722 



NOTES from' A GARDEN HERBARIUM—II. 



this variety in Rubus iiegUctui. The garden varieties, 

 in my herbarium, which are referable to this species 

 are Shaffer, Caroline, Gladstone, Philadelphia, Re- 

 liance, and probably Crystal White, In a wild state, 

 the species occurs here at Ithaca, and I have collected 

 it at Lansing, Michigan. It is probably generally dis- 

 tributed throughout the northeastern states. 



It has been said that Rubits neglectus is a hybrid be- 

 tween R. strigosiis and R. occideutalis , and its intermedi- 

 ate and inconstant characters seem to warrant this dis- 

 position of it. But a hybrid origin is not proved, and I 

 am glad that its features have been definitely described 

 before its origin is determined, as it enables us to draw 

 discriminating characters in one of the most confused 

 groups of our fruits. There is no question but that the 

 red and black raspberries will cross. We have made a 

 number of hand pollinations this year, and if I am suc - 

 cessful in growing the seeds I shall soon have 

 a hundred or two plants to compare with Ru- 

 bus neglectus . 



A. S. Fuller, in his Small Fruit Culturist, 

 appears to have been the first author to sepa- 

 rate the Rubus neglectus class of garden berries. 

 He calls them the "purple canes," and char- 

 acterizes them 

 as follows: "The f-'o^ 

 principal differ- 

 ence between the 

 varieties of the 

 black cap and 

 purple cane i s 

 in the fruit. The 

 first, as is well 

 known, has a 

 rather dry, tough 

 fruit, with a pe- 

 culiar flavor. Its 

 grains are num- 

 erous and very 

 irregular in size. 

 The fruit of pur- 

 ple cane, as a Fig. 

 rule, is rather 



soft, juicy, often very brittle, the grains separating very 

 readily ; color varying from light red to dark brownish- 

 purple, but never black ; the flavor mild and agreeable, 

 but entirely distinct from those of the true black rasp- 

 berry." I do not know if all the varieties which Mr. 

 Fuller refers to his purple canes are Rubus neglectus, but 

 some of them surely are. I think that some of the sorts 

 which have been referred to Riibus Idcrus belong to it, 

 and I am convinced that it is the most important type 

 of raspberry known. From pure Rubus strigosus we 

 appear to have obtained fewer varieties than is com- 

 monly supposed ; Cuthbert appears to me to be the first 

 decided advance in this species. 



Both the blackberry and raspberry have come into 

 prominence during the present generation, and even the 

 introduction of the native species appears to run back 



no farther than 60 or 70 years. Neither the blackberry 

 nor the raspberry was mentioned by Thatcher in 1825. 

 Kenrick, in 1833, speaks of the blackberry as worthy of 

 cultivation, and says that plants were then occasionally 

 transplanted to gardens. Speaking of the wild "bush 

 blackberry," he says: "This plant thrives in a rich 

 moist sandy loam, and is often cultivated in gardens, 

 where its fruit is much improved in size and its crops 

 very abundant." " It is singular that a fruit so produc- 

 tive as the tall blackberry should be so little cultivated." 

 He also speaks of the "trailing blackberry" and the 

 " white-fruited bramble." The New Rochelle (or Law- 

 ton) and the Dorchester were among the first sorts intro- 

 duced to cultivation. The Dorchester was first brought 

 to notice in 1841, before the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society. 



"The first thing we find to notice in the exhibitions 



of 1841," runsthe 

 account in the 

 history of the so- 

 ciety, "is the 

 high bush black- 

 berry cultivated 

 by E 1 i p h a 1 e t 

 Thayer in his 

 garden, where it 

 attracted much 

 attention from 

 its large and 

 beautiful ap- 

 pearance." It 

 was about 1850 

 that the variety 

 was introduced 

 into cultivation 

 under a name. 

 In 1857 "the 

 Lawton black- 

 berry was exhi- 

 bited and care- 

 fully tested i n 

 comparison with 

 the Dorchester 



(as the improved 1 igh bush was now called), the opin- 

 ion being unanimously in favor of the latter." It may 

 be said that the blackberry began to attract attention as 

 a cultivated fruit between 1850 and i860. 



It is more difficult to determine the early history of 

 the native raspberries, as they are not always distin- 

 guished from the European varieties in the early ac- 

 counts. Kenrick, 1S33, does not consider the native 

 sorts worth a special rating. He dismisses them with 

 this sentence : ' ' There are two American varieties, quite 

 distinct from the above, which may deserve to be enu- 

 merated ; these are Black American raspberry and White 

 American raspberry." Selected wild varieties began to 

 be freely introduced about i860. 



Some of our older pomologists should give us their 

 recollections. L. H. Bailey. 



Gregg. — Rubus occidentalis. 



