GOOSEBERRY (grossularia), a sub-genus of the genus rzbes(see CURRANT), distinguished by a thorny stem, a more or less bell-shaped calyx and flowers on 1 to 3-flowered stalks.— The common gooseberry (rapes grosvularia) is a native of ninny parts of Europe and the n. of Asia, growing wild in rocky situations and in thickets, particularly in mountain ous districts; but it is a doubtful native of Britain, although now to be seen in hedges and thickets almost everywhere. Some botanists have distinguished as species the variety having the berries covered with hairs (seta); that having the ger melts covered with soft unglandular hairs, and the berries ultimately smooth; and that which has even the garment smooth (I?. ,tera-erisp'a. and R. redinatum); but these varieties seem to have no definite limits in nature. The varieties produced by cultivation are very numerous. chiefly in England, where, and particularly in Lanca shire, greater attention is paid to the cultivation of this valuable fruit-shrub than in any other part of the world. In the s. of Europe it is little known. It does not appear to have been known to the ancients. Its cultivation cannot be certainly referred to an earlier date than the 17th c., and was only in its infancy at the middle of the 18th, when the largest gooseberries produced in Lancashire scarcely weighed more than 10 dwts., whereas the prize-gooseberries of that county now sometimes exceed 30 dwts. well-known diversities of form, color, and flavor, as well as of size, mark the different varieties. For the production of new varieties, the gooseberry is propagated by seed; otherwise, generally by cuttings, which -grow very freely. Any good garden soil suits the gooseberry. It is rather the better for a little shade, but suffers from much. The bushes are trained in various ways, but it is necessary to prune so that they may not be choked up with shoots, whilst ea.e, ought to be taken to have an abundant supply of young wood, which produces the largest berries. Besides its well-known wholesome ness and pleasantness, and its u. .e for making an excellent preserve and jelly, the ripe fruit is used for making wine and vinegar. An effervescent gooseberry wine, which might well claim attention under its own name, is often fraudulently sold as cham pagne. The use of unripe gooseberries for tarts increases the value of this fruit-shrub. The gooseberry season is prolonged by training plants on n. walls, and by covering the
bushes with matting when the fruit is about ripe. Unripe gooseberries are kept in jars or bottles, closely sealed, and placed in a cool cellar, to be used for tarts in winter. When the bottles are filled, they are heated, by means of boiling water or otherwise, to expel as much air as possible before they are corked and sealed. Various derivations have been given of the name gooseberry, but most probably the first syllable is a cor ruption of groseille, the French name of the fruit, from which also comes the Scotch grozet or grozart. In some parts of England, the gooseberry is called feaberry.—Among the other species of gooseberry most worthy of notice are R. cynosbati, a native of Canada, of Japan, and of the mountains of India, much resembling the common goose berry in foliage and habit, the fruit more acid than the cultivated gooseberry; R. divarieatum, a native of the n.w. coast of America, with smooth, black, globose, acid fruit; R. irriguurn, also from the n.w. coast of America, with well-flavored globose fruit, half an inch in diameter; R. oxyacanthoides, a native of Canada, with small, globose, red, green, or purplish berries of an agreeable taste; R. gracile, found in mountain-meadows from New York to Virginia, with blue or purplish berries of exqui site flavor; R. acieulare, a Siberian species, with sweet, well-flavored yellowish or pur plish smooth berries; all of which, and probably others, seem to deserve more atten tion than they have yet received from horticulturists.—The SNOWY-FLOWERED GOOSEBERRY (R. niceum), a native of the n.w. coast of America, is remarkable for its beautiful white pendulous flowers. Its berries in size and color resemble black cur rants, are acid, with a very agreeable flavor, and make delicious tarts. Another species from the same region (R. speciosum) is very ornamental in pleasure-grounds, and is remarkable for its shining leaves, its flowers with four stamens—the other species having five—and the great length of the sazatile, a native of Siberia, and other species, forming a sub-genus called botrycarpum, have a character somewhat intermedi ate between currants and gooseberries, being prickly shrubs, but having their flowers in racemes. R. sa.ratile has small, smooth, globose dark purple berries, like currants, which are very agreeable.