100 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Stones for the amount of sauce. Bird, or pin cherries are very 

 common and are often used for jelly, but the birds do most of 

 the picking. 



Both species of Shepherdia or buffalo-berry are common 

 here although S. argentea is the only one bearing edible fruit. 

 Most of the bushes here seem to have been partly killed by 

 fires and do not produce a great amount of fruit. The berries 

 are very acid and are among the best for jelly if they were 

 more abundant. The other species (5". canadensis) seldom 

 bears any fruit although blooming freely in the spring. The 

 berries are insipid and of no value anyway. Both the plants 

 and their fruit differ greatly and from their appearance would 

 hardly be considered as belonging in the same genus. 



Although one of the first plants to bloom they are among 

 the last to ripen fruit. Usually they are not ripe until the last 

 of August or first of September. Some of the ranchers call 

 the buffalo-berries (S. argentea) bull-berries, but whether 

 buf¥alo or bull these bushes would be much easier handled if 

 dehorned. The branches all end in sharp points like the thorns 

 of the hawthorn. 



These are the only edible berries of any value I have 

 found here but there are others that help to feed the birds and 

 squirrels. The red osier cornel is very common and the berries 

 are eaten by several species of birds. Flickers and sparrows 

 seem to prefer them to many others. 



One of the most common small shrubs, that seems to take 

 the place of the hardback of the East is the wolf-berry (Sym- 

 phoricarpos) commonly called buck-brush by ranchers and 

 homesteaders. The small white berries are eaten by several 

 species of birds. The smaller species (S. racemosus van- 

 paucifloriis) is fairly common, fruiting at the time the other 

 species is in bloom. 



Silverberry bushes ( Elaeagnus argentea) are common 

 everywhere, but I would not consider the berries fit for food, 



