WILD FRUITS WHICH OUGHT TO BE CULTIVATED 57 



Raspberries (Rubus sp.). 



It would be a good thing- for every grower of fruits to take up some 

 of the bushes of the wild raspberries he finds in his neighborhood, for no 

 doubt among these he would find some equal to, or superior to those he 

 has had under cultivation. The same may be said of the wild blackber- 

 ries in those parts of the state where they are to be found. 



Juneberries (Amelanchier sp.). 



In the eastern part of the state we find the tree-like juneberry, which 

 would be quite troublesome to grow on accoimt of its tall growth, but 

 further west there are juneberries that are shrubby, rarely growing more 

 than four to six feet in height. These shrubby juneberries are very good 

 to eat, and would add much to the value of one's small-fruit plantation. 



Elderberries (Sambucus canadensis). 



The common black elderben-y so abundant in many places in Ne- 

 braska should long ago have been taken in hand and improved. Even in 

 the wild state the fruits are palatable, and from them good jams and 

 pastries can be made. I have eaten rnany a piece of elderberry pie, and 

 longed for more. It is a wild fruit that ought not to be longer neglected. 



Strawberries (Fragaria sp.). 



Everybody knows how good wild fctrawberries are, and yet few of us 

 have taken them up and given them that cultivation under which they 

 might be expected to develop into stronger and larger and still better 

 varieties. So I was very much pleased when Professor Gilmore volun- 

 teered to give me his experience, which is so favorable that I quote it 

 here. 



"I also took up some wild strawberries from a patch near Dead Man's 

 Run, five miles east of Lincoln. They have fiourished wonderfully well, 

 fruiting most abundantly, and coming into bearing earlier and continuing 

 in fruit at least a week longer than any cultivated variety that I know. 

 By being freed from competition of the prairie grasses they responded 

 at once by an increase of fillly 100 per cent in the size of the individual 

 fruits. They are superior in color and flavor to the cultivated varieties, 

 and very resistant to drought and other adverse conditions. They do 

 not seem to 'run out' by continuance of the same stock in the same place 

 year after year as our cultivated varieties do. The gathered fruits also 

 resist decay much longer than the common cultivated varieties. I found 

 my wild stock to consist of three types: one of appressed conical form 

 and closely adherent to the calyx, another of a more acutely conical form 

 and standing well up from the calyx, or 'hull,' and possessed of a firm 

 texture and rich color; the third is like the first in form but of less firm 

 texture and of a paler color. Of the three forms described, the second 



