New CreatioNvS in Fruits and Flowers. 



25 



people like it raw, while some claim it is the "best l)erry they ever tasted." It 

 cannot be expected to be as sugary as those which ripen in warm weather, but 

 above all is its earliness, for it ripens its main crop with vStrawberries, and long 

 before most of the standard, well-known kinds of Raspberries and Blackberries 

 commence to bloom, and also bears more or less berries all summer. It will 

 probably be classed as a Blackberry, as it is of a dark Mulberry-black color 

 when ripe. The plant is a wonder for health and vigor. 



Stock on hand : One original bush (very large) four large plants, twenty- 

 one strong medium-sized ones. Price, $600. 



Hybridiziiij* tlie liasi)berry and Blackberry, 



" It is only a short time since it was supposed to be possible to cross the Raspberry with 

 the Blackberry ; and ever since Luther Burbank, of CaHfornia, had, in 188.^, succeeded in 

 crossing the Red Antwerp Raspberry with the Pacific Coast Dewberry (Rubus ursinus) it 

 has often been stated that no practical results had been obtained. 



" The middle figure in the cut on opposite page shows a leaf and some fruit of one of Mr. 

 Burbank's later hybrids which bears large and perfect fruit in the greatest abundance, 

 ripening in California with the earliest vStrawberries, and before our well-known standard 

 Raspberries and Blackberries are in bloom. 



'* A leaf and fruit of the California Dewberry (the pistillate parent) is shown at the left; 

 and the staminate parent, the Siberian Raspberry (Rubus cratttgifolius), at the right. All 

 are about one-third natural size. Curiously all the other seedlings from the same cross, 

 though varying greatly in foliage and growth between the two parenis, were barren, though 

 most of them bloomed' abundantly, the l)lossonis of many appearing to be perfect. 



" It is also remarkable that the hybrid should ripen its fruit several weeks before either 

 of its parents, and to excel them much in productiveness and size of fruit, though retaining 

 the general appearance and combined flavors of both. The blossoms are large and hand- 

 some, and are followed in an incredibly short time wnth the large, glossy black fruit." — 

 MeehiuVs Monthly. 



" The contents of your letter are of exceedingly great interest to me, and I trust we may 

 be able to keep track of the important work which you are doing. This one new hybrid 

 which you have originated between the wild Dewberry of your State and the Siberian Rasp- 

 berr}" may prove to be a great blessing to horticulture, and no doubt you have other things 

 of equal value; but, as you have been doing, you will have to work, watch ^nd wait." 



H. E. Van Deman, Pomologist, U. S. Dept. of Agriculttrre. 



"Although your new berry is a hybrid, I presume we will properly call it a Blackberry. 

 It is certainly remarkable that a cross between two distinct species, one a Blackberry and the 

 other a Raspberry, should prove by its seedlings to be of such " pure blood." It should be 

 named in your honor, or at least according to your ideas. The quality pf the fruit seems to 

 be very good, although we can hardly judge of it properly from the rather wilted specimens 

 which we have received here. This, of course, is an important point, and you have ample 

 opportunity to judge of it in this respect." 



H E. Van Deman, Pomologist, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



