THE RASPBERRY. 567 



or reeds, and shaken out of them into hot water or lime-water ; end the 

 former may be destroyed by the usual means. See 1223 and 355. The 

 red and white currant may be forced in the same manner as the gooseberry, 

 and the fruit will ripen in the same period. 



SUBSECT. X. The Black Currant. 



1229. The Black Currant, Ribes nigrum, L. (Cassis and Poivrier, Fr. ; 

 schwartze Johannisbeere, Ger. ; Ribes nero, Ital. ; E. B. 1821. Arb. 

 Brit., vol. ii., p. 983, and Ency. of Trees and Shrubs, p. 480), is a deciduous 

 shrub, common in woods throughout great part of Russia and Siberia, and 

 occasionally found apparently wild in Britain. It is sometimes brought to 

 the dessert, but its use is more frequently to make jams, jellies, wines, and 

 to flavour punch, or as a gargle for sore throats. In Scotland the berries 

 are eaten in puddings and tarts ; and in Russia, and also in Ireland, they are 

 put into spirits, as cherries are in England. The Russians also ferment the 

 juice with honey, and thus form a strong and agreeable liquor. The dry 

 leaves form such an excellent substitute for green tea, that few persons can 

 detect the difference. By far the best variety is the black Naples, which is 

 easily known from the other varieties by coming earlier into leaf ; and next 

 the black grape. Cuttings strike readily, and other points of treatment are 

 the same as for the red currant, excepting that the fruit of the black currant 

 is produced chiefly on the shoots of the preceding year, though partly also 

 from spurs or blossom-buds at the base of these shoots. The plant is less 

 subject to insects than either the red currant or the gooseberry. It forces 

 well, and in Russia this is practised for the sake of the young foliage. Ribes 

 aureum has fruit resembling the black currant, and, with other species of the 

 genus, might doubtless be made to contribute to the varieties, or improvement, 

 of our gooseberries and currants. 



SUBSECT. XI. The Raspberry. 



1230. The Raspberry, Rubus Idaeus, L. ( Framboisier, Fr. ; Himbeere- 

 strauch, Ger. ; Framboos, Dutch ; Rova ideo, Ital. ; and Frambueso, 

 Span. ; E. B. 244, Arb. Brit., vol. ii. p. 737, and Encyc. of Trees and 

 Shrubs, p. 313), is a suffruticose deciduous plant, with biennial stems, a 

 native of Britain and other parts of Europe in moist woods, and cultivated in 

 gardens from an unknown period, though it is doubtful whether it was 

 known to the Romans. Even in a wild state the fruit is grateful to most 

 palates, and it has been enlarged in size and greatly improved in flavour by 

 cultivation. The shoots which are produced from the stock during one 

 summer produce fruit the next, and afterwards die. Technically the shoots 

 are called canes, from the straight smooth cane-like appearance of the shoots 

 of some of the varieties, more especially the Barnet. The fruit ranks in the 

 dessert with the gooseberry and strawberry, but its principal uses are for 

 jams, tarts, sauces, sweetmeats, and ices ; and it is employed on a large 

 scale in preparing cordial spirituous liquors, and cooling syrups. Raspber- 

 ries are reckoned next in efficiency to the strawberry in dissolving the tartar 

 of the teeth, and as like that fruit, and the fruit of the bramble, it does not 

 undergo the acetous fermentation in the stomach, it is recommended to gouty 

 and rheumatic patients. 



1231. Varieties. Above a dozen are in cultivation, but those the best 

 worth cultivating are the following :, the Red Antwerp, Yellow Antwerp, 

 Barnet, which is the tallest growing land, Cornish, and Red Globe. For a 



