72 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



iiess as an oloserver are known to you. all, has brought together 

 very interesting facts relative to the food-plants of our North 

 American aborigines. Among the plants described by him there 

 are a few which merit careful investigation. Against all of them, 

 however, there lie the objections mentioned before, namely : 



1. The long time required for their improvement, and — 



2. The difficulty of making them acceptable to the commu- 

 nity, involving — 



3. The risk of total and mortifying failure. 



In the notes to this address the more prominent of these are 

 enumerated. 



In 1854 the late Prof. Gray called attention to the remarkable 

 relations which exist between the plants of Japan and those of 

 our Eastern coast. You will remember that he not only proved 

 that the plants of the two regions had a common origin, but also 

 emphasized the fact that many species of the two countries are 



various cactacefc ; Yucca ; cherries and many wild berries ; Chenopodium album, etc. 

 Psoralea esculentaz= prairie potato, or bread-root. (Palmer in Agricultural Report, 18Y0, 

 p. 402). The following from Catlin, he. dt.., i, p. 122: "Corn and dried meat 

 are generally laid in in the fall, in sufHcient quantities to support them through 

 the winter. These are the principal articles of food during that long and in- 

 clement season ; and, in addition to them, they oftentimes have in store great quantities 

 of dried squashes, and dried ' pommcs blanches,' a kind of turnip which grows in great 

 abundance in those regions. . . . These are dried in great quantities and pounded into 

 a sort of meal and cooked with dried meat and corn. Great quantities also are 

 dried and laid away in store for the winter season, such as buffalo-berries, service- 

 berries, strawberries, and wild plums. In addition to this we had the luxury 

 of service-berries vv'ithout stint ; and the buffalo bushes, which are peiarulc 

 to these northern regions, lined the banks of the river and the defiles in the 

 bluffs, sometimes for miles together, forming almost impassable hedges, so 

 loaded with the weight of their fruit that their boughs everywhere gracefully bending 

 down or resting on the ground. This last shrub {Shepherdia), which may be said to be 

 the most beautiful ornament that decks out the wild prairies, forms a striking contrast to 

 the rest of the foliage, from the blue appearance of its leaves by which it can be distin- 

 guished for miles in distance. The fruit which it produces in such incredible profusion, 

 hanging in clusters to every limb and to every twig, is about the size of ordinary currants 

 and not unlike them in color and even in flavor ; being exceedingly acid, almost unjjalata- 

 ble, until they are bitten by frost of autumn, when they arc sweetened and their flavor 

 delicious, having to the taste much the character of grapes, and I am almost fain 

 to think would produce excellent wine." (George Catlin's Illustrations and Manners, 

 Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, p. 72, vol. i.) For 

 much relative to the food of our aborigines, especially of the Western coast, consult 

 The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America. By H. H. Bancroft. New 

 York, 18Y5. The following from vol. i, p. 538, indicates that inaccuracies have crept into 

 the work: " From the earliest information we have of these nations" (the author is speak- 

 ing of the New Mexicans), " they are known to have been tillers of the soil ; and though 

 the implements used and their methods of cultivation were both simple and primitive, 

 cotton, corn, ivheat, beans, and many varieties of fruits which constituted their principal 

 food were raised in abundance." Wheat was "not grown on the American continent until 

 after the landing of the first explorers. 



