■ORCHARD AND GARDEN. 
VOL. XII. DECEMBER, 1890. NO. 12. 
* 
t 
The New Blackcap Raspberry— Lovett. 
There are blackcaps and blackcaps, a few 
of which are good, but many that are good 
for nothing. The introduction of the Gregg 
raspberry, fifteen years ago, marked a de- 
cided advance in size of this health-impart- 
ing fruit and revived its popularity and ex- 
tended culture. It was soon learned, how- 
ever, that while the Gregg was much larger 
in size than any of its prede- 
cessors, it was far from per- 
fect; its late ripening, lack 
of hardiness, excess of bloom 
upon the fruit (giving it a 
mouldy appearance) and 
unproductiveness in most 
situations, being some of its 
greatest defects. The ad- 
vent of the Nemaha a few 
years later awakened much 
interest as it was for a time 
hoped to possess the merits 
of the Gregg without its im- 
perfections; but a compara- 
tive test proved the two to 
be identical, or so nearly so 
as to give the Nemaha no 
practical advantage over the 
Gregg, unless possibly m the 
matter of hardihood of cane. 
Growers and wideawake 
nurserymen have kept on 
the lookout for the ideal 
blackcap, believing confi- 
dently it would sooner or 
later be produced. The Pal- 
mer which made its appear- 
ance in the spring of 1889 is 
claimed to possess nearly or 
all the desirable properties 
to be found in a blackcap 
raspberry, but it will require 
further trial to decide the 
case. 
The Lovett blackcap ori- 
ginated in Jefferson County, 
Indiana, and like the Gregg 
and almost all other very valuable va- 
rieties of the small fruits thus far produced, 
is a chance seedling— the survival of the 
fittest. It has for some years been tested by 
the side of the Gregg and other popular 
raspberries and has invariably surpassed 
them all by far, proving each season as ear- 
ly as the Doolittle, or any other variety, as 
large as the Gregg, perfectly hardy, (al- 
though the Gregg was winter killed to a 
greater or lesser extent each year, being 
frequently killed almost to the ground), very 
firm and the best keeper ever tested; exceed- 
ingly sweet and high flavored, with but lit- 
tle bloom upon the fruit— hence jet black— 
My first experience in this line was with 
a very promising lot of seedlings. I con- 
cluded to keep them entirely free from run- 
ners during their first and second seasons, 
hoping to make them show their best at 
the third season. By the second fall the 
plants had set from nine to thirty-four fruit- 
ing heads each, and many of them were as 
large in diameter as a small dinner plate. 
Seeing this remit I thought my fortune was 
made. The result, however, was that these 
great stools gave only a few small berries. 
All of thege were varieties with pistillate 
flowers, and some of them when allowed to 
spread unchecked proved to be exceedingly 
productive bearers of fine 
fruit. 
These facts explain why so 
many persons have failed 
in anticipated results when 
growing strawberries in 
hills, even with the greatest 
of care. They chose at the 
start the wrong varieties, 
There are very few of our 
American varieties adapted 
to hill culture, and surely 
none of the pistillates are. 
The old Wilson, Cumberland 
Triumph, and a few others 
of the large staminates do 
well in hills; also all the 
European varieties, espec- 
ially Triomphe de Gand, 
and Jucunda We may also 
here find the reason why so 
few varieties are found de- 
sirable in California, and in 
Florida and other parts of 
the South. Here, under the 
system of culture commonly 
g ven, the strawberry can 
make few if an) new planus, 
and the whole force of the 
plaut is concentrated in pro- 
ducing fruit, with fruit- 
buds in such numbers that 
there is no room for any of 
them to fully develop their 
fruit and foliage. Therefore 
the successful strawberries 
in California are few, and it 
is so from no other reasons 
than those I have given. 
I have found plants growing on a peculiar 
location and soif without irrigation, and 
the)' grow and thrive all summer just as 
they would at the East, with the excep- 
tion that as soon as the young plants become 
firmly established and attain a certain ma- 
turity, they bloom and fruit abundantly, no 
matter whether the season is February or 
July. This patch usually begins to give a 
good showing of fruit in March, and ends 
about August 1st; it often gives quite a let of 
fruit in November and December. This 
proves that the strawberry here, in our many 
frostless locations, abundantly watered from 
a stronger grower than the Gregg and ex- 
ceeding in productiveness all known varie- 
ties. Plants were sent us for trial in the 
spring of 1889 and it has maintained fully 
its enviable reputation created at home, 
proving of even stronger growth and so far 
has not manifested a single defect. We are 
therefore led to believe that at last we have 
the great desideratum — the ideal Blackcap 
Raspberry. 
Strawberries in Hills. 
Prof. Bishop in November number of Or- 
chard & Garden came very nearly giving 
the true reason why our more productive 
strawberries give more and better fruit in 
matted rows, than they do when kept free 
from runners and grown with but one plant 
to a hill, but he did not quite reach it. 
Very carelul experiments, many years 
ago. proved to me that the reason why the 
more productive varieties, and especially 
the pistillate ones, failed in productiveness 
when grown in hills and kept constantly 
free from runners, was because when so 
grown they produced such an immense 
number of fruit buds, crowded together, 
that it was impossible for such a vast amount 
of fruit stems and foliage to find room to 
develop. 
