THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



ingiy simulated a large slightly coiled spinose-hispid caterpillar 

 some four or five inches long and about an inch in diameter. 

 If one poked the inhorescence one fairly expected to see it 

 squirm. 



Ujiiz'crsity of JJ\'0]]ii]ig, Laramie, JJ^yo. 



FOOD PLANTS FROM THE WILD 



TX the matter of domesticating plants, let us glance hastily at 

 what has and what can be done in our country. In De- 

 Candolle's treatise we make but a poor showing, indeed. Out 

 of his 24:7 cultivated species, but -io are accredited to the Xew 

 A\'orld and but three of these — the pumpkin, Jerusalem arti- 

 choke and persimmon — come from X'orth America. To these 

 three, Sturtevant added about thirty. The poor showing- of 

 our continent in furnishing" food plants, it must be made plain 

 is not due to original inferiority. The number would have been 

 vastly greater, as Asa Gray long ago pointed out, had civiliza- 

 tion begun in this, rather than in the Old AA'orld. 



A\'ild fruits abound in Xorth America. The continent is 

 a natural orchard. ]\Iore 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 numerous 

 rarities. In its plums, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, dew- 

 berries, cranberries and gooseberries. X^orth America has al- 

 ready given the world a great variety of new fruits. There are 

 now under cultivation, 11 American species of plums, of which 

 there are 433 pure bred and 155 hybrid varieties; 15 species of 

 American grapes with 401: pure and 790 hybrid varieties ; 4 

 species of raspberries with 280 A'arieties ; 6 species of black- 

 berries with 86 varieties; 5 species of dewberries with 23 va- 

 rieties ; 2 species of cranberries with 60 varieties, and 2 goose- 

 berries with 35 varieties. Here are 45 species of American 



