164 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



It is said that a farmer's wife, near Arundel, used to make a quantity 

 of blackberry jam, and not having the usual amount brought she asked 

 a woman to let her children gather some more, to which the reply was, 

 "Ma'am, don't you know this is the nth October?" "Yes," she said. 

 " Bless me, ma'am, and you ask me to let my children go out black- 

 berrying? Why, I thought everyone knew that the devil went round 

 on the loth October and spat on all the blackberries, and that if 

 any person were to eat on the nth he or someone belonging to him 

 would either die or fall into great trouble before the year was out," 

 was the further reply. The devil is said to throw his cloak over 

 blackberries and make them unwholesome, and in Ireland to stamp 

 on them. 



The fruit was said to drive away serpents. To dream of passing 

 through places covered with brambles foretells misfortune, and if you 

 are pricked secret enemies will injure you in your friends' eyes, and if 

 blood is drawn you lose money, while if you are unhurt you will 

 triumph. An early harvest is predicted if brambles bloom early. Its 

 mode of growth made it a type for lowliness, and an emblem of remorse 

 from the fierceness with which a passer-by is grasped. The Black- 

 berry is one of the plants thought to have made up the crown of 

 thorns. 



Bramble leaves are used for scalds in Cornwall, 9 leaves being 

 dipped in spring water, and this charm repeated three times: 



"There came three angels out of the East, 

 One brought fire, and two brought frost; 

 Out fire and in frost 

 In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost". 



In the same country warts were cured by the first blackberries of 

 the season. 



It was said to arise thus: "The cormorant was once a wool mer- 

 chant. He entered into partnership with the bramble and bat, and 

 freighted a large ship with wool. She was wrecked, and the firm 

 became bankrupt. Since that disaster the bat skulks about all mid- 

 night to avoid his creditors, the cormorant is for ever diving into the 

 deep to discover its foundered vessel, while the bramble seizes hold of 

 every passing sheep to make up his loss by stealing the wool." 



The fruit is largely utilized for making jams, tarts, pies, and even 

 wine, and is quite a regular autumn industry in the country districts. 

 The stems are also used in thatching for binding the roof together, and 

 making straw articles and mats. 



