CHAPTER IV. 



BLACKBERRY. 

 RUBUS. BRAMBLE. 



The Blackberry belongs to the same family and genus 

 as the Raspberry. The fruit in this case is a collective 

 mass of drupes attached to the juicy receptacle not 

 separating as in the Raspberry, but falling oif whole. In 

 form, the berries are mostly ovate or oblong, brown or 

 blackish, occasionally yellowish-white. 



There :ire about one hundred and fifty species of the 

 Blackberry known to botanists, and, like the Raspberry, 

 they are distributed over a greater portion of the world. 



Few of the species possess any particular merit worthy 

 of the attention of fruit growers of the present time, con- 

 sequently I shall confine myself mainly to the indigenous 

 species and their varieties. The following six species are 

 natives of the United States : 



Rubus villOSUS, Common High Blackberry. Stems 

 shrubby, two to eight feet high, furrowed, upright or re- 

 clining, armed with stout curved prickles ; lower surface 

 of the leaves hairy and glandular ; leaflets three or pe- 

 dately five, ovate, pointed, unequally serrate ; plant varia- 



