o durable cakes for 



Afar 



S fruit 



lied the black checkerber 

 northwest. The limited use of our common red checkerberry 

 (Gaultheria procumbent) in the northeast is well-known, the fruit 

 even finding its way, in small quantity, into the New York 

 market. The use of these fruits is very healthful, and mixed 

 with sugar, or even eaten plain, they are quite palatable ; yet 

 they are dry and rather insipid. The black one (G. Shallon), on 

 the contrary, is sweet, 



what juicy and of exa 

 orthet 



adjacent 



islands, on a bush three or four feet high. These shrubs cover 

 large areas, as do our huckleberry bushes, and produce their 

 fruit in great profusion. It is a staple article of food with the 

 Indians during its season, and the cakes made by pounding it up 

 constitute in some sections almost the sole vegetable food of the 

 winter season. Related to these fruits, and of similar flavor to 

 that of our checker-berry, is the little white teaberry (Chiogencs 

 hispidtila) of northern regions. It grows on a creeping, matted 

 plant, amidst the moss. The fruit is unimportant, yet constitutes 

 an item in the aboriginal bill of fare. The same may be said of 

 the little partridge berry '{Mitchella), the special value of which 



the melting of the snow. Even the fruit of the little Mimeses or 



This is known to us as a very rare and beautiful little bog-plant, 

 but far to the northward it grows freely among the wet sphag- 

 nums, and yields sufficient fruit to be worthy of collection. 



In the same class of products belongs the little bunch-berry 

 {Cornus Canadensis), which can be collected in great quantity in 

 all our northern districts, where the plants grow in great beds. 

 The fruit is a dry, mucilaginous and weakly-flavored drupe, but 

 is not devoid "of nutriment. 



Let us pass from the consideration of these very small and 



rely* 



es, the 



wild edible fru 



Thei 



