712 



PROM/SING WILD 7<'yv r/7lV— ///. ,\ -.vw 



whale-oil soap and hydrocyanic acid : but a more 

 valuable enemy has lately Jjeen discovered in the 

 shape of the Australian lady-bug, which has been 

 imported into the citrous orchards of Southerji Cali- 

 fornia, with eminent success. 



In the generous spaces set apart for cereals, and 

 for grasses and clovers, are found nearly 300 varie- 

 ties of the former, and 70 of the other two. 



In the Botanic Museum, beside a large collection 

 of samples of cereals, are several thousand fine 

 specimens of representative native and, foreign trees 

 and plants. 



From the Agricultural Bureau, seeds and cuttjijgs, 

 are gratuitously distributed to a limited number of 

 applicants, for experimental purposes,, th#.pnly,,pro- 

 viso being reports as to their progress, nioit ,(s^vvij%.. 



A visit to these grounds , would amply Tepay; fiot 

 only the student of botany, but also the lover of the 

 picturesque, and the seeker after relaxation ; though 

 in the case of the first mentioned, one trip woukl be 

 found entirely inadequate for a thorough inMestiga,-, 

 tion of the numerous resources the natural attrac- 

 tions of the place affords. 



Bertha F. Herrick 



PROMISING WILD FRUITS— III. 



H E S T N U T 

 [Castauca Ani- 

 cricnna^. The 

 chestnut is at 

 home on the 

 high lands of 

 the Appalachi- 

 an system, from 

 Tennesssee t o 

 Massachusetts. 

 It prefers sandy 

 soils, but may 

 be found on all 



lands which are high and rolling. Most prairie soils 

 are unfavorable to it. The general northern limit of 

 its possible cultivation extends into southern Wisconsin 

 and Michigan, northern New York and southern Ver- 

 mont, but this line varies according to the character of 

 the locality, the nature of the soil having an especially 

 marked effect upon the hardiness of the chestnut. 

 Where the climate is not too severe, the seedlings may 

 be killed to the ground the first one or two winters, but 

 afterward be sufficiently hardy to endure the exposure. 

 Mulching during winter for the first year or two is use- 

 ful to protect the young trees. 



The improved Spanish varieties of the chestnut which 

 have been introduced iptp this country from, time to 

 time are rather less hardy than the native species, and 

 are somewhat inferior in quality. In southern Europe 

 the chestnut forms an important article of food. In 

 Pliny's time six cultivated varieties were known, and in 

 1865 thirty varieties were catalogued. In this country, 

 superior varieties among the native species are not rare, 

 and considerable attention is now being given to the 

 grafting of these and foreign varieties upon the common 

 chestnut. Thousands of acres of rocky mountain land 

 exist in the eastern United States, to which the chestnut 

 is peculiarly adapted, and, on, which hardly anything 

 else of value will grow. The conversion of these bar- 

 ren mountains into valuable chestnut orc^iaijds is a work 



NtORE UNTOUCHED RESOURCES. . 



well worthy of attention. A serious drawback to the ■ 

 profitable cultivation of the chestnut is the liability of 

 the nuts to become wormy, especially at the south. A . 

 remedy for this evil is greatly needed. 



Chinquapin {Caslaiiea ptimila). This is a small tree.x 

 or shrub found mainly in the southern states, growing 

 usually ten or twelve feet high, or in favorable locali- 

 ties sometimes reaching forty feet. It is well adapted 

 to sterile soils, and on this account it has been intro- 

 duced upon certain arid plains in France and Germany, 

 where it has been found to thrive better than any other 

 shrub or tree. 



The fruits, which are produced singly in the burs, 

 are smaller than chestnuts, and of better flavor, but 

 even more subject to the attack of the worm. Scalding 

 is a good remedy for worms, both in chinquapins and 

 chestnuts. 



A dwarf variety of chinquapin is known, which on 

 poor soils bears fruit when no more than a foot in 

 height. 



Black Cherry (^Pi-inius scro/inay This is the most 

 abundant wild cherry of the United States, occurring 

 mainly east of the Mississippi, where it is found from 

 Florida to the Great Lakes, forming in the Ohio Valley 

 a magnificent forest tree, but becoming reduced almost 

 to a shrub on our northern borders. The ease with 

 which it is grown, and its uniform productiveness, rf-c- 

 ommend it to the attention of improvers of our wild 

 fruits. Although hardly eatable in its natural state, ihe 

 fruit is probably quite as susceptible of improvement as 

 many others. Its variability in different soils and clim- 

 ates would indicate this. On sandy " oak openings" in 

 central Michigan the fruit is larger and better in qual- 

 ity than on heavy timbered lands in the same region. 

 J. T. Allen of Nebraska, and Chas. W. Garfield of 

 Michigan, have observed an improvement in the size 

 and quality of its fruit under cultivation. " 



Although easily modified by surrounding conditiibilS',' 

 this fruit (and the same may be ^said of other cher- 

 ries) dqes ijo.t often , produce difi^inpt varieJtieis. , , D. h. 



