18 FRUIT CULTURE. 



But in no part of the country does the raspberry thrive better than 

 in the valleys and plateaus of the mountain country, where soil and 

 climate combine to make it fine and productive. And in moist clay 

 soils in the upper piedmont section the raspberry thrives finely and 

 can be made profitable for the local markets. 



DEWBERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES. 



Our native dewberry is small, though early, but is never grown to 

 any extent for market. But the larger form, the Canada dewberry, 

 has been found to be among the most profitable of small fruits. The 

 variety of the Canada dewberry known as the Lucretia is the only 

 variety cultivated. While it is grown to some extent in the coastal 

 plain, the section where the culture of dewberries has grown most is 

 in the edge of the lower piedmont and mainly about the town of 

 Ridgeway, a settlement of Northern people, where, on a red-clay up- 

 land in Warren County, dewberry culture has grown to large propor- 

 tions and has proved profitable. The fruit goes into market before 

 strawberries ripen in the North and makes a variety in the fruits on 

 the market and usually brings a good price. In fact, the cultivation 

 of the Lucretia dewberry is extending annually. Instead of, as for- 

 merly, training to wires, which were found to chafe and injure the 

 canes, the running stems are now tied up in spring to stakes and the 

 new canes are allowed to run on the ground during the first season, 

 and are safer there in winter than tied up, so that the tying-up is not 

 done till spring. After the crop is off the old canes are cut away and 

 the new ones trailed along the rows out of the way of cultivation. 



The later and upright-lowing blackberries are also grown to a 

 considerable extent and over a wider territory than the dewberry. 

 In fact, there are numerous varieties of wild blackberries in all parts 

 of the State from which as fine sorts as those in cultivation could be 

 selected. This is particularly true of the mountain and upper pied- 

 mont sections, where blackberries of the finest quality grow so pro- 

 fusely that little attention has been given to their cultivation. The 

 earliest blackberry grown for market is the Early Harvest, a rather 

 small and sweet variety of wonderful productiveness, which comes 

 in often before the dewberries are over. The finest fruit is from the 

 Wilson, but some growers claim that, though the Wilson sells for a 

 higher price, the greater productiveness of the Early Harvest will 

 make it more profitable. Here, too, there is much room for growing 

 dewberries and blackberries for the local markets, which are as yet 

 not well supplied and depending very largely on the wild berries. 



WHORTLEBERRIES OR BLUEBERRIES. 



No attempts that we know of have been made to cultivate these, 

 but the wild crop is of great commercial importance in some parts of 

 the State, and in Sampson County the "Sampson Blues" have a great 



