Some
localities and soils were so unsuited to the raspberry that no
variety containing even a small percentage of the foreign element
could thrive. This fact led fruit-growers to give still 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 cultivation gratefully, and
showed such marked improvement that they were heralded over the
land as of wonderful and surpassing value. Some of these pure,
unmixed varieties of our native species (Rubus strigosus) have
obtained a wide celebrity; as, for instance, the Brandywine,
Highland Hardy, and, best of all, the Turner. It should be
distinctly understood, 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
Cuthbert and Marlboro. Thousands have been misled by their praise,
and have planted them when they might just as easily have grown
far better kinds. I suppose that many wealthy persons in the
latitudes of New York and Boston have told their gardeners (or
more probably were told by them): "We do not wish any of those
wild kinds. Brinckle's Orange, Franconia, and the Antwerp are good
enough for us.
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