336 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



(p. 182). This is a communication from "T. C. 

 Bartles, of Clinton county, Illinois," and is headed 

 "Bartles' Mammoth Dewberry." The description of 

 the berry runs as follows: "This is a very fine berry. 

 ripening from the last of June until the middle of 

 August. The fruit is very large, rich and juicy, 

 slightly acid, but not so sour as the blackberry. 

 When ripe it is black, and is sufficiently solid to 

 bear shipment with safety. I have had berries over 

 two inches in length and one inch in diameter. They 

 are a perpetual bearer from the time they begin to 

 ripen (in ordinary seasons) until the last of August — 

 having blossoms on the same vine simultaneously 

 with the ripe fruit. They are very prolific, yielding 

 in a fair season from sixty to eighty bushels to .111 

 acre. They do not blossom until late in the spring — 

 later than the strawberry— the fruit maturing in 

 from four to six weeks after blossoming— henee they 

 are seldom it' ever injured by late frosts in the 

 spring. They are very hardy — having succeeded as 

 far north ;is Wisconsin and the northern part of 

 Iowa." An account of methods of cultivation is then 

 given. "I shipped some of my dewberries to New 

 York city from this place, for which I received six- 

 teen dollars per bushel. I also shipped t<> Etockford, 



111., St. Louis, Mo., and to Independence, Iowa, for 

 which I received twelve dollars and eighty cents per 

 bushel; while the highest price paid for strawberries 

 did not exceed, on an average, six dollars and fortj 

 cents pel- bushel. 1 consider the dewberry the most 

 profitable fruit raised." Mr. Purdj gave root- of 

 this dewberrj as a premium to his paper at this 



time, and among those who obtained it were I. X. 



