SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 
attains the size of a marble and is very luscious 
and sweet when ripe, and the stems are thickly 
covered with sharp spines. Sometimes bushes of 
spineless fruit may be found, and they are very 
nice. Even the spiny fruit can be eaten if a 
little care be exercised. It is strange that the 
Chinese have never thought of cultivating this 
excellent berry. 
In the higher parts of the mountains two varieties 
of Red-currants occur. One of these is a tall 
thickly leaved and _ close-growing shrub, the 
berries, sharp and astringent, growing in a thick 
cluster on an upright stalk. The other resembles 
exactly the Red-currant of British gardens, both 
in appearance and flavour. 
A very superior Wild Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) 
also occurs in these mountains. It, too, resembles 
the British cultivated variety, and grows chiefly 
in the valley bottoms, where one may sometimes 
find extensive patches of it. The fruit is fully 
as large as our garden variety and is very sweet 
and well flavoured. 
Another berry belonging to the genus Rubus 
grows on the mountain sides. This resembles 
the Dewberry, in leaf and blossom, and in its 
straggling growth. The fruit, however, remains of 
a bright red colour when ripe, one or two only 
of the drupels remaining, which attain a com- 
paratively large size. 
In the long grass and open glades of the forests 
235 
