18 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 
small and seedy kinds, that have been hardy enough to hold 
their own, in spite of mowing and grazing and clearing. 
They compare poorlywith the selected and cultivated prod- 
ucts of the fruit farm. Yet many of them once served our 
ancestors for food. Collectively they were the sole fruit 
supply of the aboriginal inhabitants of our country. The 
Indians ate them raw, stewed them, made jam, and even 
jellies. They dried the wild strawberries, blueberries, rasp- 
berries and blackberries, and kept them for winter use. They 
expressed the juice of the elderberry for a beverage: indeed, 
the black-berried elder they used in many ways; it was one 
of their favorite fruits. And even 
as the crows eat sumach berries 
in the winter when better fruits 
are scarce, so the Indians boiled 
them to make a winter beverage. 
The cultivated fruits are but a 
few of those that naturehas offered 
us. We have chosen these few on 
account of their size, their quality, and their productive- 
ness. We demand them in quantity, hence they must either 
-be large or else be easily gathered. Some, like the June- 
berry, are sweet and palatable, but too small and scattered 
and hard to pick. The wild gooseberry isa rich and luscious 
fruit, but needs shearing before it can be handled. The 
quantitative demands of our appetite, the qualitative de- 
mands of our palate and the mechanical limitations of our 
fingers have restricted us to a few, and having learned how to 
successfully manage these few, we have neglected all the 
others for them. 
Our management has consisted, in the main, of propagating 
from the best varieties that nature offered, and giving culture. 
Any of the wild fruits would probably yield improved varie- 
ties under like treatment. All the wild fruits show natural 
Fic. 3. The Wild Gooseberry. 
