never to
frighten them. You can do this in camp; you can do it at home if you are
not living in a city. The trustful friendship of animals and birds opens
a new path of happiness and one that all girls should be able, in some
measure, to enjoy.

CHAPTER VII

WILD FOOD ON THE TRAIL

=Edible Fruits, Nuts, Roots, and Plants=

While wild foods gathered on the trail give a delightful variety to camp
fare, be advised and do not gather, still less eat, them unless you are
absolutely sure you know what they are and that they are not poisonous.
You must be able to identify a thing with certainty before tasting in
order to enjoy it in safety. It is well worth while to make a study of
the wild-growing foods, but in the meantime this chapter will help you
to know some of them. _The italicized names are of the things I know to
be edible from personal experience._ You are probably well acquainted
with the common wild fruits such as the raspberry, strawberry,
blackberry, blueberry, and huckleberry, but there are varieties of these
and all will bear description.

=Red Raspberry=

The wild berry often has a more delicious flavor and perfume than the
cultivated one of the same species. Nothing can approach the wonderful
and delicate flavor of the little wild strawberry, unless it is the wild
red raspberry; and the fully ripe wild blackberry holds a spicy
sweetness that makes the garden blackberry taste tame and flat in
comparison.

The _wild red raspberry_ is found in open fields and growing along
fences and the sides of the road. The flowers are white and grow in
loose clusters, while the berry, when fully ripe, is a deep, translucent
red. The bush is shrubby, is generally about waist-high, and the stems
bear small, hooked prickles. The leaves are what is called compound,
being composed of three or five leaflets, usually three, which branch
out from the main stem like the leaves of the rose-bush. The edges of
the leaves are irregularly toothed.

The berry is cup-shaped and fits over a core which is called the
receptacle, and from which it loosens when ripe to drop easily into your
hand, leaving the receptacle and calyx on the stem. The sweet,
far-carrying perfume of the gathered wild red raspberry will always
identify it. The season for fruit is July and August.

=Black Raspberry=

The growth and leaves of the _wild black raspberry_ are like those of
the red raspberry, and it is found in the same localities. Th