The gooseberry.—The number of varieties of this useful fruit almost exceeds belief, and fresh kinds are originated every year. The principal reason of the great number of gooseberries thus raised may be traced to the gooseberry shows now so prevalent in different parts of the kingdom. At these shows the largest and heaviest berries gain the prize; and it thus becomes an object with the exhibitors to grow berries that shall be as large and as heavy as possible. For this purpose they raise a great many new kinds; and when they have obtained one likely to suit their purpose, they plant it in very rich soil, water it well, and picking off all the berries except three or four, they nourish these by putting saucers filled with water under each. By these cares gooseberries have been produced weighing above an ounce and a half each; and one weighing very nearly two ounces; though gooseberries generally, even of large size, seldom weigh above half an ounce.
Gooseberries may be propagated either by seeds or cuttings; and they will thrive in any good garden soil, if it be well drained, well manured, and not under the drip of trees. 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; which is easily done when gathering green gooseberries for pies and puddings, by taking a few from every branch and never gathering from the same tree twice. The gooseberry bush produces fruit both on the old and young wood; but in the summer pruning all the long slender shoots which the tree sends out beyond the part which produces fruit should be cut off, to prevent the plant from wasting its strength. The best red gooseberries for general use are perhaps the following: the Warrington, which is a great bearer, and retains its fruit a long time on the tree; the Champagne, an early gooseberry of very fine flavour; the early Rough-Red, small, but remarkable for its sweetness; the Roaring-Lion, the largest gooseberry grown, a good bearer, the berries of which are oblong, and have a smooth skin; the Ironmonger, the fruit of which is almost black; the Crown-Bob, a very large gooseberry, equally good for using green or ripe; and the Top-Sawyer, a large, round and rough gooseberry, with a very thin skin, and agreeable flavour. The best white gooseberries, are the White Dutch, the Whitesmith, Wellington’s Glory, and the Cheshire Lass, the last two being of very large size; the best yellow are Rumbullion, and Rockwood, the first of which is reckoned the best of all gooseberries for preserving; and the best green are Ocean, a large early gooseberry, and the Pitmaston Greengage, a late variety, remarkable for its extraordinary sweetness, and for its hanging on the tree till killed by frost.
Currants are very seldom raised from seed; as there is no particular desire for the production of new sorts. The usual mode of propagation is by cuttings, which are taken off the strongest shoots in autumn or early in spring, and planted in rich soil. The cuttings are generally about a foot long; and all the buds are taken off except five or six at the top: the cutting is then firmly inserted in the soil about six inches deep. No other care is required but pruning the young trees every year. The currant bears on spurs of the old and new wood; and as currant-trees, when pruned, are generally cut into these spurs, a currant-bush after its winter pruning looks like a worthless stump, fit only for the fire. The currant is very hardy, and will grow in any soil or situation, even under the drip of trees. In open situations and rich soils, currants have been grown to a very large size; but not proportionately large to gooseberries. The red, white, and striped currants are varieties of the same species; but the black is another species. All belong to the same genus as the gooseberry.
Raspberries are, what are called, travelling plants; that is to say, if left to themselves, they would, by the old plants dying off, and being succeeded by suckers every year, soon travel over a considerable extent of ground. The raspberry thrives best in a light, free loam, moderately rich; and in an open situation. It always bears on the young shoots, so that the principal art required in pruning it consists in cutting out the old wood, and shortening the young. The height at which the bearing shoots should be left is three feet, or four feet. The best raspberries are the red and yellow Antwerp. Raspberries are propagated by suckers, which are produced in great abundance every year. The raspberry belongs to the same genus as the bramble, or blackberry.
Barberries.—No fruit-tree or shrub requires less care in its culture than the barberry, or, as it is more properly called, the berberry. The sorts usually grown for their fruit are all varieties of the common sort: they are the common red, the stoneless, and the sweet. Several varieties of the Mahonia or Ash berberry bear excellent fruit, but the trees are at present too rare, and of too high a price, to be cultivated for that purpose. The berberry will grow in any soil and situation, and it does not require any pruning.
The Cranberry will only grow in moist soil, or peat earth. It succeeds very well on the muddy margin of a pond; particularly if a row of stakes be driven into the water two or three feet from the edge, and lined with stones, on which is laid a quantity of bog earth. In this earth the cranberries are planted, and they will require no after-care except the occasional trimming into shape of their long runners. The common cranberry is a native of England, Scotland, and indeed of all the north of Europe; but its fruit is much smaller than that of the American cranberry, which has also a more delicate flavour.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FLOWER-GARDEN, AND THE CULTURE
OF FLOWERS.
Whatever doubts may be entertained as to the practicability of a lady attending to the culture of culinary vegetables and fruit-trees, none can exist respecting her management of the flower-garden, as that is pre-eminently a woman’s department. The culture of flowers implies the lightest possible kind of garden labour; only, indeed, enough to give an interest in its effects. This light labour is, in fact, one of the reasons that the culture of flowers is so generally a favourite occupation; as, though it is one of the conditions of our nature that we shall never enjoy what is too easily obtained, it is equally true that we cannot associate the ideas of pleasure with anything that gives us very much trouble. The culture of flowers is exactly in the happy medium between what is too hard and what is too easy. There are difficulties in it, but they are such as may be readily surmounted; and the result at once gratifies our own sense of what is beautiful, and our pride at being the means of presenting, so much that is worthy to be admired, to others.
Laying out a Flower-Garden.—Very little need be said of the aspect of the flower-garden, as, in most cases, it depends on circumstances quite beyond the control of the cultivator of flowers: when, however, a situation can be chosen, the best is one open to the south or south-east, and sheltered on the north. It must be observed, however, in all situations, that flowers never do well under the shade of trees. Where no ground can be spared for a flower-garden but a spot surrounded by tall trees, it is better to give up at once the idea of growing flowers in it in beds, and to ornament it with rock-work, fountains, vases, statues, &c., interspersed with a few flowering trees and shrubs, so arranged, that though their flowers, if produced, would augment the beauty of the scene, the want of them may not destroy it, if they should fail. Flower-gardens are of two kinds,—those that are called natural, and which are planted without any regard to regularity, and those that are called geometrical, and which consist of beds forming some definite figure.