1882.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



BLACKBERRIES. 



The Blackberry, as a garden fruit, may be 

 said to date from the introduction of the New 

 Rochelle or Lawton. Previous to that period 

 most people in city, town, or country, de- 

 pended entirely for their supply upon the 

 product of wild plants indigenous to most 

 sections of our county. Both the trailing 

 Dewberry and high bush varieties were gen- 

 erally regarded as a nuisance by good culti- 

 vators, and any attentions bestowed on them 

 were for their destruction ; so that when the 

 large and attractive fruit of the New Rochelle 

 appeared in our markets, and cultivation of 

 the plants was suggested, it was regarded by 

 a great many people as an in- 

 novation not to be tolerated. 

 And yet it required but a few 

 years for those who had de- 

 voted so much time and labor 

 to their destruction to change 

 tactics, and plant and culti- 

 vate ten times more plants 

 than they ever destroyed, and 

 found profit in so doing. 



Since the introduction of the 

 New Rochelle, the Blackberry 

 grew in favor as a garden 

 fruit, and the Dorchester and 

 New Rochelle had the field 

 almost entirely to themselves 

 till 1865, when the Kittatinny 

 and Wilson's Early were intro- 

 duced and rapidly superseded 

 the first. The advent of these 

 kinds met with such favor that 

 a number of others sprung up, 

 mushroom-like, to contend for 

 the supremacy ; but they were 

 short-lived, the Kittatinny and 

 Wilson reaching a preeminent 

 position all over the country, 

 the latter succeeding best in 

 sandy or light soils, the for- 

 mer generally everywhere, save 

 where attacked by the yellow, 

 orange - colored Raspberry 

 Rust, TJredo Bubrorum. 



This fungus has proved so 

 fatal to the Kittatinny in some IMS 



recommend them over the best of our wild 

 varieties, save productiveness. 



If the New Rochelle is deserving the repu- 

 tation of being treacherous, by appearing ripe 

 and black, when in reality it is unripe and 

 green, these are equally so, and I have an 

 aversion to making faces when eating Black- 

 berries. It is a nice job to pick New Roch- 

 elles, or even Kittatinnies, that are fit to go 

 to the table in less than half a day after pick- 

 ing. I know some people are not so sensitive 

 as others in this respect ; they can eat 

 Lemons and Pickles with a smiling and 

 serene countenance, and smack their lips 

 with satisfaction at the feat. I never could, 



as to destroy whole 

 plantations ; and while it is lis 

 still the highest in quality and /§ 

 esteem of any other, and is /JililllW 

 recommended for cultivation 

 in twenty-six States, and re- 

 garded as of great superiority 

 and value in ten of them by 

 the American Pomologieal So- 

 ciety, still fruit-growers are on 

 the alert to find a variety ap- 

 proaching it in hardiness and 

 quality and resisting the at- 

 tack of this fungus. 



The "Snyder" and " Taylor" are the most 

 prominent ones now claiming attention ; but 

 their friends admit they are deficient in size, 

 and some suggest high culture and severe 

 pruning as a remedy. The fungus above 

 named troubled my plants to some extent 

 some years ago, but lately I have not had a 

 case of it ; and as long as I can grow the Kit- 

 tatinnies exempt from its attack, I shall re- 

 quire something well up in the standard of 

 quality and size to displace them. I have 

 not yet tested the Snyder and Taylor on my 

 own grounds, but I had a good opportunity 

 the past summer to test the fruit and observe 

 their habits, and I confess I saw but little to 



producing like results. Whether it would or 

 not, wherever the Dorchester succeeds well, 

 the grower will have a berry as large as the 

 others (as I have seen them), and the satis- 

 faction of knowing that he need not hesitate 

 to place them on his table and fear his guests 

 will "make faces" at each other when eating 

 them. 



Probably the abundance of this fruit in its 

 wild condition has prevented any attempts at 

 improving it by crossing and breeding new 

 varieties ; but if those who have the leisure 

 and grounds to experiment in this way were 

 to try, they might produce a berry of the 

 size and productiveness of the Kittatinny, 

 equal to or surpass it in qual- 

 ity, of greater hardiness, and 

 divested of thorns. Whoever 

 succeeds in this will achieve 

 a triumph deserving gratitude 

 and distinction, and will coin 

 for himself a fortune in addi- 

 tion. Who will try ? 



E. Williams. 



THE KITTATIN 



BLACKBERRY. 



and a single hard, sour Blackberry spoils the 

 whole dish for me. 



I know of but one Blackberry that has so 

 little of this acid principle in it that it is pal- 

 atable when black, and even before, and that 

 is the "Dorchester." I have no scruples to 

 accept a dish of them, no matter by whom 

 picked, and the few plants I still retain were 

 literally loaded with fruit last summer. I 

 know that in some seasons and localities it is 

 not very productive, yet I have had them 

 bear fully if not quite as good a crop as I saw 

 on the Snyder or Taylor. Perhaps the severe 

 pruning recommended for these by their 

 friends would apply as well to the Dorchester, 



THE MULBERRY, 



The increased stimulus which 

 the demand for American silks 

 has lately given to silk culture 

 has naturally drawn more at 

 tention to the cultivation of 

 the Mulberry than it has re- 

 ceived since the days of the 

 collapse of the Morns multi- 

 caulis craze. But it is not as 

 food for silkworms only that 

 the Mulberry deserves to be 

 grown more frequently. It 

 grows in almost any soil, 

 although it prefers a light 

 sandy, or gravelly loam, and 

 makes, when planted singly, 

 a rapid - growing and hand- 

 some lawn tree. The fruit re- 

 sembles a Blackberry, but is 

 sweeter, of a peculiar pleas- 

 ant aroma, and without hard 

 core. 



The free is perfectly hardy 

 at the North, yet its good quali- 

 ties seem not to be appreciated 

 here as deservedly as in the 

 Southern States. Our friend, 

 E. S. Quimby, writes from 

 Titusville, Florida : 



"Mulberries do splendidly 

 here, and will soon be largely 

 cultivated. They grow rap- 

 idly, and bear when quite 

 young. The fruit commences 

 to ripen the last of February, 

 and continues for months ; it 

 is relished by everybody, and 

 is used fresh, stewed, in pies and puddings, 

 and makes, also, a delicious preserve." 



Downing's Everbearing is the best and 

 most desirable variety. It is propagated by 

 cuttings as easily as Currants. 



A Monstrous Bunch op Grapes. — Mr. 

 Roberts, gardener to the Countess of Charle- 

 ville, Charleville Forest, Ireland, claims to 

 have grown last year the heaviest bunch of 

 black Grapes ever recorded. Its weight was 

 23 pounds 5 ounces, its length 24 inches, 

 and its width across the shoulders 22}£ 

 inches. The variety was Gros Gmllaume. 



