T^^ - '^^^^^ 



NIW i:tH IIII.I.K OB LAWTON BLACKBEERY. 



if kept under high culture, it will produce annually very heavy crops. It has all llie 

 characteristics of a i)rofitable variety. 



Fruit — very larj^^e, roundisli-obovate, often inclining to oval. Stalk — rather short, 

 stout, and deeply inserted. Calyx — closed, slightly sunk in an irregular, plaited 

 cavity. Skin — greenish-yellow, becoming quite yellow in good specimens, with 

 numerous brown dots, and a brownish red cheek when exposed freely to the sun. 

 Flesh — melting, juicy, with a sprightly vinous flavor. Tree — vigorous and erect, 

 with bright reddish-brown shoots, sprinkled with russet dots. Leaves — large and 

 folded. The Avood of yearling shoots usually shows prominent buds or gpurs on the 

 lower parts the first season, and have a forked appearance by making a second growth, 

 as the Bcurre (VArembcrg and some others do. 



THE NEW ROCEELLE OR LAWTON BLACKBERRY. 



Messrs. Geo. Seymour tt Co., of Norwalk, Conn., sent us a colored drawing of this 

 fruit, accompanied with the following observations on their mode of culture and 

 treatment. We had the annexed woodcut prepared from their drawing : 



" "We prepare the ground by plowing and manuring as for any ordinary crop. We then 

 take young plants, cut them back to Avitbin six inches of the roots, and plant in rows eight 

 feet by four apart. The first season we use the ploAv and cultivator both ways between 

 the rows, keeping the ground in good tilth. Next, or the second season, we train the 

 plants into the four feet spaces, leaving the eiglit feet spaces for the plow and cultivator to 

 work in. "When the plants are five or six feet high, pinch out the leading shoot to induce the 

 growth of vigorous side branches. In training, we prefer the bending mode to the upright. 



" We regard this Blackberry as a very valuable addition to the list of small fruits, because 

 it is so simple in its cultivation, bears regular and abundant crops, and when perfectly ripe 

 is of a highly agreeable flavor." 



We have only to add that from what we have seen and heard of this fruit, it can- 

 not fail to be an object of very profitable culture within any reasonable distance of 

 large cities. It ripens after Strawberries and Raspberries, and before Peaches, and 

 therefore comes most opportunely as to season. And then its cultivation must be of 

 the easiest possible kind — only give it rich soil, and keep it clean and well cultivated, 

 and an abundance of large fruit is certain. No one need expect such wondrous large 

 fruit, however, as people have witnessed at New Rochelle and Norwalk, in ordinary 

 soil and with ordinary culture. Manure must bo applied unsparingly, and the ground 

 must be kept clean and friable as work can make it. The Blackberry matures in 

 midsummer, when we have usually very warm and dry weather, and any neglect of 

 the soil would render the fruits worthless. We do not forget how Col. Stoddard 

 astonished people with the size of his Alpine Strawberries. It was thought he had a 

 sort, when in fact he merely cultivated a little better than others. Rich soi 

 culture are indispensable to the growth of large fruits of any kind. 



