CHAPTER XXIV. 



BLACKBERRIES VARIETIES, CULTIVATION, ETC. 



n^HE small-fruit branch of the rose family is assuredly 

 entitled to respect when it is remembered that the 

 blackberry is the blackest sheep in it. Unlike the raspberry, 

 the drupes cling to the receptacle, which falls off with them 

 when mature, and forms the hard, disagreeable core when 

 the berry is black, but often only half ripe. The bush is, in 

 truth, what the ancients called it, — a bramble, and one of 

 our Highland wildcats could scarcely scratch more viciously 

 than it, if treated too familiarly ; but, with judicious respect 

 and good management, it will yield large and beautiful 

 berries. 



It would seem that Nature had given her mind more to 

 blackberries than to strawberries, for, instead of merely five, 

 she has scattered about 150 species up and down the globe. 

 To describe all these would be a thorny experience indeed, 

 robbing the reader of his patience as completely as he would 

 be bereft of his clothing should he literally attempt to go 

 through them all. Therefore, I shall give Professor Gray's 

 description of the two species which have furnished our few 

 really good varieties, and dismiss with mere mention a few 

 other species. 



'■'• Rubus F///<?j'7^j', High Blackberry. Everywhere along thick- 

 ets, fence-rows^ etc., and several varieties cultivated; stems one 



