Blackberries Varieties, Cultivation, Etc. 



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planted it. This variety took kindly to civilization, and has done more to 

 introduce this fruit to the garden than all other kinds together. Mr. Donald 

 G. Mitchell, in his breezy out-of-door book, "My Farm at Edgewood," 

 gives its characteristics so admirably that I am tempted to quote him : 



Gathering Wild Blackberries. 



" The New Rochelle or Lawton Blackberry has been despitefully spoken of by 



' many ; first, because the market fruit is generally bad, being plucked before it is 



i fully ripened ; and next, because, in rich, clayey grounds, the briars, unless severely 



cut back, grow into a tangled, unapproachable forest, with all the juices exhausted 



i in wood. But upon a soil moderately rich, a little gravelly and warm, protected from 



; winds, served with occasional top-dressings and good hoeings, the Lawton bears 



; magnificent burdens. Even then, if you wish to enjoy the richness of the fruit, you 



I must not be hasty to pluck it. When the children say, with a shout, ' The black- 



\ berries are ripe ! ' I know they are black only, and I can wait. When the children 



report, ' The birds are eating the berries ! ' I know I can wait. But when they say, 



* The bees are on the berries ! ' I know they are at their ripest. Then, with baskets, 



we sally out ; I taking the middle rank, and the children the outer spray of boughs. 



Even now we gather those only which drop at the touch; these, in a brimming 



saucer, with golden Alderney cream and a soupcon of powdered sugar, are Olympian 



nectar ; they melt before the tongue can measure their full roundness, and seem to 



be mere bloated bubbles of forest honey." 



Notwithstanding this eloquent plea and truthful statement, the Lawton 

 is decidedly on the wane. It is so liable to be winter-killed, even with best 

 of care, and its fruit is so unpalatable, in its half-ripe condition, that it has 



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