THE FRUIT 



SPECIES OF BRAMBLE-FRUITS 267 



and care to be of great use in classification, 

 but has significance with some brambles. 



As with all fruits, size, shape, and color of 

 the product are about the most important 

 characters to be taken into account in descrip- 

 tions of varieties. The English vocabulary 

 furnishes an abundance of easily understood 

 words to characterize size, shape, and color, 

 but the words must be chosen with care to 

 present an accurate mental picture. The size 

 and shape of the cluster must be noted, and, 

 with some brambles, the size and shape of 

 the drupelets in a berry should be described. 



With raspberries, it is a matter of consid- 

 erable moment to the grower whether the 

 berry adheres strongly to the torus or readily 

 parts from it. Similarly, it must be known of 

 every variety of blackberry how well the fruit 

 clings to the pedicel; it should not cling too 

 tightly nor, on the other hand, drop too readily 

 as the crop ripens. 



If the size and shape of the cavity are out 

 of the ordinary in raspberries, the fact must 

 be recorded. The size and texture of the core 

 of blackberries and dewberries must be ac- 

 counted for, as a core too large or too hard or 

 too soft, is undesirable. The shape of the 

 core is of some importance in separating black- 

 berries and dewberries; it may be conical or 

 cylindrical, short or elongated. The core is 

 usually white, but may be pink or reddish. 

 The coherence of the drupelets varies with 

 the species and often with the variety in 

 brambles, hence is of taxonomic value and a 

 character of importance in marketing the crop, 

 since crumbly berries do not ship well and are 

 not attractive. 



The color of bramble-fruits must be de- 

 scribed with especial attention. The colors 

 range from white through yellow, amber, and 

 purple to black. There are almost innumer- 

 able tints and shades of these colors, and it 

 is most difficult to convey with accuracy the 

 exact color. The drupelets may be bright 

 and glossy or dull and clouded. A few fruits 

 of the brambles have a well-marked and 

 characteristic bloom. 



It is extremely difficult to describe the flavor 

 of bramble-fruits, and yet no two varieties 

 have quite the same taste. The usual words 

 sweet, sour, subacid, sprightly are used, but 

 always qualified by such adverbs as very, mild, 

 and the like. Yet these mean little with ber- 

 ries unless they possess some peculiarity, such 

 as bitterness, muskiness, or richness. Some 

 berries have an aroma that distinguishes them. 



The word texture is used much with drupes 

 as with pomes, yet it is quite a different thing. 

 In the tree-fruits texture is a quality of the 

 flesh, but in berries skin, flesh, seeds, and core 

 give texture. Nevertheless, much the same 

 terms are used in describing the texture as in 

 the larger fruits; thus, the brambles are 

 spoken of as coarse or fine-grained, tough or 

 tender, hard, soft, or melting, and seedy or 

 free from seeds. As with other fruits, berries 

 may be juicy or dry. It is sometimes worth 

 while noting the color of the juice. A state- 

 ment must be made as to whether the seeds 



are large or small, hard or soft, and as to what 

 the color is. 



Quality is rated as in testing other fruits. 

 The characters that make the berries pleasant 

 to the palate flavor, texture, aroma, juiciness 

 give quality. Quality is described as poor, 

 fair, good, very good, and best. Depending 

 chiefly on quality, somewhat on texture, ber- 

 ries are designated for use, the various uses 

 being for dessert, kitchen, market, home, and 

 evaporating. 



The description blank for the raspberry on 

 the next page sets forth most of the characters 

 students and fruit-growers will use in describ- 

 ing bramble-fruits. 



SPECIES OF BRAMBLE-FRUITS 



The genus Rubus confuses both botanist and 

 pomologist. There are many species between 

 which the differences are often slight and ob- 

 scure; and species differ greatly in accordance 

 with age of plant, locality, soil, season, and 

 growth in sun or shade. Some botanists prefer 

 to unite the many forms into a few generalized 

 species, while others, fond of trivial distinc- 

 tions, make many species. To confuse still 

 further, brambles hybridize in nature and are 

 easily hybridized by man, so that there are 

 now some natural groups undoubtedly orig- 

 inating in hybridization and many artificial 

 groups have been so produced. Under cultiva- 

 tion, natural species vary more than in the 

 wild state, adding more difficulties to a close 

 classification of the plants in this variable 

 genus. These considerations must be weighed 

 by the systematic pomologist, and a conclusion 

 arrived at as to whether he will follow the old 

 practice of dividing the genus into a few gen- 

 eralized species or name and describe each 

 distinct form. 



The second is the better method of classifi- 

 cation, if knowledge or material is at hand to 

 make use of it. The pomologist wants to 

 know all that can be known of the plants he 

 is cultivating, and a classification that takes 

 into consideration all of the characters of 

 brambles gives him the fullest knowledge. In 

 that sort of classification many species are 

 made. But in the present state of knowledge 

 of Rubus, a close classification of the culti- 

 vated forms of the genus is impossible. Rasp- 

 berries are less diverse in wild forms than 

 blackberries and dewberries, and may be put 

 in species with a fair degree of certainty, but 

 it is impossible to classify with a high de- 

 gree of satisfaction the last-named brambles. 

 Much critical study must be given this genus 

 by the botanist before the pomologist can 

 harmoniously classify domesticated with wild 

 forms. 



In the present state of knowledge, therefore, 

 it seems best to attempt to describe fully only 

 the cultivated species of raspberries, grouping 

 blackberries and dewberries into two groups 

 of distinct species, which have important char- 

 acters in common. 



The score or more cultivated forms of 

 Rubus come from temperate Europe and 



