THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK IQ3 



western dewberry. Laxtonberry is recorded as a hybrid between the logan- 

 berry and the Superlative red raspberry. The Van Fleet raspberry is a 

 hybrid between a Chinese bramble and the Cuthbert raspberry. The sorts 

 so far named are hybrids under cultivation which have more or less com- 

 mercial value. Untold numbers of similar hybrids have fallen by the way- 

 side in attempts to breed new brambles. A statement of what has been 

 done at this Station in crossing brambles in the last fifteen years shows 

 some of the possibilities of hybridizing bramble fruits. 



In the work of breeding new brambles at the New York Agricidtural 

 Experiment Station, eighteen species have been intercrossed. Willingness 

 to interbreed may be put down as a characteristic of Rubus. Few, indeed, 

 of the species of Rubus have refused to interbreed with another species 

 or with several other species. The violence of the cross is often remark- 

 able. The red raspberry is easily hybridized with the blackberry or with 

 the large-flowered and very distinct Rubus odoratus. Many new sorts 

 have arisen in the last few years, and the work of interbreeding brambles 

 is certain to prove productive of great numbers of new types, some of which 

 will be barren, and at best most will be but curiosities, but now and then a 

 new t5^e of value is almost certain to be bred. 



DEWBERRIES 



Considering the many merits of dewberries, as compared with other 

 bramble fruits, they have fotand a place in popular favor exceedingly slowly. 

 As compared with the fruits of blackberries, those of dewberries are usually 

 larger, sprightlier, juicier and, all in all, handsomer and more delectable. 

 The crop of most sorts ripens earlier, and over a longer season than that of 

 blackberries, and the plants are usually more productive. While dew- 

 berries may not be hardier than blackberries, the plants are more easily 

 protected so that there should be less winter killing. Yet despite these 

 advantages, no one undertook the domestication of dewberries until long 

 after the blackberry was established in the fruit plantations of the country, 

 the reason being, without doubt, that a dewberry plant seems hopelessly 

 unmanageable, although when the knack of training is learned it is as 

 easily managed as a blackberry. 



Dewberries are mentioned many times as promising subjects for 

 domestication by pomological writers early in the nineteenth century, 

 but no one seems to have undertaken the task until the early sixties. A 

 Dr. Miner, Honeoye Falls, Monroe County, New York, seems to have 



