Part II.] 



FOOD PLANTS. 



193 



that is much more palatable than the common kinds, and has 

 been successfully grown here. The dwarf white mulberry also 

 seems hardy and gives a crop of fruit a few years after planting. 



The mulberries make fine shade and ornamental trees, but 

 should not be planted where they will overhang walks or 

 buildings, as the decaying juicy fruit, if not all eaten by birds, 

 drops to the ground in summer, where it is crushed by the 

 feet of passers-by and disfigures walks or stains clothing. Wild 

 blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and huckleberries all are 

 eaten by birds in summer and all attract them. All wild 

 cherries tempt the birds in July, August or September. There 

 is a prejudice against these trees because they harbor tent 

 caterpillars, which, however, may be killed by early spraying, 

 but if wild cherries are not present many birds will be likely 

 in August and September to go where they can be found or to 

 attack cultivated fruit. 

 Any crusade for the 

 extermination of wild 

 cherry trees will fail, 

 as they may be found 

 not only in yards, 

 fields, pastures and 

 along the roadsides, but 

 almost everywhere in 

 the woods. 



In September or 

 October practically all 



the later wild fruits ripen, and, as many of them remain on the 

 stems all winter, and some until spring, it is only necessary to 

 have them in sufficient variety to provide winter food for fruit- 

 eating birds. A few of these fruits, however, are particularly im- 

 portant as well as ornamental. Some are not eaten much by 

 birds while the softer and more desirable fruits are at their best 

 but later they remain intact during the inclement months, 

 when frost and storms have destroyed or covered other fruit, 

 and then they oft'er nutriment to the birds in time of need. 

 Such are the American and European mountain ash, the various 

 sumacs, the junipers and the black alder (Ilex verticillata) . The 

 fruit of the mountain ash is very rich and ornamental in color, 



Smilax, greenbrier, bull brier. 



