152 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



spring, which proved fatal to many plants, while many others were more 

 or less enfeebled, and yet others killed outright. 



Since the comparatively recent introduction of this fruit to cultivation, 

 improvement seems to have been confined to the discovery and introduction 

 of seedlings from the wild type. So far we are aware, there have been no 

 attempts at improvement by artificial cross-fertilization. At the west, 

 especially, the effort appears to be for the discovery of a variety hardy 

 enough to withstand the occasional crucial winters. Some advancement has 

 been realized in such direction, although, as yet, improvement in this par- 

 ticular has been at the expense of size. Since the habit of the plant is to 

 produce its fruit only upon the tips of its branches, which are necessarily 

 the most exposed; and considering the fact that naturally the plant is an 

 undergrowth, accustomed to sheltered situations, there is obvious occasion 

 to doubt the possibility of arriving at a condition of absolute hardiness, 

 and upon such assumption, whether with the needful artificial protection, 

 it were not wiser to direct our efforts rather to the combination of quality 

 with size and productiveness. 



The foliage this season, as well as last, has suffered somewhat from the 

 depredations of the leaf roller, for which, so far as we are aware, no rem- 

 edy has yet been devised. 



The base of the young canes of this, as well as the raspberry, just below 

 the surface, is occasionally attacked by an insect, which partially or wholly 

 girdles, and so weakens, them that they break away and perish with the 

 swaying of a moderate wind. 



With the exception of anthracnose (the prevalence of which is given in 

 the column of remarks) no fungous diseases of either plants or fruit have 

 been observed this season. 



It is so difficult and often impracticable to obtain reliable information 

 respecting the origin and history of varieties that the place of origin in 

 many cases is omitted, and the date of planting only is given. 



As in the case of raspberries, the very unequal influences of soils and 

 locality, combined with the effects of the excessive wet of last spring, ren- 

 ders a statement of comparative products of little value, for which reason 

 their relative productiveness for this season is estimated upon a scale of 

 one to ten, as follows: 



