1 8 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



small and seedy kinds, that have been hardy enough to hold 

 their own, in spite of mowing and grazing and clearing. 

 They compare poorly with the selected and cultivated prod- 

 ucts of the fruit farm. Yet many of them once served our 

 ancestors for food. Collectively they were the sole fruit 

 supply of the aboriginal inhabitants of our country. The 

 Indians ate them raw, stewed them, made jam, and even 

 jellies. They dried the wild strawberries, blueberries, rasp- 

 berries and blackberries, and kept them for winter use. They 

 expressed the juice of the elderberry for a beverage : indeed, 

 the black-berried elder they used in many ways; it was one 



of their favorite fruits. And even 

 as the crows eat sumach berries 

 in the winter when better fruits 

 are scarce, so the Indians boiled 

 them to make a winter beverage. 

 The cultivated fruits are but a 



PIG. 3. The wild Gooseberry. few of thosethat naturehas offered 

 us. We have chosen these few on 



account of their size, their quality, and their productive- 

 ness. We demand them in quantity, hence they must either 

 be large or else be easily gathered. Some, like the June- 

 berry, are sweet and palatable, but too small and scattered 

 and hard to pick. The wild gooseberry is a rich and luscious 

 fruit, but needs shearing before it can be handled. The 

 quantitative demands of our appetite, the qualitative de- 

 mands of our palate and the mechanical limitations of our 

 fingers have restricted us to a few, and having learned how to 

 successfully manage these few, we have neglected all the 

 others for them. 



Our management has consisted, in the main, of propagating 

 from the best varieties that nature offered, and giving culture. 

 Any of the wild fruits would probably yield improved varie- 

 ties under like treatment. All the wild fruits show natural 



