Our Neglected Native Fruits. 159 



Dr. Parker, of California — A good lawn in this country is an 

 expensive luxury. I would rather plant and keep up an acre of 

 orange trees than an acre of blue grass lawn in this valley. 



3Ir. Hubbard, of New York — One thing I like here, is the 

 almost universal absence of all fences. To my eye fences are an 

 abomination. 



Prof. Budd — How do the Australian acacias succeed here? 



Mr. Riidisill — Generally speaking they do well, requiring but 

 little water. 



The following paper was then presented : 



OUR NEGLECTED NATIVE FRUITS. 



BY W. H. RAGAN, OF INDIANA. 



During tl}e earlier years of American fruit culture all effort seems to 

 have been expended in seeking to adapt the domestic fruits of Europe to 

 culture in our climate and soil. With many of the orchard fruits this was 

 at least partially successful. Long since, however, most varieties of these, 

 of foreign origin, have been superseded by their more valuable American 

 oft'tjpring. This fact may be satisfactorily attested by a comparison of the 

 lists of Coxe and other earh' American authors, with lists now most popular. 

 A large per cent, of Coxe's list of apples are of European origin, while a still 

 greater proportion of his list of pears are foreigners. 



Thus we may run the then short list of species, as well as of varieties of 

 fruits in cultivation, through, from the apple to the cherry, only to find that 

 American species were wholly neglected ; that the only grapes worthy 

 of notice wpre of the vinifera species; the only plums of species domesticus / 

 the only raspberries admitted to our gardens were foreign born; the 

 only gooseberry worthy was from over the waters ; the only strawberry 

 had its origin in the mountains of Europe. It is not strange that this 

 condition of affairs should have existed and should have been followed 

 up so persistently, even down to recent times, by our forefathers in fruit- 

 growing, since varieties introduced were supposed to be the best. As 

 for native species, there certainly could have been but little in them to tempt 

 even the curious to experiment when they were so manifestly inferior to 

 those from abroad. 



With the larger tree-fruits, most of which have no native near relatives, 

 foreign species must continue to be our sole dependence, but even with these 

 we have learned to rely mainly upon varieties of American origin. Thus 

 the apple, pear, peach, apricot, cherry, and, in the semi-tropic portions of 

 the United States, the members of the citrus family, are all of foreign nativity, 

 and of these (with the exception of the apple, which has a distant relative in 



