104 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
a Scotch word for belly ; “the title bumble-kite being applied,” 
says Dr. Prior, “from the rumbling, and bumbling caused in 
the bellies of children who eat the fruit too greedily.” 
But the Blackberry has also acquired the name of Scaldberry, 
from producing, as some say, the eruption known as scald-head 
in children who eat the fruit to excess; or, as others suppose, 
from the curative effects of the berries in this malady of the 
scalp ; or, again, from the remedial good produced by applying 
the leaves externally to scalds. The French name for Black- 
berries is Méres sauvages, or Mires de haie. Tom Hood, in his 
comic way, has described a negro funeral as “ going a black- 
burying.” The fruit, if gathered whilst nicely ripe (before Old 
Michaelmas Day, October 11th, when the devil is supposed to 
spit on them), and dried in a slow oven, being then reduced to 
powder, will prove efficacious by their tannin for curing dysentery, 
or continued diarrhoea, more so than astringent drugs. This 
powder must be kept dry in a well-corked bottle. 
“Where?” asks Laura Matildas Dirge, in the Rejected 
Addresses of Horace and James Smith (1812) :— 
“Where is Cupid’s crimson motion, 
Billowy.ecstasy of woe ? 
Bear me straight, meandering ocean 
Where the stagnant waters flow.” 
“Oh, ubi purpurei motus puer alitis ? O, qui 
Me mihi turbineis surrepis, angor, aquis ? 
Due labyrintheum, duc me mare tramite recto 
Quo rapidi fontes, pigra, caterve ruunt.” 
Australia produces the Blackberry bush more luxuriantly 
than any other part of the world: indeed, it is well nigh a pest 
in some parts, though the fruit which grows thereon is of the 
most luscious nature. Round about Sydney it is largely 
gathered, and made into jam, and jelly. For Blackberry wine, 
which is a reliable astringent cordial, measure your berries, and 
bruise them; then to every gallon of the fruit add a quart of 
boiling water. Let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours, 
being occasionally stirred ; next strain off the liquid, adding to 
every gallon a couple of pounds of refined sugar, and keep it in 
a cask, tightly corked, until the following October, when it will 
be ripe and rich.“ It’s my own wine,” said Armorel of Lyonesse 
(Besant); “I made it myself last year of ripe Blackberries.” 
“ Wine of Samson,” answered Roland Lee, “ the glorious vintage 
_ of the Blackberry ; in pies, and jam-pots I know him, but not 
