Berry

“ Presently he found a berry that was juicy and quite to his taste, and what did he do but seize it in his beak and dash down into the snow, where he stood leg-deep in the icy crystals until he had eaten his blood-red tidbit! He was in no hurry, but slowly picked the berry to pieces, flinging it again and again into the snow, devouring the soft red pulp and throwing the rind and seed away. ”

“ The flesh is pure white, juicy, melting, sweet and delicious in flavor, and so aromatic that one berry will perfume a large apartment. The plant is vigorous and hardy, but a shy bearer. Hill culture and clipped runners are essential to fruit, but, for a connoisseur's table, a quart is worth a bushel of some varieties. ”

“ But when we are most busy and hurried, without a moment to loiter in the apple orchard or among the berry bushes, then, quite as well as, if not better than, during our leisure moments, they lay hold upon us with their tiny claws, and cling closely till we set to work to get rid of them. ”

“ Are there many runners, or few, or none? Do the new runners bear blossoms and fruit? If so, when do they commence to bud and bloom? When do the berries begin to ripen? Notice the size and shape of the fruit, also the color. You can tell much from the taste of the berry. No two varieties taste exactly alike. Some are real sweet and some kinds real sour. ”

“ There must exist somewhere sinless women who could eat these berries without being reminded of the lost purity and delicacy of the primeval senses. Every year I doubt not this stainless berry ripens here, and is unplucked by any knight of the Holy Grail who is worthy to eat it, and keeps alive, in the prodigality of nature, the tradition of the unperverted conditions of taste before the fall. ”

“ When ripe the berry has a slightly sweet taste on the surface, but the rest is very bitter. They make a beverage of the berries by gently rubbing them in the hand, in warm water, until all their sweetness has come out, without any of the bitter. ”

“ The fruit which appears soon after the blossoms, is a smooth, glossy, succulent, globular berry, from two-tenths to three-tenths of an inch in diameter, or about the size of a small pea. Planters do not allow the berries to ripen fully, because in that case they would be difficult to cure and would become black and tasteless, losing their aromatic property. ”

“ The berry is about the size of a pea, and covered with a bluish powder. They are gathered by spreading a skin on the sand, and beating the bush with a stick. When a sufficient quantity of the berries are collected, they are boiled in a great quantity of water, and the wax is skimmed off as fast as it rises ”

“ And sometimes little Prue would eat a berry, and sometimes Davy would eat a berry—big, big berries—just because they looked so good, and tasted so good, that a little boy and a little girl could not help eating them, even if it took some of the berries out of the shortcake they were going to have for tea. ”

“ When you find a plant gather the seed, and unless you want to plant them in your garden, bury them in the berry about an inch or inch and a half deep in some good, rich, shady place, one berry in each spot. ”

“ The berry is of a beautiful buff color, and its delicious flavor is the accepted standard of excellence. At the same time, it is well known that it will not thrive under hot suns or upon light land. It can be raised south of New York only in cool, moist soils, and in half-shady locations; but at the North, where the conditions of growth are favorable, it produces strong branching canes, covered with white spines, and is exceedingly productive of large, light-colored berries that melt on the tongue. ”

“ Strictly speaking, the small seeds scattered over the surface of the berry are the fruit, and it is to perfect these seeds that the plants blossom, the stamens scatter, and the pistils receive the pollen on the convex receptacle, which, as the seeds ripen, greatly enlarges, and becomes the pulpy and delicious mass that is popularly regarded as the fruit. So far from being the fruit, it is only "the much altered end of the stem" that sustains the fruit or seeds ”

“ We know the name of the sower, who gathers seeds in the woods, and plants them; who is busy all the year at the endless work of the harvest and the sowing.
THE AUTUMN BERRIES IN THE WOODS
In the roadside thickets, as the summer wanes, the berry clusters of the shrubby viburnums turn red, and soften, and in September change to a vivid, or a dark blue. They are very pretty on their coral red stems, and look like little plums. Indeed, they are not unpleasant to taste, but it is the birds who delight in these sweetish, juicy berries, and we are willing that they should have them all. ”

“ The berry is now solid, and its color is a translucent green. Each shell contains two seeds, rounded on one side and flat on the other. The seeds lie with the flat sides together, and, in one highly prized variety, the two seeds grow together, forming one: this is known as the pea berry. When the fruit is so ripe that it can be shaken from the tree, the husks are separated from the berries, and are used, in Arabia, by the natives, while the berries are sold. ”

“ They are easily grown on rough waste land, or in any situation you prefer. Of this berry is made a wine, superior in flavor and effect to any port wine now to be obtained in market; it has had the preference among the best judges in the country;—it is fast coming into notice and cultivation. ”

“ The fruit, a kind of berry, which, towards the time of its ripening, though that seldom happens among us, is first of a brownish colour, and then black, contains a round seed. The roots grow sometimes to the thickness of one’s finger, push themselves deep into the earth, are surrounded by many small fibres, have a yellowish-red pith, and are covered with a black bark or rind. This plant grows wild in the Levant, as well as in Italy, the southern parts of France, and in Switzerland. The cultivated kind is well known, and is propagated with much advantage in various countries of Europe. ”

“ The red berries are ripe in June, and the birds celebrate the event, and even take them before they begin to redden. Competition is strong, and the supply never equals the demand. Rarely can a human berry-picker find a ripe berry, to discover how it tastes.
The charm of this little tree is that it covers its slim branches so early with white blossoms. The clusters are soft and feathery, and a warm flush underlies the white, the ruddy, strap-shaped bracts, two of which are under each flower. The [233] dainty opening leaves are also ruddy, and these have opened before the blossoms pass. ”

“ Oaks, elms, and poplars, are seen mingling with birches, willows, and aspens. Several species of indigenous fruit trees were observed by Lucien, among which were crab-apple, raspberry, strawberry, and currant. There23 was also seen the fruit called by the voyageurs “le poire,” but which in English phraseology is known as the “service-berry.” It grows upon a small bush or shrub of six or eight feet high, with smooth pinnate leaves. These pretty red berries are much esteemed and eaten both by Indians and whites, who preserve them by drying, and cook them in various ways. ”

“ This berry grows wild, in great abundance, in many parts of the country. It has been so plentiful, especially in the newer parts, that its cultivation has not been much attended to until recently. Like all other berries, the cultivated bear the largest and best fruit. ”

“ Of these, one in particular, which bears a red berry, is much like the supple-jack, and grows about the trees, stretching from one to another, in such a manner as to render the woods almost wholly impassable. ”

“ It is generally called the miraculous berry, and whoever eats of it in the morning, must be content at least for that day to forego the flavour of every kind of food, whether animal or vegetable, for all will be alike saccharine to the palate, and the most ridiculous effect is often produced by playing tricks upon those, who are not aware of its peculiar property. ”

“ Staminate.
President Lincoln.—Plant moderately vigorous; foliage light green; truss 5 to 6 inches, strong; berry crimson, conical; often long with a neck; the first large berries are coxcombed and very irregular; flesh firm, scarlet; flavor of the very best; size 3 to 6 inches; calyx close to spreading. One of the best varieties for an amateur. Among them often, without any apparent cause, are found small bushy plants with smaller leaves, and berries full of "fingers and toes." ”

“ Try them, also, in light and heavy soils; and, if possible, send them to trusted friends who will subject them to varied climates in widely separated localities. If, however, you find them vigorous and productive on the light, poor soil of your own place, you may hope much for them elsewhere. No berry will be generally popular that requires much petting. ”

“ The hooked fruit of the stick-tight is finally brushed from the hair of some exasperated animal by the jagged branches of the neighboring thicket and is deposited on the disputed ground, while a bird passing just overhead drops earthward the seed of the partridge berry. ”

“ The seeds of berries of coffee-trees constitute the coffee of commerce. Each berry contains two seeds, with exception of maleberry, which is a single round seed. In their natural state they are almost tasteless ”

“ Most of our cultivated fruits have been produced in this way. For instance, if two species of wild strawberries were found, one, large and beautiful but sour or tasteless, the other, small but delicious, the two could be bred together until finally a perfect berry, large and well-flavored, would result. ”

“ It is of itself excellent; so that one of the chiefest doctors of England was wont to say, that God could have made, but God never did make, a better berry. In some parts, where the natives have planted, I have many times seen as many as would fill a good ship, within few miles’ compass. The Indians bruise them in a mortar, and mix them with meal, and make strawberry-bread. ”

“ Always remove every berry from the mulberry branches or the worms will eat them and be made sick. Their appetites are enormous, their growth rapid. Change the beds four times during this period of nine days. ”

“ The fruit, which, though rather larger, resembles in shape the black haw, is a light brown berry, the fruit of a tree about the size, shape, and appearance in every respect, of that of the United States, called the wild crab-apple. ”

“ The FRUIT is an oblong berry 3 to 6 inches long, and contains a number of large, brown seeds. When ripe it falls to the ground, turning dark brown. The deep yellow flesh is palatable, though some people do not care for its unique flavor. The tree blooms and bears as a shrub or tree. ”

“ Sepals 6, roundish, with 2–6 bractlets outside. Petals 6, obovate, concave, with two glandular spots inside above the short claw. Stamens 6. Stigma circular, depressed. Fruit a 1–few-seeded berry. Seeds erect, with a crustaceous integument.—Shrubs, with yellow wood and inner bark, yellow flowers in drooping racemes, sour berries, and 1–9-foliolate leaves. Stamens irritable. (Derived from Berbêrys, the Arabic name of the fruit.)
1. B. Canadénsis, Pursh. (American Barberry.) Leaves repandly toothed, the teeth less bristly-pointed; racemes few-flowered; petals notched at the apex; berries oval ”

“ The more or less advanced state of maturity to which the berry is allowed to attain before picking, and, more particularly still, the degree of dryness, and the longer or shorter period of time for which it is kept before being sent into the market, exercise a most powerful influence upon the quality and flavour of the article. Berries gathered before they have attained maturity, though they may be perfect in colour, will always have a raw, herbaceous taste. ”

“ Of the plants of the winter grape, which so generally clings to the trees in the alluvial forests, probably not one in fifty bears any fruit at all. The fruit when produced is a small circular berry not unlike the wild black cherry. ”

“ The brier on which it grows is an annual plant, springing each year from the roots and dying after bearing fruit. The plant is very largely cultivated, bearing larger and more presentable berries, but gaining nothing in flavor and palatability. The berries are generally black when fully ripe, though red during the ripening stage and sometimes when mature. They are eaten raw, stewed, and in pies or “cobblers.” The berry is extensively used for making jams, jellies, and preserves, and for canning purposes. The juice of the berry is used for making a wine, usually with the admixture of sugar. ”

“ The plum, the cherry, the apple and pear tribes—the raspberry, with its allies—the gooseberry, and currant, red and black—the service-tree, with its pleasant subacid fruit, and the abounding whortleberry and cranberry tribes, which cover immense tracts of our hills with their myrtle-like foliage and pretty heath-like bloom, and produce such harvests of useful fruit freely to whoever will take the trouble of gathering it—are surely treasures not to be despised! ”

“ Experiments last year in blueberry culture developed luscious berries a half inch in diameter. Possibilities in berry development are almost unlimited, especially by crossing with hardy wild varieties. ”

“ It is useless to enumerate the several varieties, for nearly every locality has its favorite strawberry. Some kinds will scarcely bear a perfect berry in some locations, while in a different locality the same berry will be loaded with perfect fruit. ”

“ Fruit ripens very late and keeps well. Clusters medium to small, rather long, intermediate in breadth, tapering to cylindrical, not very uniform, often single-shouldered, compact; peduncle above medium length, small; pedicel rather short and slender, covered with numerous warts, enlarged at point of attachment to berry; brush short, thick, wine-colored. Berries small, roundish, black, covered with a moderate amount of blue bloom, persistent, firm. Skin thin, tough, rather adherent to the pulp, contains a slight amount of purple pigment, astringent. ”