WILD FKLITS WHICH OUGHT TO BE CULTIVATED. 61 



membered that nuts are Iruits, and I may be allowed to briefly notice 

 them here. 



Black Walnuts (Juglans nigra). 



Aside from its value as a timber tree the black walnut is worthy of 

 cultivation for its edible nuts. By taking pains to plant only the best 

 walnuts it should not be difficult to materially modify for the better this 

 already excellent nut. 



Butternuts (.Juglans cinerea). 



What I have said of the black walnut may be said in regard to the 

 butternut. 



Hickory Nuts (Hicoria ovata, H. laciniosa). 



Here may be repeated what was said above in regard to the black 

 walnut. It will pay to try to grow and improve these wild nuts, which 

 grow wild in the extreme southeastern part of the state. In the forego- 

 ing I have enumerated the principal wild fruits of Nebraska that in my 

 opinion are worthy of being cultivated, and T am hopeful that some or 

 all of you will try to add at least one fruit from this list to those now 

 cultivated. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Yager: I would like to ask Dr. Bessey if there is any way of de- 

 termining what is the real strawberry from the native seedling? Near 

 our plantation we find everywhere strawberries and black raspberries 

 that are supposed to l)e wild. We find them in every shape, form, color, 

 and condition. We are growing in the neighborhood of some forty varie- 

 ties of strawberries for experimental purposes. 



Dr. Bessey: The only way to do would be to go out to a place suffi- 

 ciently remote from your plantation. We have one very well-known 

 species growing in this portion of Nebraska. As you say, there is an 

 enormous mixing up of these wild plants. It is a very difficult thing to 

 tell whether the thing you speak of is a wild raspberry or not if you are 

 near the raspberry plantation, but if you are back where you have no 

 tame raspberries or patches, there you will be sure that you have the 

 wild species. Take it twenty years ago, for instance, near' Long Pine, I 

 suppose that was one hundred miles from any raspberry patch at that 

 time, at least it was a good distance. There we found wild raspberries, 

 and they looked very much like some of these that are cultivated, but I 

 am sure they were wild. 



Mr. Harris: I was very much interested in this long list of wild fruit 

 mentioned by Dr. Bessey, but I think he has failed to mention all of them. 

 I think he has forgotten one which he will call to mind, and that is our 

 Nebraska banana, we call it the pawpaw, in the southern portion of our 

 state. I think it ought to be included in his list. 



Dr. Bessey: If the Secretary will call my attention to it I will add 



