BLACKBERRY. 65 



growth of other hedges is slow. When planted in such 

 situations, it will by its quick growth soon entwine its 

 thorny branches in the dead hedge, which it binds fast 

 from the pilfering vagrant, and proves equally hostile to 

 the legs of idle boys, thus forming a fence 



" Not pervious to the cattle, or the thief." 



Of the Rubits fruticosus, or common bramble, we have 

 five varieties ; and as one has been discovered in a hedge 

 near Oxford 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 contradictory appellation 

 of white blackberry. The variety with a double flower is 

 now one of the ornaments of the shrubbery : the other 

 varieties are, one with variegated leaves, one with cut 

 leaves, and the bramble without thorns. 



Of the species of bramble named Rubus c&sius, or dew- 

 berry, but which Gerard calls Rubus saxatilis, or stone- 

 berry, the protuberances are much larger, and fewer in- 

 number, than those of the common blackberry. It is 

 generally found trailing on the banks of hedge-rows, or 

 in hazel copses, seldom growing above a foot high, with 

 leaflets considerably larger than those of the common 

 bramble. This is a berry of excellent flavour, and quite 

 free from the faint taste of the common bramble-berry. 

 It is therefore well deserving a place in cultivated grounds, 

 as it must be equally beneficial to society that our na- 

 tive fruits should be improved, as that new varieties 

 should be imported from climates that afford but little 

 hope of their thriving here without the aid of artificial 

 heat. 



