Notes from the Rural Grounds. 
THE JAPAN MAYBERRY; THE SALMONBERRY. 
The Japan Mayberry is described by Lather Bur¬ 
bank, its originator, as the earliest raspberry known. 
The berries are of a golden straw color, as large as 
Cuthbert, ripening a month before the Ilansell, which 
itself is as early as any red raspberry. The Mayberry 
ripens in California before strawberries. The bushes 
are quite distinct, growing like trees six to eight feet 
high, with spreading tops, and all along the branches 
large, white, bell-ishaped blossoms are pendent, which 
tus (described by botanists and collectors as being un¬ 
productive, and having an insignificant berry). One 
of these plants, though bearing only a few worthless, 
tasteless, dingy yellow berries, was selected solely on 
account of its uniisiaal earliness, to cross with Ciith- 
bert and other well-known vaiueties. Among the 
seedlings raised from this plant was the variety named 
Mayberry. Though no signs of the Cuthbert appear, 
yet it can hardly be doubted that Cuthbert pollen has 
effected the improvements to be seen in this new 
variety.” 
The mother plant was pronounced by the United 
States Department of Agriculture to be Rubus pal- 
earliness and excellent quality, if for no other 
reasons. 
The S.^emonbehuy. —There are two very distinct 
species known as salmonberi'y, Rubus nutkanus and 
Rulms spectabilis. The berries of the former are sour, 
flat or button-shaped, soft, seedy and worthless. The 
leaves are very large, the flowers white or pinkish. 
R. spectabilis makes permanent tree-like bushes, and 
the canes are perennial, not dying down like most 
Rubuses, but increasing from year to year. They 
grow to be 13 to 30 feet high, with stems two to three 
inches or more in diameter, and spreading tops. The 
berries are considerably lai’ger than tho.se of any 
Voi. LIII. 
2338. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 17, 1894. 
*1.00 PER YEAR.a 
THE SALMONBERRY. PHOTO-ENGRAVED FROM AN OIL SKETCH FROM NATURE BY MRS. FISHER. Fig. 193. 
are soon followed by the sweet, glossy, golden, semi- 
translucent berries, which have seeds no larger than 
those of .strawberries. The plants do not bear as 
heavily when young as other raspberries, but when 
fully established, bear a surprisingly large quantity 
of fruit. 
Mr. Burbank gives the history of this remarkable 
production as follows : “ Some 10 years ago, 1 re¬ 
quested my collector in Japan to hunt up the best 
wild raspberries, blackberries and strawberries that 
could be found. Several curious species were received 
the next season, and among them a red and also a 
dingy yellow, unproductive variety of Rubus palma- 
matus. Mr. Burbank so designated it, but he now be¬ 
lieves it is Rubus incisus. 
The entire stock and control were sold to John 
Lewis Childs last year, and he this year offered small 
plants at $.5 each. We purchased one last spring, 
planted and mulched it with every care. It is now 
about a foot high, having many slender branches with 
short spines, the leaves being glossy, three to four- 
lobed, and quite different in general appearance from 
any of our raspberries. 
It is very evident that should the Japan Mayberry 
prove hardy in the North, it must become a most 
valuable acquisition on account of its exceeding 
cultivated kind, though in quality somewhat inferior, 
being less firm and somewhat insipid. 
Mr. Burbank last June sent us half a dozen seed¬ 
ling plants of the salmonberry (1. e., R. specta¬ 
bilis) from the best parentage of those he has been 
raising. They were planted and mulched, and not¬ 
withstanding the severe drought, made more growth 
than the Mayberry, which in habit and general ap¬ 
pearance resembles It, though specifically they are 
quite different. It may seem that there may be a fair 
chance of producing some valuable hybrids between 
our best raspberries and Rubus spectabilis. 
The illustration. Fig. 193, was engraved from an 
