584 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 15 



kudzu did not seem to be a vine at all. It 

 just grew up as tall as a tomato and bore 

 berries. Several asked me if the berries 

 were fit to eat. I told them that, as the cat- 

 alog said nothing about their being fit for 

 food, they might be poisonous. Since that 

 time, for several years, they have come up 

 in the greenhouse and other places, and have 

 borne these same berries. Now how could 

 Luther Burbank be so busy in creating (?) 

 this new creation if it was already fully cre- 

 ated, and offered for sale by Miss Mary Mar- 

 tin (close by John Lewis Childs' place, mind 

 you) four or five years ago? A few days 

 later Mr. Stephen N. Green, now connected 

 with our Ohio Experiment Station at Woos- 

 ter, looked at my wonderberry, and declared 

 that it was the old garden huckleberry. At 

 the time I purchased the kudzu seed I also 

 bought seeds of the garden huckleberry, but 

 did not succeed in raising any plants. Either 

 she or I got the seeds mixed. 



Well, another "wonder" struck me when 

 our stenographer who is taking down these 

 notes informed me they had some "huckle- 

 berry pie " for dinner yesterday made out of 

 these same huckleberries that came from a 

 neighbor's garden next door. While I think 

 of it, the juice of the fruit, after it is made 

 into a pie, has the brightest and most beau- 

 tiful rich purple color, outstripping the old- 

 fashioned huckleberry entirely. Who was 

 that chap the boys were laughing at who 

 could not eat huckleberry pie without get- 

 ting his ears "mussed up " ? If he were to 

 tacKle a wonderberry pie you could see him 

 almost a mile off on account of its striking 

 color. 



The Rural New-Yorker recently declared 

 that the wonderberry and huckleberry are 

 not exactly one and the same thing, and add- 

 ed further that the garden huckleberry is 

 the better fruit of the two, which I heartily 

 indorse; and the Rural rather seems to have 

 brought to light also the fact that a good 

 many people received the garden huckleber- 

 ry when they sent to Childs for the wonder- 

 berry. Come to think of it, there are quite 

 a number of other fruits that have an un- 

 pleasant flavor when eaten raw but are very 

 nice when cooked. Mrs. Root suggested, as 

 an example, the black English currants. 

 Nobody ever wants to eat them raw; but 

 both of us think they are ahead of any other 

 berry for puddings, pies, etc., especially 

 when canned and used in winter. While I 

 am about it I also want to call attention to 

 the fact that, several years ago, a seedsman 

 advertised seeds not only of peach, pear, 

 and cherry tomatoes, but currant tomatoes — 

 tomatoes that were borne in great profusion, 

 not much larger than large currants; and 

 these currant tomatoes came very close in 

 appearance to our new wonderberry. And, 

 by the way, if Luther Burbank does not get 

 mad and quit, will he not turn his attention 

 to developing a potato-ball that is good to eat? 

 then we can have potatoes under ground 

 and fruit on top of the vines. Here is some- 

 thing that would indicate what the wonder- 

 berry may do in South Dakota: 



GUILDS' AND RURBANK'S "WONDERBERRY." 



You ask for the experience of those who have tried 

 the wonderberry. We are among the number. Hav- 

 ing paid 20 cts. for about a dozen seeds, we called it 

 the "wonderful wonderberry," and made all sorts of 

 pport of it. We "roasted" Childs, and clapped our 

 hands when the farm papers helped us in the roasting 

 process. But in the past two weeks we are ready to 

 stand back of all that Childs sa/tf concerning it. It truly 

 is a " wonderful plant." Ours stand three feet high 

 and six in diameter, and are loaded with berries as 

 large as blueberries, and the pies made from them are 

 equal to the best blueberry pie we ever ate, and we are 

 not alone in this expression. Don't condemn Childs 

 yet. Mrs. Peck is canning several quarts now. We 

 think it has a future. C. M. PECK. 



Mt. Vernon, S. D., Aug. 31. 



And here is another letter in its favor, 

 from Illinois: 



GOOD FOR PIES, ANY WAY. 



1 desire to say I have raised and fruited over 200 won- 

 derberry plants, and that we find them all right. Let 

 them get ripe and they will make an excellent pie. 

 They can not be judged by tasting them before cook- 

 ing. We make the pies the same as blackberry pies, 

 and the fruit is not liard to pick, as we do it. Allow a 

 whole bush to get ripe (they hang on welli, then clip 

 the bush off at the ground with a knife or pruning- 

 shears; turn it bottom side up over a wash-tub, and 

 strip them off, letting them fall into the tub. Try them. 



Greenfield, 111., Sept. 3. W. G. Secor. 



In conclusion, I am very glad indeed to 

 get these favorable reports from the new 

 berry that has been pushed all over the 

 world, as it would seem; but I am sorry that 

 Burbank and Childs have lent themselves to 

 the scheme of making us believe that it was 

 a new creation when the whole wide world 

 had it already but was not "sinsible of the 

 fact." That is what the Irishman said of the 

 turtle that would not die, even if somebody 

 had cut off its head. He declared, "The 

 crayther is dead, sure enough, but he does 

 not seem to be as yet sinsible of t/icfact." 



Later. — I have just been up to the neigh- 

 bor's garden mentioned, and found a row of 

 plants bearing berries, some specimens of 

 which were ]l of an inch in diameter, or 

 about as large as a good-sized grape. The 

 plant branches out rather more than a toma- 

 to, and the leaves are almost exactly like 

 what is known as the potato-leaf tomato. 

 As with some other plants, they are troubled 

 a good deal by a flea beetle. I am informed 

 they use Paris green to destroy the pests. I 

 would suggest hellebore as a better and 

 safer remedy. The fruit is borne in bunch- 

 es or clusters, and present a very handsome 

 appearance. The shape is very much like 

 that of a potato-ball. 



After the above was dictated 1 made a 

 careful search in a drawer adjoining our 

 greenhouse, and succeeded in finding the 

 envelope that must have contained seeds of 

 the garden huckleberry which I planted in 

 the greenhouse in the spring of 1905. On it 

 we read as follows: 



GARDEN huckleberry. 



^Solanum Nigrum.^ 

 A new fruit from Washington State, and most desir- 

 able introduction of late years; will outyield any other 

 berry grown. Grows from seed, and ripens its crop 

 same year. Berries jet black, four times the size of 

 huckleberries. For pies or jams it is the equal of any 

 other fruit grown. Plant same as tomato in box or 

 pan, and, when danger of frost is over, set out 2x4 

 feet. When jet black, slew thirty minutes; make very 

 sweet. Better than wild huckleberries for pies, jams, 

 jellies, sauce, and canning. This new fruit is insect- 



