Blackberry

“ Soon after Joe’s departure, Ralph and I, baskets in hand, started for the blackberry patch. Ralph’s basket was a little toy candy pail, which he assured Jessie he should bring to her “filled way up on ’e top wiv burries.” The blackberry vines grew along the upper edge of the wheat field. We stopped when fairly above the field to admire the square of yellow grain spread out below us, the bended heads of wheat nodding and swaying in the light breeze, and the tall stalks now and then rippling in soft, undulating waves, as if a gentle wind had moved over a sea of gold. ”

“ The blackberry is a fruit that takes kindly to cultivation, and improves under it.
The proper treatment is management rather than cultivation and stimulation. It requires a sunny exposure and a light, warm soil, yet not so dry as to prevent the fruit from maturing into juicy berries. If possible, set the blackberries off by themselves, for it is hard to prevent the strong roots from travelling all over the garden. The blackberry likes a rich, moist, mellow soil, and, finding it, some varieties will give you canes sixteen feet high. ”

“ Ceaseless are locusts; heavy is the air above the garden, where phlox and strawberry shrub tinge it Persian-sweet. Clustered blueberries are drooped upon the mountains, and in the swamps, sometimes over quicksands, shows the darkling sheen of the high-bush huckleberry. The odor of [42] the balsam fir is drawn out and spread far by the heat. Now the pursued brambles become the blackberry patch. The waste lands shine yellow with the blooms of the marching hardhack. It is the triumph of the sun, and his priest, the white day lily of the cloistral leaf, worships in fragrance. ”

“ Tiny stars of crimson sorrel threaded on their long brown stems; the blackberry blossoms in bridal white; the surprise of the blue-eyed grass; the crowfoot flowers, like drops of yellow gold spilt about among the short grass and over the moss; the rich, blue-purple beach-pea, the sweet, spiked germander, and the homely, delightful yarrow that grows thickly on all the islands. Sometimes its broad clusters of dull white bloom are stained a lovely reddish-purple, as if with the light of sunset. ”

“ Just for a wonder, it was neither saint nor piskie who was quoted in connection with blackberries, but Old Nick himself, who ate so many one thirteenth of September that he felt real ill, and he cursed the fruit with such a terrible curse that, after the fatal thirteenth, the fruit is said to be unfit for food, and is allowed to rot where it grows.
If the blackberry isn't a native, it ought to be, considering the impudent way in which it takes possession of the hedges and fences, scrambling over everything, and sucking in all the sunshine which comes out of the sky. ”

“ The younger portion of the Harvest-throng find abundant employment in searching the hedges for the favourite and refreshing fruit of the Blackberry—and we see them standing in groups in lanes and fields, with their plump, rosy faces dyed, in no very becoming style it is true, with the dark purple juice ”

“ Blackberry Jelly.—Take six pounds of blackberries before they are quite ripe, pick them from the stalks, and put them into a jar. Tie the jar up closely, set it in a pan of water on the fire till the blackberries become pulp. Then strain the fruit through a cloth, and to one pint of juice add one pound of sifted sugar. Boil it to a jelly, and pour it into pots for use. Blackberry jelly is much improved if half the quantity of blackberries is used and the other half made up of bullaces or wild plums. ”

“ THE BLACKBERRY. This fruit has received the least attention at the hands of fruit growers of any of our small fruits. Plants are seldom inquired for, and only a few hundreds are planted, where thousands of currants, raspberries, and gooseberries, and millions of strawberries are set out. Mr. Parry, of New Jersey, is an extensive cultivator of small fruits, and for many years boasted a large number of acres of blackberries under cultivation, and may therefore be considered good authority on the cultivation of this fruit. ”

“ PROPAGATION, CULTURE, ETC. In most instances I think more difficulty would be found in making a blackberry die than live. A plant set out in fall or early spring will thrive if given the ghost of a chance. Late spring planting, however, often fails if subjected to heat and drought while in the green, succulent condition of early growth. Like the raspberry, the blackberry should be set, if possible, while in a dormant condition. If planted late, shade should be given and moisture maintained until danger of wilting and shrivelling is past. ”

“ It is chiefly a cultivated plant, being less hardy than the blackberry, and therefore not growing wild to such an extent. The fruit matures just before the blackberry, and is usually of a red color and of a pleasant characteristic taste. ”

“ Without moving a bush, or rustling a leaf, the trio crept behind the thick blackberry vines, and the next moment two shots rang out through the gully! The report echoed against the very hill where the men were crouching. ”

“ It is a most variable plant, exhibiting many more or less distinct forms which are regarded by different authorities as sub-species or species. In America several forms of the native blackberry, Rubus nigrobaccus (formerly known as R. villosus) , are widely cultivated; it is described as one of the most important and profitable of bush-fruits. ”

“ In larger enclosures, bounded by the same white fencing, grew vegetables and fruit trees. Sometimes we pulled a pungent horse-radish root and pretended that a bite of it made us crazy, an excuse for much running and wild gesticulation. Under a long row of loaded blackberry vines Dick once asked me the riddle, “Why is a blackberry like a newspaper?” ”

“ Morel must buy fruit for puddings on the Saturdays; also she liked blackberries. So Paul and Arthur scoured the coppices and woods and old quarries, so long as a blackberry was to be found, every week-end going on their search. In that region of mining villages blackberries became a comparative rarity. But Paul hunted far and wide. He loved being out in the country, among the bushes. ”

“ He is fond of blackberries, and sportsmen often visit blackberry patches when looking for him in the early fall, but I have been surprised to find that when feeding in a blackberry patch he apparently shows no preference for the ripe berries, filling his crop with all kinds. ”

“ The cultivation of the blackberry has been retarded to a considerable extent by the excellence of the wild sorts—the people being satisfied with the fruit of the bramble in the fence row. The varieties that now head the list have all been chance seedlings found growing wild, and afterward improved by garden culture. ”

“ Another fine variety of the common wild blackberry, which was discovered by a clergyman at the edge of the woods on the Kittatinny Mountains in New Jersey, has produced fruit under skilled cultivation that still remains the best of its class. When clusters of blossoms and fruit in various stages of green, red, and black hang on the same bush, few ornaments in Nature's garden are more decorative. ”

“ But, strange to say, as it grew larger the quarts grew smaller, and finally, somehow or other, “the blackberries are not worth picking this year;” or “the blackberries are all dried up this year,” became the continual complaint when the excursionists returned home with emptier and emptier baskets.
But the “Blackberry Party” grew as thick as its namesake fruit had been of old, and now, for twenty-five years, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, grandchildren and neighbors, gathered to the time-honored festival. ”

“ Anywhere, everywhere it grows, even along the bleak sea-cliffs washed with sea-spray and ruffled with bitter winds; but the fruit is most sweet and generous when growing in sheltered spots on moor and in valley. We were told to be sure to have blackberry pie, and we had it at the farm; and if the immortals didn't envy us when eating blackberry pie, smothered with Mrs. Andrawartha's cream, [Pg 199] it's proof positive that they don't know about one good thing in the eating line. ”

“ Blackberries, too, are exuberant in their growth, and in many spots the hawthorn and blackberry on opposite sides of the brook have intertwined their branches across it and have completely hidden the water from sight. ”

“ In America there are innumerable varieties, since Nature produces wild seedlings on every hillside, and not a few seeds have been planted by horticulturists in the hope of originating a prize berry. Nature appears to have had the better fortune, thus far, for our best varieties are chance seedlings, found growing wild.
It is not so many years since the blackberry was regarded as merely a bramble in this country, as it now is abroad, and people were content with such fruit as the woods and fields furnished. ”

“ The bramble is emphatically the property of the poor; its fruit may be gathered without restriction; its shoots, both in their young medicinal state, and in their harder and tougher growth, are theirs to use as they will; and their children may enjoy the sport of blackberry-picking, and the profits of blackberry-selling, none saying them nay; and many a pleasant and wholesome pudding or pie is to be found on tables in blackberry season, where such dainties are not often seen at any other time, unless, indeed, we except the whortleberry season. ”

“ Among the small fruits one of the most common and abundant is the blackberry. This fruit grows wild over large areas in the United States, mostly in the middle portion between the extreme north and south. ”

“ A blackberry is the same, with a little cluster of pulpy pistils on the outside. A raspberry is the [287] little cluster of pistils without the core; so that the blackberry is really the connecting-link between the strawberry and the raspberry. ”

“ On the bramble bushes the blackberries cluster thickly, unseen and ungathered in this wild spot. The happy hearts that go a-blackberrying think little of the past: yet there is a deep, a mournful significance attached to that joyous time. For how many centuries have the blackberries tempted men, women, and children out into the fields, laughing at scratched hands and nettles, and clinging burrs, all merrily endured for the sake of so simple a treasure-trove. ”

“ Blackberries still very plenty, and sweet; they have not brought any to the village lately, people seem tired of them. Found also a few red raspberries, whortleberries, and the acid rose-berry. This is a land of berries; a large portion of our trees and plants yield their seed in this form. Among such are the several wild cherries, and plums, the amelanchiers and dog-woods, the mountain ash, the sumachs, and the thorns; all the large bramble tribe, with their pleasant fruits, roses, raspberries, the blackberry, and the gooseberry ”

“ We have a native white strawberry, removed from our meadows to our gardens, which produces fruit of superior fragrance and flavor. The crop is not large—but continues gradually ripening for many weeks. The blackberry is introduced to the garden among us. The fruit sells at our market for from three to five cents—profit is not therefore the motive for cultivating it, but improvement. ”

“ The grapes grow transparent now under their bloom, and crave gathering. My wife wants walnuts to pickle; so we go to the great tree on the windy side of the orchard, and get no more than enough, that the rest may ripen fully. We find a few mulberries, and the sight of them sets Harry asking for his promised blackberry holiday. Jane says she thinks it might do already. On every bramble there are still blossoms, and green and red fruit; but there is also some black, and we can but try.
It is very pleasant to get blackberries; but the real treat, in my opinion, is the sight of an autumn hedge. ”

“ The French name for blackberries is mûres sauvages, also mûres de haie; and in some of our provincial districts they are known as "winterpicks," growing on the Blag.
Blackberry wine, which is a trustworthy cordial astringent remedy for looseness of the bowels, may be made thus: Measure your berries, and bruise them, and to every gallon of the fruit add a quart of boiling water. Let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours, occasionally stirring ”

“ Others equally enterprising hunted for blackberries in places where a blackberry would have been frightened to death to find itself growing—whether they climbed trees for them is not positively known. ”

“ The blackberry should not be planted on very rich soil, lest the result prove to be a large growth of canes and very little fruit. After experimenting with many soils, from a firm clay to a light blowing sand, Mr. Parry gives the preference to a light moist sandy loam, and if water would otherwise stand near the surface that which has been thoroughly underdrained. He states that a fruit grower who had forty acres devoted to the growing of blackberries bought a tract of light sandy land at thirteen dollars per acre, and planted it with them ”

“ Please do not bring the mocking-birds to me, little friends, though I hope very much that you will come yourselves. The little birds I take care of, although I do everything I can to keep them strong and well, always die, and I have now decided that it is pleasanter to hear about the pets my correspondents have than to be grieving over my own. But accept my thanks for your kind intention.
On the River, near Ashville, North Carolina.
On the top of the Black Dome, not very far from here, the high-bush blackberry grows without any thorns. It is called the thornless blackberry, and is wonderful. ”