THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 10 
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Ruralisitis P 
THE RATHBUN BLACKBERRY. 
This has proved an unexpectedly fa¬ 
vorable season for developing blackberry 
fruits in this locality. The uninterrupt¬ 
ed dry weather at blooming time per¬ 
mitted a heavy crop to set, although the 
plants appeared to suffer considerably 
from lack of moisture. The abundant 
rains which have continued to fall since 
early July, have brought the berries for¬ 
ward to fine maturity; even neglected 
bushes of discarded varieties, which 
have borne only nubbins for years, are 
ripening berries of good size and flavor. 
Allowance must be made, therefore, for 
the unusually favorable showing made 
by the Rathbun, which was first planted 
here last year on a rather poor, stony 
slope, where a previous planting of 
Lovett blackberries had starved out, two 
years before. In the meantime, the plot 
has been renovated by plowing under a 
fair growth of Crimson clover, followed 
by corn, which treatment has nearly 
eradicated the undesired variety. 
It is very seldom that blackberries 
produce enough to warrant commercial 
picking the second year, but the Rath¬ 
bun ripened so many fine berries on the 
slender canes of last year’s growth, that 
it was found profitable to market them. 
This variety appears to possess rather 
exceptional vigor. The canes are green 
in color, upright in growth, stout and 
rather thorny. The berries reach the 
very largest size I have yet seen in this 
fruit, and are thick and chunky in 
form. The drupes composing the berry 
are very large, resembling those of the 
dewberry. They color up a fine glossy 
black while still firm enough to make an 
excellent shipping fruit. When fully 
ripe and tender, the quality is excellent, 
the dewberry flavor being quite pro¬ 
nounced. 
If the Rathbun should prove, on ex¬ 
tended trial, to be sufficiently produc¬ 
tive, and possess the requisite staying 
power as regards longevity and resist¬ 
ance to disease and frost, it may prove 
an acquisition of importance. From this 
scant experience, I can say that it is a 
promising variety of rather coarse ap¬ 
pearance, but it produces well, sells well, 
and tastes exceedingly well as grown 
under the conditions above detailed. 
BLUE ROSES. 
Are They Possible? 
We have seen street peddlers in New 
York selling bushes which they solemn¬ 
ly asserted would produce blue roses, 
but it is not usual to find printed reports 
about this flower. The following is 
taken from the London Morning Post: 
VIENNA, July 9.—Herr Friedrich Hi z, 
market gardener of Essex, has succeeded 
in producing blue roses. The leaves arc 
green as usual, but there are no thorns on 
the tree. The blue rose blossoms once a 
year, and is flourishing under Herr J3i!z s 
cultivation. The first blue rose was pro¬ 
duced in Bulgaria, but only blossomed once 
there. Herr Bitz is the first naturalist who 
has succeeded in cultivating the rare flower 
to a healthy growth. 
It would be a very rash prediction to 
say that a blue-flowered rose never will 
be produced, notwithstanding the dic¬ 
tum regarding “Nature’s law of colors ’ 
laid down by De Candolle, Lindley and 
many able botanists, that the three pri¬ 
mary colors, bright red, blue and yel¬ 
low, will never be found in the different 
species and varieties of the same genus 
of plants, in short, that one or two of 
these colors must prevail to the exclu¬ 
sion of the third. No doubt this is true 
of all known plants in the wild # or un¬ 
cultivated state but in genera which 
have been long modified by extended 
cultivation, there are a number of ex¬ 
ceptions. Thus many varieties of the 
hyacinth are familiarly grown, of red 
and yellow shades as well as of the pre¬ 
vailing blue. A number of very pretty 
violet and purple-blue Gladioli have re¬ 
cently been produced, although modifi¬ 
cations of red and yellow were hitherto 
the colors generally developed. Hie 
“yellow aster" has also made its appear¬ 
ance, but it is a poor thing in compari¬ 
son with its lovely blue and red sisters. 
In all the above exceptions, the extra or 
adventitious color is poor and weak, 
compared with the prevailing tint. Thus 
the reds and yellows of the hyacinth 
are weak and pale; the yellow and blues 
of the gladiolus leave much to be de¬ 
sired, and the blue" of a rose, if it ever 
actually appears, will doubtless have 
little intrinsic beauty or value. 
As the rose is the acknowledged queen 
of flowers, and universally grown and 
admired, there has always been a cor¬ 
responding desire to increase the range 
of color, and the “blue rose,” being con¬ 
sidered almost unattainable has been 
the more ardently longed for. Countless 
have been the number of enthusiastic 
amateurs who have been victimized oy 
the purchase of plants at unheard-of 
prices, warranted to produce veritable 
blue roses, but if the plants lived, noth¬ 
ing but a muddy or dull purple bloom 
materialized at blooming season. It is 
almost a regular expectation to look tor 
a blue rose newspaper “fake,” similar to 
the above clipping, in the Summer sea¬ 
son, yet in this time of horticultural 
surprises, one should not lie unduly as¬ 
tonished if there should prove a founda¬ 
tion of fact. The reference to difficulty 
of culture of the rose mentioned in the 
clipping seems to show that some ar¬ 
tificial means of cultivation were used 
to influence the color, but the probabil¬ 
ity is that the announcement is wholly 
a fraud. 
In a list of over 1,600 varieties of 
roses, published in 1888, the colors, “red- 
purple,” “violet-purple” and “purple” 
occur about 30 times, and the varieties, 
so far as I have grown them, are all 
dull and lifeless, fading quickly to 
muddy and unattractive tints, while 
nearly all the blooms burn and discolor 
in hot sunlight. Unless a sudden 
“break” has been made, we are still a 
long way from a “true blue” rose. 
w. v. F. 
Actinidia, oit “Strangle Vine.” —In 
addition to the names given in The R. 
N.-Y. for July 22, page 530, we learn that 
the following firms also catalogue the 
Actinidia: Thomas Meehan & Sons, Ger¬ 
mantown, Phila, Pa.; Keene & Foulk, 
Flushing, N. Y.; Parsons Sons Co., 
Flushing, N. Y.; F. W. Kelsey, 150 
Broadway, New York City, and, we are 
told, several other eastern firms. A 
number of our friends who have had ex¬ 
perience with it concur in Tine R. N.-Y.’s 
appreciation of this vine, and express 
the hope that it will become more popu¬ 
lar. 
Tiie Memorial Rose, Rosa Wich- 
uraiana, which has a trailing habit, has 
been referred to in several previous is¬ 
sues of The R. N.-Y., but we cannot re¬ 
frain from calling attention to its merits 
once more. We saw this little Japan 
rose recently at the Bronx Park Botanic 
Garden, growing on a stony slope, where- 
its trailing branches sprawled over a 
ledge of rocks. One would think that 
the heat of the rocks would bake the 
plant, but it formed a mat of luxuriant 
green. In June or July, it is covered 
with single white flowers, followed by 
red heps. It is an admirable plant for 
the cemetery, forming a beautiful cov¬ 
ering for graves. 
Canna Seeds are encased in such a 
hard shell that it is found necessary to 
soak them in hot water for a consider¬ 
able time, or to clip or file off a bit of 
this armor before they will germinate. 
In a greenhouse, where they have bot¬ 
tom heat, the seeds germinate well after 
such treatment, but in open ground, the 
results are not satisfactory. The French 
horticulturist, Viviand-Morel, finds that 
Canna seeds which have been stratified 
in damp sand or soil during the Winter, 
like the seeds of shrubs and trees, ger¬ 
minate readily in a moderate tempera¬ 
ture. He used varnished non-porous 
pots for his experiments, and 90 per 
cent of the seed germinated. It wi'll be 
worth while to try this experiment. 
This year we tried sowing seed of the 
Orchid-flowered Cannas Italia and Aus¬ 
tria in a warm, well-drained spot out of 
doors, after 24 hours’ soaking. Not a 
single seed germinated. If stratifying is 
really helpful, it will encourage one to 
save Canna seed, which is always freely 
formed. 
Double - Flowered Cherries are 
among our handsomest flowering shrubs 
or small trees, the weeping forms being 
particularly graceful. A new variety 
which received a first-class certificate 
from the Royal Horticultural Society at 
a London exhibition last May, is named 
James H. Veitch; the flowers are un¬ 
usually large, very double, and bright 
pink in color; the plants bloom while 
they are very small, so that this shrub 
is likely to be grown in pots by florists. 
This new cherry is a variety of Cerasus 
Sieboldii, which is already familiar in 
cultivation in this country. In addition 
to the name above given, it is also called 
Cerasus Pseudo-cerasus, and is put by 
some botanists in the plum family, being 
called Primus Puddum. It is a native of 
Japan. When it becomes popular, as it 
would seem to merit, we shall probably 
call it Veitch’s Japan cherry; Cerasus 
Pseudo-cerasus James H. Veitch is a 
shocking example of composite riot in 
nomenclature. 
FRUIT NOTES. 
The Tennessee Strawberry.—C. II. 
P., of Scotch Bush, N. Y., asks about the 
quality and productiveness of this va¬ 
riety. 1 have found it of very fair qual¬ 
ity, and it bears abundantly in most 
sections and soils. I have grown it in 
my own garden with much satis¬ 
faction, and I have seen fields of it else¬ 
where. The i.ruit ripens from mid-sea- 
son until rather late. The plants seem 
to be thrifty and quite as free from rust 
as most varieties. ii. e. v. d. 
Mr. O. P. Fradenburg, of Liberty, N. 
Y., sends a small box of strawberries, 
which arrived July 24. He says that he 
held them back in ripening for a month 
with only a trifle of additional labor and 
expense. Starting with the earliest va¬ 
rieties, they have had this fruit from the 
1st of June, by holding back the later 
varieties. The strawberries reached us 
in poor condition, being soft and crush¬ 
ed. Last year, we had an account of 
Mr. Divine’s experiment in retarding 
strawberries. He covered the field with 
ice, and in this way, held them back 
nearly a month. Mr. Fradenburg says 
he has a better method than this, both 
cheaper and easier. There is no doubt 
that the late strawberry crop is most 
profitable in many sections, and a cheap 
method of holding back late varieties 
would certainly pay. 
The Columbian Raspberry. — Our 
older readers will remember the discus¬ 
sions as to whether this variety is the 
same as Shaffer. Among other things, 
■the Columbian was thought to be the 
hardier of the two. J. T. Thompson, of 
Oneida, N. Y., the originator, writes 
under date of July 28: 
“We have not had an over-supply of 
cultivated berries, quality not first-class; 
prices have ruled fairly good, until since 
the wild blackberries and huckleoerries 
have come in, the same being very plen¬ 
tiful. I don’t think the market condi¬ 
tions have been as favorable as in or¬ 
dinary seasons. I have been picking my 
Columbians nearly four weeks; next 
week I shall, probably, see the last of 
them. In all the 14 years I have been 
growing the Columbian, I have never 
had it injured to do much harm until 
last Winter. I presume last Winter 
damaged my crop near 30 per cent. 
Fruit of all kinds is not over a half 
crop.” 
Thinning Burbank Plums. —Several 
persons ask when the Japan plums 
should be thinned to obtain the best 
results. Mr. S. D. Willard gives his ex¬ 
perience as follows: 
“I think the best time to thin Japan 
plums is as soon as the dropping from 
imperfect fruit is over. I have some Bur¬ 
banks which were thus handled, that 
are tremendously large now, nearly one- 
half larger than those that could not be 
reached until later on; hence I should 
say the earlier the better after the im¬ 
perfect fruit has fallen or can be deter¬ 
mined, so as to ue sure and get it off. 
We have removed from our Burbanks as 
much as, or more than, is now left on 
the trees.” 
Tiie Carman feach. —It will be hard 
to obtain a fair estimate of the value of 
this peach at the North this season. J. 
H. Hale says about .n 
“This year is really the first that it 
could have fruited here in the North, 
and the demoralized condition caused by 
last Winter’s freeze has knocked it out 
on most trees, so far as I know. There 
were a few scattering specimens on 
young trees in my orchard near Ansonia, 
Conn., when I was there three weeks 
ago, and I shall be watching for them 
pretty soon now, although they will not 
ripen in this latitude until August 10 or 
15. I have great faith in it for northern 
planting, but I would not care to say 
anything dennitely until after we have 
had a more favorable year than this, to 
test it.” 
Those who have seen the peach as grown 
at the South, are delighted with it. In 
appearance and flavor, it has long-de¬ 
sired qualities, and it has proved a good 
shipper as sent from the South. 
A Good Shipping Strawberry.—O n 
July 14, we received the following note 
from L. J. Farmer, of Pulaski, N. Y.: 
I send you by mail a few specimens of 
a new late strawberry. It comes from a 
batch of seedlings where seeds of the 
Gandy and Eureka were sown, and I have 
reason to believe that it is a seedling of the 
Eureka fertilized with the Gandy. It is (he 
very latest strawberry with which 1 am 
familiar. It has brought the highest 
prices of any berry shipped from this depot 
to New York and Boston this year; 17 
crates shipped at one time from a half-acre 
patch sold for 14 to 20 cents per quart on 
the Boston market July 1. The plants are 
very vigorous growers, resembling I he 
Eureka in running qualities, and the 
Gandy in appearance of leaf and vine. it. 
seems to vary much in shape. The largest 
berries are irregular like the Eureka. It 
is the firmest berry I have ever seen; nine 
crates shipped to Boston in a. regular ex¬ 
press car without ice, July 10, were sold 
the next morning as high as 12 cents per 
juart. The berries I send you were picked 
July 12, and, of course, are not the best, 
as there will be only two more pickings. 
The berries did not reach us until the 
morning of July 15. They were packed 
in cotton batting, and sent in a small 
wooden box. When they reached us, 
they were three days from the vine, and 
had been two days on the road. It is 
very difficult to send berries by mail, 
yet several of these were still hard and 
firm. After such handling, ordinary 
berries would be a soft mass of pulp. 
These berries had not smashed, but 
seemed to have dried up somewhat like 
a fig. 
“Every Cloud Has 
a Silver Lining.” 
The clouds of bad blood enveloping 
humanity have a silver lining in the shape 
of a specific to remove them. It is Hood s 
Sarsaparilla, America's Greatest Medicine, 
‘which drives out all impurities from the 
blood, of either sex or any age. 
SaUafadffi 
i Never Disappoints 
IF YOU CAN’T 
find exactly the fence you want, write us. We think 
wo make it, and if we don’t, we cun try. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO., ADRIAN,MICH. 
