123 



SMALL FRUIT CULTURIST. 



R, occidentalis — Black Easpberry. — Stems recurved, 

 armed with hooked prickles ; leaflets three, sometimes 

 five, oyate, pointed, coarsely serrate, whitened under- 

 neath ; fruit purple or black, occasionally yellowish-white. 

 A variable species. 



R« Idseus. — European Easpberry. — Stems erect, woody, 

 prickles, slender, straight ; leaves trifoliate ; leaflets ovate, 

 deeply serrate, whitish-tomentose beneath, green above; 

 flowers white ; fruit red or yellowish-white ; root peren- 

 nial, creeping, producing numerous suckers. Common 

 garden Easpberry. ^Native of various portions of Europe, 

 and probably of Asia. It derived the name Idaeus from 

 Mount Ida — this name being given it by the Greeks. 



There are many other species of the Easpberry, natives 

 of different portions of the world. In fact, there is 

 scarcely a country with which we have any communica- 

 tion that does not possess one or more species. Many of 

 these have been introduced, but so far none have proved 

 of sufficient value to be worthy of cultivation. 



The R, Japonicus, which was disseminated some years 

 ago from the experimental garden at Washington, was 

 supposed at the time to be of value, but it proved to be 

 too tender for open air culture at the Is"orth, and we have 

 no accounts of it from the South. 



The R, IdcBus has given thus far all varieties from 

 abroad worthy of cultivation. But from our native spe- 

 cies, Riibus strigosus and R. occidentalis, a number of 

 very valuable varieties have been produced. 



HISTORY. 



Pliny, the elder, who is supposed to have written his 

 natural history about the year 45, mentions the Easpberry 

 as one of the wild brambles, which the Greeks called Idsea. 



