THE MALIGNED BLACKBERRY 303 



although the cultivation of it did not begin to attract 

 much attention until about twenty years ago. In the 

 southern states it is rarely cultivated, because it grows 

 in such profusion on the abundant wild lands. 

 There is no bush -fruit which is capable of yielding 

 greater profit. It is the last of the small fruits to 

 ripen, and when it is well grown it affords a luscious 

 addition to the dessert of midsummer. Some of my 

 readers will at once take issue with me respecting the 

 lusciousness of the blackberry, and we may as well 

 argue the subject to a finish while we are in the 

 mood. In justification of my position, I shall say 

 that those persons who do not like the garden black- 

 berry have probably never eaten a ripe one. Those red 

 and juiceless objects which one finds frying in the 

 sun and patronized by flies in front of grocery stores 

 are not the fruits about which I am writing. They 

 might have been green berries or red berries, but they 

 were never ripe blackberries. There is no berry fruit 

 grown which sooner deteriorates after picking, and few 

 which are necessarily picked in such unfit condition. 

 The blackberry is not ripe simply because it is black; 

 it must be soft, and it must drop into the hand when 

 the cluster is shaken. In this condition it is full of 

 the sweetness and aroma of midsummer. It is our 

 most delicious bush -fruit. Of course, such berries as 

 these never find their way to the market, and hence it 

 comes that my reader who has never grown the fruit 

 is still wincing in memory of the unbearable acid of 

 the blackberry. Then, there are those who declare that 

 the tame berry is intolerably sourer than the wild one. 

 It is true that it is more juicy when well grown, and 

 this juice is very sour until the berry is soft to the core. 



