558 



THE MALIGNED BLACKBERRY. 



after the land had been cropped for three years, it was 

 allowed to grow up to bushes and shrub ; but now, by the 

 aid of fertilizers, continuous crops are produced. Large 

 numbers of pine-apples are canned for export, negro 

 laborers being exclusively employed. They have to pare 

 loo pine-apples to earn three cents, and 4.000 is a day's 

 work. 



The production of sisal hemp is a new industry, en- 

 couraged by the authorities to afford employment to the 

 laborers where pine-apple cannot be grown. The plant 

 from which this is produced (^Agave Mexicana) has always 

 grown there as a noxious and persistent weed, but it has 

 only been utilized for economic purposes within the last 

 few years. From 400 to 500 plants can be set on an 

 acre, and they will grow higher than a tall man can reach. 

 The produce is about 800 to 1,000 pounds of hemp per 

 acre. The leaves of the plants are cut off and passed 



through a machine which crushes them and scrapes off 

 the pulp, the fiber amounting to about four per cent, of 

 the weight of the Jeaves. Large companies were at first 

 formed to conduct the business, and some acquired as 

 much as 20,000 acres apiece. Now the government will 

 sell no more land in large tracts; but 10 acres can be 

 purchased by individuals for $10, to be paid from the first 

 crop. This is by far the most promising industry of the 

 islands. 



Maize, yams, sweet potatoes, limes and lemons are 

 also produced in considerable quantities for export, and 

 oranges of superior quality were formerly one of the 

 staple products of the islands, not though at present. 

 Among the other exports, salt, mahogany, lignum vitse 

 and sponges hold the chief place The sponge trade 

 amounts to $300,000 a year, and the wages of the sponge 

 collectors average about $75 per annum. 



THE MALIGNED BLACKBERRY. 



T DON'T like yer tame blackberries. They're 

 I too sour — take too much sugar and set yer 

 I teeth all on edge. Haint half so good as 

 Betsy and I picks down in the woodlot.' 

 This is surely a common opinion of the garden black- 

 berry, and yet nothing can be farther from the truth. 

 It is all a question of cultivation and ripeness, par- 

 ticularly of ripeness. The man who buys his black- 

 berries at the store never knew what a good black- 

 berry is. And, in truth, I fear that few people who 

 grow them ever half appreciate them. It is the 

 worst of mistakes to suppose that blackness is a 

 sign of ripeness in blackberries. The only sign is 

 softness. When the berries fall into your hands as 

 you touch the cluster, they are ripe. Then they 

 have no core, no acid, no feeling of seediness. They 

 dissolve in your mouth and give out an aroma which 

 can be likened to nothing else among fruits. At 

 this stage they are to my taste the par excelleiice of 

 our small fruits. Nothing from the garden is half 

 so warm and fragrant and luscious, and nothing calls 

 to my mind so many associations of fields and wood- 



lands. It is ihe fruit of summer, rich and spicy 

 with the fullness of the season. Eat them when 

 they are ripe, soft and fresh from the bushes, with- 

 out sugar or milk, either on the table or in the field, 

 and tell me if the raspberry or the strawberry is 

 half so good ! 



Well grown, ripe and juicy blackberries will dis- 

 pel this common fiction that the wild berry is better 

 than the tame one. I once shared in the belief, but 

 although I have long known better, it was not until 

 this summer that every doubt was irrevocably driven 

 from my mind. On a bright and drowsy July day 

 I took a long tramp through tangles which I had 

 known as a boy, and there again I picked the long 

 and drooping berries in the shade of sweet birches 

 and sassafras. Yes, they were delicious, and of 

 course I picked only the ripe ones ; but the berries 

 in my garden are far better ! Never such berries 

 grew in copses as those which hang upon the rows 

 of Early Chester and Ancient Briton and Aga- 

 wam ! 



L. H. Bailey. 



