7 o 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SPECIAL BOOKS. 



Professor Bailey shows, in his hook on the Evolution of Our Native 

 Fruits* that the value of the native American species has not yet begun 

 to be adequately estimated, and his narrative carries the conviction that 

 the possibilities to be realized from their development are totally un- 

 dreamed of. De Candolle made the astounding assertion, in his book on 

 The Origin of Cultivated Plants, that the United States only yields as nu- 

 tritious plants worth cultivating the Jerusalem artichoke and the gourds. 

 '• They had a few bulbs and edible berries, but have not tried to cultivate 

 them, having early received the maize, which was worth far more." "And 

 yet," Professor Bailey answers, '' the American grapes have given rise to 

 eight hundred domestic varieties, the American plums to more than two 

 hundred, the raspberries to three hundred, and various other native fruits 

 have a large progeny." Three motives, the author says, run through his 

 book: An attempt to expound the progress of evolution in objects which 

 are familiar and have not yet been greatly modified by man; an effort to 

 make a simple historical record from unexplored fields; and a desire to 

 suggest the treasures of experience and narrative which are a part of the 

 development of agriculture. The studies of which the book is a fruit were 

 begun more than ten years ago, and were pursued with original sources 

 where they were accessible, and at the cost of much labor and travel. The 

 story begins with the grapes. The cultivation of native grapes, which are 

 singularly abundant and various in the wild condition, began after several 

 attempts on the large and on the small scale to make foreign grapes profit- 

 able had failed. Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, who did more than 

 any other one man to promote it, sought for wine grapes. After several 

 varieties had been tried with more or less success, the Catawba and the 

 Concord were introduced, and the cultivation was established and became 

 important, but no longer with wine-making as its chief object. Now we 

 have a large variety of grapes — characteristic, finely flavored, and adapted 

 to numerous uses in wines and desserts. Plums are mentioned in the early 

 records nearly as frequently as grapes. There are five native types from 

 which diverse varieties have arisen, the greater part of them of fortuitous 

 origin. The native cherries have not yet been very hopeful of promise, 

 except the dwarf species, which seem " destined to play an important part 

 in the evolution of American fruit." Five types of native apples are 

 known, from which a number of named and worthy varieties have arisen, 

 by Nature's propagation, not man's ; and the author anticipates great bene- 

 fits to be derived from the very gradual and undemonstrative insinuation 

 of native blood into the domestic sorts. The story of the cultivation of the 

 raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, 

 and mulberries tells of much patience and skill applied to the production of 

 results in the benefits of which all may share, and which have undoubtedly 

 added to the sum of human well-being. There remain still many fruits, the 



* Sketch of the Evolution of our Native Fruits. By L. H. Bailey, New York: The Macmillan 

 Company. Pp. 472. Price, $2. 



