4 = 74 = 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
market gardeners dragging for weary hours in mid¬ 
summer along their long rows of celery, sprinkling 
with rose watering pots, repeating the process 
day after day—and yet the whole crop failed. If 
watering is ever to be done at all, it must be done 
-copiously—it is far better to put on all the force 
.a whole day once a week, and do the watering in a 
•thorough manner, than to give a “sprinkling” 
with the same force an hour or two every day. 
Our Blackberries: The Snyder. 
Of over one hundred and fifty known species 
•of the genus Rubus, only two, R. villosus, and R. 
Canadensis, furnish us the really good varieties of 
our cultivated Blackberries. Rubus fmticosus, a 
widely known species in Europe, is not the source 
of any very valuable cultivated varieties ; in fact no 
successful efforts have been made to greatly improve 
the wild European species. In many parts of our 
own country the people are satisfied with the fruit 
furnished by the “brambles” of the fence rows, 
fields, and wood lots—and it is of such a good qual¬ 
ity, and often not lacking in quantity—that the 
garden culture of the blackberry is thereby re¬ 
tarded. The varieties that now take the lead have 
been chance seedlings, found growing wild and re¬ 
moved to the garden where they have received 
■careful attention. Thus the Lawton was observed 
on a roadside in the town of New Rochelle, West¬ 
chester Co., N. T. This variety, called New Ro¬ 
chelle, and better known as Lawton, has done more 
to introduce the blackberry to cultivation than all 
the other sorts put together. The liability of the 
•canes to winter-kill, and the unpleasantness of the 
■fruit unless perfectly ripe, has placed the Lawton 
A BRANCH OF THE SNYDER BLACKBERRY (MUCH REDUCED). 
at a great disadvantage with the Kittatinny, “whose 
Indian name has become a household word from 
.association with this most delicious fruit. Mr. 
Wolverton, in finding it, has done more for the 
world than if he had opened a gold mine.” The 
fruit is large, and when ripe, rich and melting. The 
plant is a vigorous grower, and with good soil and 
culture is very productive. The Snyder blackberry 
originated on or near the farm 
of Mr. Snyder, near La Porte, 
Ind., about the year 1851. Like 
the two above mentioned, it is a 
chance seedling of the Riibus 
villosus, or High Blackberry of 
the fields and hillsides. The 
accompanying engraving was 
made from a photograph of a 
portion of a fruiting cane nearly 
ten feet in bight, brought to our 
office by E. P. Roe, Comwall- 
on-the-Hudson, N. Y. We visit 
_ed Mr. Roe’s small fruit farm 
and nurseries about three weeks 
before the Snyder ripened its 
berries, and were both surprised 
and pleased at his field of this 
blackberry. The Snyder is 
wonderfully productive, as a 
small portion of one of the 
fruiting canes, much reduced in 
size in the engraving, would in¬ 
dicate. The plants are very 
vigorous and stocky, and ripen 
their fruit quite early. The 
great desideratum among black¬ 
berries has been one that is per¬ 
fectly hardy, and this want has 
been met in great part by the 
Snyder, which endures without 
any serious injury the extremes 
oftemperature 
of the North¬ 
ern States. 
Thegreatfault 
of the Snyder 
is the size 
of the berry, 
which is some¬ 
what below 
the Kittatinny 
and Lawton. 
On this point 
Mr. Roe says, 
in his “ Suc¬ 
cess with Small 
Fruits” : “ On 
moist land, with judicious prun¬ 
ing, it could be made to ap¬ 
proach them very nearly, how¬ 
ever, while its earliness, hardi¬ 
ness, fine flavor, and ability to 
grow and yield abundantly al¬ 
most anywhere, will tend to an 
increased popularity. For home 
use, size is not so important as 
flavor and certainty of a crop. 
It is also more nearly ripe when 
first black, than any other kind 
that I have seen, its thorns are 
straight and therefore less vici¬ 
ous. I find that it is growing 
steadily in popular favor; and 
when the Kittatinny is winter- 
killed this hardy new variety 
leaves little cause for repining.” 
'JTIie Fall of the 5,eaf. — 
During the growing season the 
leaf is the seat of great chemical 
activity. In the green tissue, 
which is spread out to the light 
and air, the crude materials, 
which come from the soil and 
the atmosphere, are transformed 
into new compounds, and then 
go to build up the various parts 
of the growing plant. As the 
season draws to a close, the 
work of the leaf also comes to an end ; and in de¬ 
cay it often assumes gorgeous colors and finally 
falls to the ground. At first thought it might 
seem that in the annual production of leaves there 
is a great waste. Leaves should be on the outmost 
branches to be in the sunshine; they must there¬ 
fore appear on the new growth, that is, come in 
the spring and go in autumn. Leaves in one sea¬ 
son get choked up with 
the residue material of 
assimilation and be¬ 
come inactive should 
they remain. And last 
of all, the most expen¬ 
sive part of the leaf— 
the protoplasm, the sub¬ 
stance in which vital 
changes take place—is 
to a very large extent 
withdrawn by the tree, 
and is not lost, it pass¬ 
ing out of the leaf 
and into the stem be¬ 
low, before the leaf sep¬ 
arates from the stem. In the fall of the leaf in au¬ 
tumn there is a gain in many ways instead of a loss. 
dabeoc’s heath {Menziesiapolifolia). 
A Rare Shrub—St. Dabeoc’s Heath. 
Among the smaller shrubs which have been under 
cultivation in our grounds the past few years, is 
the Menziesia (Daboecia) polifolia, or St. Dabeoc’s 
Heath. It is a native of France, and is also found 
sparingly in Ireland. The flowers are of a beauti¬ 
ful pink, bell-shaped (nearly half an inch long), and 
drooping, as shown in the accompanying engrav¬ 
ing. This pretty little Heath commences flowering 
in July and remains in bloom until after the middle 
of September. There are a number of varieties of 
this species found in Europe, the white one being 
the only one we have seen. They make very pretty 
shrubs for herbaceous borders, or for planting 
among other dwarf-growing plants. So eager are 
many American planters for rapid, vigorous-grow¬ 
ing shrubs and plants, that they entirely overlook 
these little gems, which require some extra care in 
growing. There are numerous species of Ericas, 
or Heaths, found abundantly in various portions of 
Europe, which do very finely here in our borders, 
but are rarely if ever seen in gardens. The num¬ 
ber of rare and little-known Ericaceous plants found 
in our own country is by no means small. The 
common Heather, or Ling, of Europe is perfectly 
hardy in the United States, and can be grown easily 
if a little care is taken at the start. Epigcea repens, 
or Mayflower, is easily grown if attention is only 
paid to getting good plants with good roots. They 
should be taken up in October and potted in good 
leaf mould and sand, and placed in a cold frame or 
cool greenhouse, where they can form new roots, 
