WOMEN IN PRINT. HEALTHFUL RAMBLES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 64, 17 March 1913, Page 9

WOMEN IN PRINT. HEALTHFUL RAMBLES

BLACKBERRIES AS AN OBJECT. ! In more than a hundred homes in ' Wellington to-day, hidden away on tht? high shelves of the pkntries by. thrifty housewives, &i ( c jdfe of blackberry jam, sweeb and wholesome, and there is nb more popular jam with children, tt is ; pbpttlal* With the httilseWife, tfio, fol 1 this reason that blackberries ctfsfc nothing. For' the past pik Weeks the delidious berry has been ripening in the sttHshine, ott the shoulders of hills or deep in the gullies in a hundred places -where the outlawed bramble thrives— Oh the hills at WainUi, acres of theffl; at the back af Kfttori, iis Moonshints Valley, a place of wild beauty, easily accessible, but known only to a fewj on the green roadsides ofr Silverstream ; from Petone to the Lower Hutt, and beyond that. On a •'recent journey over the Rimu* takas the writer saw acres of blackberry brambles, black with wasting fruit, along the railway lilies for miles, and oyer i«nny a hillside from which .natural covering has been torn or burnt, the blackberry has wandered, and hidden, with its graceful bramble, many a hither* to sightless patch of clay and ugliness. Here in waste places, far from the haunts of nten, the blackberry, .ihe gallant gorge and brooffi) .this stately foxglov.e ringing purple bells, the fragrant briar rose, and blue vperiwinkle roam at will over mountain and through gullies, outlaws no longer. Every week-end, for the past six weeks, hundreds of tteople, with baskets and buckets and biscuit tins, have hurried j to the haunts of the blackbetty, and ift spite of brambles and torn clothes and scratches, have returned laden--and still there are more, there i* no greater pleasure^ for the Nature-lover, nor more health-giving pastime, than this ramble over hill and thl-dugh gully, in the sweet air and sunshine, one's eye* resting on the cool greenft of tree and shrub, in the search for blackberries. A walk is often more interesting when there is an object in view--eeruittly for children"- and what could be better for mothers, who are necessarily tied to the house a gieat deal, than a day's outing after blackberries; oi" for the office girl, bending over desk and typewriter all day ; or for anybody at all, than just such an expedition to the many beauty-spote in and around Wellington? What though fh<?re are torn Garments, scratched hands And faces? 'rhere are besides bright eyes and rosy cheeks, freshened bodies, and heightened spiril s-^-ample compensations. Besides rtiakihg an excellent jam, blackberries are delicious stewed, with apples or without, and they may be converted into puddings and intd pk-i. The follow* ing recipe for blackberry jam may be recommended ! for every pound of black* berries use three'Cjuarters of a pound of sugar-pound for pound may be used, but this is unnecessary, as the fruit is sweet; leave standing with sugar all flight, and let the fruit come slowly to the boil ; add a lump of butter, the sisse of a wahiut (this will prevent scum i'ising)| boil for .three minutes. Apples niay be added in equal quantities 'if liked.

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