SOME WILD FRUITS OF ALBERTA, CANADA 



By W. M. Buswell. 



WHEN people go berrying here they are usually after 

 "saskatoons," as the North-west June berry {Amelan- 

 chier alnifolia) is commonly called. The berries are flat and 

 tasteless compared to most berries used in the East, but as they 

 are the only fruit that is found in large quantities here they 

 are very acceptable. They are used for sauce and for pies, and 

 put up in cans for the winter. A species of smooth fruited 

 gooseberry is fairly common and these berries are often used 

 with the saskatoons which improve them greatly. Although 

 both kinds are fairly abundant every year they are more pro- 

 lific every other year. Red raspberries are very plentiful along 

 the river and in some groves on the prairie and seem to bear 

 fruit equally well every year. The berries begin to ripen about 

 the middle of July. Wild strawberry plants are very common 

 and they blossom very freely in the Spring but the amount of 

 fruit produced is very small compared to the number of blos- 

 soms. 



Another berry that is very common in coulees or any place 

 where there is timber is the cranberry ( Viburnum pauci- 

 Uoruui), as it is called here. These bushes fonn the princi- 

 pal undergrowth of all timbered tracts. People make what 

 they call cranberi"y butter, or cranberry jelly out of the fruit 

 and it is very nice when made up in this way, but the berries 

 are not fit to eat from the bushes as they taste much like a soft 

 rotten apple. The bright red fruits hang on the bushes all 

 winter if not eaten by the birds and do not seem to be affected 

 by the severe cold weather. 



In the Eastern States we did not consider choke-cherries 

 of any use whatever, but they find uses for them here, making 

 a jelly of them which is much better than one would expect. 

 I have also seen them cooked and used for sauce, but I never 

 cared to try them that way as there seemed to be too many 



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