£63 



NOTES ON CURRANTS, RASPBERRIES, ETC. 



nurcs, and then pruning them with great 

 attention, and allowing but a moderate 

 number of berries to remain upon each 

 plant. This practice is very generally 

 adopted in England, by growers of fruit 

 for premiums ; but it does not form a fair 

 test of the real merit of the variety. It 

 may be well to say, that the largest varie- 

 ties I have fruited, are the White and Red 

 Provence, French Large White, Cerise de 

 Toiux's, or Cherry Currant, and the Bangup 

 and Naples, the two last being black varieties. 

 In regard to the Raspberry, we may also 

 say tliat our pomologists have not been idle. 

 Dr. Brinckle of Philadelphia, the well 

 knov/n originator of a number of highly 

 estimable varieties of the Strawberry, and 

 the only person who has positively hybri- 

 dised the Scarlet and Hautbois families, 

 has presented to our view the Cushing and 

 several other beautiful and estimable varie- 

 ties of the Raspberry, some of which are 

 of a color previously unknown to this class 

 of fruits. On my own part, I have also 

 done something. I have above fifty seed- 

 lings of the Fastolff which have produced 

 monstrous fruit the present season ; a dozen 

 or more seedlings of Knevet's Giant, which 

 from analogy, I presume was the parent of 

 the Fastolff; a large improved seedling va- 

 riety of the common Red Market Raspber- 

 ry ; and numerous seedlings, partly hybri- 

 dised, of the White American, Ohio Month- 

 ly, Fraaconia, and Red and White Ant- 

 werp varieties. I added to my collection 

 every estimable European variety before 

 commencing operations, deeming it the pro- 

 per course in this, as in every other Ameri- 

 can pursuit, to adopt the climax of Euro- 

 pean attainment as the starting point for 

 American development. I have saved the 

 seeds Avith my own hands, during the pre- 

 sent season, of every estimable variety, for 

 further progress. 



As Avith the Grape, so with the Raspber- 

 ry, the God of nature planted but one edi- 

 ble species on the eastern hemisphere, 

 whereas numerous species are scattered far 

 and wide, on the American soil, from Que- 

 bec to Virginia. 



When a schoolboy, studying the French 

 language at Montreal, I well remember how 

 oft in my rambles I found on the roadsides 

 a profusion of delicious raspberries, and of 

 a species yet utterly unknown in this sec- 

 tion of our Union, save a few plants I che- 

 rish in my grounds, for " auld lang syne." 

 Again, when rambling over the wilds of the 

 Catskill, I found, in a state of native luxu- 

 riance, three varieties with which I had 

 been familiar from childhood, in the gardens 

 of my father and grandfather. One of these 

 was the identical " Common Red," now so 

 extensively cultivated for market ; the se- 

 cond was the " Black Cap," and the third 

 was the " American White." It is a pecu- 

 liar characteristic of the Catskill varieties, 

 and of the " Ohio Monthly," (which are all 

 of the same species,*) that they never suck- 

 er, but propagate themselves by throwing 

 down to the earth the extreme ends of the 

 long shoots, which strike root, and form 

 each a new plant, after which they detach 

 themselves entirely. There is in Pennsyl- 

 vania and perhaps farther south, a distinct 

 species, [Rubus pemisylvanicus,) producing 

 large fruit about the size of the Franconia, 

 and similar in color, being a very dark red. 

 This invariably produces a second crop in 

 October. [According to Torrey and Gray 

 R. pennsylvanicus, so named, is only the 

 common Red Raspberry. — Ed.] In Virgi- 

 nia also, one or morespecies [varieties ?] 



* Mr. Pbinxe falls into error, in saying these are all the 

 same species. The " Common Red " Raspberry is Rubus 

 strigosus. (Mx.) entirely distinct in foliage, fruit, and habit of 

 growth, etc., from the common " Black Cap,'" Riibvs occiden- 

 tals. (Linn.) The '' Ohio Monthly," or Ohio Everbearing, 

 is merely a variety of tlie latter, but one which in strong and 

 damp soils, we think valuable. With ns it produces fruit 

 abundantly till the frosts of November stop its growth.— Ed 



