GOU 
GRA 
have omitted several that certainly rank 
high in the prize lists, to account for 
which we must repeat that it is intended 
to serve as a guide to those who desire 
to cultivate them rather for dessert 
than for exhibition. A great mistake 
seems to pervade the societies established 
for the professed improvement of the 
gooseberry; their prizes are compara¬ 
tively valueless for the end designed, 
inasmuch as they are given to the 
heaviest fruit without regard to favour, a 
disregard of the latter quality has thus 
been engendered, which will take years 
to remove; and till it is made an essential 
qualification, we can expect but little 
real improvement in the fruit. We 
would therefore urge on those interested 
the adoption of such a standard as shall 
combine size with flavour. 
GOURD. Lagenaria vulgaris (De 
Candolle.) Nat. Ord. Cucurbit acerv. 
There are several varieties of Gourds 
grown, either as ornaments or for culi¬ 
nary purposes. The most remarkable 
among these is the Club-gourd, the 
fruit of which is frequently four feet in 
length, its diameter at the neck, being 
about six inches and at the opposite end 
about a foot. 
All of them are half-hardy annuals; 
the seeds should be sown hi pans of 
light rich earth, in a brisk liot-bed, 
about the end of March. When the 
plants have attained two rough leaves 
they should be potted off singly, into 
small pots, and kept in the frame till the 
end of May, when they may be trans¬ 
ferred to the open air. The best way 
to grow them is either to plant them on 
a ridge of moderately warm dung covered 
with vegetable mould, or in a south 
border, and train the plants to a wall or 
fence. The Mammoth gourd is a re¬ 
markable variety, the fruit measuring from 
twelve to fifteen feet in circumference. 
GRAPE. Vitis vinifera (De Can¬ 
dolle.) Nat. Ord. Vitacece. This 
plant, the theme alike of the poet, the 
philosopher, and the divine, has engaged 
the attention of man from the earliest 
ages, and wherever it can be cultivated, 
even with the utmost expenditure of 
attention and trouble, is there esteemed 
beyond all other fruits. With us it is 
now only grown as a dessert fruit, 
though there are abundant records of 
its having been cultivated in Britain for 
the wine press; but the uncertain cha¬ 
racter of the climate has driven it to the 
protection of glazed houses, where only 
we can ensure a return for our labour. 
In the wine-growing countries of the 
Continent the varieties of the Grape 
are exceedingly numerous, at least in 
name; for on a close comparison the 
variations appear to be only those in 
many instances arising from the effects 
of soil or situation. There are, how¬ 
ever, but few grown that can be ac¬ 
counted of the least note as dessert 
varieties, and these have been obtained 
from our own shores ; presenting in 
this remarkable circumstance another 
instance of the beneficial effects trace¬ 
able to some natural deficiency, which, 
by the force of necessity, sets the inven¬ 
tive power of men’s minds in action, 
and with the aid of perseverance leads 
them to the accomplishment of their 
utmost wishes; thus it was found we 
could not cultivate the Grape for the 
manufactory of wine with equal excel¬ 
lence or the same profit as the inha¬ 
bitants of more favoured regions, but 
that our attention must be confined to 
its production as an article for the des¬ 
sert ; and the consequence of this dis¬ 
covery has resulted in our possession of 
the largest and finest flavoured varieties 
in the world, which may justly be attri¬ 
buted to the perfection of our artificial 
climates made by the ingenuity and 
persevering attention of the British 
gardener. 
We shall divide our remarks on this 
highly valuable fruit into the following 
head: Propagation, Planting, Pruning, 
and General Treatment in the open air, 
the greenhouse, and the vinery; which 
we believe will embrace all the material 
points in its management necessary to 
be mentioned, in order to convey a 
general idea of the course of culture to 
be pursued; though, like the cucum¬ 
bers, the vine is not to be grown by 
mere rule-of-thumb lessons : experience 
and a close observance of the regulating 
