238 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENOES, 



mostly they are in inaccessible 

 places, reaching to the top of the 

 forest-tree, and often hundreds of 

 feet high. 



The, accompanying photograph 

 I prepared last fall of some of 

 these grapevines, which fairly 

 illustrates the exceeding attractive- 

 ness of these rampant vines and 

 the forest scenery close to the 

 romantic San Antonio River, some 

 ten miles below San Antonio — 

 the vines entirely covering the 

 trees and overhanging the river 

 below. 



months, our aga'ritas blossom at 

 an early date in Spring, and 

 fully n'pcn in May when they 

 are gathered for various household 

 purposes, but in particular for 

 preparing jelly, syrup, wine and 

 pies. The jelly also can be con- 

 verted into a delicious and refresh- 

 ing beverage, during the hot sum- 

 mer months, by adding a little 

 lemon juice, and if preferred, a 

 little "spirits" to a tumbler fuU 

 of water and some sugar 



The agarita bush grows in 

 nearly all soils and locations of 



Gathering Agakita Berries From Bush 



Some other and also most de- 

 licious wild fruit indigenous to 

 our Texas climate, is our so- 

 called "agarita" or sour berry, vine- 

 gar berry, or "Berberis V/ulgaris,'' 

 its latin name. It is one of the 

 most conspicuous of our shrubery — 

 bearing fruit of the prairie plains, 

 for reasons of its dagger-pointed 

 (three cornered) leaves, and its 

 multiple and intensely yellow-col- 

 ored fragrant blossoms; and, whilst 

 the many and various other prairie- 

 berries ripen; during ,.the summer 



the prairie, but generally it 

 is seen in the hilly and rocky 

 regions around San Antonio, where 

 during blossoming and fruit-ripen- 

 ing time it is easily distinguished 

 from other shrubbery, for reason 

 of the stated sharp-pointed leaves 

 and the red color of its succulent 

 berries. 



Ordinarily the gathering of 

 agarita-berries is a rather tedious- 

 and often painful procedure, and 

 persons uninformed of the proper 

 way to gather them often tear 



