■] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



I5« 



several men who stood high as geologists, &c., 

 who entertained his view of the matter, and so it 

 ended. 



When I first came West it was the opinion of 

 the pioneers that "tame grasses" would never sue- j 

 ceed on the prairies. At that very time "tame 

 grasses" were seen coming up along the roadsides 

 where, a chance seed got scattered, and the fires 

 were kept out so as to give it a chance to spread ; 

 for be it known that neither tame grasses, nor hardly 

 anything else, will bear the fire and thrive on it like 

 the indigenous perennial prairie grasses; they grew 

 more luxuriously when burned once every year 

 than since the fires have been kept out. The roots 

 of the prairie sod are well protected from fires; in- 

 deed, it would take a hot fire to burn them after 

 being dug up ; but you will find that after the 

 tame grasses have begun to work their way they 

 will stay there. It is just so with trees, not only 

 Cottonwood, poplar and willow, but oaks, hickories 

 and walnuts, &c., as well. While some men 

 "brought up on the prairies" have fallen in with 

 the views of Prof. Whitney and others, seemingly 

 not taking the trouble to look at the trees already 

 growing on the prairies, you find all the practical 

 experienced men holding your views. Arthur 

 Bryant, in his work on forest trees, says that "the 

 black cherry, Prunus serotina, is rarely found of 

 so large size in the prairie regions of Illinois and 

 Iowa, although they are well suited to its growth; 

 the reason appears to be that the fires that for- 

 merly ravaged these regions destroyed it more 

 easily than the oaks and hickories." 



This Black cherry is seen along the fence rows 

 now far into the prairies, of large size, bearing 

 seeds that are dropped by birds alighting on the 

 fences far into the prairies, and, by the way, I 

 think it one of the most valuable rapid growing 

 trees for the forester. 



How any man can see Mr. Bryant's avenues of 

 sugar maples, over two feet through and meeting 

 across a four-rod road, and fancy that prairie land 

 will not produce valuable trees without first being 

 fitted for it by growing generations of cottonwood, 

 poplar and willows, is beyond my comprehension. 

 A great deal of this talk about only planting trees 

 on such ground as you find them growing on natur- 

 ally, will not bear very close scrutiny. Such trees 

 as cottonwood and elm are only found naturally 

 in moist places, because the seeds ripening in 

 spring can only germinate in moist places ; but 

 plant them on dry ground they make an excellent 

 growth. You will see fine, large elms in New 

 England and elsewhere, growing on dry ground, 



but naturally you only find the seedlings on moist 

 ground. 



But what is the use of calhng people's attention 

 to little seedlings if they cannot be convinced by 

 seeing valuable timber trees, two to three feet 

 through, and forty to sixty feet high, that have 

 sprung up on the prairies within the past fifty years? 



FOOD OF THE INDIANS. 



in' GKO. S. CONOVER, GENEVA, N. Y. 



As an indication of the domestic economy of the 

 Indians in utilizing various articles of food, not for 

 sustenance only, but to gratify the palate as well, 

 the following will be of interest. 



Father Fremin, a Jesuit missionary among the 

 Senecas, narrates that in the autumn of 1669, 

 "owing to the unusual abundant harvest of walnuts 

 this year, the joy of the people is so great that one 

 sees scarcely anything but games, dances and 

 feasts, which they carry even to debauch, although 

 they have no other seasoning than the oil." 



The fact that Father Fremin gives the custom 

 such a passing allusion, indicates that the use of 

 the oil was well known. 



Galinee, who visited the Senecas in 1669 with 

 La Salle, says, "Another of their favorite dishes is 

 Indian meal cooked in the water and served in 

 wooden bowls, with a small portion of sunflower, 

 nut, or bear's oil." 



La Mercier (Jesuit Relations, 1657), alludes to 

 the process by which the Indians extract oil from 

 the sunflower, while from similar sources we are 

 informed that the butternut, black walnut and 

 shag-bark walnut were much prized by the Indians 

 as an article of food, and especially the extracts 

 made from them for seasoning. 



In a representation made by La Salle in 1684 

 (N. Y. Col. Doc. ix, 217) in relation to Fort Fron- 

 tenac, is the following: "Around the lake (Onta- 

 rio ) are to be found wild apple trees, chestnuts and 

 nuts from which the Indians extract very good oil ; 

 also divers sorts of grain, mulberry, plum and 

 cherry trees." 



In July, 1750, the Moravian missionaries. Bishop 

 Cammerhoff and Rev. David Zeisberger, were re- 

 galed by the Indians at Onondaga with "chestnut 

 milk," and the next day "with Indian corn and 

 nut oil, a new dish to us, but which we found very 

 palatable." 



What can "chestnut milk" be? There could 

 be no chestnuts in July. The translation of the 

 Cammerhoff journal was made by a lady teacher 

 in Bethlehem, and furnished us within the past 



