close by, and treated in exactly the same manner, were not at
all infested by this fungus.[734] The time of maturity differs much in
the different varieties; some belonging to the wood or alpine section
produce a succession of crops throughout the summer.

_Gooseberry_ (_Ribes grossularia_).--No one, I believe, has hitherto
doubted that all the cultivated kinds are sprung from the wild plant
bearing this name, which is common in Central and Northern Europe;
therefore it will be desirable briefly to specify all the points,
though not very important, which have varied. If it be admitted that
these differences are due to culture, authors perhaps will not be so
ready to assume the existence of a large number of unknown wild
parent-stocks for our other cultivated plants. The gooseberry is not
alluded to by writers of the classical period. Turner mentions it in
1573, and Parkinson, in 1629, specifies eight varieties; the Catalogue
of the Horticultural Society for 1842 gives 149 varieties, and the
lists of the Lancashire nurserymen are said to include above 300
names.[735] In the 'Gooseberry Grower's Register for 1862' I find that
243 distinct varieties have at various periods won prizes; so that a
vast number must have been exhibited. No doubt the difference between
many of the varieties is very small; but Mr. Thompson in classifying
the fruit for the Horticultural Society found less confusion in the
nomenclature of the gooseberry than of any other fruit, and he
attributes this "to the great interest which the prize-growers have
taken in detecting sorts with wrong names," and this shows that all the
kinds, numerous as they are, can be recognised with certainty.

The bushes differ in their manner of growth, being erect, or spreading,
or pendulous. The periods of leafing and flowering differ both
absolutely and relatively to each other; thus the Whitesmith produces
early flowers, which from not being protected by the foliage, as it is
believed, continually fail to produce fruit.[736] The leaves vary in
size, tint, and in depth of lobes; they are smooth, downy, or hairy on
the upper surface. The branches are more or less downy or spinose; "the
Hedgehog has probably derived its name from the singular bristly
condition of its shoots and fruit." The branches of the wild
gooseberry, I may remark, ar