278 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



not yet been offered for sale, except a few plants by 

 Mr. Howarth, who now contemplates taking his entire 

 stock to England. It is unknown out of this vicinity, 

 and there is but one person who has more than a few 

 plants, as there have been none for sale. Our sea- 

 sons have been dry of late years, and, anxious to 

 supply my own garden, I could spare none, except a 

 plant to a particular friend. All beyond what are 

 wanted in my garden, my gardener furnished to Mr. 

 Howarth. The vine is very hardy, is not killed by 

 frost, is of rapid and vigorous growth, and requires 

 no particular cultivation, except that, from its vigor- 

 ous growth, it should have a higher trellis than the 

 Antwerp. ****** 

 "CINCINNATI, OHFO, September 30, 1841." 



Attached to this letter is a memorandum from 

 J. B. Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati, testifying to the 

 goodness of both Mr. Longworth and the fruit: 

 "I feel happy in expressing my perfect assent to 

 what has been stated above, on which the most 

 perfect reliance can be placed," the reverend gentle- 

 man says. "Mr. Longworth has no interest but the 

 public good and the advancement of horticulture 

 to promote, by his bringing before the people of 

 England this luxurious, hardy, and indigenous va- 

 riety of the raspberry. As far as my judgment 

 goes, I have never tasted a finer species of that 

 fruit." The editor of the magazine adds that "plants 

 of this raspberry are in a London nursery, but none 

 of them will be sold till the worth of the variety 

 is ascertained." The variety never gained much 

 note in England, but Robert Hogg still retains it 

 in the fifth edition of his "Fruit Manual," in 1884, 



