The Small Fruits of New York - Report of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year Ending June 30, 1925 #225714

The Small Fruits of New York is the seventh of the monographs on fruits published by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. The object and scope of this treatise on small fruits do not differ from those of its six predecessors on tree fruits. The treatment of the subject is necessarily different, however, for it has required a volume each to give an account of the tree fruits, whereas one volume suffices for the six quite distinct small fruits. The most noticeable difference in treatment is that cultural accounts are not given of any of these small fruits, whereas the present culture of each of the tree fruits was discussed in the several books devoted to them. To give space to tell how each of the small fruits are grown would have made the volume too large, valuable though such matter might be both from practical and historical viewpoints. The botanical treatment of the small fruits is fuller than was possible with the tree fruits. The authors of the books on tree fruits were all primarily pomologists with little training in systematic botany. The botany of the several fruits as given in the earlier books, especially of the grape and the plum, presented problems that were not satisfactorily solved. The botany of the small fruits is difficult at best, and none of the workers in pomology at this Station are fitted to make contributions worth publishing. The services of a specialist in systematic botany were therefore sought, and the Station was fortunate in obtaining Alwin Berger, a German student of Rubus, to undertake the difficult task of straightening out the botany of cultivated strawberries, bramble, and bush fruits. Even so, only a pre liminary report on Rubus is published, since neither time nor material sufficed to complete the study of this most difficult genus.