142 THE BRAMBLE, OR BLACKBERRY 



freedom, at once captivate and charm us. It has 

 something of gipsy boldness and picturesqueness as it 

 sits aggressively encamped on the skirts of the jungle. 

 Winter does not tame it ; it is almost an evergreen, 

 green often at the solstice of an open winter : in very 

 severe seasons of biting frosts, its hardy leaf takes on 

 exquisite tints of crimson, purple, and bronze. Alto- 90 

 gether, what with its red spiky arches, and its orna- 

 mental combination of delicate white flowers and 

 variously coloured fruits, from green to glossy black, 

 with which (as Cowper says) it is 'embossed', the 

 bramble-bush is a thing of beauty to behold, and 

 a joy to remember. 

 Its loco- I have now to speak of a most interesting feature 



'"over! in the life of the Bramble, wni ch may almost be 

 described as a property of biological interest ; at least 

 it is the property (of which, it is true, some other 100 

 plants have a share) of having within its power the 

 means of saving its life from threatened destruction, 

 and of promoting its welfare by self-migration to 

 more advantageous environments. This property is 

 a measure of the power of locomotion the ability 

 to walk away from an unsuitable settlement, or to 

 prospect and search for a better! It is an intelli- 

 gence at least it is a quality or power which nature 

 has denied to an ordinary bush or tree. Where even 

 Robur, the oak, stands, there he must live, bound to no 

 the lot and spot to which fortune destined him, 

 unless in his early youth the hand and help of man 

 has come to his aid. Fixed, like Prometheus to his 

 rock, he must ' dree his weird '. It is otherwise with 

 vagabond Rubus. The bramble has the means of 

 escape in the ability of its branches to shoot away 



