TYPES IN CULTIVATION 225 



sist and spread, aided by their unmerciful thorns, conspired to 

 render them a terror to many timid gardeners. In spite of all 

 this, the blackberry has steadily pushed its way into prominence, 

 until it is to-day one of our most satisfactory and profitable crops. 

 Here, as with all other fruits, we are far from attaining perfec- 

 tion. We have no ideal variety. If we demand the best in point 

 of hardiness, we must yield in size and quality; if delicacy of 

 flavor is the desideratum, something else will be deficient. Yet 

 to stand by a well-grown row of Early Cluster, for example, to see 

 its glistening sprays of glossy black hanging in such graceful 

 profusion, to gather its magnificent berries and to test their sweet 

 and melting quality, just like those finest and ripest ones we 

 used now and then to chance upon in some wooded nook which 

 everybody else had missed, is to forget for the time being that 

 anything further is to be desired in a blackberry. Still we have 

 reason to hope that the achievements of this energetic and vig- 

 orous pomological youth are but an omen of what is yet to come. 



There are several distinct types of blackberries in 

 cultivation, but to properly classify all varieties under 

 these types is manifestly impossible, since the varieties 

 themselves are not accessible for comparison, many of 

 them having already disappeared from cultivation, while 

 others are yet too new. Descriptions seldom furnish 

 sufficient data upon which to determine such matters. 

 Still it may be advisable to carry the classification as 

 far as possible, as a matter of aid to future study by 

 those who have opportunity to do it. 



This inventory aims to include descriptions of all 

 varieties of blackberries and dewberries which have 

 been mentioned as cultivated in North America up to 

 the close of 1897. They are classified as follows: 



I. Long -cluster blackberries. 

 II. Short -cluster blackberries. 



