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( 259 )
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XLL—FE.UITS IN THEIR SEASON. 9 .
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VIII. OI/D GOOSEBEERY A^D HIS CUIRAKT EE...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
( 259 )
( 259 )
Xll—Fe.Uits In Their Season. 9 .
XLL—FE . UITS IN THEIR SEASON . 9 .
Viii. Oi/D Goosebeery A^D His Cuirakt Ee...
VIII . OI _/ D GOOSEBEERY A _^ D HIS CUIRAKT _EELATIOXS . While every bright-tinted blossom still slept within its bark-built
cell , and only the first faint streaks of spring * green were yet dawning- over the dark bare boughs of winter , from among the
earliest of leaves crept forth one of the earliest of flowers ; but iiaunting no brilliant hues to mark it out amid the universal
verdure , this hardy little pioneer was attired on true rifle brigade principlesin a garb assimilating closely with its surroundings .
Possessed , of neither beauty nor fragrance , it lived out its little life unnoticed , perhaps , by one eye out of a hundred , among the many
eagerly watching for the bloom of spring , but connecting that idea solely with the snowy vestures of the cherry and , the pear treeor
, the richer glories of the almond and _apj _3 le . With the advancing season , however , the outgrowth of those humble blossoms soon
becomes apparent , and being endowed , while yet green and immature , with virtues beyond those of any of our other fruits in a
similar stage of progress , though not yet fit for the dessert , they grace the dinner table at least with a charm that has been long
absent , and our English feast of first-fruits is therefore always a feast of gooseberries .
The botanical name ribes , shared in common by both gooseberries and currants , is an Arabic title originally bestowed on them
through , a mistake ; for the description given by Arab botanists of the lant to which they had given this appellationseemed to apply
so well p to our fruits that they were classed with , it , and as the Europeans had not seen the real ribes , and the Arabians never
came in contact with the gooseberry or currant , neither party discovered the error that had been fallen into until it had continued too
long for the name to be altered , though the distinct nature of the respective plants has been long since ascertainedand even a cook-maid
, would hardfy now suspect that rhubarb ( the Arab ribes ) had anything in common with the gooseberry beyond the similarity of flavor in
the tarts made from them . The surname of the latter speciesyrossularia—is said to be derived from the resemblance of the fruit
to little unripe figs , called grossuli , whence , too . comes the French groseillethe Scotch grozer or grozetandaccording to some , our
name gooseberry , also , though the latter , is more , generally considered to have been corrupted from _gorse-herryon account of the prickly
, bush on which they grow , while some gardeners believe that it alludes to the gross or thick skin of the fruit , and others again trace
its etymology in the fact of its having been formerly much used as a spring sauce for the goose . In some counties it bears the name
of feaberry , contracted from feverberry , the juice having been considered beneficial in fever .
Before it has opened , the blossom of the gooseberry in size , shape ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1861, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061861/page/43/
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