WILD FRUITS WORTHY OF SOME ATTENTION. 283 



twisted where covered with earth (53) will also make strong 

 plants before fall. 



The first three years after planting there is little need 

 of pruning. But later the renewal plan gives best results. 

 The suckers coming up from the crown are mainly per- 

 mitted to grow and the old canes that have borne fruit two 

 or three years in succession are cut out, as with the currant 

 and gooseberry. As it bears on wood and spurs of the 

 preceding year's growth the cutting out takes much bear- 

 ing wood, but enough is left for a full crop and the new- 

 growth at once takes the place of that cut out. The 

 renewal plan soon makes a stool two or more feet in 

 diameter by the extension of the crown sprouts. Hence it 

 is best to plant eight feet apart each way and cultivate in 

 both directions. When the stools are as large as needed, 

 the extension is easily arrested by taking up the sprouts 

 for propagation, or if not needed throw them in the brush 

 pile. 



274. The Buffalo-berry. As a combined ornamental 

 and fruit-bearing shrub, the buffalo-berry (Shepherdia 

 argentea) deserves more attention than it has yet received. 

 It is native to the bluffs of the upper Missouri and extends 

 north to the Black Hills. It also extends westward to the 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains and southward. As found in 

 different localities, often not widely separated, it varies in 

 size of bush, size of its silvery leaves, and in the size and 

 color of its fruit. In the Black Hills the writer has met 

 with bushes bearing red and yellow berries within ten feet 

 of each other. This natural tendency to variation leads 

 to the belief that by cultivation, seedling production, and 

 selection, varieties could soon be developed bearing fruit 

 as large as the red Dutch currant and ultimately as large 

 as the Cherry or Fay. The plant is dioecious (34), but 

 seems peculiarly a favorite of the bees and insects, as I 



