490 
STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
those who are just starting or it may be putting it off, and 
have not set fruit of any kind, and now, because their wheat 
will not sell for two dollars per bushel, plead that the}^ are 
unable to plant this coming spring. Horticulturists are not 
able to defer the planting of fruit for one moment. “ Delays 
are dangerous ” in horticulture. If a man can spare but one 
dollar, and he invest it in the Blaek Cap Easpberry plants, I 
believe that it will do him more good than five dollars ex¬ 
pended for any other variety of fruit. 
History of the Raspberry. —Pliny, the elder, who is supposed 
have written his natural histbry about the year A. D. 45, men¬ 
tions the wild brambles, which the Greeks called Idea. Pal- 
ladius, a Homan agricultural writer, who flourished in the 
fourth century, or about 1400 years ago, mentions the rasp¬ 
berry as one of the cultivated fruits of his time. But like 
most other small fruits, very little improvement was made 
until within the past century, as the old gardeners depended 
mainly upon the wild plants, which they obtained from the 
woods of their own or some foreign country. Even yet, very 
many of the farmers and gardeners of our own state are follow¬ 
ing the same practice of getting their rasp'berry plants from 
the woods. 
Objections to the Culture .—I meet these men and try to sell 
them raspberry plants of new varieties. “ Bat,” says one, “ I 
don’t want any of them, I have fooled away money enough 
upon them now, as mine all killed out last winter.” I ask 
such a man, “ Sir, what variety did you have ?” And after a 
great deal of study he finds the names of several very popu¬ 
lar foreign varieties ; or it may be the name of a seedling o 
some of these varieties, no better than its parent. This man 
had never heard that these varieties must be protected in win¬ 
ter, unless their owner had provided a green house, to grow 
them in. Persons not having this convenience, will do well 
not to purchase any variety for general cultivation that needs 
winter protection. The next man I meet has heard about 
“winter protection,” and says, “I will not bother with rasp¬ 
berries. They are more trouble than profit.” The third man 
