SEPTEMBER 35 



wives. Mention of these frnits, as cliaracteristic 

 of the prairie antnnin, is frequent in the early rec- 

 ords of traveler and resident in this region. The 

 grapes are noticed by Pittman, before the Revolu- 

 tionary War, and in later years by Flagg, Woods, 

 and Mrs. Farnhani.-' Flagg writes of ''extensive 

 groves'^ of Avild plum and crab apple. Probably 

 the general character of these ''groves" has not 

 changed much since 1838. In her list of fruits, 

 Mrs. Farnham includes papaws and persim- 

 mons.'* Nowadays, grapes from well-trimmed 

 vineyards, plums and crab apples from carefully 

 nurtured orchard or yard have practically de- 

 stroyed any lively interest in the fruits in their na- 

 tive state, except in the minds of roving boys or 

 others with a poetic fanc}' for things wild and 

 smacking of the untilled soil. Once when the fruit 

 was ripe, Curtis and I were nearing a little thicket 

 of wild plums along the edge of a farmer's field, 

 when the farmer appeared, driving a wagon across 

 the field and shouting and gesticulating, apparent- 

 ly in a very angry state of mind. We confessed 

 as he drove up, but he was not concerned \\4th a 

 few plums; his warning had been for town boys 

 \\dth guns, in the big cornfield, "after his chick- 

 ens." 



The boys are probably gathering black walnuts 



3 Conii)are the footnote on page 24. 



4 See Appendix, Note 2. 



