HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ]09 



the primitive days of the territory, before the clearing off of 

 the heavy timber; the tall oak has given way to wheat fields and 

 clover lands, and as a matter of course the plow in constant use 

 for more than a score of years has blotted out the native plant 

 of the forest, and the flora of those early days existed under the 

 .same wonderful climatic influence. 



In 1849 many of the different parts of the world were repre- 

 sented in the vegetable kingdom. The climate and soil appeared to 

 be adajDted to each variety of the beautiful flower. Botanists de- 

 clared that scarcely a portion of the Union had a more numerous 

 representation of the different order of plants. Many of these 

 indigenous species have been cultivated for fruit and food, as well 

 as for purj)Oses of art and ornament. Some are grown for their 

 medical value. Dr. J. S. Elliot, for many years one of our most 

 skillful physicians, with a large practice, informed me while ed- 

 itor of the Farmers Union, that he was utterly surprised to find 

 Minnesota so full of native plants so useful to mankind. Such, 

 too, was the testimony of Dr. C. L. Anderson, so widely known 

 a,s a scientist and a botanist. 



But, to return to the wild fruit. Altogether we had some 

 twenty sorts, though only two or three for commercial purposes, 

 which consisted of the cranberry, the blueberry and the plum. 

 The latter, while of great moment for immediate use, would not, 

 on account of its perishable nature, bear transportation to any 

 great distance. Our raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, 

 together with the plum, were gathered in sufficient quantities to 

 meet the then small demand in the local markets, but the fami- 

 lies of the pioneer were generally suppled with an abundance — 

 especially with the plum. 



The cranberry was the most extensively exported. They were 

 mostly gathered by the Indians, and sold to their traders. The 

 latter shipped them down the Mississippi to their correspond- 

 ents. I saw over two hundred barrels in the fall of 1849 sent 

 down from Fort Snelliug, in . one shipment. Some of this fruit 

 reached the New Orleans markets. The wild plum was in the 

 reach of most every family. There were groves of them on the 

 prairies where the gophers had previously broken sod;- there 

 were thickets in the bush lands; they were found in the big 

 woods, and abounded on the margins of the sloughs and swamps; 

 on the banks of the rivers and brooks, and in every other place 

 where a foothold could possibly be found in the mellow soil, and 

 here came in the part taken by nature to improve the fruit 



