THE BASPBEEEY AND ITS ALLIES. 191 



receptacle ; only that in the Strawberry this part becomes 

 juicy and eatable, forming indeed the bulk of the fruit, 

 while on the contrary, in the Raspberry and its allies, in- 

 stead of becoming pulp it only serves as a support to the 

 pulpy part, remaining itself dry and tasteless, and being 

 withdrawn with the stalk when the fruit is prepared for 

 eating. The genus includes several shrub-like plants, and 

 some of even lesser growth, all more or less of a rough 

 prickly nature, whence the produce has sometimes been 

 classed together under the general term of " Bramble- 

 fruit," but, correctly speaking, Brambles form only one 

 of the two grand divisions of the Rubus family, Easp- 

 berries being separated into the other ; the latter being 

 erect and shrub-like, and propagated by means of suckers, 

 while Brambles, all more or less prone and trailing, only 

 need to have their shoots pegged down to the soil, when 

 they will readily take root and throw out other shoots 

 like Strawberry runners : indeed, one writer remarks that 

 they might all " be considered as gigantic Strawberry- 

 plants." 



By far the most aristocratic member of the family at 

 the present day is undoubtedly the B-aspberry, so called 

 from the rasp-like roughness of its leaves and branches. 

 Among the ancients it bore the title of Bramble of Mount 

 Ida, it having first grown in that classic spot, -and thence 

 spread over the greater part of the rest of Europe. But 

 though these worthies were acquainted with the plant, 

 the fruit, such as we now have it, was a luxury unknown 

 to them ; for we find a French botanical writer stating 

 that in France, where they grow wild in many parts, 

 though even in the 6th century men knew that they were 

 good to eat, it was not till long after that they were intro- 

 duced into gardens, having been left with other wild fruit 

 to schoolboys and peasants ; while in our own country, 

 notwithstanding old Tusser's distich, 



"The barberry, respis, and gooseberry too, 

 Look now to be planted as other things do," 



Gerard speaks of the " Eespis or Hindberry " as it was 

 then called, though it was planted in gardens, being not 



