BLACKBERRY HISTORY 299 



hardly be doubted that men who would brave the 

 uncertainties, not to say terrors, of an ocean voyage 

 on an almost unknown sea, and the settlement of a 

 new country peopled with savages of unknown traits 

 and tendencies, rather than surrender ideas which they 

 cherished, would not be quick to form new ones. 

 Hence we can readily conclude that the blackberry 

 of America was to them much what the blackberry of 

 England had been simply a wild bramble, to be 

 destroyed when possible and replaced by something 

 better, and whose fruit was to be gathered at will. 

 Moreover, to cultivate a fruit which was so readily 

 obtained in abundance for the gathering would have 

 been folly to them, when many other things conducive 

 to their safety and comfort were so much more needed. 

 As time went on, however, this gratuitous feast of 

 nature, provided for the fostering of 'infant indus- 

 tries,' began to diminish, and the demand of growing 

 cities for increased quantities of fruit doubtless led to 

 the idea of cultivating the blackberry among the rest. 

 Just when this state of affairs was reached it is impos- 

 sible to say, but evidently not until quite late in our 

 national development, for the blackberry does not 

 seem to have begun to receive much notice or to be 

 talked about in the horticultural journals until about 

 1850. From 'Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture,' it 

 appears that Capt. Josiah Lovett, of Beverly, Mass., 

 figured prominently in introducing it to cultivation. 

 Even then, as with many other good and useful things, 

 first impressions were unfavorable. Of course, the 

 first effort would naturally be to bring plants which 

 bore the most promising fruit from the woods and 

 clearings, and set them in the garden. This attempt 



