ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED FRUITS 269 



of forty feet. The fruit is three fourths of an inch or less in 

 diameter, is often gathered by the Indians, and was used by the 

 early settlers in making jelly. 



Two species of wild crab are found in the Mississippi valley 

 and eastward, one in the north (Pyrus coronatid) and one in the 

 south {Pyrus augustifolid), one in the prairie states westward 

 (Pyrus Ioensis), and another known as the Soulard crab, named 

 from the originator, J. G. Soulard of Galena, Illinois. The orig- 

 inal was discovered in an apple thicket near St. Louis and sent to 

 Mr. Soulard, who propagated it by grafting in a crab. Whether 

 it is a mutant or chance seedling from real native stock, or 

 whether it is a hybrid with the common apple, is not of course 

 known, but is generally, I think, considered as the latter. 



These apples are used only for cooking, especially jelly mak- 

 ing, and occasionally for cider. They will not compare in quality 

 with the Pyrus malus, although it should be understood that 

 this species is propagated only by grafts, the seedlings being in 

 most cases worthless. 



The Indians made what use they could of the wild apple, and 

 upon the advent of the white man adopted the common apple 

 and made much of it, both in North and South America, 

 where remains of old Indian orchards still exist, even in so old 

 a region as western New York. 



The pear (Pyrus communis). This fruit grows wild over the 

 whole of temperate Europe and western Asia, and its closely 

 •related species, Pyrus sinensis, extends into Mongolia and Man- 

 churia. In its native country it grows as a forest tree, particularly 

 in France, where the greatest improvement has been effected, 

 and from whence most of our best varieties have come. America 

 has no native pear. 



This fruit was cultivated by the Greeks and Romans and 

 occasionally gathered with other wild fruits by the lake dwellers, 

 but there is no evidence that it was cultivated by ancient peoples. 

 ^- The plum. Of this favorite fruit we have two broadly differ- 

 ent strains, the European (Primus domes tic a), and the American 



