8 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



harmless ones, and it is seldom that the flavour of these 

 is sufficiently inviting for much danger to accrue. In 

 England we have the scarlet berries of the common 

 arum, or " lords-and-ladies," and the shining black ones, 

 not unlike cherries, of the belladonna, or "deadly- 

 nightshade." There is again a very capital set-off. The 

 infinite benevolence of nature has attached to every 

 poisonous plant some special mark or feature by which 

 it may be learned off-hand. It will be a good sign that 

 truly useful Botany is being taught in schools when the 

 pupils are less heavily charged with abstractions regard- 

 ing protoplasm and cell-formation, and are shown how to 

 distinguish noxious plants from the innocent. 



No exact line can be drawn between fruits popularly 

 so called and those which are "fruits" only with the 

 botanist. The margins overlap, and not infrequently 

 the idea of a fruit changes with the latitude and the 

 people. Berries disdained in a wealthy country are 

 prized where there is nothing better to be got, as when 

 the Indians of North America resort to the Gaultheria. 

 In warm countries, again, many become palatable which 

 in cold ones are harsh and insipid, as cornels in the south 

 of Europe, the gay fruit of which Horace boasts when he 

 sends to his dear friend Quintius that beautiful little 

 sketch of his Sabine country-seat : " And did you but 

 see my hedges, rich with sloes and ruddy cornels ! " So, 

 again, as myrtle-berries in the Levantine countries. " Of 

 the perfumed berries of the myrtle," says Miss Beaufort 

 (now Lady Strangford) in one of the most lively and 



