CHAPTER ly. 



BLACKBERRY. 



RUBUS.— Bramble. 



The Blackberry belongs to the same family and g6nu8 

 as the Raspberry. The fruit in this case is a collective 

 maps of drupes attached to the juicy receptacle — not 

 sepr>rating as in the Raspberry, but falling off whole. In 

 form, the berries are mostly ovate or oblong, brown or 

 blackish, occasionally yellowish- white. 



There are about one hundred and fifty species of the 

 Blackberry known to botanists, and, like the Raspberry, 

 they are distributed over a greater portion of the world. 



Few of the species possess any particular merit worthy 

 of the attention of fruit growers of the present time, con- 

 sequently I shall confine myself mainly to the indigenous 

 species and their varieties. The following six species are 

 natives of the United States : 



Rubus villOSUS.— Common High Blackberry. — Stems 

 shrubby, two to eight feet high, furrowed, upright or re- 

 clining, armed with stout curved prickles ; lower surface 

 of the leaves hairy and glandular ; leaflets three or pe- 

 dately five, ovate, pointed, unequallv serrate ; plant vaiia* 

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