THE HENRIETTA RASPBERRY.
And still they come. How wonderfully prolific nature is, to be sure. Our readers will have hardly recovered from the effects of the account of that wonderful berry, the Pride of the Hudson, and taken a long breath after its perusal, and now, in the very next number, they are asked to read the story over again under a new heading. When raspberries take a notion to astonish the world, it is surprising what very wonderful feats they can perform. It seems as though there was a rivalry springing up in this matter between the States in the great republic on our southern border. New York has hardly inscribed on her banner, Pride of the Hudson, and nailed it to the mast, than staid old Connecticut, that land of steady habits, seems stirred to her very depths, and in the spirit of Heine, seized Norway’s tallest fir, and dipping it in Ætna’s crater, with the flaming brand writes on the forehead of the sky, “Henrietta.”
This Henrietta is a wonderful creature, she too was never made, she “growed.” A chance seedling in the garden among the currant bushes sprang up in 1871. In 1873 this foundling performed such prodigies in the way of size of fruit and abundance of it, that it was taken in and cared for. Under improved treatment it improved, gratefully acknowledging the kind care it had received, and developed so many valuable qualities that it has been thought worthy of a name and an introduction to the public, both the fruit growing public, and that larger but less critical body public, the fruges consumere nati. We believe her foster parents held the levee in her honor sometime in the summer of 1877, and brought out the blushing beauty.
She seems to be a tall young lady, having reached to the height of nine and ten feet, with a girth of two inches and a quarter, and clothed with leaves of unusual size, many of them being five inches across. This foliage seems to remain through the hot and dry weather of July and August, when some of our red raspberries lose their leaves, and present the appearance of bare stems, with probably a small tuft at the top. It is said too, that notwithstanding this great vigor of growth it does not suffer from the cold; that during two winters, in both of which the mercury fell to twenty-four degrees below zero, it stood unprotected without losing even the tip of a cane, while the Philadelphia and Clarke, growing in the same field, were seriously injured. Only think of that, twenty-four below zero and not even a tip injured. That is just the kind of raspberry cane we want in our climate.
And now for the productiveness—does it bear well? Yes, tolerably well, considering its height. Let us try the rule of three. If a cane three feet high yields six hundred berries, how many ought a cane to bear that is nine feet high? Well, we are not told how high this cane was which produced over eight hundred berries, fully one half of which were over three-fourths of an inch, cross diameter, many of them one inch, and a few fully one and one-eighth of an inch. One single branch twenty inches long, produced three hundred and seventy-nine berries. What a pity the plant could not be all branches?
But this variety also continues a long time in fruit, commencing to ripen about the first of July, and if we understand the matter correctly, continuing to yield ripe fruit up to the twenty-ninth of August. Now we do not approve of such a habit, it is a very bad one, and ought to be broken. Does Henrietta suppose we want her raspberries without end? Must we be asked to forego the blackberries altogether? Fie on your self-conceit, Henrietta; suppose you finish up by the first of August, and give us an opportunity to rest until another season.
In color the fruit is red, and is said to be of high flavor. We are not able to give Chas. Downing’s opinion of its merits, he having only committed himself, so far as we know, to the remark that it “is a very promising new variety, with most magnificent foliage.” This reminds one of the answer made by a non-committal bachelor, to the inquiry if he did not think a certain young lady just magnificent, who replied, “she has a most magnificent head of hair.”
But a hardy raspberry, one that can endure twenty-four degrees below zero without flinching, that bears large crops of large red berries, of good flavor, is worthy of being tested by our fruit growers; and we therefore state that any who wish to give it a trial can procure plants of the gentlemen who first brought Henrietta out, by addressing G. H. & J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Hartford Co., Connecticut, U. S. A.
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HOW SHALL I WINTER MY GERANIUMS, &c.?
Will you in your valuable periodical spare a corner to an anxious amateur, and say the best manner plants can be protected in winter, where there is neither greenhouse nor cold frames, and the space in the room very limited? The collection consists of Geraniums, Fuchsias, Abutilons, Heliotropes, and Coleuses.
The following method has been suggested for the geranium, which form the larger number of the plants, viz.: To take them up, shake the mould from the roots, dry them in the sun for a short time, place in paper bags, tie them up, and keep them free from frost; in spring place in a cold frame, water, and gradually prepare for out door culture.
If any one has tried this plan, will they oblige with the result of their experience.
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