Berry Culture Along the Atlantic Coast. 213 



like most varieties of the American species, soon exhibited the true Ameri- 

 can propensity "to spread," hence, so to speak, "the garden wouldn't hold it." 

 The result was that in a few years it became no uncommon thing to see 

 plantations of red raspberries acres in extent, throughout New Jersey and 

 adjoining States. The good work has continued with the introduction of the 

 B.andywine, Turner, Reliance, Cuihbert and the Hansell, until red raspber- 

 ries have almost become a st<iple crop from Virginia to Massachussetts; yield- 

 ing in some seasons and under favorable circumstances almost fabulous 

 sums of mone3\ The two last named are by no means least, for in addition 

 to being of untold value in the coast States, they are extending far into the 

 South, even into the Gulf States. The cultivation of the noblest of small 

 fruits, the 



' BLACKBERRY, 



Dates back to the introduction of the Dorchester in 1842, by Josiah Lovett, 

 of Beverly, Mass., but its culture as a market fruit and a market crop prop- 

 erly began with the advent of the Lawton. As with the Wilson strawberry, 

 however, it remained for a blackberry bearing the same name to make the 

 cultivation of the fruit universal and extended, and to this do the laurels be- 

 long. Tust here I will digress to refer to a few facts connected with the Wilson 

 strawberry and Wilson blackberry. 1. More solid cash has been realized from 

 the culture of these two varieties of small fruits than from any other varie- 

 ties of their respective classes. I question if more has not been realized from 

 them than from all others combined. 2. Both are acid and of poor quality, 

 but handsome, large, productive and firm, proving conclusively that firm- 

 ness, size and beauty are properties of greater importance in a fruit for mar- 

 ket than quality. When first ottered in market the fruit of the Wilson 

 blackberry sold at a dollar a quart wholesale. This very naturally created 

 excitement among fruit growers. Planters sold their horses, mortgaged their 

 lands, in fact, any and everything, to buy plants at a hundred dollars per 

 hundred, and the strangest part of all to record is that all who bought at 

 these extravagant prices made money by so doing. Right in the midst of 

 this furore came the introduction of the Kittatinny, adding fuel to the Uame, 

 and blackberry culture received what in our day would be characterized as 

 a " boom." The climax in the culture of this fruit along the Atlantic coast 

 was reached in Burlington and Camden counties of this State about the vcar 

 1868, one grower having at that time as much as one hundred acres of the 

 Wilson alone in bearing, from which it is said he realized a net profit of one 

 hundred thousand dollars. Latterly, from double blossoming of the Wilson 

 and other defects, and the fungus or " rust " upon the Kittatinny, the culture 

 of the blackberry has subsided in a measure, and market growing in the sec- 

 tion covered by the title of this ptaper is confined chic liy to the Wilson in 

 favored locations throughout Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. The 

 dawn of a new era of successful culture of this profitable and health giving 

 fruit is now to be seen in the horizon, produced by the Wilson Junior, Early 

 Harvest and Early Cluster. 



