ROSE FAMILY 



receptacle, but both fall from the calyx together. Sweet and 

 aromatic. August, September. 



The tangled blackberry, crossed and recrossed, weaves 

 A prickly network of ensanguined leaves. 



— James Russell Lowell. 



If you wish to enjoy the richness of the fruit you must not be hasty to 

 pluck it. When the children say with a shout, "The blackberries are 

 ripe ! " I know that I can wait. When the children report, " The birds 

 are eating the berries ! " I know that I can wait. But when they say, 

 ''The bees are on the berries! " I know they are at their ripest. Then 

 with baskets we sally forth. * * * Even now we gather those only 

 which drop at the touch, — these in a brimming saucer, with golden cream 

 and a soupcon of powdered sugar are Olympian nectar ; they melt before 

 the tongue can measure their full roundness ; and seem to be mere bloated 

 bubbles of forest honey. 



— " My Farm at Edgewood." Donald G. Mitchell. 



Every one knows the Blackberry, the Common 

 Brier, because of its marked tendency to inhabit and 

 possess the earth. It springs up in any neglected 

 place and, if undisturbed, takes possession and holds 

 its own agfainst all intruders. It loyes the sea-shore, 

 flourishes on the mountain side, is especially thrifty at 

 the ed2:e of woods, fairly riots in fields lately cleared 



C5 J J 



or recently burned oyer, holds to the fencerows, and 

 wanders along the roadside. 



The species yaries greatly in habit, but each and all 

 forms possess a sturdy vitality which enables them to 

 live in spite of discouragement. Sometimes, indeed, 

 they discourage the farmer, for simply to cut them 

 down is useless ; they promptly scramble up again 

 and can be eradicated only by uprooting. When the 

 waste land is to be reclaimed, transformed into past- 

 ure, or meadow, or cultivated field, to uproot is 

 praiseworthy ; but to destroy this wild luxuriant 



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