THORNLESS BLACKBERRY 213 



it. Its berries were quite small and lacking in 

 flavor, and it had moreover the pestiferous habit 

 of suckering from the roots. So it naturally did 

 not achieve popularity. Nor was anything heard 

 of any other blackberry that laid claim to thorn- 

 lessness until about ten years later. 



Then it chanced in the year 1902 that Mr. 

 David G.Fairchild,of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, found in North Carolina a 

 few plants of a wild dewberry, apparently Rubus 

 canadensis, that were nearly thornless. Mr. 

 Falrchild and myself had frequently exchanged 

 specimens of one kind or another that were 

 thought to be useful in this work. He now very 

 kindly sent me a few ripe berries picked from the 

 partially thornless dewberry. 



The seeds were carefully planted in boxes in 

 my greenhouse. Of the several hundred seed- 

 lings that these produced, probably about one or 

 two in the hundred were nearly or quite destitute 

 of thorns. 



These few almost thornless plants were care- 

 fully selected, all the remainder being destroyed. 



From the fruits borne by these selected plants, 

 a second generation was raised, from among 

 which it was possible to select a number that were 

 absolutely free from thorns showing no sign of 

 any spicules on either stems or leaves. 



