STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 109 



BLACKBERRY — ITS VARIETIES AND CULTIVATION. 



In its natural wild state there is no fruit of temperate zones so valuable as the Black- 

 berry. The King of all North American indigenous fruits; its perfect adaptation to the 

 want- of man's alimentary system, at the period of Its ripening ; its delicious flavor, com- 

 bined with it- great productiveness, has made il the greatest boon to the bardy pion- 

 eer of our western wilds. The immense amount of human suffering, saved by this 

 .>n.- bountifnl giftof all bountiful nature, and the still greater amount that could 

 have been Bayed by a greater use of this most delicious medicine, would have been 

 inavlnable If Its merits had been properly appreciated by our hardy pioneers. With a 

 very little care it could be had in abundance the year round ; simply by gathering it 

 at lb- proper time and drying it in nature's dry liou^e — the July and August sun — it 

 could i"' kept for an Indefinite time with all its beneficent qualities, Dearly or quite un- 

 impaired, always ready, always good. But corn, corn juice, hog and hominy, too often 

 received the greater care. How kindly nature provided for the wants of the hardy 

 pioneer on his march westward, strewing Iii^ path with most delicious and health giv- 

 ing fruit- in the moBt profuse abundance, as if to say "carve you out a home from the 

 wilderness, court not Pomana until you have all other things in comfort around you, I 

 will give you a full sufficiency of all her choici I gifts free of care or toil, until such a 

 time as you shall have means and time to court her capricious majesty." Allot us, 

 who wrestled in that pioneer struggle will never forget our wild strawberries and cream 

 and short-cakes, our blackberry pies, dumplings and cordial wines, our dried grape 

 Christmas pies, our wild crab and molasses apple butter. I believe, in those early days 

 we a- a people, enjoyed more of Pomona's gifts than we do at tin: present time, with 

 all our planting, care and negligence ; we then had blackberries in abundance— Plums 

 in abundance; have we any now ? No, and never will have unless we fight tor them, 

 our motto will have to be : " Up guards and at them," and we the guards: Pomona has 

 no tree grifts for sluggards. In the first settlements of all new countries, a wise provis- 

 ion of nature allows US to plant our fruits and vines, which thrive and produce fruits, 

 the fairest specimens with but little care and trouble, as if she knew that with our 

 multitudinous cares, we would be likely to neglect the young, yet barren fruit plant ; 



but a- i a- we have gained a footing, the scourges of older settled regions begin to 



find their way amongst us, and it is only by untiring industry, energy and watchfuln 



that we can have any good fruit at all. He that plants a tree, or plant of any kind, in 

 Illinois at the present time, expecting a crop of fruit in the future without any thought 

 or care thereafter, will surely be disappointed, as he should I.e. The early settler 

 could get bis few dozen peach pits out of the old stocking leg, and plant them in his 



fence corners, and in a few years have an abundance of peaches with no tint her care 

 whatever, in latitudes where our most skilful Horticulturists would fail miserably at 

 the presenl time, our blackberry patch then was all of [ acle Sam's timber land; 

 Motlcr Earth's surface was often black with them; in their season they fed the beasts 

 of the field and the fowls of the air. Ti. rise to two distincl breeds of 6wine ; 



The thin skinned ones, elongated their countenances in reaching up for them; the 

 tough skinned ones, not afraid of the briar- straddled the bushes, bent them down and 



