Great Blackberries of the Twentieth Century
Wild blackberries of various strains were ubiquitous in parts of the United States, so the desire to breed a market blackberry did not rise until the mid-19th century. The complexity of the genetic heritage of the wild blackberries is so great that hard and fast distinctive between other wild shrubs that form aggregate drupes (raspberries, dewberries) cannot be drawn. Some of the first bred berries—the Loganberry of the end of the 19th century—were crosses between blackberry and raspberry strains, or improved dewberry strains such as the Lucretia. There were several concerns for early breeders: fewer thorns on canes, more fruit on the shrub, and better tasting, fleshier fruit. At the Beginning of the twentieth century there were several varieties that dominated regional markets.
The Crandall—popular among small fruit growers in California, this large, firm, and sweet blackberry was created in Texas. Its great virtues, besides excellent flavor, was early maturation and an ability to produce fruit for as many as six weeks.
Evergreen—a deep rooted, drought resistant berry of high quality, the Evergreen was a late to very late season fruit. The seeds were large, but the berries were large, firm, and sweet. An important market variety west of the Rockies; in the east the berries grew too small to be profitable. In 1926 a thornless sport of the Evergreen was discovered in Oregon. Because it was thornless, This berry became an important ancestor to subsequent thornless varieties of the 1960s, the Black Satin, Thornfree, and Smoothstem.
Kittatiny—this New Jersey variety was widely grown in the United States early in the 20th century despite a vulnerability to rust. More heat tolerant than many of the early bred strains, and producing fruit that ranged from large to very large while being firm and sweet, he had great eye appeal to customers.
Lucretia – One of the first commercial varieties, hailing from West Virginia. Noticed in the 1860s, tt is thought to be the oldest and was the most widely grown trailing-blackberry variety. It became a commercial brand in 1885-1886. Grown extensively in North Carolina. Berries are long, firm. Plants vigorous and productive.
In the South, particularly the Southwest two blackberry-dewberry hybrids enjoyed popularity in the early 1900s. Texas began the serious cultivation of blackberries in the 1890s and expanded acreage every decade. The hybrid blackberry-dewberries were softer than improved blackberries, and often larger. They were as sweet as any of the sweet blackberries and were regarded by most consumers as types of blackberries.
Dallas—the firmer of the two hybrids, early season, productive, with a bush habit and short canes.
Mammoth—“Berries very large, soft, sweet, quality very good. Season very early. Bush very vigorous, tender, very productive.” Grown in California and Texas.
The cultivation of hot weather blackberries was a project of the 1930s, with the Nessberry as a first draft of what would become a standard mid-century berry requiring few chill hours—the Brazos.
MID CENTURY BERRIES
Cascade—the quintessential Northwestern blackberry variety, bred in Oregon origin and introduced in 1940. Perfect-flowered variety, a cross between the Zielinski, a variety of the native Pacific coast trailing blackberry, and the Loganberry. Excellent flavor and bright deep red color. Some reckoned it the best tasting dessert variety available in the mid twentieth century. Plants vigorous, not hardy except in the Pacific coast region, very productive.
The Darrow—introduced in 1950 and named in honor of America’s greatest berry breeder of the first half of the century, George Darrow, the Darrow Blackberry was bred from Hedrick and two seedlings of Eldorado x Brewer. The breeding began in 1940, the final selection in 1946, and the release a decade after the initiation of the effort. A northern blackberry, the berries were large—1 inch long, ¾ wide—and firm. The plants were long bearing, more productive than any other mid-century variety, and set fruit on the surface of the foliage for easy picking.
Eldorado Widely grown in the 1940s-1960s. Berries medium-sized to large, firm, sweet; quality very good ; ripens midseason and for a long period. Bushes very vigorous, hardy, productive. One of the best varieties in most of the sections adapted to blackberries except the extreme South. Known in Oregon and Washington as the Stuart and Texas and in Canada as the Lowden.
The Himalaya—(Theodor Riemers) A west coast variety widely cultivated, despite its sometime variability in terms of flavor quality. Berries medium-sized, more soft than firm, sweet; quality good to very good; seeds large; season late. Bushes very vigorous, tender, very productive in some sections. Standard blackberry for its season in California for home gardens and local markets.
CREATIONS OF THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY
If George Darrow of the Beltsville Maryland station of the USDA was the great berry breeder of the first half of the 20th century, then James Norman Moore (1931- ), who served a stint at Beltsville in the 1960s before become a fruit breeder at the University of Arkansas, has a claim to be one the greats of the last half of the century—he is indubitably the greatest blackberry breeder. He produced 13 important blackberry strains, all named after Native American tribes. The Navajo was deemed the American Horticulture Society’s outstanding cultivar award for 2007. He also hybridized grapes, and bred blueberries suited to the Southwest. In 1975 his monograph Advances in Fruit Breeding was the classic text on classic breeding prior to the rise of transgenic hybridization and genetic trait selection. It supplanted the famous 1937 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture as the authoritative word on the subject. Blessed with a tactful sense of what traits cultivators desired and consumers would buy, he created blackberries of every category—thornless, erect, trailing.
Arapaho—a thornless blackberry with an erect, rather than a trailing habit. This was an early season variety suited to cultivation in the South. Dr. James Moore, of the U of Arkansas experimental station, one of the great blackberry breeders of recent history, introduced this as an improvement of an earlier variety, the Navajo.
Choctaw—a thorny erect variety created by James Moore, this had several virtues—a rich taste, small seeds, and early season ripening. Widely cultivated in the South.
Shawnee—another creation of James Moore introduced in 1985, an erect thorny blackberry with good disease resistance, great productivity for over a month, and fine dessert quality Perhaps the most popular home gardening variety of the 1990s.
Triple Crown—aromatic, sweet, luscious flavored, the Triple Crown was a creation of the USDA breeding station at Beltsville, Maryland. A semi-erect variety, it is vigorous and productive, but lacks cold tolerance, so is not suited for northern cultivation.