198 



THE ILLIIsrOIS E.A.n]>d:EIl. 



overflowing with rich vegetables, and 

 may we not cultivate a few acres well ? 

 aye, yes, the comforts of good health 

 and a happy home and leave to the am- 

 bitious the poor consolation of running 

 over a large area dignify it with the 

 name of farming, purchase his vegeta- 

 bles and fruits at the village grocery, 

 and have the wind sweep over his unpro 

 tected home, when sickness lays him 

 beneath his uncomfortable roof siir- 

 rounded with all the wishes but none 

 of the comforts of home. 



" And now when 

 Chill December's surlj blast, 

 Lay field and forest bare." 



When tlie labors of the year are 

 brought to a close, it is well to cast up 

 the account and make preparations for 

 the future, when the wind sweeps with 

 its chilly blast, think of the unstabled 

 cattle and the timber belts ; when you 

 sit down to your meal of fat pork, strong 

 coffee and dry bread think of the veget- 

 able garden, the quiet cow chewing her 

 cud, the pantry stored with butter and 

 cheese, the cellar filled with fruit, all of 

 which might have been yours but are 

 not ; then pledge yoursel f , your wife and 

 children that be fore the russet lea veslshal 

 again Avhirl in the autumn eddies, your' 

 best efforts shall be put for^ to make 

 these a reality. 



[From the Cincinnati Times.] 



Report on Raspberries. 

 The following report, read before the 

 Cincinnati Horticultural Society, by 

 Dr. John A. Warder, is probably the 

 best paper on the subject ever read be- 

 fore any society in this conutry. It is 

 thorough, complete and satisfactory, and 

 will be most excellent to peruse for ref- 

 erence, which we comrcend : 



To the Frcsident of the Cincinnati 



Horticultural Society :'^ 



As a member of the standing commit- 

 tee on Raspberries, I proceed to make 

 a report of the present state of the cul- 

 ture of this fruit, as it has been observ- 

 ed by myself. As directed by the So- 

 ciety, I make a separate and indepen- 

 dent report, and hope my colleagues 

 may not be held responsible for my short 

 comings or blunders. Having cultiva- 

 ted this fruit to a considerable extent, 

 and in many varieties, I shall give the 

 result of my own experience. 



Botanists tell us that there arc six 

 species of the raspberry in this country, 

 and eleven of the bramble family, which 

 also includes the blackberry. Of these 

 six which are raspberries proper, there 

 are but two species that furnish the 

 fruit which we cultivate for table. — 



These are the Rubua Strigosus, or the 

 American Red Raspberry, and the R. 

 Occidcntalis, or the Thimble-bcrry, com- 

 monly known as the Black- cap. Each 

 of these species has its varieties, but all 

 the different American raspberries which 

 are cultivated for their fruit must belong 

 to one or the other of these species, or 

 else our botanists must have blundered. 

 We have, besides these, at least four 

 species of the raspberry, but they are 

 chiefly admired for their flowers, the 

 frnit being smaller and of indifferent 

 quality. The other species of this ge- 

 nus bramble or rubus are characterized 

 by having the numerous achenia of 

 which the berries are composed united 

 with the fleshy receptacle, and separat- 

 ing with it when ripe, not leaving it, as 

 in the raspberries proper, upon the 

 stem. 



The Rubus Strigosus, or American 

 Red, with its varieties, very closely re- 

 sembles the European R. Idseus in its 

 botanical characters. We have several 

 varieties of this species, which is known 

 as the wild red raspberry, and is com- 

 mon across the country north of latitude 

 41 S. or 42 S. Of these are the Allen, 

 JKirtland, Catwissa, etc., which show a 

 close affinity to this species, and are 

 probably all American in their origin. — 

 There are other varieties, which have 

 attracted less attention because of the 

 inferiority of their fruit. The Rubus 

 Occidcntalis is a very distinct species, 

 characterized by its being glaucous, by 

 having hooked prickles upon the stems 

 which are recurved, and which are are 

 prone to root at the ends, like the walk- 

 ing-fern. This peculiarity is not noticed 

 by our botanist, Mr. Gray, though I 

 consider it a very distinctive character- 

 istic; also :hat it seldom increases by 

 suckers, which is the very common mode 

 of multiplication of the R. Strigosus, 

 which never roots at the ends of the 

 stems. This species also has its varie- 

 ties, distinguished by the size and color 

 of its fruit, and also by the color of the 

 bark and foliage. 



Mr. Gray says: "Some curious forms 

 are known, with fruit intermediate be- 

 tween this species and the Strigosus.'' — 

 Can ho mean the Catawissa and the 

 Purple Cane? The former I should 

 class with the Strigosus; the latter with 

 the Occidcntalis, unquestionably; along 

 with the American white, a poor and 

 rather dry fruit, and with varieties of 

 Black-cap, known as the Doolittle, the 

 Mia^ii, and the Ever-bearing sorts; for 

 that distributed as the Ohio Ever-bearing 

 is not the only one known with the pro- 

 pensity to produce an autumnal crop of 

 fruit. Of the American kinds we may 

 assume that they are all hardy, though 

 even these are sometimes injured by our 

 changeable winter climate, south of 

 latitude 40 degrees N., where we have 



no continuous protection from snow as 

 in Canada, where I have seen the tender 

 European varieties bearing abundantly, 

 at Montreal, after having been covered 

 v.'ith six feet of snow through the win- 

 ter. 



The varieties of the European species 

 R. Idseus, are those that attract most 

 attention upon our horticultural tables, 

 whether they have originated upon that 

 continent or this. They may mostly be 

 embraced in the class Antwerps, char- 

 acterized by their foliage, by their 

 spines, or bristles, and by the peculiar 

 flavor of their luscious fruits, to which 

 the American Red bears a close resem- 

 blance; hence it is often called a Red 

 Antwerp. Among these numerous va- 

 rieties, we find all the most celebrated 

 raspberries, from the Fas toff and Ant- 

 werp s, and Ever-bearing sorts of Euro- 

 pean origin, to the delicious fruits of the 

 same class that have been originated 

 from seed in our own country, and 

 chiefly produced by that indefatigable 

 pomologist. Dr. Brinkle, whose Orange 

 has deservedly obtained a high notorie- 

 ty. All of this class of Raspberries 

 are easily winter-killed; they are tender 

 and need some sort of protection, and 

 are hence much better suited to amateurs 

 than to the market garden. We have 

 been told that it is an easy matter to pro- 

 ect them, and I have been credibly in- 

 formed that whole fields are covered by 

 using the plow, after pegging down the 

 canes. This may be so where the growth 

 Is but moderate, in which case it is less 

 susceptible to the injury from frost, but 

 whoever may attempt to plow a furrow 

 over the sturdy canes of the brittle Fas- 

 tolff, that are eight or ten feet long, and 

 nearly an inch in diameter at the ground, 

 will have something of an undertaking 

 on his hands, rivaled only by a similar 

 attempt to plow dirt over the more stub- 

 born canes of the Catawissa, with their 

 numerous branches standmg out in eve- 

 ry direction. 



The great difficulty, however, in this 

 region, is not so much the severe cold as 

 the spring frosts. When well buried, or 

 even if well covered with weeds or corn- 

 stalks, or any other litter that will pro- 

 duce a partial ehade, these raspberries 

 will survive the winter very well. The 

 Catawissa almost always escapes the cold 

 here; but as spring advances, the rasp- 

 berry very early begins to grow, the buds 

 burst, and they must be lifted from 

 their winter quarters. If this be delay- 

 ed a few days, the white shoots will 

 have started, and cannot bear the rude 

 winds of March, much less the spring 

 frosts to which they will most likely be 

 exposed. My Catawissa raspberries 

 have suffered more'*in March than du- 

 ring the whole winter. Against mere 

 cold, indeed, this variety appears proof. 

 While we must admit the superior excel- 



