THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 1 3 



canes of the Ohio Raspberry — I paid them very close attention. They 

 bore fniit in summer of a darker colour than those they were growing 

 amongst, and smaller, varying in colour as did the canes. I thought at first 

 that they were sports from my original black Raspberry, resulting from 

 — may I so call it? — domestication; and although interested, I was not 

 surprised, this being reserved for the autumn, for then surprise did come, 

 the canes which I had noticed, or rather the yoiing canes of the growth of 

 the simimer, putting forth in October an abundant crop of fruit, the canes 

 which had given fruit in summer being then dry and sapless. The coloiu" 

 of the canes, most of them having the pretty blue tint of the sort from Ohio, 

 induced me to think that I had by accident obtained some curious cross- 

 breeds. I now believe this to have been the fact. 



" I wished, however, to see the end of this curious outbreak; for I 

 thought why should not other kinds of Raspberries growing near the Ohio 

 Raspberry, and from which seedlings had been raised, receive a stain? I 

 therefore raised a number of seedlings from the first apparent hybrids I dis- 

 covered, and I have since then raised three or four generations, confining 

 myself to the seed taken from the largest beiTies of a deep purple colour, 

 hoping to establish a race that might be reproduced from seed without 

 difficulty ; for I must add that nearly all my black autumnal Raspberries are 

 like their Ohio parent — they make a large stub after being repeatedly cut 

 down, but produce no suckers from their roots. The result of my sowing 

 carefully-selected seed from the finest purple berries produced in autumn is 

 most curious. 



" I have had red summer Raspberries, red and pink, flesh-coloured, 

 and large white autumnal sorts; yellow summer and yellow autumnal 

 varieties ; small-berried black autumnal Raspberries of gigantic growth — 

 making strong canes 15 feet in length, and some dwarf bushes 2 feet in 

 height; in short, such a ynelange as I think never before was seen in a bed 

 of Raspberries. It would take a long chapter to describe them; but as the 

 greater portion were horticulturally valueless, they have been destroyed. 

 I have, however, settled down to a few sorts, which seem as if they would, 

 with the exception of a few slight vagaries, prove constant. One, a large 

 black autumnal variety, with blue canes, ripening in October; another with 

 large black berries, and with canes not so blue, ripening in August; another 

 with very large orange berries, and another with large white berries, 

 covered with a glaucous bloom, both ripening in October. It is curious 

 to note that the sorts with pale berries put forth suckers from the roots like 

 the common kinds of Raspberries, whereas those with blue canes and black 

 berries put forth none, yet all came from the same source — the black 

 autumnal hybrids." 



Let us now go back to the Ohio Everbearing. This variety as we have 

 said seems to have been the first blackcap to be named and introduced 



