264 THE EVOLUTION OF OUE NATIVE FRUITS 



with Antoine Lessieur, Portage des Sioux, a few miles 

 above St. Louis, Missouri. Confusion appears to have 

 arisen from the fact that a seedling apple raised 

 at Galena by Mr. Soulard has been distributed as the 

 Soulard apple. And some writers have said that the 

 Soulard apple came from St. Louis, and the Soulard 

 crab from Galena. Downing was confused on these 

 fruits, and other writers have added to the perplexity. 

 In "American Gardening" for April, 1893, a correct 

 description and figure of the Soulard apple are given, 

 but the confusion respecting the origin is still per- 

 petuated. 



There is a great difference of opinion concerning 

 the value of the Soulard crab, due in large part to a 

 misconception of its merits. It must be remembered 

 that it is a crab apple, and is not to be compared 

 with eating apples. As a crab, it appears to possess 

 some advantages, particularly as a possible parent of 

 a new race of fruits for the West. Professor Budd 

 speaks of it as follows, in "Rural Life:" "The only 

 value of the Soulard crab known to the writer is for 

 mixing sparingly with good cooking apples for sauce, 

 to which it imparts a marked quince flavor, which 

 most persons like. It is also said to make a jelly 

 superior to that of the Siberian crabs." D. B. Wier, 

 for many years a fruit-grower in Illinois, writes me 

 as follows concerning it : " It is simply a variety of 

 the common wild crab of the northern United States. 

 Its fruit is quite large for the type, smooth, round, 

 somewhat elongated, and of a clear, bright, golden 

 yellow when ripe ; and it keeps with little loss, with 

 care, until spring, when it becomes, we may say, 

 nearly eatable. The fruit, like the type generally, is 



