THORNLESS BLACKBERRY 231 



produced showing all gradations of habit be- 

 tween the trailing vine and the upright one; as 

 well as all gradations of leaf and fruit form 

 and quality. 



Sometimes when crossing a blackberry with a 

 dewberry the trailing habit is greatly intensified, 

 the hybrid being a long, vinelike, straggling 

 plant. Again, the result may be just the oppo- 

 site, a tall, upright, almost treelike plant being 

 produced. Some hybrids would run a distance 

 of at least fifty feet. Others, perhaps of the 

 same fraternity, would take on so treelike a 

 habit that their fruit could be reached only with 

 the aid of a stepladder. 



But perhaps the most singular and interesting 

 anomaly was that some of these hybrids bore 

 flowers and fruit in every month of the year, 

 though sparingly. At the time when I had a 

 large colony of blackberry-dewberry hybrids, 

 ripe berries could be picked from one bush or 

 another almost every day throughout the year. 



The possibility of producing, with the aid of 

 such hybrids, commercial varieties of blackberries 

 that will fruit at all seasons is inviting. Experi- 

 ments already far advanced have greatly ex- 

 tended the blackberry season, and there is reason 

 to expect that the blackberry lover in the future 

 will be able to secure this fruit, in one variety or 



