1 6 THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 



varieties of the Black Cap and the Purple Cane is in the fruit. The first, 

 as is well known, have rather dry, tough fruit, with a peculiar flavor. Its 

 grains are numerous, and very irregular in size. The fruit of the Purple 

 Cane, as a rule, is rather soft, juicy, often very brittle, the grains separat- 

 ing very readily. Color, varying from light red to dark brownish-purple, 

 but never black; the flavor mild and agreeable, but entirely distinct from 

 those of the true Black Raspberry." 



Two years after Fuller wrote, 1869, Charles H. Peck, State Botanist of 

 New York, took these purple-canes to be a distinct natural species growing 

 wild in New York and gave them the name Rubus 7ieglectiis, a name still 

 recognized for this group by rriost botanists. The following year, 1870, 

 C. F. Austin, in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, struck upon the 

 true origin of the purple-canes in his statement that R. neglectiis is "a 

 hybrid, I have no doubt, between R. strigosns and R. occidental is." 



Bailey,' in American Garden, 1890, puts the purple-canes in Peck's 

 R. neglectiis, and gives the botanical characters which distinguish culti- 

 vated purple-canes from the red and black raspberries. He suspects a 

 hybrid origin but does not afifirm it. He says: "It has been said that 

 Rnbus neglectus is a hybrid between R. strigosus and R. occidentalis, and its 

 intermediate and inconstant characters seem to warrant this disposition of 

 it. But a hybrid origin is not proved, and I am glad that its features have 

 been definitely described before its origin is determined, as it enables us to 

 draw discriminating characters in one of the most confused groups of our 

 fruits. There is no question but that the red and black raspberries will 

 cross. We have made a number of hand pollinations this year, and if I 

 am successful in growing the seeds I shall soon have a hundred or two 

 plants to compare with Rubus neglectus.'' 



Card,- in his excellent book, Bush-Fruits, 1898, introduces his discussion 

 of the purple-cane group with this paragraph : "In this group I have endeav- 

 ored to include all those varieties which are intermediate in character 

 between the red and the black raspberry. Not all of these belong to the 

 true Purple-cane type. The Philadelphia and its numerous seedlings are 

 much nearer to Rubus strigosus than to Rubus occidentalis. They propagate 

 by suckers, though somewhat sparingly, and are, to all intents and purposes, 

 red raspberries of a slightly darker hue, while the true Purple-cane type 

 propagates by tips, being like black raspberries in habit." Card at this 



' Bailey, L. H. Afn. Card. ii:y22. 1890. 

 = Card, Fred W. Bush-Fr. 177. 1898. 



