194 OUB COMMON" FBTJITS. 



tains a place in every good English housewife's store, on 

 account of its medicinal virtues in cases of sore throat, as 

 well as to furnish a peculiarly refreshing summer beve- 

 rage or fever drink. But though the flavour is not dis- 

 sipated by exposure to fire, it yields very quickly to time, 

 for, more evanescent than that of almost any other fruit, 

 it is found to diminish if the berries be kept but a few 

 hours, and in a few days to disappear entirely. They 

 should therefore always be used as soon as possible after 

 gathering, nor even be left on the bush when once ripe, 

 as they not only begin immediately to deteriorate, but 

 very rapidly become maggotty and decay. 



Though the Easpberry is the only species of the Riibus 

 family which as yet has been domesticated by man, that 

 genus includes, as has been mentioned, another fruit, 

 which, at present only the nursling of Nature, can yet 

 claim some notice, as being at once the best and most 

 abundant of our wild native fruits ; while it possesses the 

 added interest of having a possible future before it, and 

 a chance of " achieving greatness " should it ever be per- 

 mitted the opportunity of developing, by the aid of careful 

 cultivation, any latent excellences it may possess. There 

 are many varieties of Brambles both here and abroad, for 

 they are denizens of most temperate climes, and some 

 hundreds of different kinds are scattered throughout the 

 world, America especially boasting a Itubus odorata with 

 fragrant scented foliage ; a R.spectabilis, or showy-flowered 

 sort, displaying fine purple blossoms, succeeded by dark 

 yellow fruit, acceptable for tarfc-making ; and a R. deli- 

 ciosa, a native of the Eocky Mountains, which owes its 

 name to its bearing a really delicious fruit. 



The most common sorts in England, where, however, 

 many other varieties are also found, are the Fruticosus or 

 shrubby, and the Corylifolius or hazel-leaved. The former, 

 which most abounds, is a large plant with almost ever- 

 green leaves and dark red or purple stems, the barren 

 ones arching to the ground, the bearing shoots towering 

 upwards with erect spikes of delicate pink flowers, deve- 

 loping into late-ripening, nearly globular, purplish-black 

 berries, composed of numerous grains, and of a sweet but 



