WILD FRUITS OF NEBRASKA. 105 



The Frost Grape (V. cot dif olid] has thin leaves, heart-shaped, 

 sharp-pointed, sharply and coarsely toothed, and sometimes ob- 

 scurely three-lobed. The bunch is compound, large, and loose. 

 The berries are small, about one-fourth of an inch broad, and blue 

 or black with a bloom, very acerb, and ripening after frost. Very 

 late in autumn, when dead ripe, these grapes become comparatively 

 sweet. As already intimated there are many forms that cannot 

 well be classified with either of these species. Some appear to be 

 hybrids, and some approach one or the other more closely, but va- 

 rying much from them. In the opinion of some of our best bota- 

 nists a thorough re-examination and a new classification of these 

 wild grapes is needed. There is as much difference in flavor and 

 quality as there is in form. Future investigation and culture will 

 no doubt produce from these wild grapes varieties that will be em- 

 inently worthy of cultivation. Their superior hardiness, the ease 

 with which they can be grown, their early bearing, and the compar- 

 atively fine flavor of many of them, entitle them to more attention 

 than they have yet received. 



A great deal of wine has been manufactured from these grapes in 

 some portions of the State. The wine has a fine body, is rather 

 dark, and in a year or two is much like the Oporto in flavor and 

 color. It is sometimes shipped to other States to mix with wines 

 manufactured from cultivated grapes to give them body and color. 



THE MULBERRY. 

 Alonp- the bluffs of the Missouri and some of its tributaries the 



o 



Red Mulberry (Jbforus rubrd} abounds. Sometimes it is a mere 

 shrub, and sometimes it reaches the dimensions of a small tree. 

 Though called the reel mulberry, its fruit in Nebraska is as often of 

 a blackish color, as reel or brown. Its sweetish blackberry-like 

 fruit is eagerly sought after by many of the settlers, and seems to 

 be one of the special delights of prairie chickens, quail, \vild tur- 

 keys, and other birds. At least I have often found them feasting 

 on this fruit. This tree or shrub is easily cultivated, and is often 

 transplanted for ornament and for its fruit into cultivated grounds. 



THE BUFFALO BERRY. 



The Buffalo Berry (Shcpkerdia argent ea] is found on the banks 

 of the Missouri, the Niobrara, the Platte, the 'Republican rivers, 

 and many of their tributaries. Though not yet seen in cultivation 

 it deserves a place in every fruit garden. It varies from the habit 



