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The White Oaks have sweeter and more palatable fruit than 
the Black Oaks, and it is mostly from them that the Indians sup- 
ply themselves. In California the large conical fruit of Q. /obata 
Nee is considered best by the natives who collect enormous 
quantities of it for winter use. Further north, that of Q. Garryana 
Dougl. is held in the same esteem. All the Live Oaks yield 
Sweet palatable acorns, from the eastern Q. Virginiana Mill. to 
Q. undulata Torr., Q. oblongifolia Torr., Q. pungens Liebm., Q. 
Emoryi Torr., of the Rocky Mountain region, and QO. Engelmanni 
Greene, of Southern California. Our eastern Indians consumed 
large quantities of the acorns of Q. Virginiana, also obtaining 
from them a sweet oil much used in cooking; they, likewise, ate 
the acorns of QO. Michauxii Nutt. and Q. prinoides Willd. 
Of the Black Oaks the only one affording food to the Indians 
is Q. agrifolia Nee, the Coast Live Oak of California. 
_Of the Walnuts and Hickories our Indians knew how to take 
full advantage, and sometimes from the nuts obtained delicacies 
apparently unknown to us; thus Bartram states that the Creeks 
pound the nuts and cast them into boiling water which is then 
passed through a very fine strainer; the thicker oily part of the 
liquid thus preserved is called hickory milk; it is as sweet and 
rich as fresh cream, and an ingredient in most of their cookery, 
specially hominy and corn cakes. 
Our species of Yucca are not only handsome and ornamental, 
but the section Savcoyucca of our arid southwestern territory pro- 
duces fleshy, banana-like, fruits of agreeable taste, wholesome and 
nutritious. Unfortunately the fertilization of these plants, depend- 
ing largely, if not entirely, upon the agency of certain moths, is 
often imperfect, so that well developed fruit is scant. Y. daccata 
Torr. is the most widely distributed of our species, ranging under 
several forms from Southern Colorado to Texas, California and 
Mexico. The ovate or cylindric, more or less beaked fruit is 3 to 
5 inches long,with pulp about a half-inch thick over the large seeds. 
As birds and insects are very fond of this fruit and have the first 
chance at it, Indians and Mexicans collect it when still green and 
let it mature in their dwellings; they also eat it green after baking 
in hot ashes. The young flower buds, when about to expand, are 
roasted and a prized article of diet. I may also mention that 
