64 



HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



gerous serpents. They are diuretic ; and the juice pressed 

 out of the tendrils, or young shoots, of brambles stamped, 

 and afterwards reduced into the consistency of honey by 

 standing in the sun, is, says the above author, e< a singu- 

 larly efficacious medicine taken inwardly, or applied out- 

 wardly, for all the diseases of the mouth and eyes, as 

 well as for the quinsy," Sec. The young shoots, eaten as 

 a salad, will fasten teeth that are loose. The roots of the 

 bramble, boiled in wine, were esteemed one of the best 

 astringents by the Roman physicians, who preferred the 

 juice of blackberries to that of mulberries for the in- 

 firmities of the mouth. Brookes says, "the fruit, when 

 ripe, is cooling, and quenches thirst ; and the leaves 

 pounded, and applied to ringworms, and ulcers of the 

 legs, was thought to heal them in a short time." Boer- 

 haave affirms, that the roots taken out of the earth in 

 February or March, and boiled with honey, are an excel- 

 lent remedy against the dropsy. 



Turner, one of the earliest English writers on Plants, 

 says, " The bramble bindeth, drieth, and dieth heyre.'' 



The jam made from blackberries is now much used in 

 sore throats caused by colds, and is given in slight 

 fevers. 



The juice of blackberry mixed with raisin wine, before 

 it has fermented, will give it both the colour and flavour 

 of claret. 



The green twigs are still found of great use in dyeing 

 woollen, silk, and mohair, black. Silk-worms will feed 

 upon the leaves of the bramble ; but the silk they produce 

 is not so good as when they are fed on mulberry- leaves. 



However generally the bramble is reprobated as a trou- 

 blesome weed, we must acknowledge that when either in 

 fruit or flower, it forms a principal among the numberless 

 hedge-row beauties ; and its utility in particular soils is 

 equally valuable, especially in poor sandy lands where the 



