380 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



L The common dewberries, or Rubus Canadensis proper. Here belong 

 the Windom or Cook's Hardy, Lucretia's Sister, and Geer. The leaves 

 vary greatly in size and shape, those upon the bearing canes being 

 small, while those upon growing canes may be nearly as large as the 

 leaves of Lucretia. This species was founded by Linnaeus. Dr. N. L. 

 Britton, of Columbia college, examined the original specimens in London 

 for me last summer, and he finds that Linnaeus apparently founded the 

 species upon two distinct plants, one of which is the form of dewberry 

 under consideration, the other being a bush blackberry of which Dr. Britton 

 proposes to write later. Linnaeus' description applies to a trailing plant, 

 and his dewberry specimen may, therefore, be taken as the type of Rubus 

 Canadensis; and this is the seuse in which the species has been under- 

 stood by American botanists. 



2. The Lucretia sub-type, variety roribaccus. As compared with Rubus 

 Canadensis proper, this variety is a much larger and stronger grower; leaves 

 large and the margins doubly serrate with small teeth, and more or less notched 

 or jagged; leaflets broad at or below the middle, sometimes triangular ovate; 

 peduncles or flower stems much longer, straighter, and stouter, more erect, 

 habitually more numerous and more conspicuously overtopping the leaves; 

 flowers very large and showy (often two inches across); sepals uniformly 

 larger, some of them much prolonged and leaf-like and conspicuously 

 lobed ( sometimes becoming an inch long and wide ) ; fruit much longer 

 and larger as a rule, and more or less thimble-shape. Strong forms of 

 Rubus Canadensis itself often look much like this in foliage, but I have 

 never seen any in which there was such a development of long flower stems, 

 large flowers and fruits, and large sepals. The Lucretia appears to be the 

 only variety of this sub-type in cultivation. 



3. The Bartel sub-type, or var. invisus: This form of Rubus Canaden- 

 sis is particularly distinguished by the large and nearly simple teeth of 

 the leaves. Canes stout and stiff, often partially ascending; leaflets much 

 larger than in the species, broad and thin, smooth or very nearly so, the 

 teeth usually very large, simple, and often rounded and terminating in a 

 minute point; peduncles or flower stems long and straight; young flower 

 buds commonly bearing a prominent tip formed by the connivcnt ends of 

 the sepals ; flowers commonly larger than in the species. As the wild plant 

 grows here at Ithaca and as it is seen in the cultivated varieties, it appears 

 to be very distinct from Rubus Canadensis and I have sometimes thought 

 that it may be a distinct species. But there appear to be intei mediate 

 forms, and the exact position of the variety can not be determined until our 

 rubuses have received further study. To this variety belong Bartel, Gen- 

 eral Grant and Never Fail dewberries. It grows here upon a rocky hill- 

 side, completely covering the ground with a tangled mat a foot or a foot 

 and a half thick. The first ripe fruit on this wild patch appeared this 

 year July 22. The fruits are small, containing from six to eighteen 

 drupelets, and are of no value. 



The dewberries are essentially like the blackberries in methods of growth. 

 They bear fruit upon last year's canes, and these canes die or become weak 

 after they have fruited. The methods of cultivating dewberries differ 

 greatly. Some prefer to allow the canes to lie upon the ground and others 

 train to a trellis or rack. As the cultivated dewberries represent such 

 widely different types, the methods of cultivation are considered under 

 the discussion of varieties. The greatest fault of the dewberries appears 

 to be the failure of the flowers to set fruit. The causes of this failure are 



