PURPLE CANE RASPBERRIES, ETC. 21% 



they are untried, or have not proved themselves equal to 

 the kinds I have named. 



Quite a distinct branch of R. Occidentalis is the Purple 

 Cane family, — so named, I think, from the purple cane 

 raspberry that v/as so well known in old gardens a few years 

 ago, but since it has been superseded by better kinds is now 

 fast passing out of cultivation. It almost took care of itself 

 in our home garden for forty years or more, and its soft, 

 small berries would melt in one's mouth. Its canes were 

 smooth and its fruit of a dusky-red color. In other respects, 

 it resembles the black-cap tribe. 



The Catawissa, found growing in a Pennsylvania grave- 

 yard, is another berry of this class, which produces a second 

 crop in autumn. It is tender in the Northern States, and 

 has never become popular. 



The Philadelphia is the best known of the class, and at 

 one time was immensely popular. Its canes are smooth, 

 stout, erect in growth, and enormously productive of 

 medium-sized, round, dusky-red berries of very poor flavor. 

 It throve so well on the light soils about Philadelphia, that 

 it was heralded to the skies, and the plants sold at one time 

 as high as $40 per 100, but the inferior flavor and unattrac- 

 tive appearance of the fruit caused it to decline steadily in 

 favor, and now it has but few friends. Unlike others of its 

 class, it does not root from the tips, but propagates itself by 

 suckers, producing them sparingly, however. When it was 

 in such great demand, the nurserymen increased it by root 

 cuttings, forced under glass. 



