The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Gooseberry
GOOSEBERRY.
Rìbes Grossulària.—Groseille à Maquereau, Fr.—Stachelbeerstrauch, Ger.
This fruit, so extensively cultivated in Britain, and also in some parts of this country, is not at all adapted to a southern climate. It is only occasionally that a crop is attained here, even with the best of care. It requires a cool climate, or some local cause, to attain the perfection for which it is so justly celebrated. It is a native of this country and Eu- rope. We have seen it wild on the Alleghany mountains; and before we see it perfect in culture, we must re-produce from our native sorts. It is highly esteemed in culinary purposes for tarts and preserves; and when fully ripe is laxative, and considered a very wholesome dessert fruit. The finest crops we have seen in this country were grown in the vicinity of Montrealand the Lakes, and near Pittsburg, between the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, over which the smoke of that city of iron continually rolls, during June, July, and August, which entirely prevents the mildew, the only enemy to the culture of this fruit in this quarter. There are a thousand varieties of it, which may be detailed in Reds, Whites, Yellows and Greens, all fancifully named, according to the ideas of the growers. They ripen from the middle to the end of July.
Propagation.—The method is precisely as detailed for Currants, both in culture and pruning. In warm seasons, just after rain, some sorts are frequently attacked with mildew, which baffles our skill to prevent, though we may retard its progress by showering them with sulphur-water. The cure, however, is nearly as bad as the disease. Mildew makes its appearance about the middle of June, in the form of brownish-white spots on the fruit. As soon as observed, the berries may at once be pulled for the kitchen or market, for they never get over it, and the longer they hang the worse they become. It is not soil that is the cause, for we have had them some seasons all destroyed, while last year the same plants, in the same ground, were as fine as they could be, in size, form, and flavor. It is an atmospheric disease, and only that. The fruit is in size from half an inch to two inches in diameter; the medium sized are the best flavored. The very largest have been known to weigh an ounce and a half; but they are uniformly of inferior quality. For flavor none excel the following:
| Reds. | Yellows. |
| Red Warrington, | Golden Yellow, |
| Champagne, | Early Sulphur, |
| Roaring Lion, | Yellow Ball, |
| Rough Red, | Golden Hero, |
| Red Jam, | Ashton Yellow, |
| Lancashire Lad. | Viper. |
| Whites. | Greens. |
| Queen of Sheba, | Gregory’s Perfection, |
| White Eagle, | Green Ocean, |
| Venus, | Green Laurel, |
| White Smith, | Green Gage, |
| White Sulphur, | Jolly Angler, |
| Hedgehog. | Green Gascoigne. |