...continued

.....The characteristics of the Loganberry as to shape and conformation fo fruit and the canes and roots are essentially those of the Aughinbaugh. Unlike the raspberry parent they have no adventitious rootbuds, being propagated entirely by growth from the tips of the canes like the Black Cap raspberry. The fruiting canes are replenished each year by shoots from the crowns, which fruit and die yearly like all others of the Rubus family. The core remains with the fruit like the blackberry dominates in flavor as well as in the other characteristics except color. As to the fact of the plant being a hybrid between the blackberry and raspberry, of course there is not absolute proof. The color, with the distinct raspberry flavor of the fruit, and the circumstances under which it originated, I think render the fact of such a cross almost certain. Since then, too, the possibility of a cross between the raspberry and blackberry has been demonstrated beyond a doubt. At the same time as the origination of the Loganberry, and from the seeds planted with the seed that produced that fruit, another creation was produced in the Rubus family of very great interest. I have stated that from the seeds planted in 1881 about 50 plants came, of which the Loganberry, it has no adventitious rootbuds, but propagates from the tips only, the same as the Aughinbaugh and the Logan. The berry is very long; specimens have been found 2-1/4 inches, shining black, with the flavor of the Rubus ursinus. The canes are peculiar. They are covered with small spines, thickly intersperssed and not very strong. The canes sometimes are 1-1/4 inches in diameter and start up in the spring like the highbrush, but when they get 4 or 5 feet hight they start off with a trailing habit and sometimes grow over 30 feet long and towards fall the tips seek the ground and root. One of the great characteristics of all these fruits is the fact that they ripen very early generally beginning in this climate in the middle of May, 6 or 8 weeks earlier than the earliest of the high-brush varieties. As to the adaptability of these berries to the different climates, I am not able definately to say. The University of California has experiment stations in all altitudes in this state: high, low, hot, dry and moist. At all of these stations they have the Loganberry, and the reports from all are that the berry is doing well. As I have before stated, the Loganberry is reproduced from seed and while such seedlings are essentially Loganberries, not one in a thousand is equal to the original. Such seedlings are rank frauds when sent out as the Loganberry and unprincipled nurserymen in this state having in view only a little temporary advantage have been flooding the east with such seedlings and whereever sent the result has been condemnation of the Loganberry. It is like testing the merits of the Bellefleur apple by trees raised from its seed. That my statements herein may not be misunderstood, I wish to say that I have no prcuniary interest in the propagation or sale of this or any other plant of fruit, the control of it having long since passed out of my hands.

I send you today a photograph of the Loganberry fruit, grown in the open air in this city, January 1897 - the picture having been taken January 8, 1897. I do not send this to show that the fruit had any commercial value for the purpose of growing in winter, but more for the purpose of showing the mildness of our climate where this fruit originated. The bulk of the fruiting of this plant is in May, June and July. However, the fall crop is often of considerable importance.