236 
Cannot some boy or girl tell me in what way they are 
different ? 
‘© One is black, and the other is red.” 
But that is not the answer I want. Perhaps it is 
hardly likely that any child could guess what I have in 
mind. Still a little exercise in guessing is 
as good for your brains as gymnastics are 
good for your bodies. 
Now I will tell you what this difference 
is; and I want you to try and understand 
it clearly, so that you will be able to ex- 
plain it to others, for I doubt if the grown- 
FIG. 245 
up people could give any better answers 
than you. I think your fathers and mothers will be 
both surprised and pleased when you show them some 
summer day how truly different are these two berries. 
You remember that in the strawberry we saw plainly ° 
that it was the flat flower cushion which swelled into 
the ripe strawberry,—the cushion which was quite 
hidden by the many pistils; and though these pistils 
were scattered thickly all over the ripe, red fruit, these 
little pistils with their seedboxes were too small 
and dry to add flavor or richness to the berry. : 
But if we watch the growth of this blackberry, gy 
we see that things are different. i 
We see that the pistils of this fruit donot remain Fc. 246 
small and dry, as with the strawberry.” No, indeed! 
their little seedboxes grow bigger and juicier every day, 
and they turn from green to red and from red to black. 
They do not remain hard to the touch, but become so 
soft that a slight pressure will bruise them and stain 
