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.
_Uses._--It is one of the finest desert berries; excellent in milk, and
for tarts, pies, &c. Blackberries make the best vinegar for table use,
and a wine that retains the peculiar flavor, and of a beautiful color.
This berry comes in after the raspberries, and ripens long in succession
on the same bush.
[Illustration: High-bush Blackberry.]
_Varieties_ of wild ones, usually found growing in the borders of fields
and woods, are the low-bush and the high-bush. Downing gives the first
place to the low. Our experience is, that the high is the best bearer of
the best fruit. We have often gathered them one and one fourth inches in
length, very black, and of delicious sweetness. The low ones that have
come under our observation have been smaller and nearer round, and not
nearly so sweet.