1 86 THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 



introduction, and it was at first grown under two names. August 7, 1841, 

 Eliphalet Thayer, Dorchester, Massachusetts, exhibited a blackberry at 

 a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society which attracted the 

 attention and excited the wonder of all who saw it by reason of its large, 

 handsome, and well-flavored fruits. It seems to have been introduced 

 under the name Improved High-bush Blackberry and to have been grown 

 under that appellation for some twelve or fifteen years. It was so called 

 in the letter to the Magazine of Horticulture, by Captain Lovett, quoted on 

 a previous page. Toward the end of the fifties, however, with no one in 

 particular as sponsor for the name, by common consent, because shorter, 

 the name Dorchester came into universal use for this fruit. Because promi- 

 nent in bringing it to the attention of fruit growers, Captain Josiah Lovett 

 was, in the early history of the plant, often credited with having discovered 

 and introduced the Dorchester. 



Two other landmarks stand out in the domestication of the black- 

 berry. One was the discovery in 1854, at Burlington, New Jersey, of the 

 Wilson; and the other the discovery of the Kittatinny in the mountains of 

 the same name in New Jersey in 1865. Wilson ripens just after the rasp- 

 berry season and therefore filled a space almost unoccupied by a hardy 

 fruit, thereby giving fruit growers an opportunity to keep labor and equip- 

 ment in use continuously. The berries were larger than any before seen, 

 excellent in flavor and were borne in prodigious quantities. The advent of 

 this variety gave blackberry culture a new and tremendous stimxilus so 

 that it began to take rank as one of the prominent fruit industries. The 

 introduction of the Kittatinny gave the industry a push in another direction. 

 Until its introduction all named varieties had been so tender to cold that 

 their culture was uncertain in any region where raspberries were grown 

 and qmte limited in northern range. Kittatinny was hardier than any, of 

 good flavor of fruit, and all plant characters were satisfactory. 



Varieties now began to appear in rapid succession, some of them notable 

 improvements over the sorts that have been named, and several new types 

 appeared. They came as chance plants found in woods or fields; from seed 

 sown to obtain new varieties; and a little later blackberry breeding began 

 through crossing varieties and hybridizing the several species of black- 

 berries and dewberries. The histories and pomological characteristics of 

 all varieties must be looked for in the chapter on varieties, while the 

 botanical characteristics and relations are given in the chapter on the botany 



