78 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1910 



consider it a distinct species. Every fruit 

 grower, however, knows that the European 

 requires too much coddling for a market 

 fruit. One would naturally expect the red 

 raspberry to be the most popular type in 

 America, but it is not. The first variety 

 of it was Allen's Red, i860, but the first 

 great advance was made by Cuthbert, which 

 is the leading market variety to-day. Bush 

 fruits were not extensively planted before 

 1870 or 1875. 



The black raspberry is so much hardier 

 and more productive than the red rasp 

 berry that, in spite of its color, anyons 

 nowadays can see that it is a better propo- 

 sition for market. But people who had 

 always eaten red raspberries could not be 

 expected to see that. The first direct 

 attempt to improve the raspberry was made 

 in 1832 when Longworth introduced the 

 Ohio Everbearing, which has gone out of 

 cultivation and must not be confused with 

 the prominent Ohio berry of to-day. The 

 dominant variety now is the Gregg. The 

 course of evolution has been from a long 

 cluster of relatively small berries to a short 

 cluster of large berries. The black caps 

 have all been developed from R. occidentalis. 



But the most important raspberries for 

 market are the "purple canes," of which 

 Shaffer is, perhaps, the leading variety. 

 They are the most productive of all, and 

 after canning their purple berries attain an 

 attractive pink color, while the red rasp- 

 berries fade badly. These purple canes 

 are derived from R. neglectus and the first 

 varieties were natural hybrids between the 

 black and red caps. This species was not 

 described until 1869 and not fully under- 

 stood until 1890. The first raspberry of 

 any kind that. came into cultivation was one 

 known as the "English Red," which was 

 introduced about 1825, the name showing 

 that it was supposed to be a European 

 variety. Yet raspberry culture grew so 

 slowly that in 1853 the American Pomolog- 

 ical Society recommended only five varieties 

 and all were foreigners. 



EVOLUTION OF THE BLACKBERRY 



The story of the blackberry is full of 

 superlatives and apparent contradictions. 

 (1) The hedgerows of Europe are full of 

 blackberries, yet America is the only country 

 which cultivates blackberries and dew- 



Brandy wine, an American strawberry The straw- 

 berries of continental Europe are everbearing, i.e., 

 they yield intermittently from June to September. 

 The everbearing type has never been a commercial 

 success here. 



berries for market. (2) No bush fruit is 

 capable of yielding a larger profit than the 

 blackberry, yet more prejudice against it 

 exists to-day than against any other small 

 fruit. (3) It is the latest in the season to 

 ripen, and (4) it was the last of all fruits to 

 take high rank commercially. 



All these things are easily explained. The 

 blackberry turns black before it is ripe, and 

 therefore at first acquaintance it is regarded 

 as unbearably sour. A blackberry is not 

 ripe until it is soft and falls into your hand 

 at a shake of the cluster. Then it is sweet. 

 No fruit deteriorates more quickly after 

 picking. It is the only fruit that is too easy 

 to grow, becoming a troublesome weed, if 

 neglected. It has the cruellest thorns of any 

 fruit plant in cultivation. It is probably the 

 most abundant in a wild state of any of the 

 Rubus fruits and it has the largest berry. 



The blackberry was not mentioned in any 

 American fruit book until 1833. Its first 

 variety, the Dorchester, appeared in 1841. 

 The first market variety was the Lawton 

 or New Rochelle, introduced in 1857, but 

 not until 1875 did it attract wide attention to 

 blackberry culture. About a decade later 

 it was susperseded by the Kittatinny, which 

 gave way in ten or fifteen years to the Snyder. 



The prototype of the long-cluster black- 

 berries is Rubus nigrobaccus. Examples 

 are Taylor and Ancient Briton. 



The dominant type in cultivation now is 



the short-cluster group (R. nigrobaccus, var. 

 sativus) . Examples are Lawton, Kitta- 

 tinny, Snyder, and Agawam. 



The leafy-cluster blackberries are R. 

 argutus. Examples, Early Harvest, Dallas. 



The loose-cluster blackberries are hybrids 

 between the common blackberry and the 

 dewberry. Examples are Wilson's Early 

 (1854) and Rathbun. 



EVOLUTION OF THE STRAWBERRY 



The strawberry looks like an exception 

 to our climatic rule, because our garden 

 strawberries are derived from the Chilean 

 strawberry (Fragaria Chiloensis), a native 

 of our own Pacific Coast, and therefore 

 belonging to a climate comparable to that of 

 Europe. But this is explained by Bailey. 



"The strawberry is probably the most 

 tractable of all our fruits as respects climates, 

 because its stature and habit allow it to be 

 protected from extreme cold and its short 

 period of growth allows it to thrive in the cool 

 season of the warmest sub-tropical regions." 



Strangely enough none of our Eastern 

 species are valuable in cultivation, as they 

 respond to good treatment by making more 

 runners than fruit. Yet, one of them, now 

 called Fragaria Americana, was long con- 

 sidered by botanists to be identical with the 

 chief European species, F. vesca. 



England grows our type of strawberry, 

 but the strawberries of continental Europe 

 are essentially everbearing. Consequently 

 seedsmen introduce every year with a vast 

 hurrah, some new strawberry that will bear 

 fruit from June to October, but the chances 

 are dead against an everbearing strawberry 

 becoming a market fruit in America. They 

 are a pretty plaything. for amateurs, but 

 people soon tire of them. 



The variety that revolutionized straw- 

 berry culture was the Hovey, which fruited 

 first in 1836. But the variety that made 

 strawberry culture a vast business is Wilson's 

 Albany, exhibited in 1859. Varieties like 

 it have ever since then been the dominant 

 type. The Wilson of to-day is undoubtedly 

 different from and better than the old Wilson. 

 In fact the type is so variable that there may 

 be a dozen strains passing under the name 

 of Wilson. 



In another article the evolution of the tree 

 fruits will be outlined, together with a few 

 words on the currant and gooseberry. 



The Best Pears for Small Gardens— By P. J. Berckmans, 



A SELECT DOZEN FOR GARDENS IN THE NORTHERN AND MIDDLE STATES, WHETHER 

 DWARFS OR STANDARDS ARE TO BE GROWN, AS NAMED BY ONE OF OUR POMOLOGISTS 



Geor- 

 gia 



FIFTY years age there were few varieties 

 of pears grown. Now a host of varie- 

 ties is offered. But this very profusion of 

 varieties is bewildering, and one is likely to 

 meet sore disappointment when the trees 

 come into bearing. 



The pear is not indigenous to the United 

 States and it does not succeed equally well 

 in all sections. 



That many varieties have gradually 

 degenerated is a fact well known by nursery- 

 men who find it almost impossible to propa- 

 gate some of the once old and best flavored 

 varieties, as the White Doyenne, which for 

 more than two hundred years was the most 

 perfect of autumn pears. It was planted 

 in all fruit gardens and known under nearly 

 orty different names, showing its popularity. 



After fulfilling a long term of usefulness its 

 constitution has become so weakened that 

 the grafts refuse to unite with their stock, 

 or if by chance some survive this, they make 

 such feeble growth as to seldom reach a 

 fruit-bearing age. The amateur fruit grower 

 must not let himself he led astray if he hap- 

 pens across a tree of some such old variety 

 still bearing good fruit. It does not nee- 



