THE CANADIAN H0ETICULTURI8T. 



231 



made to avoid this difficulty by care in 

 collecting and grinding the leaves have 

 not resulted in success, and it has long 

 been supposed that this objectionable 

 quality was inherent in the American 

 plant ; but Mr. William McMurtrie, in 

 a report to the United States Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture, shows that this 

 difficulty can be surmounted and the 

 American product made even superior 

 to the foreign. Mr. McMurtrie made 

 a number of tests to learn the relative 

 amounts of tannic acid found in the 

 leaves at different periods of their de- 

 velopment, and whiie the amount was 

 found to be greatest in the leaves 

 gathered in July, he found that those 

 gathered in full development in June 

 were even then more than equal to the 

 best foreign leaves in this respect. But, 

 further, he found that the deleterious 

 coloring matter (due to the presence of 

 quercitrin) was not yet developed, and 

 that therefore the American leaves 

 gathered in June were superior to the 

 Italian for all purposes. 



The importance of this discovery may 

 be seen by the fact that the cultivation 

 of the plant may be carried on most 

 profitably in this country as soon as 

 manufacturers and dealers recognize the 

 improvement thus obtained in the do- 

 mestic article, and by classifying it ac- 

 cording to its percentage of tannic acid, 

 and its relative freedom from coloring 

 matter, advance the price of that which 

 is early picked and carefully treated. 

 In Italy the sumac is planted in shoots 

 in the Spring, in rows, and is cultivated 

 in the same way and about to the sam^ 

 extent as corn. It gives a crop the 

 second year after setting out and reg- 

 ularly thereafter. The sumac gathered 

 in this country is taken mostly from 

 wild plants growing on waste land, but 

 there is no reason why it should not be 

 utilized and cultivated on land not 

 valuable for other purpoBes. — Scientific 

 American. 



THE SOUHEGAN RASPBERRY. 



This very valuable, early, and prolific 

 blackcap is a chance seedling, origin- 

 ating in the garden of a Mr. Carleton, of 

 Hillsboro' county. New Hampshire, 

 about 1870, and for the past five or six 

 years he has had two or three acres of 

 it growing for market. I visited the 

 original plantation several years ago, 

 and was so very favorably impressed 

 with its great value as an early market 

 berry, that I at once made arrangements 

 with the originator for his stock of 

 plants. For three years now we have 

 had it in fruiting at Elm Fruit Farm, 

 and have received far better returns 

 from it than from any other Raspberry 

 we have ever grown. 



It surpasses all other sorts in three 

 very important points, viz : hardiness, 

 earliness, and great productiveness. 



The canes are very vigorous, branch- 

 ing quite freely, with many strong, 

 sharp spines. In hardiness and vigor 

 of plant it has no equal among black- 

 caps, and I doubt if even the hardy 

 Turner, which is called the "iron-clad" 

 among red sorts, is any more hardy. 

 From last year's experience I am led 

 to think that Souhegan is the more 

 hardy of the two, as Turner was badly 

 damaged in one of our fields, while 

 Souhegan was uninjured ; and among 

 the hills of New Hampshire, and along 

 the banks of the Souhegan River, near 

 where it originated, it has always passed 

 through the winters sound to the tip. 

 In my travels the past month, in fifteen 

 States and the Canadag, wherever I 

 found the Soubegan growing, almost 

 the first thing said of it was, "It is 

 the most hardy plant we havL." 



The originator claims that it is four 

 times as productive as any other black- 

 cap, and while I cannot fully agree 

 with him, must admit that it is far 

 more prolific than anything I know. 

 Quarts upon quarts of delicious berries, 



