386 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



" The dewberry has the advantage of being easily protected when protection is nec- 

 essary, and in some parts of the country it may prove a valuable addition." — C. B. 

 Waldon, N. Dakota Exp. Sta. Bulletin, 2, 15. 



By reference to page 286, it will be seen that it stands 8 in hardiness at the Indiana 

 experiment station, while Windom stands 4, Early Harvest blackberry 4, and Snyder 

 blackberry 10. In T. T. Lyon's latest report (Bulletin 67, Mich. Exp. Sta. 16) it is 

 ranked 3 in hardiness in a scale of 10. 



In our own plantation the canes have not been injured to any extent. 



But what is the general value of the Lucretia dewberry? Is it an acquisition? It is 

 impossible to answer this question unreservedly. It seems to me to be a valuable fruit 

 because of its earliness, large size, and attractiveness, and a habit of growth which 

 affords winter protection in the north. The canes are very thorny and this feature, in 

 connection with the low growth, makes the gathering of fruit unpleasant. But a proper 

 system of pruning and mulching will overcome some of this difficulty, and if the canes 

 are tied to a trellis the picking is pleasanter than in blackberries. 



The adverse opinions often come from persons who allow the plant to grow at will, a 

 treatment from which we have no reason to expect good results. Cultivation and 

 pruning are as essential in the dewberry as in the blackberry. We must learn how to 

 overcome the failure of the flowers to set, and to prevent formation of nubbins. In 

 my experience, however, the greatest difficulty has arisen from the great variation in 

 the plants, and I suspect that much of the supposed tendency to form nubbins is really 

 a permanent characteristic of some plants which are not true to type. In a plantation 

 of fifty plants, fully half bear worthless fruit, while the remainder bear large and 

 handsome berries. The plants also vary greatly in time of ripening their fruits. The 

 best plants gave ripe fruit this year July eighth, but others gave none until the six- 

 teenth. Whether this variation comes from a sporting in the variety since its intro- 

 duction, or is chargeable to the substitution of wild or inferior plants by dealers it is 

 impossible to say; but it is a serious drawback to dewberry culture. It is certainly 

 conceivable that wild plants may be substituted for the named variety if the stock 

 should run short, and as early as 1886 I find an intimation that this has actually 

 occurred. The poor plants in our plantation belong to the botanical variety rori- 

 baccus. 



In order to show what success has been obtained in dewberry culture by careful 

 growers, I append various expressions which I have gathered from apparently reliable 

 sources and from an extensive correspondence. 



J. T. Macomber, northern Vermont: " The Lucretia dewberry has been spoken 

 against by some but I think it is the most valuable blackberry to plant at the north. 

 It may not be as hardy as some of the bush sorts, but its natural position on the ground 

 makes it one of the easiest of plants to cover. A few evergreen boughs I find to be 

 sufficient. Some complain that the fruit gets covered with dirt during rains, but it is 

 not necessary that it should become dirty. I make a horizontal trellis about two feet 

 from the ground upon which I lay the canes in the spring. This puts them in the best 

 position to be protected from birds by mosquito netting." 



J. H. Hale, Connecticut: " They are planted in rows eight to ten feet apart, with 

 plants four or five feet apart in the row, forming a thick matted row or bed four or five 

 feet wide. They throw up fruit spurs a foot or more high, and were just literally loaded 

 with fine large berries as large as the Lawton blackberry at its best, solid, without 

 core, jet black and of the delicious rich spicy flavor of the wild dewberries of memory. 

 Here they were ripening side by side with Gregg raspberries, making the Lucretia of 

 great value for our New England market, for thus far all of the blackberries we have 

 cultivated here ripen late in August, at a time when peaches are coming into market 

 and the buying publie are about tired of small fruits. To sum up, after growing the 

 Lucretia here in Connecticut, and after a careful inspection of the fields of it in Ohio, 

 I am convinced that the Lucretia dewberry is a vigorous, healthy plant, as hardy as the 

 Taylor blackberry, as productive as Snyder, as large as the Lawton, and the best in qual- 

 ity of any of the blackoerry family, and the earliest of all to ripen. I do not see how 

 it is possible to produce a better fruit of its class." 



The best account which I have found of the commercial value of the Lucretia is 

 from the late A. J. Caywood of Ulster county, New York, well known as one of our 

 most critical horticulturists. It is the following: 



" Concerning the market value of the Lucretia dewberry, I think that it is one of 

 the most beneficent berry gifts that the country has ever received, from several con- 

 siderations; and I probably would not have given my opinion, was this noble fruit not 

 being traduced by parties who ought to know more of its good qualities. We planted 

 nearly half an acre three years ago, when the price of plants was high. The next sum- 

 mer after planting, it paid interest on land, paid for the plants, all culture and work 



