
Eversley presiding, it was stated that 
eighteen railway, water, and improvement 
Bills introduced into Parliament during 
the current Session affected 787 acres of 
common land or open spaces, and the 
solicitor reported that several promoters 
had already agreed to insert clauses for 
the protection of the public interests in 
consequence of the society’s intervention. 
It was resolved to reintroduce into the 
House of Commons the society’s Rights of 
Way Bill, which passed its second read¬ 
ing last Session, and also to introduce a 
Bill to facilitate the regulation of rural 
commons and the restriction of the powers 
of Highway Authorities to disfigure com¬ 
mons in searching for road metal. 
How to Keep Cut Flowers.— Cut 
flowers may be kept fresh for days by 
adopting the following method:—Put 
them in fresh water with a drop of am¬ 
monia and a pinch of salt, and set them 
where they will be cool and get fresh 
air over night. In the morning clip 
each stem a tiny bit, fill the vase with 
fresh water, with ammonia and salt 
added, and repeat the process as long as 
the flowers are kept. Roses have been 
known to keep a full week without droop¬ 
ing under these conditions. Flowers that 
have been worn will not keep as well, of 
course, but even they will brighten up. 
v _______________ 
The Gooseberry is essentially an ama¬ 
teur’s fruit. It is one, if not the one, 
which mav be profitably grown in almost 
any soil and situation. It wall flourish 
in town and suburban gardens as well as 
those in the open country; and although 
Gooseberry Bush. 
it luxuriates in a deeply-dug, loamy soil, 
with free drainage and plenty of lime, it 
will grow and bear a good crop of fruit 
in any poor rubble where it can obtain a 
root-hold. 
The fruit of the Gooseberry is ferrugin¬ 
ous, that is, containing iron; this, indeed, 
forms one of its chief constituents, and, if 
only, from a medicinal point of view, is_ a 
very strong argument in favour of its 
value as a most wholesome and invigora¬ 
ting food and tonic. 
Culture. —Young plants should be se¬ 
lected, and, whether grown as bushes, 
standards, or cordons, planted not later 
than the end of March. Bushes are most 
commonly grown where abundance of 
fruit is the object in view ; these may be 
planted 4 or 5 feet apart each way. 
Standards are chiefly worked on stocks 
of the yellow-flowering Currant (Ribes 
aureum), and, when well-grown, they pro¬ 
duce, good crops of fruit in much less 
time than those worked on the parent 
stock. These can be planted a foot 
closer, each way, than the bushes. Cor¬ 
dons, for profitable culture, are not to 
be compared with either bushes or stan¬ 
dard's. but the fruit is finer, both in size 
and flavour. Planted against a north 
wall, they will bear fruit until very late in 
the autumn. 
Pruning. —This is not often systematic¬ 
ally practised. It is a common mistake 
to allow' the trees to make growth year 
after year, wfithout giving a thought to 
this important operation. With' bushes 
and' standards, all superfluous old wood, 
suckers, and weak growths should be cut 
out annually, in late autumn, leaving the 
strong young growths, and judiciously 
thinning the centre. In the case of cor¬ 
dons, the young growths are spurred back 
to two or three inches of their juncture 
with the main stem. 
Insect Pests. —The Gooseberry sawfly 
and magpie moth are very destructive. 
Alternate dressings of lime and soot, in 
late autumn and early spring, will check 
their development beyond the chrysalid 
stage. The caterpillars may be hand¬ 
picked and destroyed, or, where the sav¬ 
ing of time is of importance, spraying 
vdth a reliable insecticide and a thorough 
dusting of hellebore powder will generally 
prove effectual. The Gooseberry mite 
and Gooseberry scale are, happily, lest 
common ; if discovered in time, a spraying 
of kerosene emulsion quickly destroys 
them. 
The Gooseberry Mildew. —This, 
which we have heard so much about lately, 
is by no means difficult to deal with. 
“ Prevention is better than cure,” and the 
precept may in this instance be profitably 
carried out by applying plenteous dust- 
inigs of flowers of sulphur. Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture, applied with a knapsack sprayer, 
will effectually' stamp it out. It should 
be used directly the first symptoms of mil¬ 
dew .appear. Watchfulness and prompt 
measures in these respects are all that is 
