BEES AND FRUIT-GROWING 



gnarled apple- trees along the old stone walls are like reefs 

 swept by surf." Let us, then, consider what the poUination of 

 fruit-bloom can teach us. 



"The continent of North America," says Hedrick, "is a 

 natural garden. More than 200 species of tree, bush, vine, 

 and small fruits were commonly used by the aborigines for 

 food, not counting nuts, those occasionally used, and numer- 

 ous rarities." There were whole forests of nut-trees, as the 

 chestnut, pecan, hickory, acorn, beechnut, filbert, butternut, 

 and nut-pine. Wild plums and cherries were abundant. 

 Grapes, raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, gooseberries, 

 currants, and elderberries were everywhere laden with fruit. 

 Great areas of swamp and barren land were covered with 

 huckleberries, blueberries, and cranberries. 



Other fruits which can only be named are: "The Anonas 

 and their kin from Florida; the native crab-apples and thorn- 

 apples; the wineberry, the buffalo-berry, and several wild 

 cherries; the cloudberry prized in Labrador; the crowberry 

 of cold and arctic America; the high-bush cranberry; native 

 mulberries; opuntias and other cacti for the deserts; the paw- 

 paw, the persimmon, and the well-known and much-used salal 

 and salmon berries of the west and north." 



Since the days of the colonies the number of varieties of cul- 

 tivated fruits have been greatly increased by hybridizing and 

 selection. "There are now," says Hedrick, "under cultiva- 

 tion 11 American species of plums with 588 varieties; 15 species 

 of grapes with 1,194 varieties; 4 species of raspberries with 

 28 varieties; 6 species of blackberries with 86 varieties; 5 

 species of dewberries with 23 varieties ; 2 species of cranberries 

 with 60 varieties ; and 2 species of gooseberries with 35 varieties, 

 or a total of 45 species with 2,014 varieties." Coville has re- 

 cently shown that blueberries can be cultivated, and un- 



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