2 o6 MY GARDEN. 



WHORTLEBERRIES. 



Whortleberries ( V actinium Myrtillus) come up spontaneously in the 

 peat in my ferneries, but if they bear fruit the birds get it. 



DEWBERRIES. 



The extreme beauty of the Dewberry (Rubus casius), as it grows 

 freely on the banks of the Lea and of the Thames, especially when 

 the fruit is covered with its exquisite bloom, makes me think it 

 ought to be cultivated where ground can be spared. 



BERBERRIES. 



We grow the Berberry (Berber is vulgar is, fig. 391), which makes 

 delicious preserves. Oddly enough, it blossoms well, but it hardly 

 ever sets its fruit, so that I very seldom get a crop. 



FIG. 391. Berberry. FIG. 392. Elderberry. 



THE ELDERBERRY. 



We have three varieties of Elderberries (Sambucits), the white, 

 the black, and the scarlet. The black (S. nigra) is the more common, 

 and is generally used for wine which, when mulled, is no bad drink 

 on a cold day, whilst carrying out the winter garden works ; I often 

 use it with strips of toast, and the latter my robin always comes to 

 share with me. The white elderberry I have never tried for wine, but 

 I shall attempt it the first time I can get enough fruit. There is a 

 scarlet elderberry (S. racemosa, fig. 392), but it has not yet fruited at my 

 garden, although I have observed it to be a common plant in Scotland. 

 One pretty standard flourishes in front of the Trossachs Hotel. 



