Proceedings of the Farmer^ Club. 457 



were going into the small fruit business, our principal crop, next 

 to the strawbeiTy, would be this fruit, for there is no plant that 

 will yield larger returns, with less care, than the raspberry. If we 

 look back a period of twenty years, we cannot fail to notice the 

 difference our markets present in the fruit season. Then a great 

 part of our supply of raspberries and blackberries came from the 

 woods. Even of these the supply was limited, and not equal to 

 the demimd; yet we had to be contented with a small quantity of 

 very inferior fruit — that is, inferior compared to what we see in 

 market at the present day. "We are not of those who pretend to 

 think they have never eaten as fine fruit of the cultivated varieties 

 as they have of the wild ones. Thank providence, this class of 

 people are fast dying off, or they are cultivating their tastes so as 

 to prefer a luscious Brinckle orange to those they gathered in 

 their youthful days by the roadside. They seem to forget that the 

 all-wise Ci'eator, who has given us the delightful gifts, has also 

 bestowed on man the power and intellect to multiply and improve 

 the fruits of the earth. Within the past few years, the cultivation 

 of the raspberry has increased so rapidly that the demand for 

 plants of the new and improved varieties is so great that the skill 

 of the horticulturist is taxed to its utmost to supply the demand 

 for what was a few years ago a luxury, but which is now consid- 

 ered a necessary, even by the poorest. According to Prof. Grey, 

 there are six species of the raspberry and eleven of the bramble 

 family. This includes the blackberry. Of the first six, there are 

 only two varieties cultivated. These are the rubus occidentalism or 

 black raspberry, of which the Doolittle is an improved variety, 

 and the nihus strigosus, or wild red raspberry, whieh is found 

 growing wild all over the country. This variety, in its botanical 

 character, resembles the rubus ideaus of Europe, and from which 

 most of our really good varieties have been raised. The other 

 four varieties have thus far been unworthy of cultivation, yet the 

 day may not be far distant when some of our smart horticulturists 

 may astonish us with a seedling from these superior to any we 

 have yet, and thereby benefit the country, and meet his reward in 

 a pecuniary point of view. The Blackcap has, within the past few 

 years, become exceedingly popular, chiefly on account of its earli- 

 ness and productiveness. Its season is short, varying from ten to 

 fifteen daj-s with us; yet on the dry and sandy soils of New Jersey 

 we have seen it continue in bearing much longer. We are rather 

 ekeptical as to the Doolittle being the result of a peculiar system 



