1879.] 
14r3 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Double-flowered Blackberries. 
The general tendency of the plants of the Rose 
Family to produce double flowers is manifested in 
the genus Rubus , to which the Blackberry and 
Raspberry both belong. The “ doubling ” in these 
flowers is mainly due to a conversion of the parts 
essential to the production of fruit,—the stamens 
and. pistils—into petals ; or 
to speak more acurately, for 
there is no real “ conver¬ 
sion ” in the sense of trans¬ 
formation, the development 
of those parts of the flower, 
which ordinarily appear as 
stamens and pistils, as small 
petals. Many of our readers 
can recollect a plant popular 
many years ago as the 
“ Bridal Rose."’ This is 
from one to two feet high, 
though it may be grown 
much taller, has compound 
leaves of a lively green, and 
double white flowers, about 
two inches across at the ends 
of the branches. Probably 
few who have cultivated it 
under its common name, 
“ Bridal Rose,” and the less 
frequentone—“Brier-Rose,” 
have ever suspected that it 
was not a Rose, but a double 
kind of Blackberry from 
China and other eastern 
countries. Like many other 
good old plants, this is rare¬ 
ly found in the catalogues, 
it having been crowded aside 
by newer, but not more de¬ 
serving plants, and is sel¬ 
dom seen except in window 
culture now and then. Its 
botanical name, Rubus rosce- 
folius , indicates the resem¬ 
blance of its foliage to that 
of a rose. This is a tender 
species, but we have hardy 
double - flowered blackber¬ 
ries ; these, so far as we are 
aware, are forms of the com¬ 
mon Blackberry or Bramble 
of Europe, Rubusf)~uticosus. 
There are those with white, 
pale-rose and red flowers, in 
which the regular structure 
of the flowers is completely 
lost, and they are merely 
masses of delicate narrow 
petals, and appear as seen in 
the engraving, more like the 
flowers of the double European Daisy, than like 
those of the Blackberry. The petals have a deli¬ 
cacy of texture that makes the flowers very pleas¬ 
ing. This shrub seems to be quite overlooked by 
our planters, as we do not fiud it offered by our 
leading nurserymen, and we only succeeded in pro¬ 
curing it a few years ago from a private garden. It 
has real merit as an ornamental shrub, and will 
succeed, if left to ramble, in the poorest soil, and 
it will repay good cultivation and careful training 
to a trellis or against some building. The stems of 
the European Blackberry are not, like those of our 
own, renewed every year, but continue for three or 
more years ; hence in pruning, the stems that have 
bloomed need not be cut away entirely, but at the 
annual pruning only the older wood need to be re¬ 
moved when the stems become crowded. This ten¬ 
dency of the Blackberry to form double flowers is 
a matter of some importance to fruit growers. The 
cultivated variety, “Wilson’s Early” often bears 
flowers that are double, or partly so, and as the ex¬ 
tra petals are formed at the expense of the parts 
concerned in the production of fruit, the occur¬ 
rence of double flowers greatly diminishes the crop. 
A stock of this variety sometimes, after having 
given satisfactory crops, will produce partly double 
flowers, and become nearly worthless. In such a 
case nothing can be done except to replace the 
plants from some patch in which this tendency has 
not manifested itself. The Rubus mostly cultivated 
for ornament is a Raspberry father than a Black¬ 
berry, Rubus odoratus , the “ Flowering Raspberry.” 
This has rich crimson flowers two inches across, 
and could these, as the fruit is worthless, be in¬ 
duced to become double, it would be a great gain ; 
wok 
double-flowered blackberry. —(Rubus fruticosus.) 
so far as our observation goes, we have seen in 
this but little tendency towards double flowers ; 
a single stamen or so becoming petal-like is all 
that we have noticed in the flowers of this species. 
Zinc Labels for Orchard and Garden. 
Among the most permanent labels, are those made 
of sheet zinc, as this metal, after its surface becomes 
well oxidized by the action of the air,is covered with 
a film of colorless oxide which prevents any further 
change. The “Revue Horticole ” recently gave the 
formulas of the various inks that have been pro¬ 
posed for writing on the zinc labels ; it gives seven 
of them, all of which, save one, consist of a solu¬ 
ble salt of copper, some of them having lamp-black 
added, in order that the writing may be visible at 
once. In writing on zinc with a solution of some 
copper salt, decomposition at once takes place, and 
the black oxide of copper is deposited upon the 
zinc as a black film, which adheres with great firm¬ 
ness and is very durable. After enumerating the 
various inks of which copper forms a part, the edi¬ 
tor gives preference to a simple strong solution of 
sulphate of copper (“ Blue Vitriol ”), without other 
addition. Our friend, Doct. Seidhoff, made the 
same discovery many years ago, and it was publish¬ 
ed at the time in our pages. All one need do, is to 
put some bits of Blue Vitriol into a bottle, add a 
little water, and so long as any of the vitriol remains 
undissolved, the solution will be saturated—that 
is, as strong as can be. This, if used with a quill 
peu, upon clean zinc, will give at once very black 
writing. The ink which the “ Revue ” prefers to 
any of those containing copper, is made of one part 
of Chloride of Platinum in 
50 parts of water. This is 
used in the same manner as 
the other, and gives at once 
a writing of the most intense 
black, and indestructible. In 
writing with any of these 
metallic inks, the surface of 
the zinc label should be 
made perfectly clean. This 
may be done by scouring 
the surface to be written 
upon, with very fine sand, 
or better, powdered pum- 
mice stone, and muriatic 
acid so diluted with water, 
as to have a very sharp, sour 
taste. A bit of rag is to be 
wetted with this, and touch¬ 
ed to the sand or powdered 
pummice; one side of the 
zinc label is to be rubbed 
until bright, when it is to 
be washed and dropped into 
a vessel of water, where it 
may remain until written 
upon. Before writing, re¬ 
move the labels and make 
them thoroughly dry. This 
is a method of labeling, 
much in use abroad, and 
more or less in this country. 
Several years ago, our ven¬ 
erable friend, Col. Marshall 
P. Wilder, made known a 
method of using zinc labels, 
which is not the least in im¬ 
portance among his many 
services to horticulture. It 
is simply to write upon a 
bright zinc surface, with a 
common lead-pencil. The 
zinc oxidizes and fixes the 
indestructible plumbago, 
and this protects the written 
surface, so that while the 
rest of the label may slowdy 
wear away by the action of 
the elements, the portion 
protected by the writing re¬ 
mains unchanged, and even 
more legible with age. This 
label has every superiority 
over those written with the inks above described, 
save one—it is not so distinct at first; but if carefully 
written, it can be read without difficulty, and is quite 
indelible, as shown by the test of over 20 years. 
Labels may be made of any desirable shape, and 
hung by means of a copper wire passed through a 
hole at one end ; or they may be cut long wedge- 
shaped, with a very long, tapering portion, which 
is to be coiled around a twig, but not closely. 
State Aid to Tree Planting. 
Some of the far Western States, the broad prairie 
portions of which are quite tree-less, a few years 
ago passed laws for the encouragement of tree- 
planting ; but it is quite a recent thing for the 
older States to legislate in favor of forestry. In 
this some of the New England States have taken 
the lead, and have wisely set about repairing the 
loss of forest growth, while yet there remain 
some w'ooded tracts that have not fallen before the 
wicked waste that has laid bare so much land which 
can never be used for any other purpose than for 
growing trees. Knowing that Prof. C. S. Sargent, 
Director of the Arnold Arboretum, of Harvard 
University, had been active in presenting the sub¬ 
ject to the Legislature of at least one State, we re- 
