The New Cardinal Raspberry. 
* Its Origin, Character and Evidence. « 
A SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST* 
C HIS most promising raspberry is another natural product o^ Kansas. It is 
not a hybrid, but a result where nature combined its best in one little seed 
that produced the first Cardinal raspberry plant ; it also germinated that 
seed in its own way, not as under the pet care of an expert gardener, who 
would control the temperature, moisture, sunshine and weeds, but it came 
up in a neglected clump of Gregg raspberry bushes, and there showed its make 
up by growing far above them, and producing its great crop of red berries in 
contrast to the few Greggs beneath them. When first seen by the owner the 
Greggs were dug out and the Cardinals had the room. 
ITS CHARACTER. 
The make up of trees and plants indicate what they may make. The size of 
raspberries and their hardiness are shown by the shape and quality of the leaves. 
To see a Cardinal raspberry plant is to see the embodiment of extreme hardi- 
ness and vigor of the Rubus family. 
Its growth is of the strongest, canes growing fifteen to twenty feet, and 
making from ten to fifteen canes from one hill or plant. They need more room 
than is allowed other kinds in field culture. The canes are of very hard wood, 
with a red bark and a very few small thorns, one between each leaf — practically 
thornless. It propagates from tips. 
The young canes are never broken by winds in early spring, and after the 
first year they are upright. Its leaves are thick, short, broad and deeply wrinkled, 
entirely free from all traces of anthracnose or other diseases. They are of a dark 
green color, and stay on all summer and fall till severe cold in December. The 
leaves staying on during the growing season ripens the wood so they are hardy 
to stand all the changes and cold the country has endured since its settlement, 
and yet produces those amazing crops of rich, plump berries. 
It stood the cold of 35 0 below of the past winter (1899) without the least 
injury; also in 1895 the summer was the most fatal to raspberries. It was so 
dry in August that the old kinds of raspberries all stopped their growth, then in 
September rains came and warm weather, and again they started a new growth, 
till a cold spell in early winter caught them in full leaf, and most kinds were 
killed outright, others were badly injured, but the Cardinals were not injured 
and produced their usual large crop of choice berries. 
Its productiveness is a surprise to fruit growers. The first twelve plants 
were set in vacant places in a row of the Kansas, being a year younger, but that 
was no hindrance, as they produced three to four times as much as the Kansas 
did. The fruiting spurs on bearing wood are a foot or more long, and new ones 
come from near the stump two to three feet long, loaded from the bottom up, and 
the fruit is well up for quick picking. 
The ber ries are large, dark red, firm as to texture, with an agreeable, pure 
rich flavor, which is brought to its highest perfection when canned or cooked in 
pies. Their season is rather late and they hold on well. 
They proved good for distant shipment, as the report from Denver shows 
they had not been picked after July 3d at noon, then picking them the 5th they 
arrived in fair condition in quart boxes, and sold at $4.00 per crate of 24 boxes. 
