210 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [iX. 



to the marvelous evolution of native fruits in America. 

 Within a century we have procured the grapes, cran- 

 berries, the most popular gooseberries, some of the 

 mulberries, the raspberries and blackberries, the pecans 

 and some of the chestnuts, from our wild species. Per- 

 haps some of the strawberries can be traced to the same 

 source. There are many men still living who remember 

 when there was no commercial cultivation of these fruits. 

 Here is progress enough for one century; yet an over- 

 whelming host of new types is coming upon us. I 

 sometimes think that the improved native plants are 

 coming forward so rapidly that we do not properly 

 appreciate them. Witness the perplexing horde of 

 native plums, the varieties even now reaching nearly 

 two hundred, which are destined to occupy a much 

 larger area of North America than the European plum 

 now occupies. New species of grapes are now coming 

 into cultivation. The dewberries, juneberry, Crandall 

 currant type, buffalo berry, wild apples, and more than 

 a score of lesser worthies, are now spreading into our 

 gardens. Many of these things will be among the 

 staples a hundred years to come. One hundred and 

 eighty -five species of native plants, some for fruit but 

 mostly for ornament, were introduced into commerce 

 last year ; and the number of plants native to North 

 America north of Mexico which have come into cultiva- 

 tion is two thousand four hundred and sixteen. Under 

 the stimulus of new conditions, some of these species 

 will vary into hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new 

 forms, and our horticulture will bccoinc tlie richest in 

 the world. It is a privilege to live when great move- 

 ments are conceived and new agencies first lend them- 

 selves to the dominion of man. 



