GENERAL FRUITS. 159 



rich, but clamp. They are occupied by bluejoint and reed grasses, which 

 grow in astonishing luxuriance. 



Many small lakes, and the shallow parts of many of the larger lakes are 

 almost filled with a slimy muck, in which wild rice grows producing 

 thousands of bushels of this very nutritious food. 



The vernal growth of this region is so rapid and vigorous that it is be- 

 wildering to one accustomed to the spring changes of the latitude of 

 Illinois, for it is more like that which one would expect in the subtropics 

 rather than this northern region. 



The native edible fruits growing wild in this region belong to the 

 heath, rose, honeysuckle, saxifrage, grape and nightshade families, named 

 in the older of their importance and quantity. 



Vaccinium Pennsylcanicum, the blueberry, is found on the black and 

 Norway pine lands. It attains its greatest perfection in the northern 

 part of this region, where it is usually from six to ten inches high and 

 fruits abundantly, bearing large berries of fine flavor. 



Vaccinium nigrum, the black blueberry, occurs sparingly among the 

 former, being conspicuous by its shining black fruit. It is inferior both 

 in fruitage and flavor to the blueberry. 



Vaccinium Canadensis, the Canadian blueberry, is found in damp 

 shady places on Norway pine lands. It grows from eighteen inches to 

 two feet high, with a scanty fruitage, the berries being oblong and 

 smaller than the blueberry; they are sweet, but with little flavor. 



Vaccinium caespitosum, the bilberry, is found on Norway pine lands 

 in the most northerly parts of this region. It is from two to four inches 

 high. Its fruitage is abundant, the berry being pear shape and about 

 the size of the smaller garden pea; they are subacid with a pleasant 

 flavor. 



Oxycoccus palustris and macrocarpus, the small and large cranberry, 

 are found in the swamps that have a spring overflow, the former being 

 perhaps the most abundant. The fruitage of both varieties is good in 

 favorable seasons, but a dry winter and spring reduces the crop very 

 much. 



In some of the more northerly swamps there is a cranberry with a fruit 

 of a greater breadth than length, and of a grey color when ripe. The 

 fruitage is scanty, but the berries have a delicious flavor. I think this 

 berry has not been recognized or named by the authorities. 



Primus Americanus, the wild plum, is found on white pine lands and 

 hardwood points. It is rarely more than a shrubby bush. The fruitage 

 is fair, the plums generally being small, acid and unpleasant. But some 

 bushes bear plentifully of sweet and pleasant fruit. The fruit varies in 

 color from greenish yellow to light and dark red. The bushes are subject 

 to a disease which produces a knotty condition of the smaller branches; 

 and an insect deposits its eggs on the under sides of the leaves, which 

 results id numerous small elongated galls that destroy the leaves, and 

 the curculio destroys a large amount of the fruit. 



Primus pumula, the sand cherry, is found on black pine lands. It is a 

 shrub usually about eighteen inches to two feet high, rarely branching. 

 The fruitage is abundant, the berries being almost as large as the small- 

 est plums, and when ripe, black and coated with a dark bloom; they are 

 sweet with an astringent taste. 



