THE CHINESE GOOSEBERRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19991, 6 July 1928, Page 9

THE CHINESE GOOSEBERRY.

AN ATTRACTIVE FRUIT. AVAILABLE DURING WINTER. A new and most attractive fruit whiclt has been slow in coming into ' popular favour simply because its good qualities are not sufficiently known, is the Chinese gooseberry. Scientifically, it is known as actinidia Chinesis. It was introduced into this country some years ago from China.A grower who knows it well describes the Chinese gooseberry as one of the most valuable fruits ever introduced into tha country. It is a winter fruit and thus comes on the market at a time of scarcity when it is most needed and appreciated. It is a fruit that can be easily turned to any use, and is equally suitable for bottling, for jam or jelly, for baking in pies or for eating raw with sugar and cream. When properly ripe it has a delicious flavour, best described as a combination of English gooseberry and rockmelon. It gives off an aroma something like that of a rock melon. When eaten unripe it is tasteless and coarse like the rind of a cucumber.

In size the Chinese gooseberry is much the same as an ordinary passion fruit, of bronze colour, and covered with fine hair. This hair, must be rubbed off before the fruit is put away to ripen. The plant is a'wonderfully prolific vine and as much as 501b. of fruit has been taken from one three-year-old vino. Care should be taken to grow it from grafts, as seedlings cannot be relied upon for size and may take 10 years before they' begin to bear. A grafted plant will bear in from two to three years. Another strong point in favour of the Chinese gooseberry is that it lias a prolonged period of ripening, extending over several months. They can generally be first gathered about the last week in June, and it is usual to store them to ripen. If left on their vines the frost nips off the leaves and exposes the fruit, and the birds, who are good judges in such matters, rapidly show their appreciation of the quality "and flavour of the berries. The whole plant is ornamental as well as useful, and may be trained to adorn an archway with its handsome leaves. Its flower is of a very pretty creamy colour and is sometimes as much as two inches

across. The Chinese gooseberry could very canity be cultivated commercially.