6 THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 



improved by sugar; accordingly, it is much esteemed when made into a 

 sweetmeat. The ripe fruit is fragrant, subacid, and cooHng; a grateful 

 syrup is prepared from the juice. Raspberry and Strawberry wines are 

 highly esteemed for their pleasant flavour; and, when diluted with water, 

 form a safe and agreeable drink in the heats of summer, — or, in the more 

 trying moments of febrile suffering. Raspberries are also used to flavour 

 brandy, vinegar, &c. The fresh leaves are the favourite food of kids." 



This quotation shows that the raspberry, even a himdred years ago, 

 was not much cultivated, and seems not to have been a popiolar table fruit, 

 but was grown chiefly to furnish a flavor, a drink, or for a medicine. 



Still another quotation may be given to show that the raspberry is a 

 comparatively newcomer in English gardens. In 1826 the Horticultural 

 Society of London published a Catalogue of Fruits.^ This list " compre- 

 hends nearly the whole of those which have ever appeared in print in 

 Foreign or English Lists of authority, and as many tmpublished kinds as 

 have appeared to deserve record." Yet only 23 sorts with 25 synonyms, 

 are listed. The introductory paragraph- gives the status of raspberry 

 culture at this time : 



" The Raspberries all belong to Rubus Idaeus, and are here separated from 

 the other species of Rubus, as being the only ones much ciiltivated. That 

 the varieties of this fruit are numerous will be seen by the following list of 

 names, but they are not distinguished generally by gardeners, who do not 

 appear to have paid them so much attention as they desei-ve. The dif- 

 ferences between the respective qualities of the varieties are very con- 

 siderable. The French names are not introduced, because thc}^ are 

 doubtless synonyms with our own, but have not yet been sufficiently proved 

 to be referred to their places." 



There is no need to trace the history of the raspberry further in England 

 for the varieties that now begin to appear bring us quite to our own day. 

 Nor is it necessary to attempt to follow the evolution of this fruit in other 

 Etiropean countries. Its domestication has not been more rapid in any 

 other of the Old World countries than in England. Perhaps too many 

 pages have already been given to the history of the fruit, the chief object 

 of which is to establish the fact that Rubus idaeus has received the attention 

 of gardeners but a short time, and that its evolution has not gone far, 

 especially as compared with that of the tree fruits. 



1 LoTtd. Horl. Soc. Cat. V. 1826. 

 ' Ihid. 196. 



