Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-07-30
EARMER.

duoed we're endowed with characteristics Of
both the foreign and native strains. Occa.
sionally these seeds fell where they had
chance 10 grow, and so produced fortuitous
Seeding plant which soon matured into o
bearing bush, differing from both Of It's par
ents, and not infrequently surprising both in
good qualities Some one, hortiouturally in
olined, having observed the unusually fine
fruit on the chance plant, and believing that
II Is good plan to help the fittest to survive,
marked the bush, and in the autumn trans.
ferred il TO his garden. Itspeedily propagat-
ed itself by suckers or young sprouts from
the roots, and he had plants to sell or give
away. Such, believe, was the history Of the
Cuthbert, named after the gentleman who
found II, and now probably the favorite rasp-
berry Of America.
Thus fortuitously, or by the skill Of the
gardener, the foreign and our native species
we're crossed, and a new and harder class Of
varieties obtained. The large size and rich
ness in flavor OF the European berry has been
bred into aud combined with our smaller and
more insipid indigenous fruit By this pro-
cess the area of successful raspberry culture
has been extended almost indefinitely.
Within recent years q third step forward
has been taken. Some localities and soils
we're so unsuted 10 the raspberry that no va
riety containing even q small percentage Of
the foreign element could thrive. This fact
led fruit growers to give closer attention to
our native species. Wild bushes were found
here and there which gave fruit Of such good
quality and in such large quantities that they
were deemed well worthy of cultivation.
Many Of these wild specimens accepted cult.
walton gratefully, and showed such marked
improvement that they we're heralded over
the land ~ of wonderful aud surprising value.
Some OF these pure unmixed varieties OF our
native species (RU5us St5TgOsus) have obtain
ed wide celebrity, as, for instance, the
Brandywine, Highland Hardy, and, best of
all, the Turner. 1t should be distancty un-
derstood, however, that with the exception OF
the last-named kind, these native varieties
are decidedly inferior to most of the foreign
berries and their hybrids, or CROSSES, like the
Outhbert and Marlboro. Thousands have
been misled by their praise, and have planted
them when they might just as easily have
grown far better kinds. l suppose that many
wealthy people in the latitudes of New York
and Boston have told their gardeners Cor,
more probably, we're told by them): 1--WE do
not wish any Of those wild kinds. Brinckle's
Orange, Franconia, and the Antwerp are good
enough for u.s." So they should be, for they
are the best, but they are all foreign varie-
ties, and scarcely will live at all, much less be
productive, in wide areas of the country.
In the Cuthbert Marlboro and Lost Rubies
we have hybrids of the foreign and our ma
tive species, forming the second class referred
to in the Turner and Hansel, examples Of
our native species unmixed. To each Of these
classes might be added score of other varie-
ties which have been more or less popular,
but they would serve only to distract the
readers attention. have tested forty or fifty
kinds side by side at one time, only to be
shown that four or five varieties would an
swer all practical purposes. can assure the
reader, however, that it will be scarcely pos
sible TO find a soil or climate where some of
these approved sorts will not thrive abund.
antly and at slight outlay.
Throughout southern New England, along
the bank of the Hudson, and westward, al
most any raspberry can be grown with proper
treatment. There are exceptions which are
somewhat curious. For instance, the famous
Hudson River Antwerp, which until within g
very few years has been one of the great
crops of the state, has never been grown sue.
cessfully to any extent except on the west
bank of the river, and within the limited
area OF Kingston on the north and Cornwall
on the south. The Franconia, another for
eign sort, has proved itself adapted to more
extended conditions OF soil and climate. H.
p. Roe, in Hd'pey's Magazine for July.