NEW YORK EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 39f 



think as much of it as I do of Lucretia. The berry is fully as large as the Lucretia, 

 and much better in flavor. The plants seem to be deficient in pollen, and I think it 

 would be a benefit if other varieties of dewberry were planted with them." 



The Bartel appears to have found little favor with most growers. Nearly all the 

 favorable testimony comes from the west. It has been grown for some years at the 

 New York state experiment station at Geneva. The record of the dates of blooming 

 and fruiting show that it does not differ perceptibly from Lucretia in those features. 

 The plants have always been unsatisfactory there, so much so that the report of the 

 station for 1888 records that they "were removed, in consequence of which they 

 have not been reported on." Yet the variety is still growing at Geneva, and Mr. 

 Hunn, horticulturist, reports that in 1890 it "gave considerable fruit, but of poor 

 quality and extremely difficult to harvest. I am of the opinion that they are of but 

 little value grown as running plants, but if grown on a trellis they are more fruitful 

 and of better flavor, as the sun would have a tendency to make them sweeter." 

 Professor Gopf records that at Geneva " the plants were quite unproductive and the 

 fruits filled out very poorly." T. T. Lyon makes the following record of it in a " report 

 on new fruits " in 1883: "Bartel is a variety received from Nebraska, having the trail- 

 ing and tip-rooting habit of this class; very unproductive. Fruit small, round, black; 

 pips very large and prominent; texture medium, juicy, mild, sub-acid. Judging by its 

 performance so far, it is but a cumberer of the ground. Ripe July 28th." In the 

 Michigan fruit catalogue for 1888 the Bartel is ranked 5 for desert and 2 for market, 

 and it is characterized as " an uncertain bearer, fruit often small." E. Y. Teas, Irving- 

 ton, Indiana, writes that he has cultivated it many years: " It has always been value- 

 less with me, and many other cultivators have discarded it as worthless. It must be a 

 variable variety, for others consider it equal to the best. I never obtained a perfect 

 berry." 



The failure of the Bartel to bear was ascribed by Mr. Purdy to imperfect or unisex- 

 ual blossoms, but all dewberries which I have seen have perfect or two-sexed flowers. 



It is evident that the Bartel has merits, particularly for the west. It needs more 

 extended trial in the east to determine its value here, but the evidence thus far is not 

 encouraging. 



6. Mammoth. — There are certainly two plants sold under this name, one being 

 Riibus Canadensis var. invisus and the other apparently true Rubus Canadensis. 

 The former is, I think, the same as Bartel, but the history and characteristics of the 

 latter I have been unable to trace. 



So far as I can learn, the commoner Mammoth dewberry offered by nurserymen is 

 simply the Bartel, and the plants which I have grown and seen of it appear to be the 

 same. The original name of the Bartel was Bartel's Mammoth, and it is now often 

 sold under this name; and sometimes Bartel is omitted. I have written to nurserymen 

 who advertise the Mammoth, and all the replies which I have received state that 

 Bartel, Bartel's Mammoth, and Mammoth are the same. It is a common impression 

 among growers and experimenters, however, that the two are distinct, perhaps because 

 they were received under different names. Mr. Lyon in the Michigan report of new 

 fruits in 1883, quoted above, says that the " Mammoth is another variety of similar 

 character [to Bartel] scarcely more productive. Ripe August 1st." Separate reports 

 of Bartel and Mammoth are given by the New York state experiment station, and 

 Professor Gofp speaks of them as different in his articles already quoted. But no one, 

 so far as I can learn, has pointed out any differences between the two. 



One of the replies to my inquiries of nurserymen, from a very prominent western 

 firm is as follows: "As to Mammoth, we verily believe there is in reality no specific 

 variety generally distributed and known under this name. Twenty years ago, Dewey, 

 the plate-maker, had a plate called ' Mammoth Prolific Dewberry,' and so long ago as 

 1873, we scoured the country over trying to find a few hundred of something by this 

 name for a customer who had sold them from the aforesaid plate, but could not learn 

 of anything of the kind then in existence. Since the introduction of Lucretia, a firm 

 in Jackson county, Illinois, brought out a variety they called Mammoth, and while we 

 are not absolutely sure, we think it was merely a wild variety which they took up, prop- 

 agated, and gave this name. We obtained plants and have had them in cultivation for 

 a number of years; do not know but that they have done about as well as Lucretia, 

 though we must say that none of the dewberries have been particularly satisfactory 

 with us." 



I mistrust that the plate referred to is the one which Dr. Bartel had made for his 

 variety. I have been unable to learn the history of the plate. It seems to have made 

 no impression upon the nurserymen of western New York, where Dewey, the plate 

 maker lived, and I have not been able to find a copy of it. I feel sure that the com- 

 mon Mammoth is the Bartel. 



