Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-08-25
Cultivated Dlackberrics.

die states while IN New England ana Oah-
ada an abundant crop Of wild blackberries
is rather an unusual event South OF the
old Mason and Dixons line" the black
berry Is at home and our boys who fit
into the last war will remember gratefully
their abundant profusion. all throughJuly,in
Virginia. Many Of them owe their lives,
trembling in the balance from the pernicious
diet Of hard tack, salt beef and beans, to the
free use Of this delicious and sanitary fruit
Uncertain as the blackberry is as wild
fruit il is still more uncertain in cultivation
Even in the market Of New York it is a scarce
and dear fruit in most seasons while }os
ton is practically destitute Of it. Numerous
sorts have been introduced TO cultivation,
but it is the experience Of those who have
attempted to grow them that the principal
crop is thorns and branches. Nearly every
year new variety is brought out, and We
are told that it is perfectly hardy yet still
the blackberry fails TO make It's appearance
in the markets, and this, We take IT, is prooi
enough that fruit growers cannot make them
bear.
We have tried every new sort that We
could obtain The two kinds about which
the most noise has been made for the last ten
years, Wilson's Early and Kittatinny, are ut
terly unproductiye in Vermont, and what 1T
Tie fruit they do occasionally yield is sour
enough to make a pig squcal We have had
a little better luck with variety called
Sable Queen, mainly we think, because the
half-lozen plants We have are set in fence
corner, where the suow-drlts lie five or six
feet deep all winter. In such places, and
notably in newly cleared lots whore logs and
stumps hold the snow, or where a whirlwind
or tornado has swept through the woods, the
wild blackberry will sometimes get in and
yield bountlully.
Another sort, the IIoosac Thorless, we
have had for couple of years, and we are
inclined to think that its nearly PROSTATE or
horizontal habit Of growth will allow Of
its being easily protected with brush, even
il it should not be able to resist exposure to
the wintry cold. The fruit of both these
last named varieties is very good and is
produced abundantly. The editor Of the
New England Farmer speaks highly Of
Snyder, which originated in Northern In
diana, and was brought into cultivation
there some twenty years ago, though not
widely distributed until recently The
Farmer says of this variety:
The qualities claimed for the Snyder are great
hardihood and productyeness, fine flavor, and no
hard core so common TO many other varieties,
strong upright canes with stout lateu,ls, rpeuing
Its terminal buds perfectly. 1t sheds its leaves
early, has foliage of dark, rich green the young
shoots having much red mixed with the green and
has comparatively few thorns, and these are so
nearly straight that they cause much less annoy
ance TO the pickers than the Kittatinny and most
other kinds The size Of the berry is large, though
not quite equal in this respect to the Kitatinny,
but it is pronounced by all whom we have invited
to test them superior to that variety in flavor and
sweetness
The plants, rs grown in our own garden the
past and present summer, show great yigor, butarc
easily kept under control. They seem inclined to
on the fruit, thanany blackberry we have ever cult
waited, making them far less troublesome To worl
among with horse and cultyator or for picking thu
fruit Our first box of fruit was picked on tn,
Goth day Of July, and the berries were perfect,
ripe, and although the fifteen bushes were no
larger than knitting needles in May of Ia year
we had several quarts of large, fine berries from
them during the first few days after commenciu.
to pick. Although the fruit Is large and sweet, an'
every way desirable, its one strong point Of excel
lence is its hardness to withstand the winter
The past winter was very severe on the kittatinny
killing, or nearly So every plantation we hav
seen, while the Synder came out as bright an'
green in the spring as lilac bush 1t is even NOR
hardy than what we call our native or wild blacl.
berry Of the fields and woods, II We may judg
by the experience Of the past winter,
EXTENSIVE FAHAuNG -" Everybody has hear
OF Michael sulliyant that great Ford county far
mer OF Illinois Mr. Sulliyant is farming in
small way the present season. lie has twenty
two thousand acres of corn eighteen thousand o
which he put in with his own teams, the othe
four thousand let out on shares lie has also ri
thousand acres in oats and flax lie has four hun
dred teams at work. and has no less than eight hun
dred persons altogether on his place What othe
country in the world can boast Of farmer lil
that2"
We find the above circulating in the pres,
with its concluding sentence of "bur
KUN" There are plenty of larger farm
than Mr.. Sulliyant's in Russia aud Hun
; gary, to say nothing of Egypt, whic
is really all in one farm, owned and OF
, Grated by the Khedive. But what is ther
that is so admirable in Mr.. Sulliyant's exter
r siye skinning of the Illinois prairies II
9 farms like the rest of the farmers in tina
= country, regardless of the future irretrieva
, BILE barrenness which he is bringing upon Ia
I land. When that prairie soil is once eN
! hausted, it will be practically almost impo.
, sble 10 restore it TO profitable productive
, ness. There are plenty of small Germa
!. farmers in the West that deserve approvn
? notice far more than Sulliyant. Indeed
the Germans are about the only Wester
farmers that either know how or care TO kee
up the productive power Of their land. Tn
: farmers of Yankee descent in that secto
; are mostly like Sullivant, aud seem TO ear
} nothing for the future, so they can "mak
? their pile" now
5 PETuNIAs AS PoT PLANTS Though ger
$ orally grown as an annual, and allowed {
die by frost in the fall, the petunia is reall
a perennial plant, and one may be preserves
] md tnls Ia. iss