Cultivated Fruits. 69 



years before Christ. The corone cherry, or gean tree, ap- 

 pears to be indigenous on the Mediterranean coast and in 

 Central Europe, including the British Islands. 



The common cherry seems to be a native of both hemi- 

 spheres. The gean tree differs from the common cherry in 

 having the fruit adhere firmly to the stone or nut, and also 

 in the greater size of the trees. The fruit of the cherry sup- 

 plies the inhabitants of some parts of France with a princi- 

 pal article of food, especially the wood-cutters and charcoal 

 burners of the forests, and among their modes of preparing 

 it is that of making it a principal ingredient in soups. 



The grape vine grows spontaneously in western temperate 

 Asia, the south of Europe, Algeriea and Morocco, but it is 

 especially in Armenia, in the south of Caucasus and south 

 of the Caspian, that it grows with the most vigor, climbing 

 to the tops of the loftiest trees and producing an abundance 

 of delicious fruit without pruning or cultivation. Of course 

 it is a question whether the plants found there as elsewhere 

 are not sprung from seeds carried from vineyards by birds, 

 as dissemination by birds must have begun very early, as 

 soon as the fruit existed before cultivation and perhaps be- 

 fore the existance of man in Europe, or even in Asia. 

 Nevertheless, the frequency of cultivation, and the multi- 

 tude of forms of the cultivated grape may have extended 

 naturalization and introduced among wild vines varieties 

 which originated in cultivation. Probably the Cochin 

 China grape vine originated in this way. In its native 

 state it has been found in altitudes varying from 100 feet to 

 3,000 feet above the sea level, producing everywhere an 

 enormous crop of fruit. In Cochin it grows in some forests 

 as high as 100 feet climbing up and around lofty trees, or 

 stretching on the soil, and in some places the vine become 

 a wonderful mas of large clusters of luscious grapes from 

 top to bottom. 



This variety of wild grape is so remarkable that the seeds 

 have been distributed among 800 persons in various parts of 

 the state of California, and no pains will be spared to ac- 

 climatize this wonderful vine on the Pacific coast. 



A vine similar to this, but more vigorous and productive, 



