650 



PROMISING WILD FRUITS. 



The natural range of the American crab-apple at no 

 point extends far beyond the present limit of successful 

 apple growing in the United States, and it often comes 

 short of that limit. But, as varieties of Pyrus Mains 

 have been produced which are more hardy than the 

 original species, so also it is hoped that the range of the 

 American crab-apple may be somewhat extended by 

 cultivation. That this extension of territory may be 

 accomplished, westward at least, seems probable from 

 the fact that nowhere in the United States is our 

 crab-apple more abundant and fruitful than on the 

 border of the prairie belt where the cultivated apples 

 begin to fail. Certainly much may reasonably be 

 expected, so far as adaptability to climate is con- 

 cerned, from a species which in that respect is already 

 so nearly all that can be desired. That our wild crab 

 will lend itself readily to improvement may be inferred 

 from its variability in the wild state. The size of 

 tree, shape of leaf, size and shape of fruit differ 

 much in different localities. The tree, which 

 reaches twenty-five or thirty feet in some portions of 1 

 the Ohio valley, becomes a shrub less than ten feet VV 

 high on the drier prairies west of the Mississippi. mI 

 The leaves, which are usually deeply lobed, are ^| 

 sometimes found almost entire, resembling those of jy 

 the cultivated apples. The narrow-leaved Pyrus W 

 nngiistifolia of the southern states is little more than 

 a variety of the ordinary crab-apple of the north. 

 The fruit of the ordinary crab-apple [Pyrus coronaria) 

 which is usually depressed-globose, about an inch in 

 diameter, is sometimes found of twice that size, and 

 in the west an oval variety occurs, in the same locali- 

 ties as that of the usual form. On some trees the 

 surface of the fruit is distinctly ribbed, on others it 

 is uniform. The quality of our crab is certainly as 

 good as the "austere, uneatable fruit" of the wild 

 crab of the Old World, from which nearly all our 

 cultivated varieties have sprung. Indeed, for mak- 

 ing preserves, cider, and for some other purposes, 

 the crab in its present wild state is highly valued, 

 and was largely used by the settlers before cultivated 

 fruits were introduced. Its excess of acid is, in fact, 

 one of its most promising features, as it is seldom 

 that fruits gain in acidity by domestication, and there is 

 little doubt that an increase in size will be accompanied, 

 in some of the varieties, by a toning down of the excess- 

 ive acidity. 



But perhaps the most valuable character of the wild 

 crab is its lateness of maturity, rendering it a probable 

 source of winter varieties. The fact that the apple is 

 practically the only long-keeping fruit we have, is alone 

 a sufficient reason for efforts to increase the number of 

 valuable late varieties adapted to all localities and uses. 



Buffalo-Berry, [Slifplierdia argentea). For the cold 

 dry northwest, hardly any of our native fruits is of 

 greater promise than the buffalo-berry of that region. 

 As an ornamental plant, it is occasionally grown, but 

 for the production of fruit it has, until recently, at- 

 tracted but little attention. In its wild state the fruit is 



used by settlers in the portions of the country where it 

 grows. |The name buffalo-berry is derived from the 

 former custom of eating the berries as a sauce with the 

 meat of the buffalo. The names blood-berry and rab- 

 bit-berry have also been applied to it, and it has been 

 called by some writers cornelian cherry, but this name 

 properly belongs to Cornus Mas, a European tree of 

 the dogwood family. 



The buffalo-berry occurs mainly along streams on the 

 eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains and the adjoin- 

 ing plains, from the Saskatchewan southward to Colo- 

 rado. The berries are about the size of small currants, 

 of a fine scarlet color, and are produced in such abund- 

 ance as to give the shrubs late in summer, or early in 

 autumn, a showy appearance. The fruit is quite acid, 

 and is relished by nearly all persons, being esteemed by 

 some superior to currants. The tree is propagated by 

 suckers, cuttings, or seeds. The flowers are dioecious, 

 and the failure to produce fruit under cultivation has 



Wild Crab [Pyrus coronaria^. 



sometimes been due to the presence of plants of but one 

 sex. In mild climates, however, it sometimes blossoms 

 so early that no fruit is formed, owing to the flowers 

 being killed by frost. 



Plums, Pntmis Americajia, P. angustifolia[P. Chicasa). 

 Many varieties of these two native species are already 

 in cultivation, and are proving better adapted to large 

 portions of the country than the well-known varieties 

 of Primus domestica. For the southern states the Wild 

 Goose and other varieties of have proved admirably 

 adapted, while at the north, where these varieties are 

 not so successfully grown, the native Primus Americana 

 is furnishing varieties better in quality and more hardy 

 than those which have been hitherto in cultivation. In 

 size, firmness of flesh, and regularity of bearing, how- 

 ever, most of our native plums thus far introduced into 

 cultivation leave something to be desired. Our wild 

 plums are so much superior, however, to the European 

 wild plum, from which our older cultivated varieties 



