1 88 THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 



"A pecvdiar bush blackberry, with long wand-like canes, and entirely 

 destitute of thorns, was collected a year or more ago by Dr. C. F. Mills- 

 paugh in West Virginia, at an altitude of 3,500 feet. It appears to be 

 specifically distinct from the common bush blackberry, and it has recently 

 been described as a new species by Dr. Britton under the name of Riibus 

 Millspaughii {Bui. Torrey Bot. Club, 18:366, 1891). Dr. Britton knew no 

 other specimens than those of Millspaugh, except a single leaf of it in 

 Linnaeus' herbarium, in London, collected by Kalm over a century ago. 

 I am inclined to think, however, that the species is generally distributed 

 over the northeastern states. I have recently had good specimens of it 

 from the highest mountains of the Smoky range, North Carolina, above 

 6,000 feet, collected by Chas. A. Kofoid and Mr. Beardslee. In Walter 

 Deane's herbarium, at Cambridge, Mass., there is a specimen of it from 

 Ice Gulch, Randolph, N. H. (White Mountains), collected by J. R. Churchill 

 in 1889, and Mr. Deane says that there is another specimen in the Gray 

 herbarium from the Keweenaw peninsula, Lake Superior, collected by J. W. 

 Robbins many years ago. I have had canes of a perfectly smooth black- 

 berry sent me from northern Michigan (near Grand Traverse), and I have 

 no doubt that they belong to this species, as the angular and furrowed, 

 perfectly smooth canes of Ruhus Millspaughii are easily distinguished from 

 those of the common blackberry. From all these records, it would appear 

 that the species occurs upon our northern borders, and that it follows the 

 mountains southward ; and this accounts for the finding of the specimen by 

 Kalm, who traveled in Canada. 



" Now, as the canes of Ruhus Millspaughii are perfectly thornless, 

 it is important that horticulturists should turn their attention to the species 

 if it gives any promise of good fruit. The so-called thornless blackberries 

 of gardens are only comparatively unarmed forms of the common black- 

 berry. The person who sent me the thornless canes from northern Michigan 

 said that the fruit is good. Mr. Kofoid, who collected the specimens in 

 North Carolina, sends me the following note: ' It seems to be very abun- 

 dant where it occurs, forming dense thickets of upright stems five to eight 

 feet in height. As late as the 29th of August we found the fruit just turn- 

 ing a faint reddish tinge, and quite palatable and sweet to a hungry man. 

 Natives say that the fruit becomes ripe and black in September. The 

 berries are large, long and slender and very sweet, lacking the sharply acid 

 or bitterish quality of the berries of the lower mountains. There are no 

 thorns or prickles. One can go through the patches unscathed. You 

 may, however, find a few minute prickles on the mid-vein, generally of the 

 terminal leaflet.' This is certainly a promising account. 



"There are several botanical characters which distinguish this species 

 from the common blackberry, aside from the absence of thorns. It lacks 

 almost entirely, except on some of the young shoots, the conspicuously 



