This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
We find the following in the proceedings of a late meeting of the American Institute Farmers' Club, as reported in the Agricultor:
"Toe New Rochklle Blaokberry.-The Secretary reminded the Chair that Mr. Lawton, of New Rochelle, Westchester Co., was present, and that he was the gentleman who exhibited the remarkable stalk of a blackberry, which was then on the table; whereupon, the Chair requested Mr. Lawton to give the Club some information regarding this remarkable new variety of fruit.
"Mr. Lawton stated that one of his neighbors discovered, some six or eight years ago, a bunch of blackberry vines by the side of the road, of different quality from the common high blackberries, and so much superior that he was induced to transfcr them to his garden. From this small beginning they have been propagated as much as possible. Mr. Lawton first obtained them in 1848; it is his intention to set ten acres as soon as he can get the plants. He stated that the stalk exhibited had been headed back, so that it resembled a bush about four and a half feet high, with a spreading head, which he presumed from his knowledge of the general yield, had borne a gallon of fruit.
"The character of these berries is very unlike the fruit of the common high blackberry vines, which is long and full of seeds, while the new variety is nearly round, very pulpy, the pipe being large, in which the seed are entirely hid from view. He stated that he had measured many berries that were three inches round; that the general size and shape were as near like Hovey's seedling strawberries, as anything he could compare them to. The flavor of the fruit is sweet and rich, to a remarkable degree, and vines long bearing. His first crop ripened July 28th, and continued till the second week of September. The next, August 4th, and continued four weeks. Last summer, owing to the great drouth, they only continued about three weeks in full bearing. The vines grow almost equally as well in shade as in open ground; and if an opportunity is given, will climb twenty feet into a tree.
"Mr. Lawton sold his berries last summer to a New York dealer for ten cents a basket-equal to about twenty-five cents a quart-the buyer picking them himself. It is the opinion of Mr. Lawton, that this is an entirely new variety of the blackberry; and besides the greater value of the fruit, they bear garden culture much better than the other, or common variety. The demand for new plants is greater than can be supplied at present moderate rates-the price now being fifty cents".
The Blackberry is in a fair way of taking a place among garden fruits. We have had, for the first time, a fine crop of the Improved High-Bush, of Boston and vicinity, and we are much pleased with it The bush fairly runs wild with vigor, and bears profusely. The fruit is long, large, jet black, and of a very pleasant flavor. In use the first two weeks of August, following close upon the Raspberries.
The Kittatinny among this class of fruit received high encomiums, nothing new l>e-ing brought out relative to other varieties.
"Have been studying the blackberry hobby some; visited A., B., C, etc., and then looked at my own. All things considered, guess the Kittatiny is best of the lot, and shall plant more of it".
Of blackberries, we have the Lawton, Wilson and Kittatinny, besides some fancy varieties.
My Wilson's showed wreaths of blossoms an inch and a-half in diameter, and so doubled that they resembled white roses. The fruit was nothing extra. The Kittatinny ripened earliest, and bore clusters of fruit, handsome as the pictures in the Illustrated Catalogues; yet, as our mountain thickets and fence corners so superfluously abound in wild blackberries, quite as large and of better flavor, we will scarcely trouble ourselves to extend their cultivation.
Before raspberries are fully gone, blackberries make their appearance in market; I consider them, next to the strawberries, the most profitable fruit crop, while they require less labor and are more reliable. They should be planted in moderately good soil, 4 feet by 8; very rich land should be avoided, as they are not particular about soil or location, and the canes in rich land would grow so strong as to require too much pruning, while they are apt not to mature their wood and thus become subjected to being winter-killed. A repeated shortening-in of the cane and side branches during summer is beneficial, as they will become thereby self-sustaining, and be covered with berries from the ground upwards, instead of bearing only at the top. When desirable to stake them, I would recommend Mr. Ohmer's admirable plan, who trains blackberries and raspberries on wires, which requires less labor and expense than stakes, while better fruit is developed and the picking facilitated.
Of all the varieties that have appeared from time to time, we have only the Dor-chesters, Wilson's Early, Kittatinny and Lawton - as valuable - left, and where the Wilson succeeds, the first may be dropped, as earliness is all that recommends it.
The Wilson is the largest and earliest, very productive and will yield more money per acre than any other; but the great question is its hardiness. The strong canes with me are regularly killed to the ground by frost, and only the smaller ones bear, but my soil is new and very rich, which may account for it; on thinner land they will prove, probably, more hardy.
The Kittatinny is also very large and productive, of excellent quality, and continues longer in bearing; it seems to succeed almost everywhere.
The Lawton, in strong loam, is very productive, but not reliable in light soils; wherever it does well, it will stand a comparison with the other varieties, while if you let it get fully ripe, there is no better berry for the table. I would recommend it for the garden, but not as a shipping berry, as it easily changes color.
For some years past a fungus or rust has been thinning out blackberry fields, and in some localities it has also attacked Black-cap raspberries; where it once takes well hold of the plants, it is as sure death as the poar blight, and if the plants are not removed, it will spread and destroy the patch in a few years. I think that a superabundance of moisture is the first cause of it, as some years ago, when we had a very cool and moist spring, I saw many plants in a Kittatinny patch attacked.
During the exceedingly dry summer, however, which followed, the rust disappeared and the plants seemed to recover, though they never bore well since. No remedy is known thus far, and [ hope some of our friends present may be able to throw more light on the subject.
Some may object to introducing the blackberry into gardens on account of its thorns, as well as the habit of most of the varieties in producing suckers at a considerable distance from the main plants. But if the canes are trained to stakes or trellises, and the suckers cut off with a hoe once or twice during the summer, the objections named are scarcely worthy of the least consideration. It is only through neglect that a "blackberry patch" becomes a nuisance. North of the latitude of New York city, we have no variety, which has been thoroughly tested, that equals the Kittatinny in size, productiveness, and hardiness of the plants.
The Dorchester is a little earlier, not quite as large as the Kittatinny, and a valuable sort for the north. South of the latitude named, Wilson's Early merits attention; it being the largest variety known, but not superior to the Kittatinny in flavor.
Good, strong, one-year-old plants, set out in spring, will produce canes large enough to bear a moderate crop of fruit the next year.
The culture required is merely to keep the ground rich, tie up the young canes to some support, and cut out the old ones every season after the fruit is gathered.
The following new varieties of Blackberries, grown on the farm of A. 'M. Purdy, Palmyra, N. Y., are mentioned by the Rural Home as worthy of further trial: Laporte, growing wild at Laporte, Indiana. Plant, hardy, vigorous, productive.
Fruit early, medium in size, oblong, soft, sweet, excellent. Particularly noteworthy for its strong flavor of the wild blackberry.
Western Triumph - also a Western Blackberry, hardy, vigorous, productive. Fruit early, medium to large, oblong, very sweet.• One of the best we know of.
 
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