THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
the former we commend to our friends the fol¬ 
lowing list: 
Black-Caps : Doolittle—Mammoth Cluster. 
Native Red : Herstine—Kirtland—Philadel¬ 
phia—Brandy wine. 
Foreign : Franconia or Naomi—Clarke. 
tinny berries, three having already been taken 
off the same bunch, the smallest of*which meas¬ 
ured two inohes in circumference. For nearly 
nine weeks I enjoyed an unlimited supply. 
I have three varieties, the Kittatinny, Lawton 
and Wilson. The Lawton comes on the latest 
and the Kittatinny is the earliest and bears the 
longest. I pioked three or four of them Sept. 
22d. The Wilsous have not done so well with 
me and are not yet quite established. They 
promise well for next season, judging from pres¬ 
ent appearance. I have thirty-four hills of oach 
variety and when they bloomed, last spring, they 
resembled cotton plants, and at dusk appeared 
as though paper had been thrown over them. 
The Kittatinny and Lawton varieties bore crops 
that I have never before seen equaled. Tho 
yield was seemingly too heavy for perfect ripen¬ 
ing, but both matured an immense amount of 
fruit. 
My method of culture is very simple. The 
plants wcro sot out in inverted sod in 1876. This 
is, consequently, their third year. After they 
were set a shovelful of rich compost was thrown 
around each plant, and this was dug under a 
few weeks afterwards when the weeds began to 
grow. They were then cultivated two or three 
times during the rest of the summer. The next 
year, nothing more was done than to keep the 
weeds down and gather a. very fair crop. Last 
spring (1878) a load of coarse manure was spread 
through them and afterwards dug under. They 
were cultivated twice until the fruit set, after 
which I never disturb tho roots, believing it to 
be an injury both to the fruit and to the grow¬ 
ing shoots. If the weeds get thick, sometimes I 
pull them out. As soon as the fruit is done 
with, the old caneo are removed and the young 
shoots tied to the stakes whieb are set in each 
hill. I pinch back, when five feet high, but I 
very seldom restrain tho side branches. Two or 
three canes only are left to the hill. These hills 
are six by four feet apart. Three days’ labor 
stretched throngh the year at odd times when 
otherwise unemployed, and a load of manure are 
the cost of all the blackberries a largo family 
can consume, winter and summer. It always 
seems to me to show great neglitrence on 
RASPBERRY ITEMS, 
BERRY CULTURE IN TEXAS 
i ue Cherry is our best and most popular 
Currant. It has many good qualities; it is 
notable for its productiveness and largo size. 
In flavor it is very tart. In some sections it is 
raised extensively for making jelly, for which 
purpose it is unrivaled. The large size and 
hue red color of the fruit make it very attractive 
in the show windows, in the market or on the 
table. 
Black Currant and Black Naples Currant 
are seldom raised by our growers, as their pecu¬ 
liar musky flavor is relished by few. Not many 
years ago they were quite popular for jellies, 
hut they have giveu way to tho favorite 
“ Cherry.” 
The White Grape Currant is grown iu con¬ 
siderable quantities, being highly appreciated 
for the table and hand eating, having a pleasant 
and not very acid flavor. It is not a great or 
prolific boarer. 
Where well grown, cultivated and manured, 
the Currant is a profitable and valuable crop 
and always quite certain. 
Eldorado Co., Cal, 
In Rhode Island, Naomi (probably Franconia) 
Clarke, Brinckle’s Orange, and McCormick, are 
especially prized. 
The Raspberry is not cultivated to a great ex¬ 
tent in Texas. The Antwerp varieties cannot 
stand the hot summer. The Black-caps are 
hardier, but they are much inferior in quantity, 
size and luscionsness, to the wild Dew-berries 
The Turner has already many friends. Iowa 
makes favorable reports of it, as well as of the 
NOTES FROM RURAL GROUNDS 
raspberries. 
The flavor of raspberries is of 
than that of most other fruits 
Tho characteristic raspberry fl 
very sweet nor vc*y sour. Th 
like tho fruit, call it insipid. In 
to take a plate of each of the 
popular red sorts and 
over them tho 
SDrinkle 
same quantity ^ 
of pulverized sugar, there are 
few who, after the first spoon- «<' 
fu) or so, could determine one f 
variety from another. Iu select- (\ "*T 
iug varieties, theroforo, hardi- j 1 y! 
ness and fruitfulness are to be IM 
borne in mind before flavor, and, /WWMffik 
if raised for market, of course, 
firmness must be added. u * t 
Thwack.— We have already fl 
referred to tliis new variety as 
one of much promise. Mr. Roe, A'■£; 
whose opinion respecting Email , 
fruits, is entitled to respect, tells JM 
us, as the Rural haB airoady 
stated, that he considers it a 
weed. ’ But if wo were to accept 
the opinions of others respecting 
the value of varieties, there would be little need 
of testing them ourselves. On those grounds 
this variety must be plaoed among the most val¬ 
uable of Raspberries, judging it by our two years’ 
experience. One dozen plants were sent to us 
by A. Hanco <fc Bon, of Red Bank, N. J„ with the 
usual request that we would test and report. 
All lived and produced a considerable crop the 
first season. This year the plauts have made a 
rank growth. The canes are strong, upright, 
and nearly thornless. Tho bushes are compact, 
the loaves large and healthy, and they are 
retained long after most others have fallen. 
The berries arc as firm as those of any variety 
we have ever seen. Tho flavor, however, verges 
so closely upon insipid that, though fond of this 
fruit, wo should not trouble ourselves to pick 
and eat them from the bashes, oven though 
they were laden before our eyes. Nevertheless, 
as wo have said, prepared in the usual way upon 
the table, one does not stop to make invidious 
comparisons. The color is red, the berry of 
medium size, borne less iu clusters than distrib¬ 
uted with some regularity over the entire bush. 
Montclair.— The Messrs. Williams, of Mont¬ 
clair, N. J., sent us, this spring, plants of their 
new seedling Raspberry, “ Montclair." Half of 
these aro plautod hero-half at the Rural Farm. 
Beth lots tiavo borne so well as to give, both 
there and hero, a quart or moro of berries. Tbo 
berries are firmer than those of the Philadel¬ 
phia, of which it is a seedling, and of the same 
or rather bettor quality. Further than this wo 
iavo no right to speak from one season’s trial. 
0 ti list worthiness and horticultural experi¬ 
ence of the gentlemen upon whose grounds tho 
Montclair'' originated, are, in our estimation, 
bOoi evidence that it will prove worthy of geu- 
CULTIVATION OF THE BLACKBERRY 
One of the reasons why we seo so little fruit 
on biackberry plauts, is that they are not pro¬ 
perly treated in the summer. As soon as the 
canes roach fonr feet in hight, the ends should 
be pinched off. This induces a stroug lateral 
growth, which should also be pinched when a 
foot long. Care of this kind, will nuke compact, 
productive bushes. 
Set the plants three to four feot apart, in the 
row, and the rows four feot apart. For field 
culture the rows should ba seven to eight feet 
apiut, It is often stated that rich soil is neither 
requisite nor desirable for the Blackberry. But 
tho largest crop and the largest berries we have 
ever seen, were raised upon land that had been 
heavily enriched with barn-yard manure. Iu 
any e>ent, the soil should be deeply plowed. 
The plants may be sot now or iu the spring. We 
prefer fall planting for both Raspberries and 
Blackberries. 
HEIi stink hasp 
and Blackberries. They ripen almost at the 
same time, and nobody thiuks of planting them, 
except that an amateur may, perhaps, set out a 
bush or two for variety's sake only. Moreover, 
blackberries are selling at five cunts per quart, 
or even for less, in tbeir season; and at that 
price there could not be any margin of profit for 
one that would embark in the cultivation of 
Raspberries 
Doolittle, Mammcth Cluster, (McCormick), and 
Philadelphia. 
In Mississippi, the Antwerps are said to do 
only moderately well. The Black-caps are the 
most reliable. So they aro everywhere, for that 
matter. 
In Arkansas the Cap varieties do very well— 
and those only. 
In Ohio, the Gregg Raspberry is said to be in 
every way better than Mammoth Cluster (Mc¬ 
Cormick), “ Olds” a variety originating in the 
State, is also promising. The Thwack, is re- 
Goosnberries and Currants may, 
if special care is taken, live through one sum¬ 
mer, but only to succnmb to the next, without 
over showing a fruit. Strawberries do tolerably 
well, if thoir culture is modified to suit tho pe¬ 
culiarity of this climate. But it is astonishing 
how little this is understood, even by otherwise 
well-experienced gardeners. A plantation is 
generally made from suckers picked out from 
the old patch during the late fall or winter 
months. These suckers will bear a few berries 
the following spring, and these are considered 
their full crop. This same operation is repeated 
year after year, and nobody has an idea of im¬ 
proving upon it. 
Tho best method 1 know of for cultivating th© 
Strawberry successfully in this latitude is the 
following: In order to got strawberries, we have 
to raise plants that will produce them. To this 
end, iu the month of May, when the plants havo 
dono bearing and their suekering period begins, 
the first well-established suckers should be picked 
out and at once planted in a nnrsery-bed about 
eight inches apart each way. This bed ought to be 
dug dooply and well-enriched with rotton manure 
or compost. Good drainage is essential, for the 
hot sun will scald and kill them, if on soggy 
ground. They ought to bo watered in dry spells 
and the ground kept aloau and loose. A little 
shade, when first planted, is beneficial; but, 
once established, it will bo better to give them 
full exposure. They ought not to be allowed to 
throw out any suckers, which they will not do 
except in a very favorable season, since they 
have to expend all their vitality to endure tho 
hot days of summer, which wdl be upon them as 
soon as fairly established. 
Along in October and November there will bo 
a sot of fine, robust and well rooted plants, in¬ 
stead of tlioso half-starved, tiny, long-for-life 
suckers, newly picked out of a grassy old straw- 
berry-plot. At this time, they may bo carefully 
lifted with a transplanting trowel, retaining 
balls of earth around their roots, and at once 
transferred to the place destined for them. It 
must be remembered that the Strawberry has to 
be raised here strictly on an annual plan, as 
BLACKBERRIES. 
In Arkansas Kittatinny is best. The Kitta- 
tiuny and Lawton, are both cultivated iu Flo¬ 
rida with success. The Barnard is spoken of as 
very hardy and productive, in Iowa. In Kansas 
the Kittatinny is most reliable—the Lawton is 
more liable to be winter-killed. In Mississippi 
wild Blackberries are so aliuudant that tho cul¬ 
tivated varieties are not much grown Lawton 
does well. Iu Oregon, Lawton is the favorite. 
The Kittatinny is preferred iu Mass., N. Y., 
Pa., N. J., Del., Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska. Tho 
\Vilsons Early, thrives iu Delaware, Kentucky, 
Nebraska, California. 
In Massachusetts tho sorts mostly grown aro 
Doolittle, Davison’s Thornless, Mammoth Clus¬ 
ter, among the blacks, and tho Franconia, 
Herstine, and Clarke, among the reds. John W. 
Adams says: Why raspberry culture has not 
kept pace in this State, with other fruits, is a 
mystery to many horticulturists. 
Mr. Berckman’s says, that Raspberries for 
Georgia, are restricted to three kinds, viz 
Doolittle, Imperial Rod. and a nameless variety 
of the Purple Cane family. Somebody ought to 
give that variety a name. 
Charles Downing says that the Henrietta is a 
very promising now variety, with most magnifi¬ 
cent foliage. Most magnificent,'’ even applied 
to the foliage of a plant, is strong language for 
Mr. Downing. Mr. Lovett says that the Hen¬ 
rietta is Belle de Fonteuay. 
At tbo Rural Grounds, we regard Cutkbert, as 
one of tho most promising of new sorts. 
GARDEN TALKS AND WALKS 
RENOCLAP. 
The Beeches, Mass., Sept. 24,1S7S. 
A PRETTY IDEA-WATER-LILIES. 
When walking aronnd the observatory at Har¬ 
vard University tho other day, I came upon two 
little pools of water iu the grass. Water-lilies 
were growing in them, and around the margin 
the German Ivy (Senecio scundens) was in wild 
luxuriance, sending its vines covered with deep 
groen glossy loaves, hither and thither among 
the grass. On closer observance 1 found the 
pools to be tubs plunged to thoir brims in the 
ground and filled with water. These lily pads in 
the lawn were part of Mrs. Pickering’s brilliant, 
little flower garden; and Mrs. P. tells me the 
Lilies do splendidly, and from them, this sum¬ 
mer, she has cut some dozens of blossoms. As 
Water-lilies thrive well under snob circuin¬ 
stances, who ioving them, need be without 
them ? 
SCARLET FLOWERS AMONG THE GRASS. 
A novel but pretty way of using Tropaolum 
Lobbiamun is iu common practice around Bos¬ 
ton. A tiny flower-bed, twelve or fourteen 
-iJUDE op the Hudson.— We received plants 
r this variety not until last spring. The canes 
bavo made a tolerablo growth and boro berries 
°f goodly size and excellent flavor. 
Highland Haudv-Is with us, as iu most 
other places, ouo of tho earliest. It is also 
oardy and productive. But the fruit is rather 
small aud or low flavor. 
jE ’ 8 Orange doeB well here. It was 
„ l >r °ketod last winter, and though most of 
our Raspberries were harmed by the frost, this 
yielded a fair crop. 
t i f ^ A rT Wo have not 1688 than fort y varie - 
■ of Raspberries, old and new. Of tho latter 
as eon Baid that we can say at present. Of 
BLACKBERRIES 
M. OAKEY. 
I once overheard a hack-country farmer re¬ 
mark : “ Of all long-legged horses I ever see, he 
was tho Iong-leggodest." So I remark of my 
Blackberries. Of all my experience in Black¬ 
berries, this year with me was tho “ blackber- 
riost. Our last table supply was consumed 
Sept. 15th, but on Sept. 22d I had the pleasure 
of regaling the “ angel of the household ” with 
a heaping saucer of delicious and perfect fruit. 
On Sept. 1st 1 plucked a cluster of seven Ivitta- 
