"It has always seemed to me a scandal to our horticulture that in a region where the raspberry grows wild, we should not have a sort that would resist both the winter cold and summer heat, and produce abundantly."
After another year of observation and of much correspondence, extending even to California, I am convinced that the Cuthbert does "resist both the winter cold and summer heat, and produce abundantly," far better than any other raspberry that equals it in size and flavor. The canes are strong, upright, branching, if space permits, reddish-brown, spines abundant, but not very long and harsh. It is a rampant grower on good soil, but the foliage, so far from being rank and large, is delicate, and the under side of the leaves has a light, silvery hue. After once getting hold of the soil, it suckers immoderately, but is no worse in this respect than other vigorous varieties; and this tendency rapidly declines after the second year. Is it perfectly hardy? No; and I do not know of a single good raspberry that is; except, perhaps, the Turner, which, however, is inferior to the Cuthbert. I have seen the latter badly winter-killed, but it had stood eight years on the same ground without injury before. Then, because of a rank growth late in the season, that especial patch was hit hard, while other fields, but a few miles away, were unharmed. If planted on well-drained soil, where the wood could ripen well, I think it would be injured very rarely, if ever; but I have no faith in talk about "perfectly hardy raspberries." Those who observe closely will often find our hardy native species killed to the ground, and I think many varieties suffer more from the mild, variable winters of the Middle States than from the steady cold and snowy winters of the North. Moreover, any variety that has not the power of maintaining a healthy foliage through the hot season will usually be too feeble to resist the winter following. The question of hardiness can often be settled better in August than in January. One of the most hopeful features of the Cuthbert, therefore, is its tough, sun-enduring foliage, which enables the wood to ripen perfectly. It has never received winter protection thus far, either in this region or in Michigan, where it is largely raised, but it may be found necessary to shield it somewhat in some localities. It is both absurd and dishonest to claim perfection for a fruit, and the Cuthbert, especially as it grows older and loses something of its pristine vigor, will, probably, like all other varieties, develop faults and weaknesses. We cannot too much deprecate the arrogant spirit often manifested in introducing new fruits. Interested parties insist on boundless praise, and if their advice were followed, the fine old standards would be plowed out to make room for a newcomer that often proves, on trial, little better than a weed. The Cuthbert is not exactly a novelty. Through the gifts of the originator, and sales running through several years, it has become widely scattered, and has proved a success in every instance, as far as I can learn. I show my faith in it by my works, for I am setting it out more largely than all other kinds together, even going so far as to rent land for the purpose. I am satisfied, from frequent inquiries in Washington Market, that it will take the lead of all others, and it is so firm that it can be shipped by rail, like a Wilson strawberry.
In Delaware and Southern New Jersey, a variety named "Queen of the Market" is being largely set out. I have this variety in my specimen-bed, side by side with plants that came from Thomas Cuthbert's garden, and am almost satisfied that they are identical, and that Queen of the Market is but a synonym of the Cuthbert. I have placed the canes and spines of each under a powerful microscope and can detect no differences, and the fruit also appeared so much alike that I could not see wherein it varied. Plants of this variety were sent to Delaware some years since as they were to Michigan and California, and, wherever tested, they seem to win strong and immediate favor. Its chief fault in this locality is its lateness.
CHAPTER XXIV
BLACKBERRIES—VARIETIES, CULTIVATION, ETC.
The small-fruit branch of the rose family is assuredly entitled to respect when it is remembered that the blackberry is the blackest sheep in it. Unlike the raspberry, the drupes cling to the receptacle, which falls off with them when mature, and forms the hard, disagreeable core when the berry is black, but often only half ripe. The bush is, in truth, what the ancients called it—a bramble, and one of our Highland wildcats could scarcely scratch more viciously than it, if treated too familiarly; but, with judicious respect and good management, it will yield large and beautiful berries.
It would seem that Nature had given her mind more to blackberries than to strawberries, for, instead of merely five, she has scattered about 150 species up and down the globe. To describe all these would be a thorny experience indeed, robbing the reader of his patience as completely as he would be bereft of his clothing should he literally attempt to go through them all. Therefore, I shall give Professor Gray's description of the two species which have furnished our few really good varieties, and dismiss with mere mention a few other species.
"Rubus Villosus, High Blackberry. Everywhere along thickets, fence-rows, etc., and several varieties cultivated; stems one to six feet high, furrowed; prickles strong and hooked; leaflets three to five, ovate or lance-ovate, pointed, their lower surface and stalks hairy and glandular, the middle one long-stalked and sometimes heart-shaped; flowers racemed, rather large, with short bracts; fruit oblong or cylindrical.
"R. Canadensis, Low Blackberry or Dewberry. Rocky and sandy soil; long trailing, slightly prickly, smooth or smoothish, and with three to seven smaller leaflets than in the foregoing, the racemes of flowers with more leaf-like bracts, the fruit of fewer grains and ripening earlier."
The R. Cuneifolius, or Sand Blackberry, is common in the sandy ground and barrens from New Jersey southward; the R. Trivialis, Southern Low Blackberry, is found in light soils from Virginia southward; the R. Hispidus is a Running Swamp Blackberry whose long, slender stems creep through low, damp woods and marshes; the R. Spectabilis produces purple solitary flowers, and grows on the banks of the Columbia River in the far Northwest. Whatever improvements may originate from these species in the future, they have not as yet, to my knowledge, given us any fine cultivated variety.