RUB 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



RUB 



493 



shrubby, though only biennial, with creeping perennial roots. 

 It flowers in May and June. Among the varieties are: the 

 Red-fruited; the White-fruited ; and the Twice-bearing ; the 

 first crop of which ripens in July, and the second in October; 

 but the last seldom have much flavour. The sorts most cul- 

 tivated are, the Early White, the Large Common White, the 

 Double-bearing White, the Large Red, the Red Antwerp, 

 the Large White Antwerp, the Smooth Cone Double-bearing, 

 and Woodward's New Raspberry. These varieties are acci- 

 dental ; and though the size of the fruit has been greatly 

 increased by culture, this appears to have been effected at the 

 expense of the flavour. The fruit, as presented by nature, is 

 grateful to most palates, but sugar improves the flavour, and 

 hence it is much esteemed when made into a sweatmeat. The 

 ripe fruit is fragrant, subacid, and cooling; it allays heat and 

 thirst, and promotes the natural excretions in common with 

 other summer-fruits. A grateful syrup, prepared from the 

 juice, is sold by all the apothecaries. It dissolves the tartar 

 of the teeth ; but the Strawberry does the same thing more 

 effectually. The fresh leaves are the favourite food of kids. 

 This fruit was anciently called Raspis, or Raspisberry, whence 

 the common name. It is a native of many parts of Europe, 

 in rocky mountains, moist situations, woods, and hedges : 

 and in America, from Canada to Pennsylvania. Culture. 

 This plant is generally propagated by suckers, though those 

 raised from layers should be preferred, because they will 

 be better rooted, and not so liable to send out suckers as the 

 other, which generally produce such quantities of suckers 

 from their roots, as to rill the ground in a year or two; and 

 where they are not carefully taken off or thinned, it will 

 cause the fruit to be small, and in less quantities, especially 

 when the plants are placed near each other, which too often 

 happens, for few persons allow them sufficient room. In 

 preparing these plants, their fibres should be shortened, 

 but the buds which are placed at a small distance from the 

 stem of the plant, must not be cut off, because those produce 

 the new shoots the following summer. These plants should 

 be placed about two feet asunder in the rows, and four or 

 five distant row from row; for if they are planted too close, 

 their fruit is never so fair, nor will it ripen so kindly, as 

 when they have room fo'r the air to pass between the rows. 

 The soil in which they thrive best is a fresh strong loarn, 

 for in warm light ground they do not produce such a plenty 

 of fruit, for they naturally grow in cold land and in shade; 

 therefore when they are planted in a warm situation and in 

 a light soil, they do not succeed. The season for dressing 

 them is in October, at which time all the old wood that 

 produced fruit the preceding summer should be cut down 

 below the surface of the ground, and the yoimg shoots of 

 the same year must be shortened to about two feet, in length; 

 and the spaces between the rows should be well dug, to 

 encourage the roots. A very little dung, buried in the soil, 

 will make them shoot vigorously in the summer following, 

 and their fruit will also be much fairer. Weed them during 

 summer; which, if well performed, with the before-mentioned 

 culture, is all the management they will require, except that 

 it will be proper to form new plantations once in thiee or 

 four years, because, when the pla-nts are suffered to remain 

 long, they will produce few and small fruit. 



5. Ruinis Occidentals ; Virginian Raspberry. Leaves 

 tern, tomentose underneath; stem prickly; petioles round. 

 , This species may be known at first sight by the blue cloud 

 ' or bloom on its stem. The fruit is of a deep black when 



ripe; it has little fla-vour, and ripens late in the autumn. It 

 flowers in May and June. Native of North America. 



6. Rubus Triphyllus; Three-leaved Bramble. Leaves ter- 





nate, tomentose underneath; leaflets ovate, gashed, toothed- 

 branches, petioles, and peduncles, viliose and prickly. 

 Native of Japan. 



7. Rubus Tomentosus ; Downy-leaved Bramble. Leaves 

 ternate, obovate, acute, unequally toothed, tomentose on both 

 sides ; the lateral ones somewhat gashed. This is very dif- 

 ferent from the Common Bramble. Native of Germany and 

 Switzerland. 



8. Rubus Hispidus ; Bristly Bramble. Leaves ternate, 

 naked ; stems and petioles very hispid, with stiffish prickles, 

 Native of Canada. 



9. Rubus Parvifolins ; Small-leaved Bramble. Leaves 

 ternate, tomentose underneath ; stem rough-haired, with 

 recurved prickles on that and the petioles ; flowers purple, 

 in a loose terminating panicle ; berry roundish, red. Native 

 of the East Indies, China, and Cochin-china. 



10. Rubus Sanctus; Palestine Bramble. Leaves ternate 

 and simple, tomentose underneath ; branches and footstalks 

 downy, with hooked prickles; panicles downy, many-flow- 

 ered ; stem angular. This has a genera) appearance to our 

 common Bramble; but has smaller, more rounded, and fewer 

 leaflets : the flowers and whole plant are of smaller dimen- 

 sions. Native of Palestine. 



11. Rubus Jamaicensis ; Jamaica Bramble. Leaves qui- 

 nate or ternate, tomentose underneath ; stem, petioles, and 

 leaves, pubescent, with recurved prickles ; panicles diffused. 

 Native of Jamaica, and the neghbouring islands. 



12. Rubus Caesius ; Dewberry Bramble. Leaves ternate, 

 hairy underneath ; the lateral ones two-k>bed ; stem prickly, 

 prostrate, glaucous; calix embracing the fruit. This has 

 weaker trailing stalks than the Common Bramble; the fruit 

 is black, with a bright blue tinge or bloom, composed of few 

 large grains : its flavour is agreeably acid, without the faint 

 taste of the Common Blackberry. Native of Europe, in dry 

 shady ditches, woods, and the borders of fields ; flowering 

 in June and July, and fruiting through August and Septem- 

 ber, till stopped by frost. 



13. Rubus Corylifolius ; Hazel-leaved Bramble. Leaves 

 subquinate, hairy underneath, the lateral ones sessile ; prickles 

 straightish ; calices of the fruit bent back. Stems biennial, 

 roundish, red, much more brittle than those of the next spe- 

 cies, so that thatchors, who use the latter for binding thatch, 

 reject this species as unfit for that purpose. The fruit of 

 this plant is earlier, of a brownish black colour, composed 

 of fewer acini or grains, and has a more gratefully acid taste, 

 than the next species. This and the next species are very 

 common in our hedges. 



14. Rubus Fruticosus; Common Bramble. Leaves sub- 

 quinate, tomentose underneath; leaflets petiolcd ; stem angu- 

 lar, beset like the footstalks and flower-stalks with hooked 

 prickles ; calix bent back. Stem shrubby, and perennial, long 

 and arching, purplish ; flowers in long, cylindrical, com- 

 pound, dense, and rigid panicles, of a blush or rose colour, 

 seldom white; berry of numerous crowded grains, of a violet 

 black when ripe, with a sweet mawkish taste. The varieties of 

 the Bramble are, 1 . That with white fruit, which has the bark 

 and leaves of a lighter srreen. 2. The Bramble with a double 

 flower, which is introduced into plantations of shrubs. 3. The 

 smooth and thornless Bramble. 4. That with cut leaves : 

 and, 5. That with variegated leaves. In some countries 

 Blackberries are called Bumblekitcs; in others Scaltibtrrics, 

 from their supposed quality of giving scald heads to children 

 who have eaten the.Ti, as most children will where they can 

 obtain them, in immoderate quantities. The whole plant is 

 of an astringent nature, but the unripe berries more so than 

 any other part, and may be made use of to good purpose in 



