HIGH-BUSH BLACKBERRY 



growth, beautiful in leaf and in llowcr, grateful in 

 fruit, i^lorious in its rich autumnal colorini^, — simply 

 to make a desolation, or to i)rovi(le more space for rag- 

 weed and plantain and beggar-ticks, — is zeal without 

 knowledge. Yet this is what happens nine cases out 

 of ten when the rural street commissioner starts out 

 ui)on his devastating career to imprcjve the country 

 roadside. 



RhI'ks nigrohaccus is the prevailing form of the high- 

 bush blackberries of the woods and fencerows of the 

 north ; from this wild, untamed, hardy stock has 

 sprung the blackberry of cultivation. The well known 

 Lawton, Kittatinny and Wilson varieties originated 

 from wild seedlings found by the wayside and trans- 

 ferred to the garden. 



The botanical history of this High-bush Blackberry 

 is entangled and confused. The plant is reall}^ Riibus 

 villosus of American botanists. It so appears in Gray's 

 Manual, sixth edition. But in following out the rules 

 of nomenclature adopted by the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science it was discovered 

 that the name Rubus villosus belonged to another plant. 

 Prof. L. H. Bailey was able to determine this bv per- 

 sonally examining the herbaria of Linnaeus and of 

 Alton. As a consequence our wild-wood brier became 

 nameless, and hnallv received the Latin synonvm of 

 its common name — iiii^j'obaccus, — blackberry. In study- 

 ing the plant it is well to remember that the hve- 

 foliate leaves are found usuallv on young and sterile 

 stems, tlie three-foliate upon the fertile ones. 



l-'rofessor Bailey, in " 'I'he Evolution ol our Xali\'e 

 Fruits,'' published in 1898, writes as follows: 



I4Q 



