Gooseberry

“ There is a species of gooseberry growing abundantly among the rocks on the sides of the cliffs: it is now ripe, of a pale red colour, about the size of the common gooseberry, and like it is an ovate pericarp of soft pulp enveloping a number of small whitish coloured seeds, and consisting of a yellowish slimy mucilaginous substance, with a sweet taste; the surface of the berry is covered with a glutinous adhesive matter, and its fruit though ripe retains its withered corolla. The shrub itself seldom rises more than two feet high, is much branched, and has no thorns. ”

“ Scott, of Orangeville, larger than Downing or Smith’s Improved. The history of this variety is thus given by Mr. Scott: “A friend of mine received some gooseberry seed from England, and from it grew some plants from which I picked a berry, and from the seed of it raised about eight or nine plants, but destroyed all except the one from which these were gathered, as they did not seem to have any merit. It has never mildewed with me as yet, though I have grown it for about ten years. It is the only large gooseberry that I can grow free from mildew. ”

“ There are other kinds which are good, but since they do not equal the varieties already named in this volume, I see no reason for keeping them before the public.
The Industry gooseberry has been introduced by Ellwanger and Barry, of Rochester, N.Y., who think it will "revolutionize gooseberry culture in this country." It is an English variety, but has succeeded so well in this country that it has been propagated and disseminated. It remains to be seen whether it will continue to retain its vigor and health in our climate. ”

“ The wild gooseberry is a small, straggling bush, nearly resembling the cultivated plant,—the branches being thickly set with sharp spines, standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots, on which the bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of rounded, deeply-crenated 3- or 5-lobed leaves. The fruit is smaller than in the garden kinds, but is often of good flavour ”

“ This species is occasionally found in moist high grounds from New York southward. It is very abundant and beautiful on the slopes of the Alleghany Mountains.
Gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia) has branches covered with spines, brown-reddish blossoms and berries of green, yellow or reddish color, which stand singly on the young shoots. It is frequently planted in gardens, and has many varieties. It is highly prized in northwestern Europe; not cultivated in southern Europe, and reaches highest perfection in England. ”

“ If standards are desired, the gooseberry may be with advantage grafted or budded on stocks of some other species of Ribes, R. aureum, the ornamental golden currant of the flower garden, answering well for the purpose. The giant gooseberries of the Lancashire “fanciers” are obtained by the careful culture of varieties specially raised with this object, the growth being encouraged by abundant manuring, and the removal of all but a very few berries from each plant. Single gooseberries of nearly 2 oz. in weight have been occasionally exhibited ”

“ The third red Gooseberry which is the greatest, and knowne but vnto few, is so like vnto the common great Gooseberry, that it is hardly distinguished: the fruit or berries grow as plentifully on the branches as the ordinary, and are as great & round as the great ordinary kinde, but reddish, and some of them paler, with red stripes. ”

“ The gooseberry is indigenous in Europe and western Asia, growing naturally in alpine thickets and rocky woods in the lower country, from France eastward, perhaps as far as the Himalaya. In Britain it is often found in copses and hedgerows and about old ruins, but has been so long a plant of cultivation that it is difficult to decide upon its claim to a place in the native flora of the island. ”

“ Gooseberry.—The gooseberry differs little from the currant in its requirements as to soil, pruning, and general care. The plants should be set 3 to 4 feet apart; rows 5 to 7 feet apart. Select a rich, rather moist soil. The tops need no winter protection. If mildew and worms are to be kept in check, spraying must be begun with the very first sign of trouble and be thoroughly done.
The propagation of the gooseberry is similar to that of the currant, although the practice of earthing up a whole plant, causing every branch thus covered to throw out roots, is practiced with the European varieties. ”

“ The gooseberry in the south of England will grow well in cool situations, and may be sometimes seen in gardens near London flourishing under the partial shade of apple trees; but in the north it needs full exposure to the sun to bring the fruit to perfection. ”

“ In pruning the gooseberry, it is best to cut out to a very few, or even to a single stem. Keep the head open, to allow free circulation of air. The extent of pruning will make a great difference in the size of the fruit; if fruit of the largest size is wanted, prune very close. All branches drooping to the ground should be removed. Keep the branches, as much as possible, from touching each other.
GOOSEBERRY ENEMIES The currant-worm attacks the gooseberry also, and is effectively handled by the arsenate of lead, Paris green or hellebore spraying, mentioned above. ”

“ Gooseberry Fool.—Take a quart of green gooseberries, put them, after topping and tailing them, into a pan with four ounces of loaf sugar and stew them as directed for the apples—without water. When soft, rub them through a sieve, and then stir into the purée half a pint of thick cream, stir all together, add more sugar if required, then when cold pour into a crystal dish. Garnish with whipped cream on the top.
Gooseberry Pudding.—One pint of nearly ripe gooseberries, six slices of stale bread toasted, one cupful of milk, half a cupful of sugar, and one tablespoonful of melted butter. ”

“ Since the advent of the practice of spraying with fungicides to prevent mildew, the culture of the Gooseberry has increased. There is now no reason why, with a little care, good crops of many of the best English varieties may not be grown. The price for good fruits of Gooseberry is usually remunerative, as the market is rarely overstocked by the sudden ripening of the crop, since the fruits ripen through a long season. A large part of the crop is picked green for culinary purposes. The leading market variety is Downing, a native sort, which is little subject to mildew. ”

“ But every morning and evening, sometimes many times during the day, they came for their meal of berries from the vine. Usually they were on hand as soon as the sun was up, and a more devoted and well behaved [16] couple was never seen either in the bird or the human world.
We rise at length and walk along the wooded slope admiring new beauties at every step. Here is a thicket of wild gooseberry filled with dark green leaves and the tinkling notes of tree sparrows, and we hardly know which is the more beautiful. ”

“ RHUBARB SAUCE. To make a mock gooseberry-sauce for mackarel, reduce three dozen sticks of rhubarb to a marmalade, and sweeten it with moist sugar. Pass it through a hair sieve, and serve it up in a boat.—Mock gooseberry-fool is made of rhubarb marmalade, prepared as for a pudding. Add a pint of good thick cream, serve it up in glasses, or in a deep dish. If wanted in a shape, dissolve two ounces of isinglass in a little water, strain it through a tammis, and when nearly cold put it to the cream. Pour it into a jelly mould, and when set, turn it out into a dish, and serve it up plain. ”

“ When gooseberries are wanted large, the ground between the rows should have a coating of rotten manure laid on it every third year. Gooseberry-bushes are generally planted in rows, the rows eight or ten feet apart, and the bushes six feet from each other in the rows. They are pruned twice a-year: in winter to remove the branches not likely to produce fruit; and in summer to clear away the cross shoots which shade the fruit from the sun, and prevent the access of air to every part of the tree. It is a very good plan to thin the fruit ”

“ The climate of the British Islands seems peculiarly adapted to bring the gooseberry to perfection, and it may be grown successfully even in the most northern parts of Scotland; indeed, the flavour of the fruit is said to improve with increasing latitude. In Norway even, the bush flourishes in gardens on the west coast nearly up to the Arctic circle, and it is found wild as far north as 63°. ”

“ The Indians, however, are very fond of them, and so are some of the birds and animals, likewise of the service berries, which look much like the blueberry, though their flavor is not so choice.
Here and there patches of the wild gooseberry add to the tangle of the chaparral. The gooseberries when ripe are very red, as are the currants, but they are armored with a tough skin completely covered with sharp, hairy thorns. In Southern California all the fruit of the wild ribes have the thorns, but they do not compare in penetrating power and strength with those of the Tahoe gooseberries. ”

“ Natural Varieties.—Nature's best efforts in the vegetable kingdom sometimes seem to be reached per saltum, and without any aid from man. Recently in England a first-class certificate was given by the Royal Horticultural Society for a fine variety of gooseberry, under the name "Kerson's Seedling Gooseberry." ”

“ The small-flowered buttercup is an instance of where, in a large genus having mostly showy flowers, the petals of a species may be much reduced. The wild gooseberry is a plant with possibilities that still remain undeveloped. It may have vast resources that only the practical horticulturist can develop in his own time and way. The gooseberry is not the only wild fruit plant that deserves the quickening hand of skill to bring it, in an improved and acceptable form, before the world. ”

“ The young light-coloured branches of the cultivated Gooseberry are flexible, and hang over in such a way as to make it difficult for an animal to reach the bark: a cow or sheep, if it wished to eat these branches, would begin at the hanging tip and make a sort of upward tearing jerk while its tongue gathered the branch 183 into its mouth. ”

“ In many old New England gardens the close juxtaposition and even intermingling of vegetables and fruits with the flowers gave a sense of homely simplicity and usefulness which did not detract from the garden's interest, and added much to the child's pleasure. At the lower end of the long flower border in our garden, grew "Mourning Brides," white, pale lavender, and purple brown in tint. They opened under the shadow of a row of Gooseberry [Pg 340] bushes. I seldom see Gooseberry bushes nowadays in any gardens, whether on farms or in nurseries; they seem to be an antiquated fruit. ”

“ These plants which grow in this way on other plants, do not, as a rule, greatly injure them, but many have not stopped at this stage. Take, for instance, the Gooseberry growing in the fork of an old tree. Some bird has been eating gooseberries and dropped the seed there. The roots of the gooseberry will grow down into the rotten part of the trunk. Earth and leaf-mould will accumulate there, and it is quite probable that the whole inside of the tree will decay away. The roots of the gooseberry will, if only indirectly, help in this decay. ”

“ The moist alluvial soil produces the delicious salmon-berry, in appearance a glowing jewel of gold; these, with cranberries, bramble-berries, currants, and a small black gooseberry, are very abundant. The most arid and rocky situations are often fairly black with grape-like bunches of the sweet sellal berry, which grows on a low hardy evergreen, and defies frosts until late in the season. Another variety of the gooseberry, larger than the black ones, with a skin covered with a bitter and glutinous secretion, grows very abundantly on the dryer soils. ”

“ Should they prove to be mildew proof in other places than these where they originated, and to bear abundant crops of large-sized fruit, a new era in the culture of the gooseberry will have been fairly inaugurated, and we may expect to go on multiplying varieties not subject to mildew, until there shall be no lack of gooseberries of fine size and of excellent quality. ”

“ Nature is liberal, and has given us, in addition, a native gooseberry span-worm, the larva of a small moth. These several worms, unchecked, would soon render the culture of the currant and gooseberry impossible in the regions where they abounded; and, at first, horticulturists were almost in despair, for the pests seemed proof against the usual insecticides and means of destruction. It was eventually discovered that powdered white hellebore was a specific remedy. ”

“ For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. [Perhaps from Gooseberry Fool; as in Goldsmith’s Retaliation:—‘And by the same rule Magnanimous Goldsmith’s a gooseberry fool.’]
2. (common) .—A chaperon; one who takes third place to save appearances or play propriety (q.v.) ; a daisy- or gooseberry-picker. [183]
3. (common) .—A marvellous tale; a munchausen (q.v.) ; a flim-flam. Also gigantic, and giant goosberry. Hence Gooseberry season = the dull time of journalism, when the appearance of monstrous vegetables, sea serpents, showers of frogs, and other portents is chronicled in default of news. ”

“ Well, it so happened that the Season was a backward one; and the Fruiterer sends his duty out to his Lordship, saying that he has no ripe Gooseberries, but [288] that of green ones he has a store, to which that unfortunate Nobleman is heartily welcome.
"I'll e'en try one," says my Lord; and from a Punnet they brought him he picks a Green Gooseberry; when, wonderful to relate, it swells in his hand to the bigness at least of an egg-plum, and turns the colour of Blood. ”