BRAMBLE. 



passed through a linen cloth, is left to ferment. 

 It is then boiled anew, and allowed to ferment 

 in a suitable cask. In Provence bramble-ber- 

 ries are used to give a deep colour to particu- 

 lar wines. (Jtllgem. Forst und Jagd-Zeitung, Feb. 

 1828, p. 104.) The juice of the blackberry, 

 mixed with raisin wine before it has fermented, 

 will give it both the colour and flavour of 

 claret. " The berries," says Pliny, " have a 

 desiccative and astringent virtue, and are a 

 most appropriate remedy for the gums and 

 inflammation of the tonsils." The flowers as 

 well as the berries of the bramble were igno- 

 rantly considered by the ancients as remedies 

 against the most dangerous serpents. They 

 are diuretic; and the juice pressed out of the 

 tendrils, or young shoots, and afterwards re- 

 duced to the consistency of honey by standing 

 in the sun, is, adds the above author, "a sin- 

 gularly efficacious medicine, taken inwardly 

 or applied outwardly, for all the diseases of 

 the mouth and eyes, as well as for the quincy, 

 &c." But Pliny has lost his celebrity as a 

 medical authority, if he ever had any ; and 

 modern blackberries have also lost their 

 virtue. Boerhaave affirms, that the roots taken 

 out of the earth in February or March, and 

 boiled with honey, are an excellent remedy 

 against the dropsy. 



Syrup of blackberries, picked when only red, 

 is cooling and astringent in common purgings 

 or fluxes. The bruised K>;ives, stalks, and un- 

 ripe fruit, applied outwardly, are said to cure 

 ringworm. 



Billington, in, his work on Planting, says, 

 "To the poor in the vicinity of Newcastle it is 

 of great importance ; many of whom go a 

 great number of miles to gather blackberries 

 while they are in season, and carry them from 

 ten to twenty miles, to Newcastle, Shields, and 

 Sunderland, where they sometimes sell them 

 as high as 3d. and 4<7. per quart, for puddings, 

 tarts, preserves, or jellies, and even making of 

 wines." The fruit is, in particular, much 

 esteemed and sought after by the wives and 

 mothers of sailors, to send on board the ships, 

 as it is found to be very healthful to the men 

 to eat with their biscuits, as well as for pud- 

 dings, much more so than their common fare 

 of salt beef and pork. All through the season, 

 after the gooseberries are over (for apples, 

 plums, &c., are often scarce and dear), the 

 people are regaled with the fruit of the bram- 

 ble as the greatest domestic luxury, and would 

 probably lay in a store for future consumption 

 if sugar were cheaper. The leaves of the dwarf 

 crimson bramble (jRubtu arctirus) are often used 

 to adulterate tea. See WHOUTLEBERRY. 



Of the Rubus fruticosus, or common bramble, 

 we have (says Phillips) five varieties ; and as 

 one has been discovered in a hedge near Ox- 

 ford by Bobart which produces a white fruit, 

 it will be necessary to adopt the proper name | 

 of bramble-berry for this fruit, to avoid the j 

 contradictory appellation of white blackberry, j 

 The variety with a double flower is now one { 

 of the ornaments of the shrubbery ; the other j 

 varieties are, one with variegated leaves, one 

 with cut leaves, and the bramble without j 

 thorns. Smith, in his English Flora, describes 

 fourteen species of bramble (Rubus) ; which ; 

 28 



BRAMBLE. 



include the raspberry, cloudberry, and dew- 

 berry. Several reputed varieties of the com- 

 mon bramble have also been observed in 

 Britain (says Smith, vol. ii. p. 400), differing 

 in the shape and pubescence of their leaflets, 

 not to mention other characters. These have 

 recently been proposed as species in a very 

 able work, with excellent plates partially co- 

 loured, by Dr. A. Weihe and Prof. Ch. G. Nees 

 ab Esenbeck of Bonn, under the title of Rubi 

 Germanica. Notwithstanding the colour of the 

 flowers, I cannot suppose the British R. fruti* 

 cosus to differ from theirs. (Smith's EngL Flora, 

 vol. ii.; Phillips' s Hist, of Fruits, p. 63; Quar- 

 terly Journ. of Jlgr. vol. i. p. 816; vol. iii. p. 

 182.) 



The Rubus brier, or bramble genus, consists 

 of about fifty species, which are very widely 

 dispersed over the various continents, extending 

 from the arctic circle to the equatorial limits. 

 Mr. Nuttall enumerates twenty species as found 

 in America, among which are the following: 

 R \i l> it* Llceiis, indigenous, according to Pursh and 

 others, throughout Upper Canada and the north- 

 ern parts of the United States. Dr. Darlington 

 calls this the Antwerp raspberry, so advantage- 

 ously known from its large and finely flavoured 

 berries which are cultivated in most gardens. 

 He doubts its being a native of America, 

 There are several varieties of this species of 

 Rubus. The Rubus occidcntalis, common black 

 raspberry, or thimble-berry, is common in the 

 Middle States and other portions of the Union, 

 growing along fence-rows, borders of woods, 

 &c. Rubus villosus, common brier, or black- 

 berry bush, is often a great nuisance on farms, 

 from the rapidity with which it spreads and 

 takes possession of neglected fields. 7?. Cunei- 

 folius, or wedge-leaved rubus or brier, bearing 

 an oval-shaped, small, and well-flavoured 

 blackberry, very common in New Jersey. R. 

 Trni'ihs, dewberry, or running brier. The 

 black, sweet, and succulent fruit of this 

 species of rubus is a very great favourite. It 

 is not, however, the same as the English dew- 

 berry, which is produced by the Rubus Ccesius. 

 In treating of the American dewberry, or run- 

 ning brier, Dr. Darlington says, "the plough- 

 boy is apt to get well acquainted with this 

 species, by the long trailing stems, with their 

 recurved prickles, drawing across his naked 

 ankles!" R. odorutus, found on the banks of 

 the Wisahickon, near Philadelphia, abundant 

 in mountainous districts, always among 

 rocks. 



The tall blackberry (R. Villosus') is some- 

 times cultivated near Boston and other large 

 cities, for the sake of its fruit, and richly re- 

 pays the care bestowed upon it. Dr. Harris, 

 , in his report to the Massachusetts legislature 

 | upon destructive insects, says, that this plant 

 and its near relation, the raspberry, suffer from 

 borers that live in the pith of the stems, a fact 

 which does not appear to be generally known. 

 The beetle is a species of Saperda, and finishes 

 its transformations towards the end of July, 

 laying its eggs early in August, one by one, on 

 the stems of the blackberry and raspberry, 

 near a leaf or small twig. The grubs proceed 

 ing from these eggs burrow directly into the 

 pith, which they consume as they proceed, * 



217 



