The Raspberry. 201 



which under cultivation allows of improvement. The 

 student of vegetable homology will find it well worth his 

 while to compare the cone of the etaerio of the Rubi 

 (called the torus or thalamus) with the long shaft in the 

 middle of the geranium fruit, and with the spadix of the 

 arum and the acorus. 



THE RASPBERRY (Rubus Idans). 



THE Raspberry, universally relished, alike as served with 

 dessert, in combination with other fruits in pie and 

 pudding, when converted into jam, and in the summer 

 beverage called Raspberry Vinegar, is remarkable not 

 only for the peculiar and delicate flavour and fragrance 

 which recommend it for these uses, but for the exceed- 

 ingly fleeting character both of the taste and the odour. 

 These in a few hours very perceptibly diminish ; in three 

 days they are almost gone ; they endure scarcely longer 

 while the fruit is still hanging upon the bush. To be 

 enjoyed in perfection, gathering and eating should go 

 together ; and assuredly, on a sunny afternoon, no garden 

 recreation is more delightful than plucking and eating 

 raspberries, with kindly chat for the accompaniment. 



In the wild state the raspberry occurs throughout 

 Europe, from Norway and Sweden to Spain and Greece. 

 It is found in Russian Asia ; also, it is said, upon the 

 Himalayas and in the north of Africa. The natural 

 habitats are woods and thickets, bushy and uncultivated 



2D 



