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GOOSEBERRY

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 245 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOOSEBERRY , Ribes Grossularia, a well-known See also:

fruit-See also:bush of See also:northern and central See also:Europe, placed in the same genus of the natural See also:order to which it gives name (Ribesiaceae) as the closely allied currants. It forms a distinct See also:section Grossularia, the members of which differ from the true currents chiefly in their spinous stems, and in their See also:flowers growing on See also:short See also:foot-stalks, solitary, or two or three together, instead of in racemes. The See also:wild gooseberry is a small, straggling bush, nearly retembling the cultivated plant,—the branches being thickly set with See also:sharp spines, See also:standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral See also:leaf shoots, on which the See also:bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the See also:groups of rounded, deeply-crenated 3- or 5-lobed leaves. The fruit is smaller than in the See also:garden kinds,but is often of See also:good flavour; it is generally hairy, but in one variety smooth, constituting the R. Uva-crispa of writers; the See also:colour is usually See also:green, but See also:plants are occasionally met with having deep See also:purple berries. The gooseberry is indigenous in Europe and western See also:Asia, growing naturally in alpine thickets and rocky See also:woods in the See also:lower See also:country, from See also:France eastward, perhaps as far as the See also:Himalaya. In See also:Britain it is often found in copses and hedgerows and about old ruins, but has been so See also:long a plant of cultivation that it is difficult to decide upon its claim to a See also:place in the native See also:flora of the See also:island. See also:Common as it is now on some of the lower slopes of the See also:Alps of See also:Piedmont and See also:Savoy, it is uncertain whether the See also:Romans were acquainted with the gooseberry, though it may possibly be alluded to in a vague passage of See also:Pliny: the hot summers of See also:Italy, in See also:ancient times as at See also:present, would be unfavourable to its cultivation. Abundant in See also:Germany and France, it does not appear to have been much grown there in the See also:middle ages, though the wild fruit was held in some esteem medicinally for the cooling properties of its See also:acid juice in fevers; while the old See also:English name, See also:Fea-See also:berry, still surviving in some provincial dialects, indicates that it was similarly valued in Britain, where it was planted in gardens at a comparatively See also:early See also:period. See also:William See also:Turner describes the gooseberry in his Herball, written about the middle of the 16th See also:century, and a few years later it is mentioned in one of See also:Thomas See also:Tusser's See also:quaint rhymes as an See also:ordinary See also:object of garden culture. Improved varieties were probably first raised by the skilful gardeners of See also:Holland, whose name for the fruit, Kruisbezie, may have been easily corrupted into the present English See also:vernacular word.' Towards the end of the 18th century the gooseberry became.a favourite object of cottage-See also:horticulture, especially in See also:Lancashire, where the working See also:cotton-spinners have raised numerous varieties from See also:seed, their efforts having been chiefly directed to increasing the See also:size of the fruit. Of the many See also:hundred sorts enumerated in See also:recent horticultural See also:works, few perhaps equal in flavour some of the older denizens of the fruit-garden, such as the " old rough red " and " hairy See also:amber." The See also:climate of the See also:British Islands seems peculiarly adapted to bring the See also:goose-berry to perfection, and it may be grown successfully even in the most northern parts of See also:Scotland; indeed, the flavour of the fruit is said to improve with increasing See also:latitude.

In See also:

Norway even, the bush flourishes in gardens on the See also:west See also:coast nearly up to the See also:Arctic circle, and it is found wild as far See also:north as 63°. The dry summers of the See also:French and See also:German plains are less suited to it, though it is grown in some hilly districts with tolerable success. The gooseberry in the See also:south of See also:England will grow well in cool situations, and may be sometimes seen in gardens near See also:London flourishing under the partial shade of See also:apple trees; but in the north it needs full exposure to the See also:sun to bring the fruit to perfection. It will succeed in almost any See also:soil, but prefers a See also:rich See also:loam or See also:black See also:alluvium, and, though naturally a plant of rather dry places, will do well in moist See also:land, if drained. The varieties are most easily propagated by cuttings planted in the autumn, which See also:root rapidly, and in a few years See also:form good fruit-bearing bushes. Much difference of See also:opinion prevails regarding the mode of pruning this valuable See also:shrub; it is probable that in different situations it may require varying treatment. The fruit being See also:borne on the lateral spurs, and on the shoots of the last See also:year, it is the usual practice to shorten the See also:side branches in the See also:winter, before the buds begin to expand; some reduce the longer leading shoots at the same See also:time, while others prefer to nip off the ends of these in the summer while they are still ' The first See also:part of the word has been usually treated as an etymological corruption either of this Dutch word or the allied Ger. -Krausbeere, or of the earlier forms of the Fr. groseille. The New English See also:Dictionary takes the obvious derivation from " goose " and " berry " as probable; " the grounds on which plants and fruits have received names associating them with animals are so commonly inexplicable, that the want of appropriateness in the meaning affords no sufficient ground for assuming that the word is an etymologizing corruption." See also:Skeat (Etym. Dict., 1898) connects the French, Dut. and German words, and finds the origin in the M.H.G. krus, curs'„f crisped, applied here to the hairs on the fruit. The Frenchogra was latinized as grossularia and confused with groseus, thick.' succulent. When large fruit is desired, plenty of manure should See also:stage in the See also:life-See also:history of the See also:parasite gives its name to the be supplied to the roots, and the greater portion of the berries picked off while still small.

If See also:

standards are desired, the goose-berry may be with See also:advantage grafted or budded on See also:stocks of some other See also:species of Ribes, R. aureum, the ornamental See also:golden See also:currant of the See also:flower garden, answering well for the purpose. The See also: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 See also:weight have been occasionally exhibited; but the produce of such fanciful horticulture is generally insipid. The bushes at times suffer much from the ravages of the caterpillars of the gooseberry or See also:magpie See also:moth, See also:Abraxas grossulariata, which often See also:strip the branches of leaves in the early summer, if not destroyed before the See also:mischief is accomplished. The most effectual way of getting rid of this See also:pretty but destructive See also:insect is to look over each bush carefully, and pick off the larvae by See also:hand; when larger they may be shaken off by striking the branches, but by that time the harm is generally done—the eggs are laid on the leaves of the previous See also:season. Equally annoying in some years is the smaller larva of the V-moth, Halias vanaria, which often appears in See also:great See also:numbers, and is not so readily removed. The gooseberry is sometimes attacked by the See also:grub of the gooseberry sawfly, Nematus ribesii, of which several broods appear in the course of the See also:spring and summer, and are very destructive. The grubs See also:bury themselves in the ground to pass into the pupal See also:state; the first brood of flies, hatched just as the bushes are coming into leaf in the spring, See also:lay their eggs on the lower side of the leaves, where the small greenish larvae soon after emerge. For the destruction of the first broods it has been recommended to See also:syringe the bushes with See also:tar-See also:water; perhaps a very weak See also:solution of carbolic acid might prove more effective. The powdered root of See also:white See also:hellebore is said to destroy both this grub and the caterpillars of the gooseberry moth and V-moth; infusion of See also:foxglove, and See also:tobacco-water, are likewise tried by some growers. If the fallen leaves are carefully removed from the ground in the autumn and burnt, and the See also:surface of the soil turned over with the See also:fork or See also:spade, most eggs and chrysalids will be destroyed. The gooseberry was introduced into the See also:United States by the early settlers, and in some parts of New England large quantities of the green fruit are produced and sold for culinary use in the towns; but the excessive See also:heat of the See also:American summer is not adapted for the healthy maturation of the berries, especially of the English varieties.

Perhaps if some of these, or those raised in the country, could be crossed with one of the indigenous species, kinds might be obtained better fitted for American conditions of culture, although the gooseberry does not readily hybridize. The attacks of the American gooseberry See also:

mildew have largely contributed to the failure of the See also:crop in See also:America. Occasionally the gooseberry is at-tacked by the fungus till recently called Aecidium Grossulariae, which forms little cups with white torn edges clustered together See also:don reddish spots on the leaves or fruits (fig. I). It has recently been discovered that the spores contained in these cups will not reproduce the disease on the gooseberry, but infect species of Carex (sedges) on which they produce a fungus of a totally different See also:appearance. This (Aecidium Grossulariae.) I, Leaf showing patches of cluster-cups on surface; 2, Fruit, showing same; 3, Cluster-cups much enlarged. whole fungus, so that it is now known as Puccinia Pringsheimiana. Both uredospores and teleutospores are formed on the sedge, and the latter live through the winter and produce the disease on the goose-berry in the succeeding year. In cases where the disease proves troublesome the sedges in the neighbourhood should be destroyed. A much more prevalent disease is that caused by Microsphaeria Grossulariae. This is a mildew grow- See also:ing on the surface of X25 the leaf and sending 4*3 ---,-suckers into the epi- dermis. The white mycelium gives the From See also:George Massee's See also:Text-See also:Book of Plant Diseases, leaves of the plant the by permission of See also:Duckworth & Co.

appearance of having FIG. 2 .—Gooseberry Mildew (Microsphaeria been whitewashed Grossulariae.) (fig. 2). Numerous i, Leaf attacked by the fungus; 2, Fructification or peritheciunt; the end of white spores are See also:

pro- one of its numerous appendages is shown duced in the summer more highly magnified in 3, 4, 5, spore which are able to ger- sacs (See also:asci) from the perithecium, See also:con-m i n a t e immediately, taming spores. and later small blackish fruits (perithecia) are produced that pass uninjured through the winter liberating the spores they contain in the spring, which infect the See also:young developing leaves of the bush. In See also:bad cases the plants are greatly injured but frequently little harm is done. Attacked plants should be sprayed with See also:potassium sulphide. An allied fun- gus, Sphaerotheca mors-uvae, of much greater virulence, has recently appeared in England, causing the disease known as "American gooseberry mil-See also:dew " (fig. 3A). In the See also:main the mode of attack is similar to that of the last - mentioned, but not only are the leaves at-tacked, but the tips of the young shoots and the Flo. 3A.—American GooseberryMildew(Sphaerf r u i t s become otheca mors-uvae). Plant with leaves and fruit covered by the attacked by the fungus.

cobweb-like mycelium, the attack frequently resulting in the See also:

death of the shoots and the destruction of the fruits. After a From the See also:Journal of the See also:Board of See also:Agriculture (May 1907), by permission of the Dept. of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for See also:Ireland. time the mycelium becomes rusty See also:brown and produces the winter form of the fungus. Through the winter the shoots are covered thickly with the brown mycelium and in the spring the spores contained in the perithecia germinate and start the infection anew, as in the See also:case of the See also:European mildew. This fungus has recently been the subject of legislation, and when it appears in a See also:district strong repressive See also:measures are called for. In bad cases the attacked bushes should be destroyed, while in milder attacks frequent spraying with potassium sulphide and the pruning off and immediate destruction by See also:fire of all the young shoots showing the mildew should be resorted to. The gooseberry, when ripe, yields a See also:fine See also:wine by the See also:fermentation of the juice with water and See also:sugar, the resulting sparkling liquor retaining much of the flavour of the fruit. By similarly treating the juice of the green fruit, picked just before it ripens, an effervescing wine is produced, nearly resembling some kinds of See also:champagne, and, when skilfully prepared, far See also:superior to much of the liquor sold under that name. See also:Brandy has been made from ripe gooseberries by See also:distillation; by exposing the juice with sugar to the acetous fermentation a good See also:vinegar may be obtained. The gooseberry, when perfectly ripe, contains a large quantity of sugar, most abundant in the red and amber varieties; in the former it amounts to from 6 to upwards of 8%. The acidity of the fruit is chiefly due to malic acid. Several other species of the sub-genus produce edillle fruit, though none have as yet been brought under economic culture.

Among them may be noticed R. oxyacanthoides and R. Cynosbati, abundant in See also:

Canada and the northern parts of the United States, and R. gracile, common along the See also:Alleghany range. The See also:group is a widely distributed one in the north temperate See also:zone,—one species is found in Europe extending to the See also:Caucasus and North See also:Africa (See also:Atlas Mountains), five occur in Asia and nineteen in North America, the range extending southwards to See also:Mexico and See also:Guatemala.

End of Article: GOOSEBERRY

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