WILD FRUITS 225 



the same stiff upright way the berries are 

 exhibited. on the ends of stiff thick paint-brush 

 handles. They are flat and crowded so closely 

 together as to make you think they have been 

 flattened by contact with one another. At first 

 they are brilliant pinky-red on one side, and 

 greenish-white on the other. Then the red grows 

 deeper and deeper, berries here and there turn 

 black among the scarlet, and bit by bit the bunch 

 is thinned as the ripe fruits fall, till with the leaves 

 it disappears. 



And then, after the mealy guelder has passed 

 its best, what are these other berries drooping 

 among crimson currant-like leaves, themselves as 

 brilliant, thin-skinned, and full of juice as red 

 currants, but almost twice as large ? Surely we 

 did not miss their blossoms in spring. In order to 

 see how the blossoms grew, a little reconstruction 

 is necessary. If these long thin twigs that the 

 heavy berries bend down so were relieved of their 

 weight, they would travel through nearly a hun- 

 dred and eighty degrees, and point straight to 

 heaven at the top of the bush. Give them blossoms 

 there, and the casual wayfarer would hardly ever 

 see them. We did see them, however ; the blossoms 

 of the wild guelder-rose like nothing so much as a 

 * cake ' of wasp-grub, all the centre cells empty and 

 an outer ring of big queen grubs sealed with pure 

 white caps. Each of the insignificant blossoms 

 of the centre has set its luscious-looking berry, 

 while the other big-petalled ones were barren and 



