ON THE THORNLESS BLACKBERRY 



would be stated more truly if we say that the bush 

 of the blackberry is a dewberry that has risen 

 from the ground and assumed the habit of up- 

 right growing. 



There is, nevertheless, a sufficient divergence 

 to make the dewberry seem to casual inspection 

 a plant of distinct type. And, at the time when 

 my experiments were begun, there were probably 

 few plant developers who would have supposed 

 it possible to hybridize even the dewberry with 

 the ordinary blackberry. 



Successive crosses were effected, nevertheless, 

 at an early stage of the work, ahd in the course 

 of my experiments the interblendings were so nu- 

 merous and intricate that seedlings were pro- 

 duced showing all gradations of habit between 

 the trailing vine and the upright one; as well as 

 all gradations of leaf and fruit form and quality. 



Sometimes in crossing a blackberry with a 

 dewberry the trailing habit is greatly intensified, 

 the hybrid being a long, vine-like, straggling plant. 

 Again, the result may be just the opposite, a tall, 

 upright, almost tree-like plant being produced. 

 Some hybrids would run a distance of at least 

 fifty feet. Others, perhaps of the same fraternity, 

 would take on so tree-like a habit that their fruit 

 could be reached only with the aid of a step- 

 ladder. 



[35] 



