BILBERRY.

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Pistol. Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept,
There pinch the maids as blue as Bilberry—
Our radiant Queen hates sluts and sluttery.
Merry Wives, act v, sc. 5 (48).

The Bilberry is a common British shrub found on all mossy heaths, and very pretty both in flower and in fruit. Its older English name was Heathberry, and its botanical name is Vaccinium myrtillus. We have in Britain four species of Vaccinium: the Whortleberry or Bilberry (V. myrtillus), the Large Bilberry (V. uliginosum), the Crowberry (V. vitis idÆa), and the Cranberry (V. oxycoccos). These British species, as well as the North American species (of which there are several), are all beautiful little shrubs in cultivation, but they are very difficult to grow; they require a heathy soil, moisture, and partial shade.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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