136 . FAMILIAR WILD PLOTTERS. 



meaning to need any exposition ; while the other common 

 name, bramble, is interesting as showing both the indi- 

 genous nature of the plant, and how little these vulgar 

 names change as they are handed down from generation 

 to generation, and from century to century ; the word 

 is but a slight modification of the old Anglo-Saxon word 

 for it, bremel. 



The bramble was at one time highly commended as a 

 material for hedgerows ; and it is probably owing in some 

 degree to this fact that we find it so universally distributed 

 in such situations, though on open commons and moors 

 it may frequently be found leading an entirely indepen- 

 dent existence, and certainly owing nothing of its origin 

 to the intervention of man. The long trailing stems are 

 sometimes employed in country districts to bind the 

 thatch on corn-stacks; and the fruit, we need scarcely 

 say, is largely eaten both in its raw state and as a 

 preserve. 



