Blackberries.—The two fruits already described in this paper are of a comparatively large size, and grow on trees. We now come to the so-called “small fruits,” among which are the blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, currant, and gooseberry. The genus Rubus[8] furnishes both the blackberries and the raspberries, thus showing that these two kinds of small fruits are very closely related. There are about one hundred and fifty species of blackberries scattered throughout the world, but of these only two have furnished our gardens with the best cultivated varieties, namely: the high blackberry (R. villosus[9]), growing everywhere in thickets, with a strong prickly stem, six feet high, and the low blackberry, or dewberry (R. canadensis[10]), a long trailing plant, with slightly prickly stems, and small, early ripening fruit.
The cultivation of the blackberry has been retarded to a considerable extent by the excellence of the wild sorts—the people being satisfied with the fruit of the bramble in the fence row. The varieties that now head the list have all been chance seedlings found growing wild, and afterward improved by garden culture. The Lawton was found growing on a roadside in Westchester county, New York, and is often known by the name of its native town, New Rochelle. The Lawton did much to introduce the blackberry to the fruit gardens. The canes winter kill, and the fruit, unless perfectly ripe, is hard and sour at the core. The Kittatinny stands among the first for the size and richness of its fruit. This berry is a little earlier than the New Rochelle. It was found near the Kittatinny mountains, in New Jersey, and bears the peculiar Indian name of the place of its nativity. Mr. Roe, in his “Success with Small Fruits” says of the discoverer of the Kittatinny blackberry: “He has done more for the world than if he had opened a gold mine.”
The Wilson’s early is a third variety, of New Jersey origin, that grows low, with the canes trailing upon the ground. As the name indicates, this is a remarkably early blackberry, and were it not subject to attacks from insects it would be a very superior variety. The Snyder is of western origin, is wonderfully productive and hardy. The small size of the berry is the greatest defect of the Snyder. There are some recent candidates for popular favor, but the four mentioned have been found worthy of a place in the small fruit garden.
The blackberry prefers a rather dry soil, of medium richness. On a moist and very fertile soil the canes grow rank and large and produce very little fruit. The plants need to be set in rows six to eight feet apart each way. It is best to set the plants in autumn, because they start into growth very early in the spring, before there is opportunity for transplanting. Stakes or cheap wire trellises are usually provided for holding up plants. The canes that grow up one season produce fruit the succeeding year, and then die. It is therefore necessary to treat as weeds all shoots that are not needed for the bearing canes the following season. Judicious pruning of the cane while it is growing will produce much branched tops, which are more productive than those that grow to great length, and they are less liable to be injured by frost. Mr. Roe says: “More can be done with the thumb and finger at the right time than with the most savage pruning shears after a year of neglect.” The blackberry produces many suckers, and if these are left to grow for a year or two the whole ground becomes a wilderness that is not productive, and very difficult to subdue.
Strawberries.—It is not an easy task to find the person who dislikes strawberries. They are acceptable to the vast majority, and in almost any form, from the plain berry just picked off the vine to the juicy, red layer in a shortcake, or the heaping saucer with its fragrant contents half floating in sweet cream. The name strawberry probably came from the old Saxon streawberige, either because of the strawlike stems to the plants, or from the berries being strewn upon the ground. In olden times children strung the berries upon straws and sold them thus, and possibly from this we now have the name for our earliest and finest of small fruits. The name of the strawberry genus is Fragaria,[11] the Latin for “sweet smelling.” The cultivated varieties of strawberries represent five species. The most common one, growing wild almost everywhere being Fragaria vesca. In this species the seeds are superficial on the luscious cone. The Virginian strawberry, F. Virginiana, abundant in all parts of the United States, has roundish fruit, with the seeds embedded in deep pits. At the time of the introduction of this species in English gardens the culture of the strawberry took a fresh start. By sowing the seed of the Virginian species new varieties have been produced in large numbers, so that now it is the parent of nine-tenths of all the sorts grown in our gardens. The Hovey, Wilson, monarch, Seth Boyden, Charles Downy, and Sharpless are some of the improved varieties of this species. A new impetus was given to strawberry culture by the introduction of a South American species, F. grandiflora. The fruit is large and sweet, with a peculiar sprightliness that makes the varieties derived from this species highly prized in England and on this continent. Our cold winters and hot summers are too severe extremes for these offsprings of a more tropical species. The triumphe de gand and jucunda are two superb sorts derived from the F. grandiflora.
Some varieties of strawberries have what are known as pistillate flowers; that is, the stamens or male organs are imperfect or wanting. In such cases it is necessary to grow a perfect-flowered (bi-sexual) variety in close proximity, in order to insure fertilization and the formation of fruit. The famous Hovey seedling is a pistillate variety, and there are many others of this character.
One of the leading features of the strawberry plant is to multiply by means of long, slender branches, called runners. There are, however, three methods of propagating the strawberry, viz.: by the runners, by division of the root, and by seeds. The chief method is by runners. Strawberries need a rich, mellow soil. The plants may be set either in the spring or fall, though the spring is generally preferred by experienced strawberry growers. Plants set in autumn will not come into bearing the next season unless they are pot-grown. These pot-grown plants are obtained by sinking small flower pots in the earth of the strawberry bed, into the contents of which the runners strike root and form plants. The roots of the plants are not disturbed by transplanting, and one whole season is gained. In setting out strawberry plants care needs to be observed that the crown is not buried. The holes should be large, so that the roots may be spread out in all directions. If set in rows two and a half feet apart, and a foot or so distant in the row, a horse and cultivator may be used to advantage in keeping down the weeds. After two or three full crops have been gathered from a bed the rows may be plowed up. Some growers gather only one crop, and reset the land. There are many methods of treatment. In the fall the strawberry bed should be covered with a mulch. The success of many cultivators of the strawberry is due, in great measure, to the protection of their plants in winter.
The insect enemies to the strawberry are numerous, not the least of which is the white grub, the larvæ of the May beetle or “June Bug,” the strawberry worm, the leaf-roller, crown borer, saw fly, and various cut worms. A rust sometimes attacks the plants and almost ruins them.
It is very difficult to indicate what are the best varieties of strawberries. Again referring to the chart in the last issue of the American Pomological Society, we find forty-one varieties there tabulated. Of these the Charles Downing and the Wilson take the lead, being suited to a wide range of climate, soil, and other conditions. The Downing is the type of excellence in flavor and other qualities, while the Wilson is a firm, sour, and very prolific berry well suited for the market garden. Among the other sorts worthy of attention, mentioned alphabetically, are: Crescent, Cumberland, Hovey, Kentucky, Manchester, miner’s prolific, Monarch, Sharpless, and triumphe de gand. A dozen or more new sorts appear each year, some of which may take their places among the time-tested sorts here mentioned. It may be that in a few years all of these old varieties will be superseded by new sorts, and the berries that we now eat with so much relish will seem poor by the contrast. Let the future be as it may, no one should neglect the culture of the kinds we now possess. A person with only a village half acre may grow his own berries of various sorts, and still have room for a few pear, apple, peach, and cherry trees.
Let us close this brief treatment of small fruits at the same place where Mr. Roe began his large, elegant and exhaustive book on the same subject, by quoting the following passage from his “Preliminary Parley:” “Many think of the soil only in connection with the sad words of the burial service, ‘earth to earth, ashes to ashes.’ Let us, while we may, gain more cheerful associations with our kindred dust. For a time it can be earth to strawberry blossoms, ashes to bright red berries, and their color will get into our cheeks, and their rich, sub-acid juices into our insipid lives, constituting a mental, moral and physical alteration that will so change us that we shall believe in evolution, and imagine ourselves fit for a higher state of existence. One may delve in the earth so long as to lose all dread at the thought of sleeping in it at last, and the luscious fruits and bright hued flowers that come out of it, in a way no one can find out, may teach our own resurrection more effectually than do the learned theologians.”