Sketch of the evolution of our native fruits

AGRICOETURAL

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

RIVERSIDE

BIO-AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA 92502

SKETCH OF

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR
NATIVE FRUITS

:

SKETCH OF

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR
NATIVE FRUITS

It would be curious to speculate as to what our pomology would
have been if the civilization from which it, and we ourselves, have
sprung, had had its birthplace along the southern shores of our great
lakes, the northern of the Gulf of Mexico, and the intervening Mis-
sissippi, instead of the Levant, Mesopotamia and the Nile, and our
old world had been open to us as a new world less than four
hundred years ago.— Asa Gray.

BY

L. H. BAILEY

SECOND EDITION

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO.. LTD.

1906

All rights reserved

COPYRIGHT, 1898
BY L. H. BAILEY

Set up and eleetrotyped, October, 1808
Reprinted June, 1906

j^Ieauant

J. He
HAR

IN MEMORY OF

grnrst

-DEAR FRIEND AND
ASSOCIATE-

•J jilare this humble tribute

PREFACE

THREE motives run through this book : An at-
tempt to expound the progress of evolution in objects
which are familiar and which have not yet been
greatly modified by man ; an effort to make a simple
historical record from unexplored fields ; a desire to
suggest the treasures of experience and narrative
which are a part of the development of agriculture,
and from which the explorer must one day bring ma-
terial for history and inspiration for story.

It is now more than ten years since these studies
were begun. Some of the material has been published
in bulletins and journals, as indicated at intervals in
the text; but the continuity of the effort and the full
historical retrospect are first apparent in this book.
The prosecution of the studies has demanded the con-
sultation of original sources of information, when
such have been accessible, and it has required much
travel, including a visit to European herbaria in which
the types of certain species of plants are deposited ;
and the necessity of these verifications has delayed
the publication of the work two years after the com-
pletion of the manuscript. Yet, the book is only a
sketch. The subject has little continuity or homo-

(vii)

Vlll PREFACE

geneity of itself, and is not well adapted to mono-
graphic treatment. Therefore, no attempt is made to
discuss all the native fruits which promise useful
results to the cultivator. It is enough if it has been
shown how the leading types now cultivated have
come to be ; and in the prosecution of these in-
quiries, the book is intended as a companion to
"The Survival of the Unlike."

Naturalists and experimenters have long been im-
pressed with the prospective importance of the great
number of North American plants which afford edible
parts or products. There is much literature on the
subject ; yet this writing is so fragmentary and scat-
tered that the present importance of our native fruits,
both as subjects of historical inquiry and as elements
in our national wealth, is not appreciated by European
writers. In support of this statement, I have only to
quote these sentences from DeCandolle's "Origin of
Cultivated Plants" (page 448): "A noteworthy fact is
the absence in some countries of indigenous cultivated
plants. For instance, we have none from the arctic
or antarctic regions, where, it is true, the floras
consist of but few species. The United States, in
spite of their vast territory, which will soon support
hundreds of millions of inhabitants, only yields, as
nutritious plants worth cultivating, the Jerusalem arti-
choke and the gourds. Zizania aquatica, which the
natives gathered wild, is a grass too inferior to our

PREFACE IX

cereals and to rice to make it worth the trouble of
planting it. They had a few bulbs and edible berries,
but they have not tried to cultivate them, having early
received the maize, which was worth far more." And
yet the American grapes have given rise to eight
hundred domestic varieties, the American plums to
more than two hundred, the raspberries to three
hundred, and various other native fruits have a
large cultivated progeny ! Even Darwin's prophecy
was largely fulfilled when he wrote it ("Variation of
Animals and Plants," i., 329): "Had North America
been civilized for as long a period, and as thickly
peopled, as Asia or Europe, it is probable that
the native vines, walnuts, mulberries, crabs and
plums would have given rise, after a long course
of cultivation, to a multitude of varieties, some
extremely different from their parent -stocks ; and
escaped seedlings would have caused in the New,
as in the Old World, much perplexity with respect
to their specific distinctness and parentage."

The author must say, however, that his greatest
satisfaction in the book is in the record of the men
rather than in that of the fruits. Professed historical
inquiry often confines itself within arbitrary bounds,
not covering the whole sweep of human progress.
The names which are generally known are those of
persons who are distinguished in military operations,
politics, general science, or literature ; but persons

X PREFACE

who have expended equal talent and effort in other
and more restricted fields of activity may have
wrought as much permanent good to mankind.
The agricultural and industrial status of an epoch
may be of greater importance to the progress of
a people than the political complexion is. It is
a question if the habit of dwelling upon a few
very prominent names in a few fields of human
endeavor does not tend to obscure the really
fundamental movements and to distort historical
perspectives. At all events, the writer is glad of the
opportunity to give what prominence he may to
persons who have rendered a service to the national
welfare in fields which are little appreciated.

L. H. BAILEY.

MUNICH, GERMANY, April 15, 1898.

CONTENTS

PAGES

THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN GRAPE 1-126

North America is a natural vineland 2

Early attempts to cultivate the European grape .... 9

The first experiment of the Dufours - . . . 21

The second experiment of the Dufours 33

The branch of promise 42

John Adlum and the Catawba 50

The rise of commercial viticulture 61

Why did the early vine experiments fail ? 88

Synopsis of the American species of grapes 98

American grape literature 117

II

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF THE MULBERRIES 127-169

Summary sketch of the early silk industry 127

The "multicaulis craze" 141

An account of the mulberries 158

III

THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN PLUMS AND CHERRIES . . . 170-248

The native plums in general 173

The Americana group of plums 181

The Chickasaw group 191

The Hortulana group 194

The Marianna group 208

The Beach plum group 214

The Pacific coast plum 215

(xi)

Xll

CONTENTS

PAGES

Various other types of plums 218

The native cherries 226

The dwarf cherry group 233

Retrospect 247

IV

THE NATIVE APPLES 249-273

The indigenous species 250

Amelioration has begun 261

V

THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN RASPBERRY -GROWING 274-297

Early American history 275

The present types of cultivated raspberries 286

Outlying types 297

VI

EVOLUTION OF BLACKBERRY AND DEWBERRY CULTURE . . 298-385

The high -bush blackberry and its kin 305

The dewberries 330

Remaining types of blackberry-like plants 357

The botanical names of the blackberries and dew- 366
berries

VII

VARIOUS TYPES OF BERRY -LIKE FRUITS .

The gooseberry

Native currants

The juneberry

The buffalo berry

The elderberry

High -bush cranberry

The cranberry

The strawberry

386-432

404
406
410
412
414
424

CONTENTS Xlll

VIII

PAGES

VARIOUS TYPES OP TREE FRUITS 433-447

The persimmon 433

The custard- apple tribe 441

The thorn-apples 443

The nut-fruits 445

IX

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF OUR NATIVE

FRUITS 448-461

What has been done 448

What probably should be done 456

INDEX . . 463

SKETCH OF

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR
NATIVE FRUITS

THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN GRAPE

NORTH AMERICA has given the world a new fruit
in its grapes. The grape of Europe and of history
has always led a precarious existence when intro-
duced into our eastern states, and it is now wholly
supplanted in this region by the ameliorated off-
spring of the native species. This American grape
is much unlike the European fruit. It is essentially
a table fruit, whereas the other is a wine fruit.
European writings treat of the vine, but American
writings speak of grapes. This difference in names
records a true unlikeuess between the fruits, for a
fruit which is eaten from the hand leaves the im-
press of itself upon the mind, but one which is
crushed and passed into wine leaves only the impress
of the vine and the vineyard. But the early Amer-
ican writings also treated of the vine and wine, and
it was not until the middle of the present century
that the modern table use of the native grape began
to be appreciated and understood. It will be inter-
esting to trace the progress of this curious evolution.

2 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

North America is a Natural Vineland

The first record of America is also a record of
its grapes. Leif, son of Eric, the old Norse navi-
gator, touched our northeastern shores in about the
year 1000. "Farther south and westerly they went,"
says Justin Winsor's narrative, "and going up a
river came into an expanse of water, where on the
shores they built huts to lodge in for the winter,
and sent out exploring parties. In one of these,
Tyrker, a native of a part of Europe where grapes
grew, found vines hung with their fruit, which in-
duced Leif to call the country Vineland." The Eng-
lish colonists found the coasts of what is now New
England to be profuse in grapes. In 1621, Edward
Winslow wrote that "here [in New England] are
grapes, white and red, and very sweet and strong
also." In 1630, Francis Higginson said that "ex-
cellent Vines are here up and downe in the Woods.
Our Governour hath already planted a Vineyard with
great hope of encrease." Thomas Morton, in his
"New English Canaan," an account of New England
in 1632, wrote as follows: "Vines, of this kind of
trees, there are that beare grapes of three colours,
that is to say : white, black and red. The Country
is so apt to vines, that (but for the fire at the
spring of the yeare) the vines would so over spreade
the land, that one should not be able to passe for
them, the fruit is as bigg of some ; as a musket
bullet, and is excellent in taste." The Massachusetts
colonists made wine of the native grapes during
their first summer, but Edward Everett Hale re-
marks that "the appetite for such wine does not seem

EARLY RECORDS OF GRAPES 3

perilous." Governor's Island, in Boston Harbor, was
granted to Governor Winthrop in 1632, upon the
condition that he should plant a vineyard or orchard
upon it ; and in 1634 the yearly rent was a hogs-
head of wine.

England, however, is not a wine -making country.
The vine is there grown laboriously upon walls and
under glass, to rescue it from the uncongenial cool-
ness of the summers. So the New Englanders ap-
pear not to have given great attention to wine -mak-
ing, either from the native grape or from plantations
of introduced vines. Then, the summers are too short
and the winters too severe to give much encourage-
ment to the growing of the vine for wine -making
in New England, and we must look farther south for
the early evolution of the American grape.

The Spanish colonists in Florida were attracted
by the wild grapes. John Hawkins, an English cap-
tain, visited these settlements in 1565, and said that
twenty hogsheads of wine had been made in a single
season, and he speaks of the wild grapes, which
" taste much like our English grapes." The intrepid
French adventurers and colonists were everywhere
attracted by the abundance of grapes, and we find
accounts of their wine-making far in the interior
country. In 1769, the French settlers at Kaskaskia,
in southern Illinois, made 110 hogsheads of wine
from wild grapes. Even as far north as Michigan,
these voyageurs found the banks of the streams fes-
tooned with the vines and the purple fruits hanging
in wild abandon in the rich September sun. Over a
hundred* years ago, a party of these explorers pushed
up a river in southern Michigan and, noticing the

4 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

grapes, cried out, "Le raisin! Le raisin !" (the grape,
the grape), and they called the stream "La riviere
au raisin," and it is known as River Raisin to this
day.

In the middle Atlantic region, the native grape
also attracted much attention from the colonists and
travelers. Captain John Smith saw in Virginia, in
1607-9, as he relates, "Of vines, great abundance in
many parts, that climbe the toppes of the highest
trees in some places, but these beare but fewe grapes.
But by the rivers and Savage habitations where they
are not overshadowed from the sunne, they are cov-
ered with fruit, though never pruined nor manured.
Of those hedge grapes, wee made neere 20 gallons of
wine, which was neare as good as your French Brit-
tish wine, but certainely they would prove good were
they well manured. There is another sort of grape
neere as great as a Cherry, this they [the Indians]
call Messaminnes ; they bee fatte, and the iuyce
thicke : neither doth the tast so well please when
they are made in wine."

In 1648, Beauchamp Plantagenet, in his quaint
account of "New Albion," describes "Uvedale under
Websneck" (a part of Delaware) as "a valley sixe
miles long, sheltered by hils from the North-west
windes: below it is sixe miles a thicket of four sorts
of excellent great Vines running on Mulberry and Sas-
safras trees; there are four sorts of Grapes, the first
is the Thoulouse Muscat, sweet seuted, the second
the great foxe and thick grape, after five moneths
reaped being boyled and salted, and well fined, it is
a strong red Xeres; the third a light Claret, the" fourth
a white Grape creeps on the land, maketh a pure

THE FOX -GRAPE 5

GOLD colour white wine: Tenis Pale the French man
of these four made eight sorts of excellent wine, and
of the Muscat acute boy led that the second draught
will fox [intoxicate] a reasonable pate four inoneths
old: and here may be gathered and made two hundred
tun in the Vintage Moneth, and re -planted will mend."
These grapes which Plantagenet saw, were undoubt-
edly native to the country; for although he uses the
name Muscat, it must be remembered that this word,
and such other foreign names as Madeira and Tokay,
were freely applied to wild varieties which bore a
general resemblance to European varieties having
these names. One of the significant parts of this
account is the use of the verb to fox for "intoxicate."
The term fox -grape was evidently applied to various
kinds of native grapes in the early days, although it
is now restricted to the Vitis Labrusca of the Atlan-
tic slope. Several explanations have been given of
the origin of the name fox -grape, some supposing
that it came from a belief that foxes eat the grapes,
others that the odor of the grape suggests that of
the fox — an opinion to which Beverley subscribed
nearly two centuries ago — and still others thinking
that it was suggested by some resemblance of the
leaves to a fox's track. William Bartram, writing
at the beginning of this century, in the Medical Re-
pository, is pronounced in his convictions: "The
strong rancid smell of its ripe fruit, very like the
effluvia arising from the body of the fox," "gave
rise to the specific name of this vine, and not, as
many have imagined, from its being the favourite
food of the animal; for the fox (at least the Amer-
ican species) seldom eats grapes or other fruit if

6 THE EVOLUTION OF OUE NATIVE FRUITS

he can get animal food." I am inclined to suggest,
however, that the name may have originated from
the lively foxing or intoxicating qualities of the poor
wine which was made from the wild grapes.* At
the present day, we speak of "foxiness" when we wish
to recall the musk -like flavor of the wild Vitis La-
brusca; but this use of the term is of later origin,
and was suggested by the name of the grape.

"A Perfect Description of Virginia," a narrative
"sent from Virginia, at the request of a Gentleman
of worthy note, who desired to know the true State
of Virginia as it now stands," but published anony-
mously in 1649, records: "Vines in abundance and
variety, do grow naturally over all the land, but by
the birds and beasts, most devouted before they come
to perfection and ripenesse; but this testifies and de-
clares, That the Ground, and the Climate is most
proper, and the Commodity of Wine is not a con-
temptible Merchandize; but some men of worth and
estate must give in these things example to the infe-
riour inhabitants and ordinary sort of men, to shew
them the gain and Commodity by it, which they will
not believe but by experience before their faces."

Robert Beverley, who wrote a "History of Virginia"
in 1722, gives a very explicit account of the products
of the country. "Of the natural productions and con-
veniences of Virginia in its unimprov'd state, before
the English went thither," he has the following to say
upon the vine: "Grapes grow there in an incredible
Plenty, and Variety; some of which are very sweet

"The following entry in Pepys's Diary (vol. i. p. 82; 1659) shows that to fox
meant to get drunk: "He went with me to my office, whither also Mr. Madge
comes half foxed and played the fool upon the violin that made me weary."

GRAPES IN VIRGINIA 7

and pleasant to the taste, others rough and harsh,
and, perhaps, fitter for Wine or Brandy. I have seen
great Trees covered with single Vines, and those Vines
almost hid with the Grapes. Of these wild grapes,
besides those large ones in the Mountains, mention 'd
by Baft in his Discovery, I have observed four very
different Kinds, viz.

"One of the Sorts grows among the Sandbanks,
upon the Edges of the low Grounds, and Islands next
the Bay, and Sea, and also in the Swamps and Breaches
of the Up-lands. They grow thin in small Bunches,
and upon very low Vines. These are noble Grapes;
and tho' they are wild in the Woods, are as large as
the Dutch Gooseberry. One Species of them is white,
others purple, blue, and black, but all much alike in
Flavour, and some long, some round.

"A second Kind is produced throughout the whole
country, in the Swamps and Sides of Hills. These
also grow upon small Vines, and in small Bunches;
but are themselves the largest Grapes as big as the
English Bullace, and of a rank Taste when ripe,
resembling the smell of a Fox, from whence they are
called Fox -Grapes. Both these Sorts make admirable
Tarts, being of a fleshly Substance, and perhaps, if
rightly managed, might make good Raisins.

"There are two Species more, that are common to
the whole Country, some of which are black, and
some blue on the out -side, and some white. They
grow upon vast large Vines, and bear very plenti-
fully. The nice Observer might, perhaps, distinguish
them into several Kinds, because they differ in Col-
our, Size, and Relish ; but I shall divide them only
into two ; viz. the early, and the late ripe. The

8 THE EVOLUTION OF OUE NATIVE FRUITS

early ripe common Grape is much larger, sweeter,
and better than the other. Of these some are quite
black, and others blue, and some white, or yellow ;
some also ripen three Weeks, or a Month before the
other. The Distance of their Ripening, is from the
latter End of August, to the latter End of October.
The late ripe common Grapes are less than any of
the other, neither are they so pleasant to the Taste.
They hang commonly till the latter End of Novem-
ber, or till Christmas ; all that I have seen of these
are black. Of the former of these two Sorts, the
French Refugees at the Monacan Town made a sort
of Claret, tho' they were gathered off of the wild
Vines in the Woods. I was told by a very good
judge, who tasted it, that it was a pleasant, strong,
and full bodied Wine. From which we may con-
clude, that if the Wine was but tolerably good, when
made of the Wild Grape, which is shaded by the
Woods from the Sun, it would be much better, if
produc'd of the same Grape cultivated in a regular
Vineyard."

Jean Pierre Purry speaks of the abundance of
wild grapes in South Carolina, in his description of
that province, written in French, published in 1731:
"The woods are full of wild Vines, bearing 5 or 6
sorts of Grapes naturally ; but for want of Vine-
dressers, &c. scarce any Wine is drank there but
what comes from Madera, which are indeed cheap,
for a bottle of excellent Wine cost last Winter but
2s. Carolina Money to those who bought it by the
Hogshead." William Bartram, traveling in north-
western Florida in 1776, found the trees and bushes
"entangled with grape vines (Vitis campestris) of a

WILD GRAPES IN FLORIDA 9

peculiar species ; the bunches (racemes) of fruit were
very large, as were the grapes that composed them,
though yet green and not fully grown [the middle
of July], but when ripe are of various colours, and
their juice sweet and rich. The Indians gather great
quantities of them, which they prepare for keeping,
by first sweating them on hurdles over a gentle fire,
and afterwards dry them on their bunches in the
sun and air, and store them up for provisions : these
grape vines do not climb into high trees, but creep
along from one low shrub to another, extending their
branches to a great distance horizontally round about,
and it is very pleasing to behold the clusters pendant
from the vines, almost touching the earth, indeed
some of them lie upon the ground."

Early Attempts to Cultivate the European Grape

It is not necessary to extend this inquiry of the
early records of the native grapes. Numerous quota-
tions could be made from the early narrators. It is
enough to know that these fruits grow wild in the
greatest profusion in the wooded parts of North
America from the Great Lakes to the Gulf and from
ocean to ocean. It is more to our purpose to inquire
if the European vine ( Vitis vinifera) was introduced
into the country and what the outcome was.

It was early conceived that wine -making must be
a profitable business in the New World because of
the cheapness of the land ; and the opinion was no
doubt strengthened by the fact of the profusion of
wild grapes, for these betokened a climate congenial
to the vine. The first concerted attempt to cultivate

10 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the European or wine grape in North America seems
to have been that of the London Company, in 1621
and 1622. The Company was then under the direc-
torship of the Earl of Southampton. In a letter
from the Company to the colonial authorities, dated
the 12th of August, 1621, and sent by the ship
Marmaduke, is the following information: "Since
the conclusion of our letter we have received from
his Ma' tie a Petition exhibiting unto him by certain
ffrenchmen and Walloones Desires to inhabite in Vir-
ginia : we have considered of these propositions and
have returned them so fine an answer as wee consider
they will resolve to go, they wilbe 60 families, con-
sisting of about 300 persons, you may expect them
cominge about the next spring. We hope they wilbe
a great strength to the Collony."

In a letter of September 21st, of the same year,
sent by the ship Warwick, it is recorded that "there
are two French youths now sent to Capt. Tho. Nuce,
part of those ten promised him the next Springe."
This letter also mentions the sending of silk -worm
eggs and grape vines: "By the Dutie wch about the
middle of next month is to depart we hope you shall
receive full sattisfaccon [i. e. the answering of certain
questions] ; wch Shipp shall bring with her store of
silke worme seed and abundance of vine plants, for
both wch we desire not only that generall pperations
be made, but that timely notice and order be given
throughout the whole colony, that every pticuler man
may make prouision for the receiuinge of some quan-
titie of them both, and that a straight charge be
giuen for the pserving of vines and mulberry trees,
wch we understand with others are promiscuously

EFFORTS OF THE LONDON COMPANY 11

defrayed; and because the skill of handling them is
only deriued from the Frenchmen we canot but here
recomend this to yor fauor and regard that they may
be kindly used and cherished." The letter also rep-
resents that supplies were furnished for the French-
men and Dutchmen (the latter having been sent to
erect saw-mills). The supplies were "diuers provis-
ions of victualls as also a cloth to make them appar-
rell; for hose and shoes and other such matters we
desire they may be supplied by the Companies stock
there, out of the Magazine wch now comes along in
the Warwicke large and abundante in all usefull and
necessarie comodities."

It is evident from this narrative that the London
Company desired to introduce the cultivation of the
vine into Virginia and that it encouraged the immi-
gration of the French for that purpose. The experi-
ment seems to have come to naught, however. Bever-
ley, writing a hundred years later, speaks of the
attempt as follows: "The Year before the Massacre,
Anno 1622, which destroyed so many good Projects
for Virginia; some French Vignerons were sent thither,
to make an Experiment of their Vines. These People
were, so in Love with the Country, that the Character
they then gave of it, in their Letters to the Company
in England, was very much to its Advantage, namely,
'That it far excell'd their own Country of Languedoc:
The Vines growing in great Abundance and Variety
all over the Land: That some of the Grapes were
of that unusual Bigness, that they did not believe
them to be Grapes, until by opening them, they had
seen their Kernels: That they had planted the Cut-
tings of their Vines at Michcelmas, and had Grapes

12 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

from those very Cuttings, the Spring following. Add-
ing in the Conclusion, that they had not heard of the
like in any other Country:' Neither was this out of
the Way, for I have made the same Experiment both
of their natural Vine, and of the Plants sent thither
from England." There appears to be some anachro-
nism here, for there is no record of any Frenchmen
having arrived, save the two boys, in 1621. They
were expected to arrive "about the next spring." The
massacre occurred on the 22nd of March, 1622. It is
probable that Beverley is in error in attributing the
termination of the grape experiment to the massacre;
but it is enough for our purpose to know that noth-
ing of permanent value came of the enterprise. It is
said, however, that in 1651, premiums were offered
for wines of domestic manufacture. In Berkeley's
time "some Vineyards" had been attempted, "and one
is brought to perfection, of 750 Gallons a Year. The
Wine drinks at present greenish, but the Owner doubts
not of good Wine, in a Year or two more, and takes
great Delight that Way."

We have already seen that John Winthrop, Gov-
ernor of the Massachusetts Bay, started a vineyard in
one of the islands in Boston Harbor. This island
came to be early known as "The Governour's Gar-
den." The rent fixed for this favored spot by the
General Court, in 1634, was "a hogshead of the best
wyne that shall grow there to be paide yearly" after
the death of Winthrop. The Massachusetts Com-
pany sent to the colony, in 1629, "vine -planters,
wheat, rye, barley, oats, a hogshead of each in the
ear: beans, pease, stones of all sorts of fruits, as
peaches, plums, filberts, cherries: pear, apple, quince

EARLY EXPERIMENTS 13

kernels ; " and the consignment is said to have included
pomegranates, currant plants, potatoes, and other
plants. The experiments with the vines seemed to
have come to nothing. Apparently the earliest plan-
tation of vines made on the New England coast, was
that at the mouth of the Piscataqua, on the borders
of the present state of Maine. This settlement was
made in 1623, but in 1630 Ambrose Gibbons, agent
of Mason and Gorges, settled there for the purpose
of founding a plantation, according to Slade, "to cul-
tivate the vine, discover mines, carry on the fisheries,
and trade with the natives." The planted vines failed,
but "them that grow naturally" were reported to have
been "very good of divers sorts." Probably every
important settlement in what is now New England
made an especial effort to grow the grape. There
are frequent references to such attempts in the early
records of the colonies. But all of them sooner or
later failed, and we shall not, therefore, pursue the
history further.

Following the revoking of the Edict of Nantes, in
1685, by Louis XIV., many Huguenots sought refuge
in America. They settled chiefly in the Carolinas and
Georgia, and they brought with them the French love
for vine -culture and wine. They made many attempts
at vine -growing, but with no permanent success ; yet
the efforts kept the subject before the public mind,
and out of the failures there finally came a type of
grapes which persists to this day. The attempts were
repeated until well into the present century, however,
always with poor or indifferent success. About 1800,
one Magget is recorded to have obtained a grant of
money from the legislature of South Carolina for the

14 THE EVOLUTION OF OUE NATIVE FRUITS

purpose of extending the planting of grapes in that
colony.

The trustees of the colony of Georgia early made
attempts at the cultivation of the vine in Georgia.
One of the famous efforts of those days was that of
Abraham De Lyon, who, under the encouragement of
the Trustees, procured vines from Portugal and
planted them in his garden in Savannah. Jones, in
his "History of Georgia," makes the following quo-
tation from Colonel William Stephens, "as present-
ing the only picture of a Georgia colonial vineyard
which has been handed down to us."

"Tuesday, December 6th, 1737. After dinner
walked out to see what Improvement of Vines were
made by one Mr. Lyon a Portugese Jew, which I had
heard some talk of ; and indeed nothing had given
me so much Pleasure since my Arrival as what I
found here ; though it was yet ( if I may say it
properly), only a Miniature, for he had cultivated
only for two or three Years past about half a
Score of them which he received from Portugal for
an Experiment ; and by his Skill and Management
in pruning &c., they all bore this Year very plen-
tifully a most beautiful, large Grape as big as a
Man's Thumb, almost pellucid, and Bunches exceed-
ing big ; all which was attested by Persons of un-
questionable Credit (whom I had it from) but the
Season now would allow me only to see the Vines
they were gathered from, which were so flourishing
and strong that I saw one Shoot, of this last Year
only, which he allowed to grow from the Root of a
bearing Vine, as big as my Walking -Cane, and run
over a few Poles laid to receive it, at least twelve

EXPERIMENTS IN GEORGIA 15

or fourteen Foot, as near as I could judge. From
these he has raised more than a Hundred, which he
has planted all in his little Garden behind his House
at about four Foot Distance each, in the Manner and
Form of a Vineyard : They have taken Root and
are about one Foot and a half high ; the next Year
he says he does not doubt raising a. Thousand more,
and the Year following at least five Thousand. I
could not believe (considering the high Situation of
the Town upon a Pine Barren, and the little Ap-
pearance of such Productions in these little Spots
of Ground annexed to the House) but that he had
found some proper Manure wherewith to improve the
sandy Soil ; but he assured me it was nothing but
the natural Soil, without any other Art than his
Planting and Pruning which he seemed to set some
Value on from his Experience in being bred among
the Vineyards in Portugal; and, to convince the World
that he intends to pursue it from the Encouragement
of the Soil proving so proper for it, he has at this
Time hired four Men to clear and prepare as much
Land as they possibly can upon his forty -five Acre
Lot, intending to convert every Foot of the whole
that is fit for it into a Vineyard : though he com-
plains of his present Inability to be at such an ex-
pense as to employ Servants for Hire. From hence
I could not but reflect on the small Progress that
has been made hitherto in propagating vines in the
publick Garden where, the Soil being the same, it
must be owing to the Unskilfulness or Negligence of
those who had undertaken that Charge."

But the attempt soon failed. William Bacon
Stevens, in his "History of Georgia," writes that

16 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

"the wine which was to supply all the plantations,
and to cultivate which they had employed a vigneron
from Portugal, and planted in their gardens the
choicest cuttings from Madeira, resulted in only a
few gallons, and was then abandoned."

One of the most enterprising and intelligent early
cultivators of the grape in this region was Nicholas
Herbemont, of Columbia, South Carolina, whose name
is now given to one of the best wine grapes of the
South. As late as January, 1828, he opens a series of
articles in the Southern Agriculturist, upon the cul-
tivation of the grape for wine, but among the varie-
ties which he chooses are derivatives of American spe-
cies, like Herbemont, Le Noir, Eland's • Madeira, Isa-
bella, and the like.

It is said that Paul Richards, of the city of New
York, entered upon the cultivation of the wine grape
on a large scale some two hundred and fifty years
ago, and in 1664, Nicolls, the first English governor
of New York, granted Richards the privilege of mak-
ing and selling wine free of impost, and ordered that
all persons setting vines within the next thirty years
should pay Richards a tax of five shillings for every
acre planted. William Penn planted a vineyard near
Philadelphia in 1683, the year following his coming
to America. Andrew Dore made an attempt near by
two years later. Many other attempts to grow the
European grape were made in various parts of the
country, but none seem to have been successful.

Yet the interest in vine -growing persisted. In
1769, Edward Antill, of Monmouth, New Jersey, wrote
the first American treatise upon the vine. It was
published in the Transactions of the Philosophical

EDWARD ANTILL 17

Society for 1771, and it covers over eighty quarto
pages. Antill seems to have been inspired with a
patriotic devotion to the welfare of his country, and
his treatise bears the marks of that broad and pro-
phetic vision which is so characteristic of the latter
part of the last century. "Nothing but the love of
my country and the good of mankind," he writes,
"could have tempted me to appear and expose myself
to public view." "When I first undertook a vine-
yard," he explains, "I can without the least spark of
vanity say, I did it for the good of my country, and
from a principle of love to mankind ; I consider that
too many of the people of America were unhappily
drawn into great excesses in the use of distilled spirit-
uous liquors, which ruin their constitutions, and soon
render them unfit for the service of God and their
country, as well as for that of their own family and
friends. Wine, on the contrary, is a more homogene-
ous liquor, more wholesome, and much better adapted
to the spirit, and constitution of man; and although
men will run into excesses in the use of it, yet it
works itself off better, and does not destroy the natural
vital heat and animal spirits, in so great a degree and
in so sudden a manner, as fiery, distilled liquors do;
for these reasons I went on, and endeavoured to make
myself master of the subject, and by many experi-
ments to satisfy myself of the truth of things." It
was Antill's ambition, then, to grow grapes for wine
and not for eating. His treatise is founded largely
upon European practice, and there is only the most
meager reference to any American experience. He
still quotes Columella. He says in his introductory
letter that the industry is "yet new to America, though

18 THE EVOLUTION OF OUE NATIVE FRUITS

an undertaking as autient at least as the days of
Noah." There is other evidence that the undertaking
had received little close attention, for he knows very
few natural enemies of the crop, a condition of things
which could not have existed if the vine had been an
important subject of cultivation. The first enemy to
the vineyard is "people of every age and sex," espe-
cially the "rude and unthinking sort," which "take all
advantages of your absence or neglect at the time of
the fruit's beginning to grow ripe, to rob and pilfer."
These persons "must be carefully guarded against, by
a good, close, high fence without, and a smart, watch-
ful dog within, and especially by the vigneron's ap-
pearing now and then with a gun in his hand, walk-
ing about his vineyard in an evening." He then men-
tions birds, some of which "give you a fine song for
your fruit;" wasps, which pierce the grapes "in sev-
eral places, with their sharp -pointed bills;" "a short,
smooth earth worm," or grub, which "often cuts off
the choicest branches" of young vines near the sur-
face of the ground; and finally, there were "vine fret-
ters," which are "very small animalculae, or insects,"
which "appear in great numbers, in mere clusters,
upon the young, tender branches, upon the juice of
which they feed." Antill devotes much space to the
making of wine, and the varieties which he recom-
mends were all of the European stock. Antill is
mentioned by S. W. Johnson as "a gentleman who
cultivated the grape with sedulous attention," and he
made wine and shipped some of it to England.

Johnson wrote the second popular treatise on the
vine which has come down to us. It is a "book"
or chapter, "On the Cultivation of the Vine," com-

PETER LEGAUX 19

prising forty -three pages in the authors' "Rural
Economy," published at New Brunswick, New
Jersey, in 1806.* He drew heavily from the ex-
periences and writings of Antill. He mentions the
four enemies of grape -growing which are described
by Antill, and adds remarks upon the mildew and
hail, and rejoices that such terrible European pests
as the snail, gribouri, and beche — "which no art
has yet been found adequate to conquer" — have not
yet reached America. In his time, the former seat
of Antill was occupied by Miles Smith, who had
"a large and handsome vineyard." But the chief
interest which Johnson's account has to us is the
eulogium which he pronounces upon Peter Legaux,
a vine -grower at Spring Mills, thirteen miles north-
west of Philadelphia. Legaux appears to have
been the most intelligent and public -spirited grape-
grower which the country had known ; and he was
the person who introduced — though unknowingly — the
grape which ushered in the distinctive American
viticulture. We shall hear more of Legaux in the
following pages, and we shall pause now only to
read Johnson's praise of him. Our author speaks
of his application to "the philanthropic M. Legaux"
for information on the grape, and then proceeds :
"The liberality with which M. Legaux gave answers
to his correspondent, through the medium of the
public papers, for the benefit of the public ; the
botanico meterological observations made for fifteen
years successively, drawn out on purpose to answer
the questions proposed, and also published for gen-

Mohnson's pictures of grape training are reproduced in "Pruning- Book," pp.
391, 302.

20 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

eral information •, the extensive usefulness of that
gentleman in having in 1801 supplied Kentucky
with fifteen hundred cuttings, Pennsylvania with
fifteen hundred, and other quantities to vineyards
established in Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey,
Maryland, Virginia, and the State of Ohio, from
which numerous branches have since issued, awake
fresh sentiments of respect for so useful a character.
Such men merit a token of respect from every state
in the Union."

The attempt to grow the Old World wine grapes
out of doors in eastern America was continued until
twenty -five or thirty years ago ; in fact, the effort is
even now made by an occasional amateur. Nicholas
Longworth — of whom we shall yet have much to
say — wrote, in 1845, of his endeavors in this direc-
tion: "I have for thirty years experimented on the
foreign grape, both for the table and for wine.
In the acclimation of plants, I do not believe ; for
the White Sweet Water does not succeed as well
with me, as it did thirty years since. I obtained
a large variety of French grapes from Mr. Loubat,
many years since. They were from the vicinity of
Paris and Bordeaux. From Madeira, I obtained six
thousand vines of their best wine grapes. Not one
was found worthy of cultivation in this latitude,
and were rooted from the vineyards. As a last ex-
periment, I imported seven thousand vines from the
mountains of Jura, in the vicinity of Salins, in
France. * * * But after a trial of five years, all
have been thrown away. : * * If we intend cul-
tivating the grape for wine, we must rely on our
native grapes, and new varieties raised from their

JOHN JAMES DUPOUB 21

seeds. If I could get my lease of life renewed for
twenty or thirty years, I would devote my attention
to the subject, and I would cross our best native
varieties with the best table and wine grapes of
Europe."

It is unnecessary to rehearse other attempts to
grow the foreign grape in eastern America. All
efforts eventually resulted in failure. The experiment
has been tried upon an extended scale by many ex-
pert men for a period of over two centuries. We
shall, therefore, consider the history of another line
of endeavor, leaving the curious reader in ignorance,
for the time being, of the causes of all these dis-
asters.

The First Experiment of the Dufours

A great and well -laid attempt was finally made, in
Kentucky and Indiana, to establish the wine grape in
America, the results of which were the most far-reach-
ing of any single experiment. The leader of this
movement was John James Dufour, a Swiss. When
a lad, he conceived that America
offered a field in which to engage
in wine -making with profit. Later
in life he was imbued with the
feeling which was so well expressed
by Antill, and which has been held
by many another since, that good
wine will expel the stronger

liquors. "Then that offspring of fire — distilled
liquor — so corrosive and acerb as its parent," he
writes, "which crisps the heart and maketh man mad,
will be left for the poor inhabitants of frozen coun-

22 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

tries, to whom both grapes and apples have been re-
fused: and if this my humble performance, should
contribute to bring such blessings in the country, I
could rejoice to have quitted my first home to come
here." Dufour recites the reasons for his coming to
America in his "Vine Dresser's Guide," which was
published in 1826: "When I took the resolution to
come to America, to try the cultivation of the grape
I was but fourteen; and I came to this determination
by reading the papers, which were full of the Ameri-
can Revolutionary War, and contained many letters
from the officers of the French army aiding the Re-
publicans, which complained of the scarcity of the
wine among them, in the midst of the greatest abun-
dance of everything else; and by inspection of the
maps, I saw that America was in the parallel of the
best wine countries in the world — like Spain, South of
France, Italy and Greece ; I then made the culture of
the grape, of its natural history, and of all that was
connected with it, my most serious study, to be the
better able to succeed here. It is that resolution
which made me a vine dresser, although some may
think I am not fit for it, being maimed in my left
arm. It was it, which made me lose several chances
of getting rich, in my journeying through America,
because it had so completely absorbed all my other
thoughts; and it was also that resolution, which made
me accept a proposal of an association for the culture
of the grape in Kentucky."

The Dufour family has particular interest to us,
for the outcome of this experiment has had a most
important bearing upon American viticulture. John
James Dufour, the father of the subject of our sketch,

THE DUFOURS 23

lived in the commune of Chatelard, District of Vevay,
Canton de Lemau (now de Vaud), Switzerland. The
family was French. By a first marriage he had two
sons, John James, Jr., and Daniel. By a second mar-
riage, there were six children, Jeane Marie, Antoi-
nette, John Francis, Susannah Margaretta, John
David, and Aime. John James Dufour, the son,
married in Switzerland, and had one son, Daniel Vin-
cent, but the wife never came to America. The pro-
ject of a great grape commune was talked over and
perfected in the family circle in Switzerland, and
finally every son and daughter of the family, the
grandson, and a few associates, cast their lots in the
wilderness of the New World to work out a livelihood
for themselves and a mission for mankind. Without
further mention of the father and mother in the home
nest in Switzerland, we will now follow the fortunes
of John James, the eldest son, and of his associates.
John James Dufour, Second, the founder of the
colony, set off for America in March, 1796. He took
the brig "Sally" for Philadelphia on June 10, and
landed in the New World August 12. He paid $50,
beside baggage charges, for his passage. For two or
three years, Dufour set himself to preparation for his
future work by visiting all the leading vineyards in
the country, going as far west as the French settle-
ments at Kaskaskia. He visited the estate of Jeffer-
son, at Monticello, in 1799, and found that the vine
"had been abandoned, or left without any care for
three or four years before, which proved, evidently,
that it had not been profitable." There was a vine-
yard on the estate of Mr. Carroll, at Carrolltou, below
Baltimore, where, in 1796, "they had tried a few sorts

24 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

of the jndigenous grapes." Near the Susquehanna
River, "not far from Middletown," was a neglected
vineyard which had been planted by a German, then
deceased, but which "had produced some wine." "At
the Southern Liberties of Philadelphia" Dufour saw a
vineyard in 1806 "of a large assortment of the best
species of French grapes." These were two and three
years planted, and where still healthy. At Kaskaskia,
on the Mississippi, he "found only the spot where that
vineyard had been planted in a well selected place, on
the side of a hill to the north-east of the town, under
a cliff. No good grapes, however, were found either
there, or in any of the gardens of the country. A
thick forest was covering that spot, with a luxuriant
undergrowth, and of asparagus in the place where
the Jesuits had planted a bed of that vegetable."

Dufour had found, in his journey down the Ohio,
a Frenchman at Marietta "who was making several
barrels of wine every year, out of grapes that were
growing wild, and abundantly, on the heads of the
Islands of the Ohio Eiver, known by the name of
Sand grapes, because they grow best on the gravels;"
and some of the wine made from the indigenous
grapes, when -four months old, was "like the wine
produced in the vicinity of Paris, in France, if not
better." The French settlers were convinced, how-
ever, that these grapes were not natives, but that
they were derived from the old French stock at Fort
Duquesne, for the French are said to have rooted up
their vines and thrown them into the river when the
English took the fort. There seems to have been the
strongest prejudice against the native grapes, a feel-
ing which Dufour shared, as we shall presently see.

THE KENTUCKY SOCIETY 25

But the most interesting vineyard which this inde-
fatigable explorer found was that at Spring Mill, on
the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia. This was planted by
the Frenchman, Peter Legaux — whom M'Mahon calls
"a gentleman of worth and science" — but about the
close of the century it was taken up by "a wealthy
Society formed by subscription," in Philadelphia, and
incorporated by the legislature of Pennsylvania "for
the promotion of the culture of the vine." The sec-
retary of this Society was the excellent Bernard
M'Mahon, author of the "American Gardener's Cal-
endar," and whom every botanist and nurseryman re-
calls in the Mahonia barberries.

Of all the vines which Dufour saw, none suf-
ficed "to pay for one half of their attendance" save
the "vines planted in the gardens of New York and
Philadelphia, and about a dozen of plants in the
vineyard of Mr. Legaux." And from these few
plants of Legaux's, under Dufour's care, began the
most important experiment in American grape culture.

Dufour was now ready to locate land and to estab-
lish the proposed grape colony. He chose a location
in the Great Bend of the Kentucky River, about
twenty -five miles from Lexington by the present pikes,
and thirteen' miles from the present village of Nicholas-
ville. "The Kentucky Vineyard Society" appears to
have been established under his inspiration. He says
that it was "an association for the culture of the grape
\n Kentucky, under the same principles of the one
established at Philadelphia, though not knowing, how-
ever, which of those societies had been the first."
This organization "may be with great propriety con-
sidered as the beginner, the true introducer of the

26 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

cultivation of grape vines into the United States ;
although it proved to be a ruinous affair, both to the
shareholders and their vine dresser — nevertheless mil-
lions will accrue to the country at large, from the
school made there." Dufour mentions himself as one
of the "loosers in that undertaking;" and he says
that when he "first came to Lexington," he was solic-
ited to make "a trial on the cultivation of the grape,"
but "was left with little courage by what I had seen
done." "They offered to help," and a scheme of
operation was completed. The planting at Spring
Mill, near Philadelphia, was made earlier, for Dufour
"saw that Vineyard in 1796, 1799, and 1806," but the
association which finally took it in charge seems to
have been formed in 1798 or 1799. The Kentucky
association must have been organized in 1798, for in
January, 1799, Dufour went to Philadelphia and pro-
cured, for the Kentucky place, 10,000 grape vines and
some fruit trees. These, including the transportation
to Pittsburg, cost $461. Spooner, however, states
in his grape book in 1846, that "in 1793, Peter Legaux,
a French gentleman, obtained of the legislature of
Pennsylvania the incorporation of a company for cul-
tivating the vine," and that "for one year only pros-
pects were favorable; but divisions and dissentions
arose, and the stockholders sold out in disgust, and
the vineyard went to ruin." But Dufour saw the
vineyard in 1806, and he bought vines there in 1799,
so that Spooner 's chronology is open to doubt.

The Kentucky association was organized with $10,-
000 capital. There were 200 shares at $50 each, and
forty shares were given Dufour as "salary to conduct
the business, until it would become productive." The

THE KENTUCKY ORGANIZATION 27

land was purchased of William Hazelrigg, who pat-
ented it from the government on or about 1785.
When the vineyard should come into bearing, Dufour
was to receive $1,000 a year out of the produce, or
nothing if there should be no produce. The 160 re-
maining shares were to be appropriated as follows:

For 633 acres of land . $633 00

For 5 families of negroes 5,000 00

For tools, victuals, and other support . . . 1,000 00

Expenses of getting vine scions 800 00

Incidental expenses 567 00

$8,000 00

The full number of shares was not taken, and the
concern set out in the spring of 1799 with five acres
planted to thirty -five varieties, many or most of
which were obtained from Legaux.

The affair being now fully on its feet, the re-
maining members of the Dufour family were ready
to join the enterprise. On New Year's Day, 1801,
the adventurers came together in Switzerland, and
prepared to take leave of home and country. Seven-
teen souls set sail in early spring upon a voyage
which lasted 100 days. They landed in Norfolk in
May. In this company were the seven remaining
Du fours, Jean Daniel Mererod (who, either in Europe
or America, married Antoinette Dufour) , Francis
Louis de Siebenthal, John Francis de Siebenthal and
Philip Bettens, together with women and children.
They crossed the Alleghanies to Pittsburg with
wagons, the women and children who could not
walk, going as freight, at so much per hundred
pounds. At Pittsburg, the colonists took boats on
the Ohio, and set their faces toward that wild and

28 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

rugged country which had been so recently the
theater of Daniel Boone's adventures.

The party arrived at the vineyard on the 6th of
July, 1801. There the colonists, fresh from the snug
and well -tilled fields of Switzerland, saw a raw river
bottom, rolling gradually up to rocky and wooded
hills, which slope away to the south and southeast,
and upon which the new vineyard was growing. In
the foreground was a log cabin. But they were
full of hope, and fell to work with much good -will.
The brothers had brought grape vines from home,
and these, with loving solicitude, were planted with
the vines which had been procured in Philadelphia
by the founder. "Three years we were in full ex-
pectation, and worked with great courage," writes
John James Dufour ; " — a great many species of vines
showed fruit the third year ; one vine of the Sweet
Water was full of eminently good grapes, fully
ripened by the first of September. A few bunches
that I carried to Lexington, were admired beyond
anything. But alas ! it was the first and last year
that that vine ever bore fruit, a sickness took hold
of all our vines except the few stocks of Cape and
Madeira grapes, from each of which we made the
fourth year some wine, which was drank by the
Shareholders in Lexington in March next."

A good contemporaneous account of the Dufour
vineyard is given by the distinguished Frenchman,
Francois Andre Michaux, who visited the place in
August, 1802, in his second journey in America. "At
fourteen miles from Lexington," he writes in his Trav-
els, "I quitted the road to Hickman's ferry: I turned
to the left, and lost myself in the middle of the woods,

MICHAUX'S TESTIMONY 29

so that I did not reach the vineyard until evening,
where I was very politely received by M. Dufour, who
directs the undertaking. He invited me to sleep there,
and pass the following day with him, which I accep-
ted." "The spot which he has selected and cleared is
situated on the river Kentucky, twenty miles from
Lexington. The soil is excellent, and the vines are
planted on a small hill, with a steep declivity, exposed
to the south, and the base of which is two hundred
toises* from the river." "But his success is not equal
to his attention: not more than four or five varieties
are left, among which are those which he calls by the
names of Burgundy and Madeira, and the first does
not thrive well: the fruit always rots before.it arrives
at maturity. When I saw them, the bunches were
few and stinted, the grapes small, and everything
appeared as though the vintage of the year 1802
would not be more abundant than those of the pre-
ceding years. The Madeira vines, on the contrary,
seemed to give some hopes: of a hundred and fifty,
or two hundred plants, about a third were loaded with
very fine grapes. These vines do not occupy a space
of more than six acres; they are planted and sup-
ported by props, as in the environs of Paris. The
vicinity of the wood attracts a species of bird, which
is very destructive among them, and the nature of the
country is a great obstacle to getting freed from them.
Such was then the situation of this establishment, in
which the proprietors took but a slight interest, and
which was likely to meet with another hinderance in
the division of M. Dufour's family, a part of which
was on the point of quitting it to settle on the banks

*A toise is about 6| feet.

30 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

of the Ohio. These details are sufficient to give a
very different idea of the state of the pretended flour-
ishing vines of Kentucky, from that which may have
been formed on the pompous accounts of them pub-
lished some months ago in the public papers."

The subscribers to the vineyard company soon
became disheartened and failed to meet their engage-
ments, the available stock was used in paying for the
labor which had been -employed in the plantation, and
the further prosecution of the enterprise rested upon
three brothers Dufour, the other members of the
colony having sought a new location on the banks of
the Ohio, in Indiana. Every effort was made to in-
crease the stock of the Cape and Madeira grapes, the
only varieties which had escaped the fatal sickness.
John James Dufour returned to Europe in 1806, and
left the establishment in the hands of his younger
brothers. In his absence the second war with Eng-
land broke out, and he was delayed in returning until
1816. He found the "vineyard grown up with briars."
The brothers had become discouraged, chiefly because
one crop had been destroyed by a frosty spring, and
"had abandoned the place to an American tenant,
who supposed we had a bad title to the land." The
intruder was ejected by due process of law. John
James had appointed his half-brother, John Francis,
his attorney on the 15th of January, 1806. The col-,
ony was at this time practically abandoned, although
all the land did not pass out of the family until at
least twenty -five years later. Upon returning to
America, John James Dufour wrote "The American
Vine Dresser's Guide, being a treatise on the cul-
tivation of the vine, and the process of wine making.

DUFOUR'S BOOK 31

Adapted to the soil and climate of the United
States." Upon the title-page he speaks of himself
as "formerly of Swisserland, and now an American
citizen, cultivator of the vine from his childhood,
and for the last twenty -five years occupied in that
line of business, first in Kentucky, and now on the
borders of the Ohio, near Vevay, Indiana." The book
was printed in Cincinnati in 1826, by S. J. Browne.
The author set out to distribute his book to friends
in Kentucky, but took sick on the journey, and re-
turned to the new settlement at Vevay, where he
died early in 1827. John Francis Dufour resigned
his office of Associate Judge in 1827, in order that
he might give his attention to the administration of
his brother's estate. In 1828, we find John James's
son, Daniel Vincent, who had come to America when
he reached his majority, selling seventy -five acres
of the old vineyard tract to Michael Salter for two
and a -half dollars an acre. The land was not
deeded to Salter, however, until April 23rd, 1831,
when he had paid a note which was given in
partial settlement for the land. The land upon which
the vineyard and buildings stood is now the property
of George McQuery, whose grandfather is said to
have procured it from the Dufours in 1828.

The traveler who visits the spot to-day finds an
open glebe stretching from the Kentucky River to the
hills (Fig. 3). Upon this lowland he will see a
clump of bushes and poke -weeds, and a few stones
(Fig. 4), marking the site of the old log house,
which perished about 1845 to 1850. Near by is a
broken and hollow pear tree (Fig. 5), three feet in
diameter, which tradition says was brought from

THE LANDMARKS 33

Europe by the Dufours. This tree, which bears a
Summer Bell pear, still gives an annual crop of
its indifferent fruit. Just beyond is the hillside
where the plantings were made, and the remnant of
a stone wall marks one of the boundaries of the
vineyard. The hillsides are covered with red cedars,
with now and then a
honey locust, and the
open places support a 'Jfj
bountiful crop of mul-
leius and teasels. The
slopes are very rocky, *

the Outcrop in lower Fig-4- Site of the house at "First

. Vineyard." 1895.

levels being Trenton

limestone, and in the higher courses the lower and
middle Hudson sandstones. This hillside, where once
the vine was planted with prophetic hope, is now a
sheep pasture ; and only tradition remains to recall
the struggles and the disappointments of a noble
band of pioneers whose labor, though fruitless to
themselves, was fraught with blessings for the years
to come.

The Second Experiment of the DH fours

Although wine had been made in the Kentucky
vineyard for two or three years, it was evident to the
colonists that the enterprise was doomed to failure.
A fatal sickness had overtaken the vines. In 1802,
certain of the colony sought a new location. Going
down the Kentucky River to its mouth, they ascended
the Ohio for a few miles, and chose the bottom of the
rich and gently rising valley of what is now the

C

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

pretty little city of Vevay, Indiana. This spot is
about 45 miles below Cincinnati. The colonists still
held the vineyard in Kentucky, and cultivated it hope-
fully until 1804, and some of the party did not leave
it even then. But all eyes were turned to the north.

The settlers not only
thought that the
new location was the
better one for the
grape, but tradition
says that they chafed
under the presence
of slavery, and de-
sired to escape it.

John James Du-
four petitioned Con-
gress to pass an act
authorizing him and
his associates to
enter upon lands,
with an extended
credit, for the pur-
pose of introducing
the culture of the
vine into the United
States. ^ Congress
responded, and on
May 1st, 1802,
authorized them to select four sections of land on a
credit of twelve years. The settlers selected 2,500
acres, and called the place New Switzerland. The
country was a dense wilderness. There were very
few settlers in the region. The first settler within

tig. 5. Old pear tree on site of « First Vineyart
plantation. 1895.

» "

I?

fi-
ll

13

^ p

If

I

» s

.11

36

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the limits of the present county of Switzerland was
Heathcoat Picket, who established himself there in
1795. The objects of the grant, as stated in the act,
were "to plant the vine and make their principal busi-
ness its cultivation." The parties to the covenant
were John James Dufour, Daniel Dufour, John Francis
Dufour, David Dufour, Aime Dufour, Daniel Vincent

Dufour (son of John
James), Jeane Marie
Dufour, Antoinette
Dufour, Susannah
Margarita Dufour,
Francis Louis de
Siebenthal, John
Francis de Sieben-
thal, Jean Daniel
Mererod, and Philip
Bettens. The lands
at New Switzerland
were divided into
thirteen lots, to ac-
commodate the dif-
ferent members of the
colony. The method
of division was as
follows: "The said
lands being on the
Ohio River, and be-
ing surveyed diag-
onally with the Eiver, it is agreed that each lot
shall meet the River and its breadth upon the
River shall be as follows: The most western or
No. 1, 67 poles; No. 2, 65 poles; No. 3, 63 poles,

Fig. 7. Jean Dauiel Mererod. (Sketch made
about 1825.)

THE INDIANA EXPERIMENT 37

and so on". This decreasing width offset the increas-
ing lengths towards the east. The 2,500 acres were
in this manner divided into thirteen equal portions of
a trifle over 192 acres each. The first lot, on the
west, fell to Francis Louis de Siebenthal, No. 2 to
Philip Betteus, No. 3 to Jean Daniel Mererod, and
No. 4 to John Francis de Siebenthal. The remain-
ing nine were allotted to the Dufours.

It was provided that "in order to indemnify the
family of the Dufours of the cost and trouble they
have been at (at least John James Dufour) by travel-
ing in the United States to choose a convenient place
of settlement, and presenting a petition to Congress,
it shall be given him or family the sum of $100 for
each lot, to be paid before the 1st of January, 1812,
diminishing six per cent unto the day of payment,
upon the sum that shall have been paid before that
time. As security of the said covenant each of us
engages the whole of his property, present and here-
after, and in witness put his name and seal this 20th
of January, 1803, at First Vineyard [Kentucky]."

It appears to have been in 1803 that the first
settlement was made by the colony at New Switzer-

land. John Francis Dufour is looked upon as the
real founder and leader of this colony, although he
did not remove there until 1809. He was a man of
great enterprise and ability, and he left an indelible
impress upon the people and institutions of Vevay, as

38 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the colony of New Switzerland was afterwards and is
at present called. He died June 6, 1850.

In this new location, the vines and fruit trees were
planted on the bottom lands which slope gradually up
from the Ohio. The labor of clearing the land and
the haste for results were so great that the land was
not plowed previous to the setting of the vines. "The
Swissers on the borders of the Ohio," wrote John
James Dufour, "having the ground to clear from a
heavy forest of extraordinary big poplar [tulip -tree]
and beech trees, and depending only on their own
labor, did not prepare their ground according to the
aforesaid rules, but satisfied themselves, by digging a
hole for each vine the same as for any other tree,
about -twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, with the
same depth, and it being filled with the top earth,
they stuck the scion in the middle of it." "The first
vineyard planted on the borders of the Ohio, was dis-
tanced six feet by two and a half feet, it has been
worn out in sixteen years ; on the spot, there is now
[1826] young vines growing, since three years." The
first wine at Vevay was made in 1806 or 1807. The
vintage in 1808 was 800 gallons, and in 1809 about
1,200 gallons.

One of the best cultivators in the little colony was
Jean Daniel Mererod (Fig. 7), whose wife was An-
toinette Dufour. It was probably Mererod who made
the first wine at the new settlement. His place may
still be seen (Fig. 8), with the old wine cellar and
the ponderous wine -press ; and a few rods in front
of it rolls the mighty torrent of the Ohio. At one
place a grape stock persists, which, although cut off
and abused year after year, still throws out its shoots

AT VEVAY

39

in memory of other days. In the year 1895, the
writer partook of its fruit, which was clearly that
of the Catawba ; and so the vine could not have
been one of the original plantation, as tradition as-
serts it to be. Aime, son of the Mererods, a hale and
reminiscent man of eighty years, is now (1895) the
sole survivor of the grape -growing era of the col-
ony. He lives at Vevay, where he is the oracle of
local history.

Nearly a mile in the rear of the main thoroughfare
which follows the river, and part way up the sharp
declivity of the skirting bluff, the house of John

•• .y.£.-:;. . ^:?-:^^ i**---

..

^^*^ -^'

Site of one of the original vineyards (Jean Daniel Mererod),
at Vevay, 1895.

Francis Dufour still stands, in good repair (Fig. 9).
The original house, which he built in 1809, was made
of logs, and has perished, but the present structure
was built in the very early days. A grandson of
John Francis Dufour, and himself a gray -haired
man, is now a prominent figure in Vevay.

40

THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Grape -growing, as a business, has long since per-
ished at Vevay. The vines took sick and would not
bear; or if they bore, the fruit rotted before it was
ready for the harvest. Only one variety, known as
the Cape grape, gave any important return. On the

Fig. 9. Stone house of John Francis Dufour, Vevay, Indiana. 1895.

27th of May, 1832 or 1833, a killing frost ruined most
of the remaining vineyards, and the Catawba, which
was justly becoming famous, was set in the place of
the old varieties. But even this took the disease, and
grape -growing there soon entered into a decline, from
which it has never recovered.

DEATH OF DUFOUR 41

John Jaines Dufour's wife died, in Switzerland,
in 1823. The half of her estate, which, by the laws
of that country, fell to her son, David Vincent, was
transferred to the father in exchange for the latter's
property, which consisted of personal property, a
town lot, 29 acres in one parcel and 605 acres in
another in Vevay and neighborhood, and a half right,
in partnership with John Francis Dufour, of keeping
a ferry across the Ohio River. It is evident that
John James Dufour intended to return to Switzerland
to pass his declining years, but he was overtaken
before the purpose was accomplished, and his tomb
was made in Indiana. The remains were first in-
terred at Florence, Indiana, but were later removed
to the family farm lot seven miles above Vevay ;
and here the wanderer may to this day read the in-
scription on the tombstone:

Here

Is deposited the remains of John James Dufour,

A native of the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland,

Who departed this life

February 9th, 1827,

Aged 64 years.

Remember man as you pass by
That as you are now so once was I;
But as I am soon you must be;
Prepare for death and follow me.

Dufour must have been possessed of unusual intel-
ligence, forethought and perseverance. He was a
pioneer, and he gave his life to prove that the wine
grape cannot be grown in eastern North America.
Out of the ruin of his hopes there had sprung, even
before his death, the branch of promise, but he had
not fully perceived its worth. It needed another cast

42 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

of mind, one born outside European environments
and the traditions of the wine -press, to discern the
fact that America was destined to give to the world a
new type of grape.

The Branch of Promise

We have seen that both in Kentucky and Indiana
one or two varieties of grapes had escaped the sickness,
and had given fairly good returns. The varieties
which are mentioned as successful are the Burgundy,
Madeira and Cape. We have no knowledge of what
these Burgundy and Madeira grapes were, but they
were probably not of European origin. It is prob-
able that they were offshoots of some native grape
which had somewhere been impressed into cultivation.
They seem to have attracted little attention, how-
ever, and were soon lost, so that their history need
not be pursued farther.

But the Cape grape persisted, and eventually
became the leading grape at Vevay. Airne Mere rod
remembers it, and still wonders what its origin may
have been. It has turned out that this grape was the
beginning of successful American grape culture, and
we must inquire into its history. Dufour obtained the
variety from Legaux, at Philadelphia. Legaux "certi-
fied having received them from the Cape of Good
Hope," as Dufour says, and Dufour and his compan-
ions called it the Cape grape. In M'Mahon's account,
in 1806, of some of the vines "under trial at the
Spring Hill Vineyard," however, there is no variety
which answers to this. It is evident that Legaux's
company placed little estimation upon this grape; and

THE CAPE GRAPE 43

when the imported varieties failed, the project was
apparently abandoned.

This Cape grape appears to have been really an
offshoot of the wild fox -grape, or Vitis Labrusca,
and it is, therefore, the forerunner of the varieties
which we now cultivate everywhere in our vineyards.
It was also known as the Schuylkill Muscadel and
Clifton's Constantia. These names are kept distinct
by Adlum, the earliest writer upon the native grape,
who declared that it was the Constantia which was
grown by Mr. Legaux, and which was "foisted on the
public as the Cape of Good Hope grape." The Con-
stantia came up in William Clifton's garden, in Phil-
adelphia, "by chance, * * * as it never was
planted or sown by him, or any of his family." The
Muscadel type "was found growing near Schuylkill
River, by a Mr. Alexander, the gardener to one of the
Mr. Penns, while Governor of Pennsylvania, before
the American Revolution." Johnson, in 1806, fol-
lowing the opinions of Legaux, speaks of the Con-
stantia as coming from the Cape of Good Hope,
and of the Alexander as a grape "found in many
parts of the middle states, and most probably in the
northern if not in the southern." Whether the
Alexander and Constantia were really identical, as
modern writers affirm, will probably never be known;
but I strongly suspect that they represent two natu-
ral but very similar varieties. The Cape grape is
now known in the books under the name of Alex-
ander.*

*It is strange, however, that a specimen in the herbarium of the Phila.
Acad. Nat. Sci. labeled "Trasker's or Alexander grape," and said to have
been collected by Nuttall, is Vitis cinereai but the labels must have been
shifted in the progress of time.

44 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

It had been declared in Dufour's time that the
Cape grape was really an offshoot of the wild grape
of the Atlantic slope, but Dufour was so strongly
prejudiced against the native grapes that he would
never admit such an origin, although he was ready
to admit the good qualities of the variety. "The Cape
grape," he says, "has been slandered and cryed down
to a mere wild grape. It is true, that it is a very
coarse grape, unfit for table use, for those who have
eaten the best sort in Europe, or who can get a
better one. It has a very thick skin and pulp, but
the juice is very sweet when perfectly ripe and has
the taste of the strawberry, which gives a fine per-
fume to the wine; such as made the President Jeffer-
son say, that there was no other such tasted wine
within his knowledge in the world." This "fine per-
fume," which in Dufour's judgment disproved any
plebeian American origin, is the very "foxiness" which
all modern grape -growers associate with the native
grapes, and which they are seeking to breed out of
them.

But while Dufour was determined to "try to save
the character of our Cape grapes from being made
merely wild grapes," he was nevertheless convinced
that it was "a very precious plant to the United
States." Dufour had the privilege of appearing
before Mr. Legaux's association in Philadelphia in
1806, and of explaining to the "very numerous" mem-
bers the partial success of the grape projects in the
West, although it was from the Legaux vineyard itself
that the westerners had obtained their plants. "I briefly
answered," he says, "that all the mystery of our suc-
cess consisted in nursing only the vines that were

DUFOUR'S RETROSPECT 45

prosperous, no matter how good or how bad their
fruit was; for I was fully of the opinion, that no
other existing this side of the Atlantic, would ever
remunerate for the trouble of attendance; that the
Cape grape was the only one reared by the Swiss
settlers; that it was a hardy and thrifty plant, giving
regular if not large crops of grapes, equal to a
majority of the French vineyards; according to Chap-
tal's account — making a good wine inferior but to a
minority of the European wines, and that it rewarded
its. cultivator if industrious, as well as any other
American produce." It was of this variety that
Dufour made what he called his "subsequent and
prosperous plantation" on the Ohio, and it is presum-
ably the one with which the religious community of
the Harmonists, on the lower Wabash, in Indiana,
also made a successful venture in grape -growing.

Having had this successful experience upon the
Ohio, Dufour indulges in a retrospect of what might
have been the success of the Kentucky vineyard, if
his associates had not abandoned the enterprise when
he was in Europe: "Now let us see the difference,
if we had punctually followed the plan, and began
first by the collection of $8,000, and the purchase
of 5 families of negroes, for five thousand dollars, we
could then have had from 15 to 20 head, big and
small, I could certainly have procured by our joint
labor, enough to support us all, after the second year,
besides planting as many vines as we have done;
and although the first planting had failed, we would
surely, in 1809 or 1810, have at least 20 acres of
bearing vines of the Cape grapes, which, at the
average of 180 gallons per acre, as that is the pro-

46 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

duct on the Ohio, would give about 15 gallons per
share, besides paying what was coming to me. The
wine then fetched $2 per gallon, and the vineyard
would have been yearly increasing. By this time,
with only common good luck among the slaves, there
would be at least thirty able hands of both sexes,
besides a great many youngsters, with whom I could
tend 100 acres of vineyards, besides raising enough
for the support of all, at 180 gallons per acre, would
give 85 gallons per share, worth as many dollars
besides my reserve ; and the capital stock would be
worth about tenfold. Those who doubt the afore-
said calculation, have only to come and see our vine-
yards and vintage on the Ohio, and calculate for
themselves." Dufour writes in the tone of the advo-
cate. He is apologetic for the failures of the exper-
iments and exultant over the success with the Cape
grape; but he appears not to have caught the inspira-
tion that this very Cape grape was the beginning and
prophecy of a new type of fruit.

Wine was made from the Cape grape, although
the variety was not a wine grape ; that is, it would
not attract attention in the presence of successfully
grown European wine grapes. Adlum described it
in 1823 as "a deep purple approaching to black ; it
is recommended by some for the table ; it has a
pulp in it, is a great bearer, and makes a good
Wine." William Bartram, in 1804, in his account
of "American Grapes" in the "Medical Repository,"
speaks of the Alexander type as follows : " Before
they are quite ripe, some think they possess a little
of the stingy flavour of the fox -grape, but my taste
never could discover it. It has been supposed to be

LONGWORTH ON THE CAPE GRAPE 47

a hybrid between Vitis sylvestris (common bunch
grape) and Vitis vinifera, because it was found
on the rocky hills near the Schuylkill, above the
upper ferry, in the neighborhood of an old vine-
yard of European grapes: but I believe it to be
an American." The variety was never widely dis-
seminated, and it is unknown to the present gene-
ration. It had nearly passed out of cultivation by
1850, and it was probably not planted to any ex-
tent for ten years before that time. It was driven
out by the Catawba, which was "almost the only
variety planted" in the Cincinnati grape region in
1850, according to Robert Buchanan ; and from
that time until now there has been a competition
and succession of varieties, — an indubitable proof
of progress or evolution.

It should be said, however, that the Cape grape
did not pass from cultivation wholly because of lack
of merit for wine, but partly because the wine was
too sour unless it was artificially sweetened. In
1845, Nicholas Longworth declared in his pamphlet
upon "The Cultivation of the Grape," that "the Cape
is generally free from rot, and bears and ripens well,
and makes a better wine than Isabella." In speak-
ing of the settlers at Vevay, he continues: "They
cultivated the Cape grape only (Schuylkill Musea-
del), and erred in the method of manufacture from
that grape. They fermented it on the skin, and
made from it a hard, rough, red wine, and seldom
fit for table use, and only calculated to make a fine
wine sangaree. The same grape, gathered before any
fermentation has taken place in the fruit, and pressed
as soon as gathered, with the addition of from 12 to

48 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

16 oz. of New Orleans sugar to the gallon, and
after the fermentation is complete, the addition of
as much brandy as is added to the Madeira wine,
and proper age given it, makes a wine, in color the
same as Madeira, and equal to the imported Madeira
of the second quality. We are abandoning the cul-
tivation of this grape on the Ohio, for wine. I deem
it still worthy of cultivation. We have been led to
the abandonment of it, from the opinion of our
German vine dressers and German wine drinkers,
who are opposed to sugar and brandy in the manu-
facture of wine."

Before leaving the Cape grape, let us take a
survey of the extent of vine -growing in this country
at the time that this variety began to be supplanted
by the Catawba. The only statistical account of the
vineyards of this time is that contained in Rafinesque's
curious "American Manual of the Grape Vines and
the Art of Making Wine," published in 1830. Ra-
finesque's writings are not generally held in high es-
teem, but there is no occasion to discredit his census of
American viticultural interests. "A capital mistake," he
says, "was the attempt to make Madeira wine in Amer-
ica, instead of American wine." He then proceeds:

"These and other causes have discouraged the at-
tempts of a vine company established on purpose in
Pennsylvania. Mr. Legaux, the manager, by his
deceptions in grapes, calling them by false names,
and his bad management, threw discredit on the
attempt. However, by calling our Bland and Alex-
ander grapes Madeira and Cape, he was instrumental
in diffusing them among those who would not have
noticed nor bought them if known as native vines.

RAFINESQUE'S INVENTORY 49

"Notwithstanding these difficulties, many patriotic
individuals have persisted in the endeavor to make
the United States a wine country, by establishing
nurseries and vineyards. Such were Major Adlum,
of Georgetown, and Mr. Dufour, of Vevay, who have
also both published works on the cultivation of vines.
Mr. Samuel Maurick, of South Carolina (the first
exporter of our cotton in 1784), who established a
large vineyard at Pendleton. Mr. Thomas Echel-
berger, of York, Penn., who has been instrumental
in establishing 20 vineyards near York.

"In 1825 I collected an account of our principal
vineyards and nurseries of vines. They were then
only 60 of 1 to 20 acres each, altogether 600 acres.
While now, in 1830, they amount to 200 of 3 to 40
acres, or nearly 5,000 acres of vineyards. Thus hav-
ing increased tenfold within 5 years, at which rate
they promise to become a permanent and increasing
cultivation.

"Wishing to preserve the names of the public
benefactors who had in 1825 established our first
vineyards, I herewith insert their names. They are
independent of the vineyards of York, Vevay, and
Vincennes.

"In New York, George Gibbs, Swift, Prince, Lansing,
Loubat, &c.

"In Pennsylvania, Ca'rr, James, Potter, J. Webb, Legaux,
Echelberger, E. Bonsall, Stoys, Lemoine, Rapp.

"In Delaware, Broorae, J. Gibbs, &c.

"In Maryland, Adlutn, W. Bernie, C. Varle, R. Sinclair, W.
Miles, &c.

"In Virginia, Lockhart, Zane, R. Weir, Noel, J. Browne, J.
Duling, &c.

"In Carolina, Habersham, Noisette, &c.

50 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

"In Georgia, Maurick, James Gardiner, S. Grimes, Checteau,
M'Call.

"In New Jersey, Cooper, at Camden. Another at Mount Holly.
wln Ohio, Gen. Harrison, Longworth, Dufour, &c.
"In Indiana, Rapp of Harmony, the French of Vincennes.
"In Alabama, Dr. S. Brown, and at Eagleville.

"The average crop of wine with us is 300 gallons
per acre. At York, where 2,700 vines are put on one
acre, each vine has often produced a quart of wine,
and thus 675 gallons per acre, value $675 in 1823,
besides $200 for 5,000 cuttings. One acre of vineyard
did then let for $200 or 300, thus value of the acre
about $5,000! This was in poor soil unfit for wheat,
and for mere Claret.

"Now in 1830, that common French Claret often
sells only at 50 cents the gallon, the income must
be less. I hope our clarets may, in time, be sold
for 25 cents the gallon, and table grapes at one
cent the lb., and even then an acre of vineyard will
give an income of $75, and be worth $1,000 the acre."*

John Adlum and the Catawba

The chief distinction of the Cape grape is the
fact that it was the variety which first introduced to
public notice a distinctively American type of viticul-
ture. It appears to have had little merit in point of
quality, notwithstanding Bartram's encomium of it. It
never attained to a wide planting. The first great

The reader can find an excellent account of American wines, with references
to early writers and experimenters, in Putman's Magazine, iv. 504, 611 (1854).
An extract from the article is published in Wells' "Year-Book of Agriculture" for
1855-6, p. 307. He may also consult an article on native grapes by D. M. Balch in
Proc. Essex. Inst. iv (1864).

JOHN ADLUM

American grape was the Ca-
tawba, and it is still one
of the four leading contem-
poraneous varieties of the
fox -grape type, the others
being Concord, Delaware,
and Niagara. This superb
grape, which leads all suc-
cessful northern varieties in
its wine -making qualities,
was brought to the atten-
tion of fruit-growers by
John Adlum, of the District
of Columbia, one of the most
ingenuous benefactors of our
agriculture. (See frontis-
piece.)

Adlum merits our atten-
tion in three respects, — for
his perception of the general
fact that American grape-
culture must be built upon
the improvement of our
native species ; for his at-
tempt to establish an experi-
ment station; and for the in-
troduction of the Catawba
grape. He began his experi-
ments towards the close of
last century. He planted a
vineyard on Rock Creek, in
the District of Columbia,
comprising both imported

52 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

and native varieties. He finally discarded the foreign
kinds. "It is unnecessary," he writes, "to seek for
more temperate latitudes for the cultivation of the
vine. The way is to drop most kinds of foreign
vines at once (except a few for the table), and
seek for the best kinds of our largest native Grapes,
and if properly managed there can be no doubt
but we can make as much Wine, if not more, than
any part of the world, on the same space of ground,
as far north as the 43d degree, if not further north,
and of good quality." In 1823, he published, in
Washington, the first indigenous book upon grape
culture ; and Rafinesque further commemorated him
by giving the name Adlumia to the beautiful Alle-
gheny Vine, or Smoke Vine, of our northern woods
(Fig. 10). A second edition of the book, made
exotic by the addition of much pretentious foreign
writing, appeared in 1828.

The effort of Adlum to establish "an experimental
farm" is one of the earliest attempts of the kind on
record in this country, and it should have proper
credit, now that the experiment station movement is
so thoroughly established. He despaired that, "from
the progress of improvement, and the rapid increase
of population," the native grapes were rapidly dimin-
ishing, so that they seem to be in danger of extinc-
tion. "It was to prevent this evil, (as far as I could
be instrumental in preventing it,) that I wished to
obtain of the President of the United States, a few
years ago, a lease of a portion of the public ground
in the City for the purpose of forming a Vineyard,
and of cultivating an experimental farm. It was my
intention, had I been successful, to procure cuttings

JOHN ADLUM 53

of the different species of the native Vine, to be found
in the United States, to ascertain their growth, soil
and produce, and to exhibit to the Nation, a new
source of wealth, which had been too long neglected.
My application was, however, rejected, and I have been
obliged to prosecute the undertaking myself, without
assistance and without patronage, and this I have
done to the full extent of my very limited means. A
desire to be useful to my countrymen, has animated
all my efforts and given a stimulus to all my exer-
tions. * : As I am advancing in years, and
know not when I may be called hence, I am solicitious
that the information I have acquired shall not die
with me." Poor Adlum! It is a pathetic story of a
man struggling on in advance of his time, supported
only by the confidence that his labors would some
day come to a full fruition. Let us twine a wreath
of the fragile Adlumia, and renew his memory when
every returning vintage grows purple in the autumn
sun!

Adlum's third claim to our remembrance, and the
one of particular importance in the present inquiry,
is the introduction of the Catawba grape, which marks
the second epoch in American grape -growing. It
seems that a Mrs. Scholl, who kept a public house
at Clarksburg, Montgomery county, Maryland, had
a grape vine of much renown which Adlum pruned
in February, 1819, "for the sake of the cuttings."
"A German Priest, who saw Mrs. Scholl's Vine in
full bearing and when ripe, pronounced them the true
Tokay, and said he saw the same kind growing in
Tokay, in Hungary." From this circumstance, Adlum
called the grape the Tokay, and apparently made no

54 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

inquiry, at the time, into its origin. The variety must
have been somewhat distributed at this time, for
Adlum says that it was also grown by J. Johnston,
near Frederickton, Maryland. Adlum sent cuttings
of this grape to various persons, one of whom, Nicho-
las Longworth, of Cincinnati, because of this aid,
became the third genius of American grape -growing.

In the first edition of his book, Adlum called this
grape the Tokay. "Where I got cuttings of this
Grape," he writes, "they were of a beautiful lilack
colour, and a delicate taste for the table ; with me
they are much higher coloured than they were at the
places I got them from, and have somewhat of a
musky taste, tolerable for the table. They are very
great bearers, and make an excellent Wine." In the
second edition, 1828, he calls it Catawba, and says:
"This I look upon as one of the best wine grapes
in the United States ; and I say the very best. It is
a very tolerable table grape. Those that ripen in the
sun, are of a deep purple color ; where they are
partially shaded, they are of a lilac color ; and where
they ripen wholly in the shade, and are perfectly ripe,
they are white, rich, sweet and vinous. When they
are colored, they have somewhat of a musky taste, re-
sembling the Frontignac. They are very great and
certain bearers — and it will produce a greater variety
of good wines than any other known grape — from
Tokay and Champaign, down to Sauterne."

The genesis of the Catawba grape has always
been a subject of much speculation. The vinous
quality of the fruit and the amenability of the foliage
to mildew, suggest hybridity with the European vine,
although the botanical characters of the variety are

ORIGIN OP THE CATAWBA 55

clearly those of the wild fox-grape, Vitis Labrusca . The
Oatawba was found wild in the woods of Buncombe
County, in extreme western North Carolina, by one
Murray, who emigrated to that country from Pennsyl-
vania about 1801, settling on the Kentucky and Warm
Spring trail. The farm and neighborhood was called
Murraysville, and it lies ten miles southeast of the
present Asheville. The grapes were found upon this
farm in 1802, growing wild in great profusion. An-
other variety was also found, bearing very long,
crowded clusters of dark purple grapes, but the fruit
was not so good as that of the variety whose history
we are tracing. This better variety had open clusters
of reddish grapes, — features which the grape -grower
will recognize as characteristic of the Catawba. When
the forest was removed, the grapes became larger and
better. The following year, 1803, there came to Mur-
raysville commissioners to settle the disputed boun-
daries of North Carolina and Georgia, and these per-
sons tasted of the grapes and pronounced them good.
Quakers from Newberry District, South Carolina,
passed through the place in 1805 on their way to
Ohio, and they took some of these grapes with them,
but nothing is known of any offspring of these fruits
which may have originated with the emigrants. In
1807, General Davy, United States Senator, a resi-
dent of Rocky Mount, on the Catawba River, trans-
planted some of the vines to his own place ; and
some time between 1807 and 1816 he took cuttings
or vines to Washington and distributed them amongst
friends in Maryland as the Catawba Grape. Mrs.
Scholl probably obtained her vines of him or of his
friends, and from her Adlum secured his cuttings.

56 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

As late as 1821, Dr. Solomon Beach, of southern
Ohio, found these grapes still growing wild at Mur-
ray sville. The country abounded in grapes, but Mrs.
Murray pointed out one vine of great excellence,
which grew over a small oak tree in sight from the
door. This particular vine bore profusely a fruit of
"a reddish color, with a purple, dusky appearance;
the taste sweet and pleasant, with a peculiar, agree-
able flavor." This vine is evidently the one from
which the variety was propagated. The region in
which this grape was found is on the summit of the
Black Ridge, in a thinly timbered region with poor
and loose, gravelly soil.

The conditions of the finding of the Catawba
seem to leave no doubt, therefore, that the variety
is a pure native, uncontaminated by hybrid! ty with
European varieties. It is, of course, conceivable that
a bird may have dropped a seed which it got in a
garden, but the presumption is against it. Dufour
was so loth to believe that native grapes could have
merit for the cultivator that he was inclined to explain
the origin of promising varieties in the wild by sup-
posing that birds .had taken the seeds there. "A
blackbird or a wood -picker, eating a berry of the
Sweetwater, in a garden at New York, or one of the
Cape grapes at Spring -mill, may travel," he writes,
"hundreds of miles before he sows the seed of it; and
we may naturally foresee, that the number of wild
grapes having some similarity to the European sorts,
must increase gradually." But all the records agree
in saying that there were several or even many sorts
of wild grapes growing in the vicinity of Murraysville,
and a number of them were of good quality. It

ADLUM'S VINEYARD 57

would be violence to suppose that all of them were
accidental hybrids with European types which were
unknown to the region ; and there is no more reason
to suppose that the Catawba, alone, was a hybrid than
to suppose that all the rest of them had a similar im-
pure origin. Moreover, we know that the wild Vitis
L'llrusca is capable of producing very many curious
and wide variations in its fruit. We must conclude,
therefore, with the great majority of botanists and
intelligent grape -growers, that the Catawba grape is a
pure native. A reigning wild form of this fox -grape
is shown in Fig. 11.

An anonymous correspondent of the "New England
Farmer," in March, 1824, — evidently a member of the
House of Representatives — gives the following account
of Adlum's vineyard: "A friend and myself, before the
meeting of the House this morning, rode to the Vineyard
of Mr. Adlum, at Georgetown, three or four miles from
this city, for the purpose of obtaining a bundle of slips
to be forwarded to the N. York Horticultural Society,
and by them disposed of as may be deemed proper.
Unfortunately my purpose was defeated to-day by the
accidental absence of the proprietor. We however had
the pleasure of surveying Mr. Adlum's grounds, and of
observing his mode of cultivating the vine. His vine-
yard is in a sequestered and lonely situation, surrounded
by hills and woods, on the banks of Rock Creek, a
small branch of the Potomack. It is planted on a steep
declivity, looking to the south, and covering several
acres. The soil is a light loam, stony and moist, the
growth about it being chiefly white oak. At the lower
verge, passes a small brook planted with willows, from
which a black vine -dresser was very busy in plucking

ADLUM 's VINEYARD 59

twigs, to be used in tying up the tendrils, instead of
strings, which check the circulation and impede the
growth. The vine is planted in rows, ranged one above
another along the slope, so as to catch all the moisture
that falls, and the better to retain the artificial irriga-
tion. Between the rows, which are at about twice the
distance of Indian corn, there is sufficient space for
using the plough, to keep the ground light and free from
weeds. The soil is also enriched by common barn -yard
manure.

"There are several distinct departments in the
grounds, set apart for the cultivation of numerous
varieties of the vine. Mr. Adlum has in all twenty or
thirty different kinds, among which are the following:
Hulin's Orwigsburgh grape, Eland's Madeira, Clifton's
Coustantia, Tokay, Schuylkill Muscadel, Worthington
grape, Carolina purple Muscadine, Red juice, large fox
grape, Malmsey, purple Front inac, Royal Muscadine,
black Hamburgh, black cluster, Syrian, Clapiers, Miller
Bergundy, and white sweet water.

"Mrs. Adlum received us with much politeness, and
treated us with a glass of two kinds of Tokay wine of
an excellent quality. It is found upon the tables of the
Secretaries, and other citizens of Washington, not less
on account of its intrinsic excellence, than from a wish
to encourage the growth of the vine, and the cause of
domestic manufactures."

Major Adlum occupies such a commanding place in
our horticultural evolution that the reader will be glad
of a sketch of his personal history. Unfortunately, his
works have not attracted the attention of biographers
and historians ; and it is with more than common
pleasure that I am able, through the aid of his grand-

60 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

daughter, Mrs. J. W. Henry, of Washington, to draw a
rapid picture of the man. John Adlum was the son of
Joseph and Catherine Adlum, and was born in York,
Pennsylvania, April 29, 1759. At the age of 54, he
married his cousin, Miss Margaret Adlum, daughter of
John Adlum, of Fredericktown, Md. They had two
children, Margaret C., afterwards Mrs. Cornelius Barber,
of Washington, D. C., and Anna Maria, afterwards
Mrs. H. Dent. They lived several years near Havre
de Grace, when Mr. Adlum moved to Montgomery
county, Md., where he lived for a few years. His last
change of residence was to "The Vineyard," two miles
from Georgetown, D. C., where he died March 1, 1836.
It was at " The Vineyard" that he first began the culti-
vation of grapes. He was a soldier in the Revolution, a
major in the Provisional Army during the administration
of the elder Adams, and afterwards a brigadier -general
in the militia of Pennsylvania. It is said of him, that,
"as a scientific agriculturist, he had few superiors. He
devoted almost the whole of his life to the acquisition
and diffusion of useful information." "In early life he
was a great friend of Dr. Joseph Priestly, of Northum-
berland, and the knowledge he acquired of chemical
science from that learned philosopher he applied with
signal success to various agricultural operations." His
wife died at the residence of their daughter, Mrs.
Barber, July 16, 1852, at the age of 86. Major Adlum
was also a surveyor, and in 1789 he was directed by
Surveyor General Lukens to survey the reserved tracts
of land at Presque Isle (Erie), Le Boeuf, etc. The
same year he was appointed by the government, on
the recommendation of William Maclay, Benjamin
Rush, Professor Nicholson, and Colonel Thomas Hart-

JOHN ADLUM 61

ley, a commissioner for examining the navigation of
the Susquehanna River, and subsequently, with Ben-
jamin Rittenhouse, to examine the Schuylkill River.
On the 27th of June, 1791, he wrote to Governor Mif-
flin that he was at New Town with Colonel Timothy
Pickering to meet the Oneida and Onondaga Indians.
They were on their way to Painted Post, where the
meeting was to be held. In August of the same year,
he wrote a long letter from Fort Franklin, where he
met Cornplanter and other chiefs on public business.
He at one time lived at Muncy, and assisted in making
an early map of Pennsylvania. On the 14th of April,
1795, he was appointed by Governor Mifflin one of the
first associate judges of Lycoming county, and resigned
February 16, 1798, on account of contemplated change
of residence.

Major Adlum has been described as being a tall, stout,
muscular man, and very active in his movements. He
had blue eyes, light hair, a florid complexion, and a
smooth -shaven face. He was very benevolent, and
loved to aid the needy and unfortunate. The frontis-
piece portrait is reduced from an oil painting by Peel.

The Rise of Commercial Viticulture

Nicholas Longworth, at Cincinnati, received cuttings
of the Catawba from Adlum in 1825, and thereupon the
second era of viticulture, west of the Alleghenies, began.
The first attempt, at Vevay, New Harmony, Vincennes,
and other places, was beginning to feel insecure. A
better variety than the Cape grape, and a surer one
than the European kinds, was wanted. The Catawba
seemed to answer the demand. Longworth, who had
come from New Jersey, was the disseminator and pro-

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

motor of the new light. He was a man of strong per-
sonality and great enterprise, and he threw himself full
length into the new grape -growing. He was farmer and

Fig. 12. Nicholas Longworth at 74 years.

banker, and died possessed of great wealth. His grape-
growing and wine - making were eminently successful for
many years. In 1850, he wrote that the Catawba "will
be worth millions of dollars to the United States, and I
doubt not that grapes of equal value are yet to be found.
* * * If the wild hills of California be as rich in

GRAPES AT CINCINNATI 63

grapes as in gold dust, Jerseyrnau though I am, I shall
be more gratified to receive a grape cutting than the
largest lump of gold that region has ever produced."
In 1841, he sent a few bottles of wine, made in his own
vineyards, to London "for distribution among the Eng-
lish horticulturists." This wine was two years old, and
was made of "the pure juice of an American grape."
At that time, Mr. Longworth had forty acres in grapes,
and he cultivated "American grapes only, with one
exception, and that was sent, me as a native."

This vine-growing spread until, in 1859, Cist declares
that "the number of acres in vineyard culture within
twenty miles around Cincinnati, is now estimated at two
thousand. An average yield for a series of years, is
supposed to be two hundred gallons to the acre, which
is about the average for France and Germany." Long-
worth wrote, in 1849, that "our vineyards may have
produced 800, and possibly 1,000 gallons on an acre,
but 110 vineyard has averaged 300 gallons for ten years."
The wine was worth, at the press, from one dollar to a
dollar and twenty -five cents a gallon, and twenty -five
cents a gallon more when secured at the cellars of the
vintners. The same authority, Cist, in "Cincinnati in
1859," speaks of the rise of grape -planting in Tennes-
see, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, and says that
"for the last three or four years past, the sales of
grape roots and cuttings in Cincinnati, for the South
and Southwest, have averaged about two hundred
thousand roots and four hundred thousand cuttings
annually, and principally of the Catawba grape."

Longworth is called by E. J. Hooper "the father of
American grape culture." Robert Buchanan writes, in
1850, that "to Mr. Longworth, more than to any other

64 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

man in the West, we are most indebted for our knowledge
in grape culture. Mr. Longworth has, within the last
twenty-seven years, with unwearied zeal and a liberal
expenditure of money, in numerous experiments with
foreign and native grapes, succeeded in enabling himself
and others to present to the public a sparkling Catawba,
rivaling the best French Champagne, and a dry wine
from the same grape, that compares favorably with the
celebrated Hock wine of the Rhine."

But Longworth was also an early and ardent advo-
cate of the cultivation of the strawberry, and wrote
the first American treatise upon that fruit, before 1850,
when Cincinnati, in the language of Robert Buchanan,
had become "famous for her fine sugar- cured hams,
sparkling Catawba wines, and a cheap and abundant
strawberry market." Longworth was "the chief dis-
seminator of that most important fact, the sexual
character of the strawbeny," as Hooper puts it ; by
which it is meant that he expounded the fact that the
flowers of some varieties of strawberries lack stamens,
and that stamen -bearing varieties must be planted
with them to insure fertilization. This fact had been
observed long before his time. Dufour, for example,
had taken note of it. But it remained for Longworth
to fully expound it to the horticulturist.

Longworth was born in Newark, New Jersey, in
1783 ; he died in Cincinnati, where he had lived for
about sixty years, in 1863. The Bishop of Cincinnati,
J. B. Purcell, wrote in 1841 of Mr. Longworth "from,
long and intimate acquaintance" as "one of the wealth-
iest, most intelligent, and enterprising citizens of Cin-
cinnati." The editor of the "Horticulturist," upon the
occasion of Mr. Longworth's death in 1863, wrote:

HORTICULTURE AT CINCINNATI 65

"He did more to encourage grape culture than any
other man of his day, and he was the first to make
for market a good American wine. His vineyards,
including those of his tenants, were of vast extent.
When the history of grape culture in the United States '
shall be written, the labors of Nicholas Longworth will
form an important part of it."

Under the stimulus of this rapidly enlarging grape
interest, gardening pursuits became prominent about
Cincinnati, and there had developed, by 1850, a center
of horticultural influence which eclipsed, in the charac-
ter of its men and the variety of its interests, any simi-
lar community which has ever arisen in the West. A
notable company of horticultural authors spread this
influence far and wide. At the head and front of this
companj' of writers were Longworth and John A.
Warder; and they were closely seconded by Robert
Buchanan, E. J. Hooper, F. R. Elliott, G. M. Kern,
Thomas Affleck, Adolph Strauch, Charles Reemelin,
and Edward Sayers, the last having removed from
New England after his career as an author was estab-
lished. With these names should be associated those
of many enterprising vineyardists, especially Mottier,
S. Mosher, L. Rehfuss, Werk, Bogen, J. A. Corneau,
John Williamson, T. H. Yeatman.

Grape -growing was now — before the middle of the
century — attracting attention in many parts of the
country, and other varieties than the Catawba were
concerned in its spread. While Adlum was giving
his attention to the Catawba, another grape, supposed
to be a native of Dorchester, South Carolina, was
gaining favor in the North. This had been taken
North probably as early as 1816. It was introduced

66 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

into New York by Mrs. Isabella Gibbs, of Brooklyn,
from whom it passed to William Robert Prince, and
for whom he named it the Isabella. This was the
third great American grape in point of historical im-
portance, and it is another offshoot of the southern
type of the wild fox -grape, Vitis Ldbrusca. "It is a
dark purple fruit, of a large size, oval form, and juicy,
and equals some of the secondary European grapes,"
wrote Prince in 1830; "and for vigour of growth, and
an abundant yield, exceeds any other yet cultivated in
this country, and requires no protection during the
winter season." It was thought to be a hardier grape
than the Catawba, and to ripen earlier in the fall, and
for these reasons it obtained great favor in the north-
ernmost states, and occasional vines of it may still be
seen about old establishments. It should be said,
before leaving the Isabella, that fifty years ago its
American birth was strongly disputed, and the most
direct evidence was adduced to show that it is a Span-
ish grape. Bernard Laspeyre, a noted grape grower
near Wilmington, North Carolina, states that he dis-
covered the grape in the garden of another French-
man at Charleston, South Carolina, and that this man
had himself brought it from Spain. This history is
fully set forth in Spooner's "Cultivation of American
Grape Vines," in 1846, in the second volume of the
"Western Horticultural Review," 1852, and in other
early writings. While the records seem to be ex-
plicit, the botanical characters of the Isabella are so
clearly those of the native fox -grape that all writers
now agree that it is American, or at most only a
dilute hybrid with the European type. There must
have been some error in Laspeyre 's history; or it is

SPREAD OF GRAPE -GROWING 67

possible that his grape was really not the Isabella,
but a closely similar variety.

Progressive horticulturists were now fully con-
vinced of the importance of the native grapes. At-
tempts to grow the European varieties in the open
air were still made here and there, but there were no
longer any sustained or concerted efforts to introduce
them, and everyone began to feel that the hope for
American grape-culture lies in the amelioration of the
native species. Various persons made definite attempts
to secure promising wild forms of grapes. Prince de-
scribed eighty -one native grapes in his "Treatise on
the Vine," in 1830. Even Johnson, in 1806, while
recommending chiefly the European grapes, says that
"the sorts of vines are too numerous to mention, even
if confined to the American alone;" but he evidently
had in mind the wild forms rather more than those
which had been brought into cultivation. As early as
1820 or 1821, Mr. Herbemont, of South Carolina, had
sent out a circular requesting cuttings of native grapes.
(See page 78.) Longworth made a similar request in
the Cincinnati Gazette in 1848 or 1849, and twenty -
four varieties were sent him in the spring of 1849.
From 1840 on, the annual crops of novel varieties
have afforded a continuous fund of inspiration to
those with grape-growing proclivities; but by far the
greater part of the novelties have fallen by the way,
and are now forgotten. No doubt, there have been
two thousand or three thousand varieties, more or less,
disseminated in the last fifty or sixty years, most of
which are offspring of our native species.

About 1830, grapes were planted at Hammonds-
port, at the southern extremity of Keuka Lake, in

68 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

western New York, and this proved to be the begin-
ning of the famous New York vineyard interest, which,
as practiced about the central lakes, is to this day the
most important Catawba- growing region in the land.
About that time, Rev. William Bostwick planted vines
of Catawba and Isabella, and he raised excellent
grapes. About 1843, William Hastings planted vines
of the same varieties in his garden, and was also suc-
cessful. The first regular vineyard in the region was
one of about two acres of Catawbas and Isabellas,
planted in the town of Pulteney in 1853. But as early
as 1846, grapes were shipped from this Keuka Lake
region to New York. A shipment of two hundred to
three hundred pounds, according to George O. Snow,
shipped on the Erie Canal, broke the New York city
market. In 1890, the same region shipped, exclusive
of the amount used for wine, about twenty thousand
tons of grapes.

Grape -growing began in the lower Hudson River
Valley about the same time as about Keuka Lake.
One of the earliest vineyards was planted in 1845, of
Isabella vines, in Ulster county, by William T. Cornell.
Another early planter was William Kniffin, a neighbor
of Cornell, the originator of the now famous Kniffin
system of training. The evolution of grape training
has shown the same transformation as that of the
grapes themselves. The early methods were essentially
or exactly those used in Europe, but with the gradual
aggrandizement of the native species, distinctively
native systems of training arose. The interest in
grapes was soon widespread, having been disseminated
from many early small centers from New England and
New York to Missouri and the Southern states.

IN MISSOURI 69

An important grape center early sprung up in
Gasconade county, eastern Missouri, a locality which
later became conspicuous because of the labors of
George Husmann and Jacob Rommel. The former
settled at Hermann, and the latter at Morrison. The
first cultivated grape to fruit at Hermann, according
to Husmann, was an Isabella, which was planted by
Mr. Fugger, and which bore in 1845. The first wine
was made in 1846. The Catawba was introduced, and
first bore in 1848. This variety awakened great in-
terest, but it soon succumbed to disease, and its place
was taken by Norton's Virginia, of which we have yet
to speak (page 78). Husmann early gave his attention
to writing, and has produced "The Cultivation of the
Native Grape, and Manufacture of American Wines"
(1866), which, in its modern and enlarged form (1880),
is known as "American Grape Growing and Wine
Making." He also established and edited the "Grape
Culturist" (1869-1871), which was the first American
journal to devote itself exclusively to a single type of
plant. Since Adlum, no writer of books has so clearly
and forcibly emphasized the importance of the native
grapes as Husmann. . Jacob Rommel gave his atten-
tion to the breeding of varieties, using a new stock—
the river -bank grape (Vitis vulpina, or V. riparia) —
as the parent of crosses. Some of his results are
Elvira, Transparent, Faith, Etta, Montefiore, and the
like.

It is not our purpose to follow this history further,
except to note the introduction of a few remaining novel
types of varieties.

In 1843, a new grape was exhibited before the Mas-
sachusetts Horticultural Society, in Boston, by Mrs.

70 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Diana Crehore, of Milton, Massachusetts. It was a
seedling of the Catawba, with round pale red or amber
berries. It was named the Diana, in honor of the origi-
nator. This grape soon attracted wide attention, and it
was the precursor of a constantly widening stream of
ameliorated seedlings of known parentage. The novi-
tiate stage of our grape culture, — the introduction of
grapes from the wild, — now came rapidly to a close, and
the epoch of definite attempt at the breeding of varie-
ties came on. Some of our native fruits, notably the
cranberry and dewberry, are yet in this initiate stage,
in which the new varieties are still such as are picked
up in wild areas rather than in gardens.

The next great event in the evolution of American
grapes was the making of hybrids with the European
vine. The first authentic hybrid vine was exhibited
before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1854,
by John Fisk Allen, author of "A Practical Treatise on
the Culture and Treatment of the Grape Vine." It was
a hybrid between the Golden Chasselas and Isabella.
About this time E. S. Rogers, of Roxbury, Massachu-
setts, began those remarkable experiments in hybridiza-
tion which have given us so many excellent varieties.
Rogers obtained his first fruits in 1856. J. H. Ricketts,
a bookbinder of Newburgh, New York, George Has-
kell, lawyer, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Jacob Rommel
and Hermann Jaeger, of Missouri, Jacob Moore, of New
York, and T. V. Munson, of Texas, have greatly extended
our knowledge of the possibilities of crossing amongst
the grapes. But the primary hybrids of the American
and European species have never made a great impres-
sion upon commercial grape -culture, although many of
them are much prized for their high quality in the home

THE DELAWARE GRAPE 71

garden. What they gain in quality they are apt to lose
in amenability to mildew and phylloxera, in lack of
robustness, or in infertility of the bloom. The sec-
ondary or attenuated hybrids, however, — those born of
hybrids, or of a hybrid with some other variety, — give
more promise; and of these there are striking examples
in Jacob Moore's Brighton and Diamond, and in some
of Munson's recent productions. There is promise of
much advantage to be gained by the gradual admix-
ture of dilute blood of foreign grapes into our own
improved types, but the results are quite as likely to
come from accidental admixtures as from intending
ones, for most plant -breeders are looking for bold and
emphatic results.

All this is well illustrated in the Delaware, which
enjoys the distinction of being the only one of the four
great American grapes which gives any very strong evi-
dence of foreign blood. This has an obscure history,
and the parents, whatever they may be, are so nicely
blended in it that they cannot be positively distinguished.
It was found in a New Jersey garden about 1850. The
owner of the garden, Paul H. Provost, had come from
Switzerland, and had brought grape-vines with him.
This nondescript vine was at first thought to be an
Italian grape, then it was thought to be the Red Trami-
ner of the Old World. Some thought it a seedling from
one of the European varieties. But at the present time,
most authorities consider it to be a hybrid, perhaps the
greater number of them thinking it a cross between some
fox -grape and the European vine, and others, like Mun-
son, regarding it as a combination of the fox -grape and
the southern wine -grape. It is one of those fortuitous
riddles which nature now and then produces, the genesis

72 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

of which, if known and well considered, might afford
new light to the intending breeder of plants.

The next great event in the evolution of the Ameri-
can grape, — and in respect to its commercial importance,
the greatest event of all, — was the introduction of a
meritorious variety of the northern fox -grape type.
This variety is the Concord. It was introduced early
in the fifties. The earliest record of it in the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society is in 1853: "E. W. Bull
exhibited his new seedling grape, which, under the name
of Concord, is now so generally cultivated throughout
the country." A year later, "the Concord was shown in
great perfection" before the same society. The first
fruit of this grape was obtained in 1849. The exact
origin, of it is obscure. Mr. Bull bought the house at
Concord, in which he lived until his death, in 1840.
That year, he relates, boys brought up from the river
some wild grapes, and scattered them about the place.
A seedling appeared, evidently the offspring of these
truant grapes. Mr. Bull tended it, and in 1843 he
obtained a bunch of grapes from it. He planted seeds
of this bunch, and a resulting plant fruited in 1849.
The fruit had such merit that all other seedlings were
destroyed. The new variety was named the Concord,
and although its quality is not the highest, and it was at
first disparaged on this account, it is now the dominant
grape in all eastern America, and it was the first variety
of sufficient hardiness, productiveness and immunity
from diseases to carry the culture of the vine into every
garden in the land. As an illustration of the extent to
which a particular variety or a custom may dominate the
industry of a region, we may cite the influence of the
Concord upon the people of Chautauqua county, New

EPHRIAM

BULL

73

York. The variety was introduced there about 1856,
by Lincoln Fay, and that region is to this day, with its
2(5. 000 acres of grapes, controlled by the Concord. In

Fig. 13. Ephriam W. Bull, at 83 years. Originator of the Concord grape.

the central lake region of New York, however, where
the grape interest began earlier and before the days of
the Concord, the Catawba is still the controlling variety,
and the wine interest is great.

Ephriam W. Bull, the originator of the Concord,
died September 27, 1895, in his ninetieth year, loved

THE CONCORD 75

of his neighbors and honored by every countryman who
grows or eats a grape. It is a pregnant type, and has
given rise to no less than fifty honorable seedlings,
which range in color from greenish white to purple-
black. It is the one most important type of American
grapes, and the really successful commercial viticulture
of the country dates from its dissemination ; and yet
this grape is a pure native fox -grape, and evidently
only twice removed from the wild vine. If such humble
parentage is capable of developing such an enormous
industry, what may we not expect for the future !

The Concord, as we have said, has given us a most
extensive and interesting progeny. Some of its off-
spring are Worden, Moore Early, Pocklington, Eaton
and Rockland. Of all the Concord seedlings, the most
famous is the Worden, which originated at Minetto,
Oswego county, New York, on the grounds of Schuyler
Worden, who, although over ninety years of age, still
takes the liveliest interest in the variety. The old
vine, about thirty-five years old at this writing (1898),
is still healthy and productive. The seed from which
it came was taken from an isolated Concord vine,
and the plant bore at four years from the seed. The
variety was named by J. A. Place, a prominent citizen
of Oswego and an acquaintance of Worden.

While all these types were developing from the
fox-grape, Vitis Labrnsca (Fig. 11), another native
grape of the North had given valuable offspring. This
is the river -bank grape, Vitis vulpina ( Vitis riparia of
the botanies) (Fig. 15). "In the year 1821," writes
W. C. Strong, in his "Culture of the Grape," "Hon.
Hugh White, then in the junior class in Hamilton
College, New York, planted a seedling vine in the

J?ig. 15. The river-bank grape. Fiji's vulpina (V. riparia).

THE CLINTON 77

grounds of Professor Noyes, on College Hill, which
still remains, and is the original Clinton, — a very
hardy, healthy, and productive grape, of the first class.
Bunches and berries small, black, with blue bloom;
brisk, juicy, quite acid, but improves by keeping until
February." The original Clinton vine is still stand-
ing, at Clinton, where it climbs over a great elm tree.
Rev. E. P. Powell, of Clinton, writes me that he has
known the vine for forty years, and that there can be
no mistake about the identity of it. He says: "It
is a seedling out of a handful sowed by advice of
Professor Noyes, — the greatest genius Hamilton College
ever had, — and he selected the best; and this was the
Clinton. Where the seed came from, I do not know."
At one time, this Clinton grape was widely dissemi-
nated for general vineyard culture, but it could not
contend with Concord, Diana, and hosts of other
rapidly appearing fox -grapes, and its use is now
almost wholly restricted to wine -making; but it intro-
duced a new type of grape — although some authorities
suppose it to be a hybrid between the river -bank and
fox -grapes — and one which was destined to play a
most important part, in a new role, in the years to
come (see page 92).

We have already seen (page 13) that the French
colonists of the southeastern Atlantic states early
made attempts to grow the European vine. These,
like all similar attempts in eastern America, had failed.
But out of the ruins there had come, early in the cen-
tury, several types of grapes of much value, all of
them possessing great merit for wine. Chief of these
are Le Noir and Herbemont. The latter is now widely
grown in the South, and it receives its name from

78 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Nicholas Herbemont, who was a public spirited grape-
grower of South Carolina in the early part of the
century (page 67). This grape had begun to attract
attention about Cincinnati as early as 1850, and in
1853 Nicholas Longworth strongly recommended it to
the members of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society.
Wine making was still the leading motive in Long-
worth's time, and he was attracted by the Herbe-
mont largely because of its merits for wine. "The
singularity of the wine is," he says, "that it has the
aroma and flavor of the Spanish Manzanilla, but su-
perior."

While the Herbemont was the leading grape in the
South, and was becoming established as far north as the
Ohio Valley, another epoch-making grape was coming
into notice in the middle South. This was the Norton's
Virginia. It was a wild grape, found by Dr. F. A.
Lemosq on Cedar Island, in James River, near Rich-
mond, Virginia, in 1835. It was recommended to public
favor as a wine grape by Dr. D. N. Norton, an enterpris-
ing horticulturist living near Richmond, and the variety
now bears his name. The grape early reached the Cin-
cinnati grape settlement, but it was first brought dis-
tinctly to the fore in the pioneer West (page 69). Hus-
mann, writing in 1865, details its introduction into
Missouri: "It was about this time [1850] that the
attention of some of our grape -growers was drawn to-
wards a small, insignificant looking grape, which had
been obtained by a Mr. Wiedersprecker from Mr. Hein-
richs, who had brought it from Cincinnati, and, almost
at the same time, by Dr. Kehr, who had brought it with
him from Virginia. The vine seemed a rough customer,
and its fruit very insignificant when compared with the

NORTON'S VIRGINIA 79

large bunch and berry of the Catawba, but we soon
observed that it kept its foliage bright and green when
that of the Catawba became sickly and dropped; and
also, that no rot or mildew damaged the fruit, when
that of the Catawba was nearly destroyed by it. A few
tried to propagate it by cuttings, but generally failed to
make it grow. They then resorted to grafting and lay-
ering, with much better success. After a few years a
few bottles of wine were made from it, and found to be
very good. But at this time it almost received its death-
blow, by a very unfavorable letter from Mr. Longworth,
who had been asked his opinion of it, and pronounced
it worthless. Of course, with the majority, the fiat of
Mr. Longworth, the father of American grape -culture,
was conclusive evidence, and they abandoned it. Not
all, however; a few persevered, among them Messrs.
Jacob Rommel, Poeschel, Langendoerfer, Grein and my-
self. We thought Mr. Longworth was human and
might be mistaken, and trusted as much to the evidence
of our senses as to his verdict, therefore increased it as
fast as we could, and the sequel proved that we were
right. After a few years more, wine was made from it
in larger quantities, found to be much better than the
first imperfect samples; and now that despised and con-
demned grape is the great variety for red wine, equal, if
not superior to the best Burgundy and Port; a wine of
which good judges, heavy importers of the best Euro-
pean wines too, will tell you that it has not its equal
among all the foreign red wines, which has already
saved the lives of thousands of suffering children, men,
and women, and, therefore, one of the greatest blessings
an all -merciful God has ever bestowed upon suffering
humanity. This despised grape is now the rage, and

80 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

500,000 of the plants could have been obtained. Need
I name it? It is the Norton's Virginia. Truly, 'great
oaks from little acorns grow ! ' and I boldly prophecy
to-day that the time is not far distant when thousands
upon thousands of our hillsides will be covered with its
luxuriant foliage, and its purple juice become one of
the exports to Europe, provided, always, that we do not
grow so fond of it as to drink it all. I think that this
is preeminently a Missouri grape. Here it seems to
have found the soil in which it nourishes best. I have
seen it in Ohio, but it does not look there as if it was
the same grape. And why should it? They drove it
from them and discarded it in its youth; we fostered it,
and do you not think, dear reader, there sometimes is
gratitude in plants as well as men? Other states may
plant it and succeed with it, too, to a certain extent,
but it will cling with the truest devotion to those lo-
calities where it was cared for in its youth."

In 1858, Husmann received from William Robert
Prince, the nurseryman of Flushing, Long Island,
another grape, the Cynthiana, which is so like the
Norton's Virginia as to be almost indistinguishable
from it. "This grape promises fair to become a dan-
gerous rival to Norton's Virginia," writes Husmann
in 1865. But the Norton was too firmly established
to be supplanted by the newcomer, although the two
varieties are usually mentioned together when one
speaks of wine making in the middle South. This
Cyuthiana is understood to have been picked up in the
wild in Arkansas.

Now, what are these southern wine -grapes, — Her-
bemont, Le Noir, Norton's Virginia, Cynthiana, and
all their kin? To what species do they belong? As

THE HERBEMONT TYPE 81

usual, opinions are divided. Practically all authors
are agreed that the Norton's Virginia and Cynthiana
tribe is a direct offshoot of the wild summer -grape
( Vitis cestivalis, Fig. 16) of the Middle states and the
South. The Herbemont and Le Noir have been held
by most writers to have been descended from the same
wild species, but our contemporaneous student of the
genus, T. V. Munson, derives them from an unrecog-
nized and undescribed European species. "The Her-
bemont as 'Brown French,' and Le Noir or Jacques
as 'Blue French,' he has traced," writes Munson of
his own studies, "back through the Bourquin family
of Savannah, Georgia, to their bringing to Georgia
in its early settlement over 150 years ago from South
France. ****** jn nonor of Gugie Bour-
quin, who so well assisted me to trace out the origin,
in this country, of Herbemont and Le Noir, I named
the group as a new species, Vitis Bourquiniana." With
all the uncertainties and gaps in the records and tra-
ditions of events pertaining to the cultivation of plants,
and with the constant intervention of seedlings and
new varieties, great dependence cannot be placed upon
the historical genealogy of the grape. The difficulty
is all the greater because the species of grapes are
themselves so variable and so like one another, that
errors can occur in the records almost before one's
eyes. The student must rely more upon the botanical
features of the plants than upon the histories of them.
For myself, while admitting that my facilities for the
study of the question have been less than those of
Munson, I am convinced that this Herbemont tribe is
an ameliorated form of the native summer- grape, Vitis
cestivalis. Some of the varieties may be hybrids of

Fig. 16. Summer grape. Vitis cestivalis. (From Munson.)

VITIS BOUBQUINIANA 8<J

Vitis cestivalis and the European wine -grape. It is
very likely that some of these varieties, perhaps even
the Herbemont itself, may have been brought from
Europe; but if full records had been made of the early
introductions of American plants into southern Europe
by the returning of the emigrant ships and by other
vessels, it is equally likely that we should find that
our native summer- grape had been sent to the Old
World. At all events, it is unassumable that a native
grape, distributed through the Mediterranean region,
could have escaped for centuries the critical search of
European botanists and the knowledge of hundreds of
generations of vignerons, to be discovered at last trans-
planted in the New World. This southern family of
wine- grapes is not further removed from Vitis cestivalis
than the Concord and some other common fox -grapes
are removed from Vitis Labrusca; and the botanical
features of the family seem to me to be distinctly those
of Vitis cestivalis. Mr. Munson has raised plants which
he considers to belong to his Vitis Bourquiniana from
seeds which he obtained from Spain; but the speci-
mens which I have seen of these plants seem to me
to be only forms of the European wine -grape, Vitis
vinifera*

Still another native grape must have a conspicuous
place in this history. It is the Scuppernoug, a direct
offspring of the curious Muscadine grape ( Vitis rotun-
<1 i folia, Fig. 17), of the South. It is said that the
Scuppernong was discovered on Roanoke Island, North
Carolina, by Sir Walter Raleigh's colony, and that the

The student of this southern type of crapes should consult the writings of
Engelmann and Munson. The best and most recent presentation of the char-
acteristics of the group by Munson is to be found in the "Texas Farm and
Ranch " for February 8, 1896.

84

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

original vine is still in existence. The Muscadine type
of grape differs from other species in having a tight,
non- shredding bark, unforked tendrils, a very long
growth of vine, very late bloom, and few -fruited clus-
ters of globular, thick-skinned, musky -tasted fruits.

Fig. 17. The native Muscadine gr

Vitis rotundifolia.

It grows wild from Maryland southwards, but it reaches
its greatest perfection south of Virginia. The fruits
are purple -black, except in the Scuppernong, which is
yellowish. This variety bears four to six large grapes
in a cluster, which fall to the ground as they ripen.
The Scuppernong has long been highly esteemed in the
South, for although the quality is far inferior to that of
the Catawba in the opinion of most persons, it makes
excellent wine, and it is a regular and abundant bearer;

THE SCUPPERNONG 85

and those who become accustomed to it are fond of its
sweet and perfumed berries. Sidney Weller, of Brink-
leyville, North Carolina, extolled the Scuppernong to the
Commissioner of Patents in 1853, as the "grape of
grapes" for the South. At the State Fair, at Raleigh,
he had " exhibited Scuppernoug grapes four inches in
circumference, unparalleled in size; and no mean judges
of wine, from different parts of the country, pronounced
my 'Scuppernong hock' the best of wine." Mr. Wel-
ler's plantation, which appears to have been composed
of Scuppernongs, is described as follows: "The re-
sult of my vineyard enterprise and industry therein,
is about a dozen acres of flourishing vines, mostly on
scaffolding, or as canopies, covering continuously with
branches (and when in bearing, with leaves and fruit)
overhead, from 8 to 10 feet high, and nothing is seen
between these canopies and the ground but main stems
of the vines, and the posts or rock pillars to support
the frame -work above. My annual yield of wine has
been as high as 60 barrels ; besides entertaining hun-
dreds of visitors at 25 cents each entrance, and 50
cents per gallon for select grapes gathered to carry
away. My vineyard is the largest, I learn, in the
South, and I am encouraged to enlarge it every year."

Dr. Peter Wylie, of North Carolina, is said to have
succeeded in securing hybrids of the Scuppernong with
other species, but they were lost. Of late years, T. V.
Munson has taken up the problem, and has several
hybrids between this species and the Herbemont type.
In 1868, J. Van Buren printed a small book upon "The
Scuppernong Grape," at Memphis.

In all this various history, we have seen that four
species of grapes have been chiefly concerned in the

86 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

evolution of the immense commercial viticulture of
Eastern America, and all these species are native to the
country. They are the fox -grape (Vitis Labrusca) , the
summer -grape (Vitis cestivalis) , the Muscadine (Vitis
rotundifolia ) , and the river-bank grape (Vitis vulpina) .
Other native species have been concerned in the creation
of our viticulture, and still others promise much to the
future experimenter ; but enough has now been said
to acquaint my reader with some of the salient features
of the rise of our common varieties of grapes. I shall
add to the chapter a list of our native species of
grapes, with some remarks respecting their economic
importance, and to that list and the catalogue of
books, the student who desires to explore the subject
is referred.

The grape -growing of eastern America has increased
enormously in recent years, largely under the stimulus
of the Concord. We have already had Rafinesque's
record of the vineyards of 1830 (page 49), and we have
had statistics of the acreage about Cincinnati (page
63) . In closing this part of our subject, we will find
it of interest to take a rapid sweep of the growth of
the industry. In 1852, Robert Buchanan made the
following survey of the vineyards "in the United
States" which were planted for wine -making purposes:
"The Ohio River is already called the 'Rhine of Amer-
ica,' and Cincinnati the center of the grape region in
this valley. Within twenty miles around the city, more
than 1,200 acres are planted in vineyards — at Ripley
and Maysville above, about 100 acres — at Vevay,
Charleston, and Louisville below, over 250 acres are in
vine culture; — making 1,550 acres for the Ohio Valley
alone, which is a low estimate.

EXTENT OF THE INDUSTRY 87

"At Hermann, Mo., about forty or fifty acres are in
vineyards; and in the vicinity of St. Louis, and some
other parts of the state, probably twenty or thirty acres
more; a few at Belleville, 111., and elsewhere in that
state. Near Reading, Pa., several vineyards are planted
and some excellent wines made. In North and South
Carolina, the Scuppernong wines have been made for
many years, but the number of acres in grape culture
is to the writer unknown. A few vinej^ards are in cul-
tivation in the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia —
and Burlington, New Jersey; but more with a view to
supply the market with grapes than to make wine.
Efforts have been made in the interior of Kentucky, in
Tennessee, in western New York, and on the southern
shore and islands of Lake Erie, to cultivate the vine
for making wine, but sufficient time has not yet elapsed
for a fair trial." The United States census returns for
1840 gave the wine crop as 124,734 gallons. In 1850
it was 221,249 gallons. The census of 1890 returns a
total grape acreage in the United States of 401,261
acres. Of this area, 213,230 acres were in California,
and are, therefore, outside our present discussion, for
the Pacific slope grows the Old World wine grapes, not
the ameliorated natives. Nearly 200,000 acres, then,
were devoted to native -grape culture and these yielded
9,655,905 gallons of wine and 225,636 tons of table
grapes. Western New York, — comprising the central
lakes, or Catawba districts, and the Chautauqua county
or Concord district— is the heaviest producer of any
like area. In 1890, New York state produced 2,528,250
gallons of wine and 60,687 tons of table grapes; and
these figures are closely seconded by Ohio and Missouri.
In 1894, the grape acreage of western New York was

88 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

estimated at 58,000 acres. These are astounding figures,
when one considers that a century ago profitable grape-
culture was impossible in the country, and that many
men now living have seen the introduction of most of
the varieties of grapes which are successfully grown;
and all the varieties have been bred directly or indi-
rectly from the unpromising vines which grow wild
in our own fields and woods.

Why Did the Early Vine Experiments Fail f

The reader has no doubt been curious to know,
from the outset, why the early attempts to grow the
European grape had resulted in such disastrous fail-
ure; and now that we are approaching the end of our
narrative, I shall proceed at once to gratify his curi-
osity. The failure was the result of an obscure sick-
ness which caused the leaves to die and drop, and the
grapes to rot. There was just enough indefiniteness
and speculation about these diseases to make the early
grape literature attractive, but in these impertinent
days, when we have dragged the whole panorama of
nature across the slide of a microscope, we have done
away with the mystery, and speak of these diseases
familiarly as the downy mildew and black -rot, — or,
to be exact, as Peronospora viticola and Lcestadia
Bidwellii. If these Latin epithets had been in-
vented in the days of Dufour and his contemporaries,
imagination would have been squelched, and all the
naive and delightful writing about the behavior of the
electric fluid, the strange influences of the different
soils, the vagaries of the seasons, the curious effects of

THE GRAPE DISEASES 89

modes of propagation, and the like, would have been
lost to future generations!

Some of the failure was also due to the root -louse
or phylloxera, but it was probably chiefly the result
of the incursions of the fungous disorders mentioned
in the last paragraph. The singular thing about
all these troubles is that they are native Americans.
From time unknown, they have preyed upon the native
grapes; but they were not serious upon these natives,
because all the most amenable types of grapes had long
since perished in the struggle for existence, and the
types which now persist are necessarily those which
are, in their very make-up or constitution, almost im-
mune from injury, or are least liable to attack. The
mildew, for example, finds little to encourage it in the
tough and woolly leaf of the fox -grape, and the phyl-
loxera finds tough rations on the hard, cord -like roots
of any of our eastern species of grapes. But an un-
naturalized and unsophisticated foreigner, being unused
to the enemy and undefended, falls a ready victim; or
if the enemy is transported to a foreign country, the
same thing occurs. These diseases are evidently not
native to our Pacific coast region, and the European
wine -grape was early introduced there about the mis-
sions of the Franciscans, and it has thrived until the
present day. In fact, the grape industry of California
is like to that of Europe, — chiefly wine and raisins, —
and is built upon the Old World wine -grape ( Vitis
vinifera) ; and for this reason I have omitted, in the
previous account, all reference to our Pacific grape-
culture. But the phylloxera is now introduced upon
the Pacific coast, and is doing much mischief.

The mildew and black -rot and phylloxera have all

90 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

been introduced into Europe, where they have wrought
widespread havoc. I quote Lodeman's account of
the introduction of these fungi, in his "Spraying of
Plants:"

"The mildew was first discovered in France in 1878. Millardet
saw it in September of that year upon some American grape
seedlings growing in the nursery of the Societe d'Agriculture de
la Gironde, and Plachon at the same time recognized it on the
leaves of Jaequez grapes at Coutras, and also received it from
various departments of Lot -et- Garonne, and of Rhone. The dis-
ease spread rapidly, and was so destructive that in 1882 the fruit
in many vineyards was almost entirely destroyed. The climate of
Prance appears to be peculiarly adapted to the growth of this
mildew, which flourishes as well upon the varieties of Vitis vinif-
era as upon our American species. In moist seasons it is fully as
energetic as in America, or even more so. The leaves fall from
the vines, and the grapes are thus prevented from ripening prop-
erly. Even in cases in which the vines do not lose all their
foliage, a partial reduction is sufficient to decrease the amount of
sugar in the grapes to such an extent that their value for wine is
very greatly lessened. Many growers did not at first realize the
seriousness of this disease. In some vineyards it even obtained a
firm foothold without being noticed, for the portions of the fungus
which are on the exterior of the leaves are borne on the under
side. When, however, it became established in a certain district,
all doubts regarding its seriousness vanished, and the vineyardists
found themselves confronted by a disease which not only threat-
ened to destroy their vines, but which gave unmistakable proof
of its power to do so. The American disease of grapes commonly
known as black-rot was first discovered in the vineyards of France
in August, 1885. Mr. Ricard, the steward of an estate situated
at the gates of the small town of Ganges, at the borders of
1'Herault, was the first to call attention to the presence of this
fungus. He saw that his grapes turned brown, then black, while
still remaining upon the vine. He sent some of these diseased
grapes to the viticultural laboratory of 1'Eeole de Montpellier,
where Messrs. Viala and Ravaz recognized the parasite. They
went to the affected vineyard, and saw that only about thirty

THE PHYLLOXERA 91

hectares in the plain of Ganges showed diseased grapes. In
these vineyards the harvest was reduced about one-half. Imme-
diate and energetic steps were taken to exterminate the fungus,
but in 1886 it again appeared. The season proved to be dry,
however, and very little damage was done. The area of distri-
bution was, nevertheless, considerably extended. On July 25,
1887, Prillieux received diseased grapes from Azen, in Lot-et-
Garonue, and was directed by the minister of agriculture to
proceed to the infected district. He found that black-rot existed
throughout the entire valley of the Garonne as far as Aiguillon.
In some vineyards it was so well established that there appeared
to be no doubt that the disease had been present at least a year
before its discovery in 1'Herault; it was consequently impossible
to determine the first place of infection in France. The disease
was new, and at the first not very serious, so that its presence
had been overlooked perhaps for more than one year."

But the greatest consternation has been caused, in
European countries, by the furious spread of the phyl-
loxera. This insect was introduced into France in
1863 on vines from the United States, but it was not
discovered until some years later. About 1865, the
root disease which it produces began to attract atten-
tion, and so violent was its spread that the French
government expended large sums to stamp it out, and,
finally, in 1874, a reward of 300,000 francs was offered
for a satisfactory remedy. About 1870, the cause of
the disease was determined; and then it was found
that the root -louse is the normal form of an insect
which also produces galls upon the leaves. This leaf-
gall form of the insect was described in New York
by Dr. Asa Fitch in 1854. It is not our purpose to
follow the fortunes of the phylloxera in its triumphant
march over Europe. It is enough to say that there
are no remedies which can be universally applied. In
this dilemma, the French turned to America to dis-

92 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

cover why the phylloxera is not a scourge in the land
of its birth. The cause was found in the practical
immunity of the native vines. At once, there was a
demand for cuttings of our wild phylloxera -resistant
grapes. But some of the cuttings would not grow,
whereas others grew without difficulty. Upon investi-
gation, it was found that cuttings of two species had
been sent as one species, and the result of the inquiry
has been to clearly distinguish two native grapes which
theretofore had been much confounded. These are the
frost -grape (Vitis cordifolia) and the river -bank grape
( Vitis vulpina, or V. riparia) . The latter is now widely
used in Europe as stocks upon which to graft the wine-
grape; and so it has come that the species which has
produced nothing better in the way of fruit than the
Clinton (page 75) is now a corner-stone of the
viticulture of the Old World. Other native species
have contributed to the phylloxera -resistant stocks of
Europe, but this species is chief. The fourth edition
of the Descriptive Catalogue of Bush & Son & Meiss-
ner has the following remarks of this use of American
vine -stocks: "Already millions of American grape-
vines are growing in France, hundreds of thousands
in Spain, Italy, Hungary, etc. California also im-
ported many cuttings of riparia [river -bank grape]
vines to graft thereon their European (or vinifera)
sorts, which succeed there on our phylloxera -resisting
stocks. In February, 1894, Senator Fair purchased
from us half a million of such cuttings for his new
1,000 -acre vineyards near Lakeville, California."

All the old accounts, however, seem to show that
the chief cause of the failure of the European vines
in America was fungous disease. One of the very

DUFOUR'S ACCOUNT OF THE DISEASES 93

earliest accounts of this mischievous disorder is John-
son's, in 1806, although his entire discussion of it is
as follows: "The Mildew sometimes attacks the grapes
and fruit, when the vine has been planted in too wet
a situation, or when the weeds are suffered to prevail,
but never when the vineyard has a gentle declivity."
The first explicit account of the vine diseases which
I know was made twenty years later. "The different
diseases that I have seen afflicting vines are not nu-
merous," writes John James Dufour, in 1826. "They
may be denominated, 1st. the Mildew, called Charbon
or Tache, by the French, whose meaning is, by Char-
bon, burnt to a coal, or like a coal; and by Tache, a
black speck: 2d. Unripeness of the young wood,
which causes it to be frostbitten: 3rd. Short jointed,
called Sorbatzi, by the Swizzers: 4th. Exhaustion,
by overbearing." Only one of these classes, the mil-
dew, need attract our attention at this time. Dufour
describes it as follows: "The Mildew, or Charbon, is
the most severe disease that sickeneth grapevines.
One of the first symptoms is a mouldy and black dust
that appears some time on the under surface of the
leaves in the months of July and August, and grows
gradually more intense. Black specks then appear on
the young parts of the shoots, and on the fruit, as if
made with a hot bit of iron : the leaves then crisp and
fall, the fruit becomes black, and dries, and what fruit
seems to escape the sickness, will not ripen well, and
remain uncommonly sour; the young shoots will be
extremely brittle, and the pith black." It is very likely
that two diseases are confounded in this descrip-
tion. The account of the leaves suggests the downy
mildew; but the description of the affected shoots and

94 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

fruit is more likely that of the black -rot. B. T. Gal-
loway, Chief of the Division of Vegetable Pathology in
the United States Department of Agriculture, tells me
that specimens of grapes affected with "charbon," col-
lected by an early botanical traveler in the Ohio Valley,
have the black -rot.

Alphonse Loubat, who wrote the third American
grape book ("The American Vine Dresser's Guide," New
York, 1827, alternate pages English and French), and
who made an experiment at grape culture on Long
Island, was also overtaken by the vine diseases. "Here
he strove," writes Andrew S. Fuller, in the "Record of
Horticulture" for 1866, "against mildew and sun -scald
for several years, but had to yield at last, as the ele-
ments were too much for human exertions to overcome.
An old resident of Brooklyn related to the writer, a
few years since, many incidents connected with Lou-
bat's experiments ; one of which was, that to prevent
mildew on the fruit, each bunch was enveloped in
paper ; consequently they had to be uncovered when
exhibited to visitors. This, when the grapes were
ripening, consumed most of Loubat's time." Spooner
says that Loubat "planted a vineyard of forty acres at
New Utrecht, Long Island, which had 150,000 vines of
various sizes, and for some j^ears flattered himself with
hopes, which resulted in disappointment." Spooner' s
account of his own experiments illustrates the common
experience with the foreign grape, and also affords
further evidence that fungous disease was the chief
cause of the disasters: "In the year 1827 I planted
fifty foreign vines, some of which were from France,
and obtained from Mr. Parmentier and Mr. Loubat—
others were from Germany, and obtained from Mr.

EARLY ACCOUNTS OP DISEASES 95

Knudsen. In four years I was able to exhibit five
kinds of fine grapes at the horticultural exhibition of
New York at Niblo's Garden; but the vines produced
few good bunches, and very soon none at all. The
vines and shoots continued to grow for several years,
but the fruit was mouldy and black before the period
of ripening, and thus were worthless."

With the extension of the grape -planted acres,
the diseases attacked the varieties of native origin,
like the Catawba and Isabella, and they finally ruined
the grape industry of the Cincinnati region. The rot
of grapes had begun to attract much attention about
Cincinnati previous to 1850. In 1859, Cist made the
following record of it: "In the Ohio Valley, for the
last three or four years, the grape crop has been much
injured by mildew and rot, diseases incident to bad
seasons, or sudden atmospheric changes. Many reme-
dies have been tried, but none has yet been found
effectual in these cases. It is difficult, by any mode of
vineyard cultivation, pruning or training, to conquer
disease arising from atmospheric causes." Probably
the first published specific for this rot was the follow-
ing, which was sent to the Commissioner of Patents in
1853, by Anthony Miller, of Portland, Calloway county,
Missouri: "My observations have led me to the be-
lief that the ' rot ' in the grape depends on a weakness
in the vine, even when the ground is rich and well
manured. This disease, consisting only in weakness,
befalls the vines soon after they bloom. Following
this notion, I thought of a remedy, which consists of
the following: I take fresh cow manure (without
straw, leaves, etc., being mixed with it), which I mix
in a ditch, or in a large hogshead, with slops, wash-

96 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

water, etc. I stir it once a day until it begins to fer-
ment, and leave it standing several days, and then it
is ready for use. When I have no cow manure, any
other animal manure, mixed with the offals of tobacco,
ashes, lime, and rain-water, will answer the same pur-
pose. Of this fluid I pour about a gallon around the
roots of every grape-vine, making a small ditch, five
or six inches deep, around the vine, to keep the fluid
from running off. When it has soaked into the
ground, I cover up the ditch with earth. A month
after the blooming of the vine, I repeat this again. In
this manner I have kept my grapes sound."

It was thirty years after this mephitic compound
was recommended to the public, that the first and
great specific for the mildew and black -rot — the Bor-
deaux mixture — was perfected by the illustrious Mil-
lardet and his compeers, in France. It has required
the travail of two centuries to give us this simple mix-
ture of blue-stone and lime; but now the most careless
urchin may have the knowledge which Dufour, Adlum,
Loubat, Buchanan, Longworth, and all the rest, would
have given all their worldly goods to possess!

To us, the black -rot and the mildew have come to
be subjects of secondary importance. We hold the
secret and we can apply the remedy. But they were
serious matters in the old days. The following narra-
tive, written by Longworth in 1849, is proof of this,
and it also admirably illustrates the common adage
that "misfortunes never come singly:"

"My oldest vine -dresser, Father Ammen, has gone
the way of all flesh, and I regret his end. He was a
worthy old man. Some twelve years since, he lost his
wife, and deeply regretted her loss. He assured me,

A VINE -DRESSER'S PLIGHT 97

with tears in his eyes, 'she was just so good in the
vineyard as one man, and he might just so well have
lost his horse.' He got a second wife, but she was of
hasty temper, and gave the old man as good as he
sent. Finally, she told him if he would give her five
dollars, she would leave him, and never see him more.
'Give you five dollars!' said the old man: 'I will do
no such thing; but if you go and never come back, I
will give you ten dollars.' The money was paid, and
the old man was relieved of that trouble; but one that
he deemed greater came. I have heretofore said, that
after being my tenant ten years, he was ruined by sel-
ling his share of the crop for eight hundred dollars.
He cleared out; went to the north part of the state;
bought land, and planted a vineyard. The location
was too far north. His vines were killed, and he came
back a poor man, and began a new vineyard on a farm
of mine, adjoining his old one, on which his son-in-
law has resided since he left it. This year his vine-
yard came into bearing, and the old man's heart re-
joiced to think that he should again be able to sit
under the shade of his favorite tree, and enliven his
heart with wine of his own making. But, alas! the
rot came, and blasted his prospects. He became dis-
pirited; which, the cholera discovering, a few days
since, seized his victim. He was taken to the house of
his son-in-law (for he lived alone, and I could not
prevail on him to take a Frau for the third time),
when they urged him to take medicine, but he refused.
He was told if he did not, in a few hours he must die.
'What I care?' said the old man, 'I take none. What
I want to live for ? My grapes all rotten ! ' A few
hours, and he was no more. Peace to his ashes."

98 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Synopsis of the American Species of Grapes

If America is a land of grapes, it will profit us to
make an inventory of such wild types as botanists
consider to be distinct enough to be called species.
This synopsis is reduced and adapted from the au-
thor's monograph of the Vitaceae in Gray's Synoptical
Flora, 1897 (Vol. i., Part L, Fascicle ii.).

VITIS. The Vine. Grape-vine. A widespread genus in
the North Temperate zone, richest in species in North America.
The species undergo marked adaptations to local conditions, and
several of them hybridize freely, so that the study of them is
perplexing; and the difficulty is increased by the fact that the
foliage varies in character on different parts of the plant, and
herbarium material cannot properly represent the fruit. The
large viticultural interests of North America, outside of the hot-
houses and the Pacific Slope and Mexico, have been developed
within the century from the native species of grapes (chiefly
Vitis Labrusca and V. cestivalis), and their hybrids with the Old
World wine -grape (Vitis vinif era) . The last is almost exclusively
grown in California, and is sometimes inclined to be sponta-
neous. The genus naturally divides itself, in North America,
into two groups, — the muscadines, and the true grapes.

I. MUSCADINIA, the muscadines. Bark bearing prominent
lenticels, never shredding; nodes without diaphragms; tendrils
simple; flower-clusters small and not much elongated; berries
usually falling singly ; seeds oval or oblong, without a distinct
stipe-like beak.

Vitis rotundifolia, Michx. (Muscadine, Southern Fox-grape, Bui-
lace or Bullit or Bull Grape.) Fig. 17, page 84. Vine with
hard, warty wood, running even sixty to one hundred feet over
bushes and trees, and in the shade often sending down forking
aerial roots: leaves rather small to medium (2 to 6 inches
long), dense in texture and glabrous both sides (sometimes
pubescent along the veins beneath), cordate-ovate and not
lobed, mostly with a prominent and sometimes an acuminate

THE MUSCADINES 99

point (but somewhat contracted above the termination of the
two main side veins), the under surface finely reticulated
between the veins, the teeth and the apex angular, coarse
and acute, the basal sinus shallow, broad and edentate ;
petiole slender and (like the young growth) fine-scurfy, about
the length of the leaf -blade: tendrils (or flower -clusters)
discontinuous, every third node being bare: fruit-bearing
clusters smaller than the sterile ones, and ripening from three
to twenty grapes in a nearly globular bunch: berries falling
from the cluster when ripe, spherical or nearly so and large
(half inch to inch in diameter), with very thick and tough
skin and a tough, musky flesh, dull purple in color without
bloom (in the Scuppernong variety silvery amber-green),
ripe in summer and early autumn; seeds %- to %-inch long,
shaped something like a coffee berry. — Grows on river banks,
swamps, and rich woodlands and thickets, S. Delaware to
N. Florida and west to Kansas and Texas. Known to vine-
yardists chiefly as the parent of the Scuppernong. Has been
hybridized with V. Labrnsca, V. rupestris, and V. vinifera.

Vitis Munsoniana, Simpson. (Mustang Grape of Florida, Bird or
Everbearing Grape.) Very slender grower, preferring to run
on the ground or over low bushes, more nearly evergreen
than the last, flowering more or less continuously: leaves
smaller, thinner, and more shining, more nearly circular in
outline and less prominently pointed; the teeth broader in
proportion to the blade, and more open or spreading: clus-
ters larger and more thyrse-like: berries a half smaller than
in the last, and often more numerous, shining black, with
a more tender pulp, acid juice, no muskinesss, and thinner
skin; seeds half smaller than in the last. — Dry woods and
sands, Florida, at Jacksonville, Lake City, and southwards,
apparently the only grape on the reef keys; also in the
Bahamas. Difficult to distinguish from V, rotundifolia in
herbarium specimens, but distinct in the field! Not in do-
mestication.

II. EUVITIS, the true grapes. Bark without distinct lenticels,
on the old wood separating in long thin strips and fibers; nodes
provided with diaphragms ; tendrils forked; flower-clusters mostly

100 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

large and elongated; berries usually not falling singly, but tend-
ing to shrivel and hang on the stem; seeds pyriform.

A. Green-leaved grapes, mostly marked at maturity by absence
of prominent white, rusty, or blue tomentum or scurf or con-
spicuous bloom on the leaves beneath (under surface some-
times thinly pubescent, or minute patches of floccose wool in
the axils of the veins, or perhaps even cobwebby); the foli-
age mostly thin: tendrils intermittent, i. e., every third joint
bearing no tendrils (or inflorescence). V. cinerea and V.
Arizonica are partial exceptions, and might be looked for
in A A.

B. Vulpina-like grapes, characterized by thin light or bright
green mostly glossy leaves (which are generally glabrous
below at maturity except, perhaps, in the axils of the veins,
and in V. Champini), with a long or at least a prominent
point, and usually long and large, sharp teeth, or the edges
even jagged.

c. Leaves broader than long, with truncate -oblique base ( V.

Treleasei might be sought here).

Vitis rupestris, Scheele. (Sand, Sugar, Rock, Bush, or Mountain
Grape.) Shrub 2 to 6 feet high, or sometimes slightly climb-
ing, the tendrils few or even none, diaphragms plane and
rather thin: leaves reniform to reniform-ovate (about 3 to 4
inches wide and two-thirds as high), rather thick, smooth
and glabrous on both surfaces at maturity, marked by a char-
acteristic light glaucescent tint, the sides turned up so as to
expose much of the under surface, the base only rarely cut
into a well marked sinus, the margins very coarsely angle-
toothed, the boldly rounded top bearing a short, abrupt point,
and sometimes two lateral teeth enlarged and suggesting lobes :
stamens in fertile flowers recurved laterally or rarely ascend-
ing, those in the sterile flowers ascending: cluster small,
slender, open and branched: berries small (%- to %-inch in
diameter), purple-black and somewhat glaucous, pleasant-
tasted, ripe in late summer; seeds small and broad. — Sandy
banks, low hills and mountains, District of Columbia and
S. Pennsylvania to Tennessee, Missouri, and S. W. Texas.
One or two varieties in cultivation, and it hybridizes freely.
Promising for the experimenter.

THE VULPINA GRAPES 101

Far. dissecta, Eggert, is a form with more ovate leaves and
very long teeth, and a strong tendency towards irregular
lobing. — Missouri.

cc. Leaves ovate in outline, with a mostly well marked sinus.

D. Diaphragms (in the joints or nodes) thin: young shoots
not red; leaves not deeply lobed.

Vitis monticola, Buckley. (Sweet Mountain Grape.) A slender
trailing or climbing plant (reaching 20 to 30 feet in height),
with very long and slender branches, the young growth
angled and floccose (sometimes glabrous), the diaphragms
plane and rather thin: leaves small and thin (rarely reaching
4 inches in width, and generally from 2 to 3 inches high),
cordate -ovate to triangular-ovate, with the basal sinus rang-
ing from nearly truncate-oblique to normally inverted-U-
shaped, rather dark green but glossy above and grayish green
below, when young more or less pubescent or even cobwebby
below, the blade either prominently notched on either upper
margin or almost lobed, the point acute and often prolonged,
margins irregularly notched with smaller teeth than in V.
rupestris: clusters short and broad, much branched: berries
medium or small (averaging about %-inch in diameter),
black or light colored, seedy, sweet; seeds large (about
%-inch long), and broad. — Limestone hills in S. W. Texas.
This species has been the subject cff much misunderstanding.
Buckley's description seems to be confused, but his speci-
mens of V. monticola (in Herb. Acad. Philad.) are clearly the
small-leaved and glabrous species here designated. See, also,
Viala, "Une Mission Viticole en Amerique," 1889, 67; and
V. Berlandieri, below. The species has no value in its fruit,
but it may be useful as a stock on limy soils.

Vitis vulpina, L. (Riverbank or Frost Grape.) Fig. 15, page 76.
A tall-climbing plant, with a bright green cast to the foliage,
normally glabrous young shoots, large stipules, and very
thin diaphragms: leaves thin, medium to large, cordate-
ovate, with a broad but usually an evident sinus, mostly
showing a tendency (which is sometimes pronounced) to three
lobes, generally glabrous and bright green below, but the
veins and their angles often A'^DI^i'h' HPiKgie8 var'-

. RY
UNIVERSITY Or CALIFORNIA

102 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ously, deeply and irregularly toothed and sometimes cut, the
teeth and the long point prominently acute: fertile flowers
bearing reclining or curved stamens, and the sterile ones
long and erect or ascending stamens: clusters medium to
large on short peduncles, branched (often very compound),
the flowers sweet-scented: berries small (less than %-inch
in diameter), purple-black with a heavy blue bloom, sour
and usually austere, generally ripening late (even after frost) ;
seeds rather small and distinctly pyriform.— New Brunswick
to N. Dakota, Kansas, and Colorado, and south to W. Virginia,
Missouri, and N. W. Texas; the commonest grape in the north-
ern states west of New England, particularly along streams.
Commonly known as Fitis riparia. Variable in the flavor
and maturity of the fruit. Forms with petioles and under
surfaces of leaves pubescent sometimes occur. Occasionally
hybridizes with V. Labrusca eastward, the hybrid being known
by the tomentose young shoots and unfolding leaves, and the
darker foliage which is marked with rusty tomentum along
the veins of the less jagged leaves. Parent, either direct or
crossed, of Clinton, Elvira, Pearl, and others.

Far. prcecox, Bailey, is the June grape of Missouri, the
little sweet fruits ripening in July.

In a note attached to his specimens (now at the Jardin des
Plantes, Paris), Michaux speaks of this as being the species
known to the French voyageurs upon the Ohio and Missis-
sippi: " Fitis riparia. — Vigne des battures par les francais qui
voyagent sur 1'Ohio & le Misissipi, parce que cette espece
eroit sur les rochers et les sables inondes annuellement, par
les debordements. Le raisin en est le meilleur de tous ceux
qui se trouvent, dans 1'Amerique septentrionale. L'on ne
trouve nullement cette espece a Test des Monts Alleganies,
Ohio & Misissipi. Le raisin est meur en Aoust et croit sur les
Isles & sur les Rochers qui bordent les Rivierres Shavanon
ou Cumberland, Cheroquis ou Tenassee, ainsi que sur les
Rives de Green River, dans 1'Etat de Kentucky. II est plus
difficile de trouver du Raisin sur les Isles ou plages sablon-
neuses du Misissippi et de 1'Ohio parce qu elles sont trop
longtemps submergees."

There is a curious confusion respecting the name of this

THE VULPINA GRAPES 103

species. Linnaeus described a Ft fa's vulpina ("fox-grape") in
I7.~>;i, and preserved specimens of it in his herbarium. Our
grapes have been so much misunderstood that there have
been various guesses at the identity of Linnaeus' specimens.
It has been thought that they represent the true fox-grape,
or ntis Labrusca. Again it was thought that they are the
muscadine type, and the name vulpina was once used in
place of Michaux's rotundifolia (page 98). Then for many
years the name was dropped altogether. Finally Planchon,
the most recent monographer of the genus, declared Lin-
naeus' specimens to be the Ft' fa's riparia of Michaux, although
he did not substitute the name vulpina for the more recent
ripai'ia. Professor Britton later examined the specimens, and
also pronounced them to be V. riparia. In the above mono-
graph I therefore used the older name (V. vulpina). Since
that time, however, I have myself examined Linnaeus' speci-
mens in London, and find that he had specimens of two spe-
cies under the name of vulpina. On one sheet are two
leaves, one marked V. rinifera and the other V. vulpina,
both in Linnaeus' hand. The former is the wine -grape (V.
rinifera), and the latter is the river-bank grape ( V. riparia).
Another herbarium sheet, however, has a large flowering
specimen, labelled, in Linnaeus' hand, F. vulpina, and this
is the frost-grape ( V. cordifolia). It would have been better
to have taken this latter specimen as Linnaeus' type, and to
have made the name vulpina supplant cordifolia; but since
the other disposition has been made of the case, I shall not
make the change.

1'itis Treleasei, Munson. Plant shrubby and much branched,
climbing little, the small and mostly short (generally shorter
than the leaves) tendrils deciduous the first year unless find-
ing support, internodes short, the diaphragms twice thicker
(about -j^-inch) than in V. vulpina and shallow-bicon-
cave: stipules less than one quarter as large as in V.
vulpina: leaves large and green, very broad-ovate, or even
reniform- ovate (often wider than long), thin, glabrous and
shining on both surfaces, the basal sinus very broad and
open and making no distinct angle with the petiole, the
margin unequally notch-toothed (not jagged, as in F. vul~

104 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

pina), and indistinctly 3-lobed, the apex much shorter than
in V. vulpina: fertile flowers with very short recurved sta-
mens, sterile ones with ascending stamens: cluster small (2
to 3 inches long): the berries %-inch or less thick, black
with a thin bloom, ripening three weeks later than V. vulpina
when grown in the same place; thin-skinned; pulp juicy
and sweet; seeds small. — Brewster county, S. W. Texas, and
New Mexico to Bradshaw Mountains, Arizona. Little known,
and possibly a dry-country form of V. vulpina. In habit it
suggests V. Arizonica, var. glabra, from which it is distin-
guished, among other things, by its decidedly earlier-flower-
ing and larger leaves with coarser teeth and less pointed
apex.

Fitis Longii, Prince. Differs from vigorous forms of V. vulpina
in having floccose or pubescent young growth: leaves deci-
dedly more circular in outline, with more angular teeth and
duller in color, often distinctly pubescent beneath: stamens
in fertile flowers short and weak and laterally reflexed, those
in sterile flowers long and strong: seeds larger.— N. W. Texas
and New Mexico. Regarded by French authors as a hybrid,
the species V. rupestris, vulpina, candicans, and cordifolia
having been suggested as its probable parents. It is vari-
able in character. In most of its forms it would be taken
for a compound of V. rupestris and V. vulpina, but the latter
species is not known to occur in most of its range. It was
very likely originally a hybrid between V. rupestris (which
it sometimes closely resembles in herbarium specimens except
for its woolliness), and some tomentose species (possibly with
V. Arizonica or V. Doaniana), but it is now so widely dis-
tributed, and grows so far removed from its supposed pa-
rents, and occurs in such great quantity in certain areas,
that for taxonomic purposes it must be kept distinct. It is
not unlikely that it has originated at different places as the
product of unlike hybridizations. Late French writers desig-
nate the jagged-leaved forms as V. Solonis, and the dentate
forms as V. Nuevo-Mexicana. This interesting grape was
found some thirty years ago by Engelmann in the Botanic
arden of Berlin, nnder the name of Vitis Solonis, without
history. Engelmann guesses (Bushberg Cat. ed. 3, 18) the

NATIVE GRAPES 105

name to be a corruption of "Long's." It is probable that
the plant was sent to European gardens as J"it'is Longii — very
likely from Prince's nursery— and the name was misread on
the label. The original name, which was duly published by
Prince, with description, may now be restored. Fitis Longii
is no doubt capable of yielding useful varieties for the
Plains.

far. microsperma, Bailey, is a very vigorous and small-
seeded form, which is very resistant, to drought. — Red River,
N. Texas.

Fit is Cliampini, Planch. Probably a hybrid of V. rupestris or
F. Berlandieri and V. candicans, bearing medium to large reni-
form or reniform- cordate leaves which are variously pubes-
cent or cobwebby but become glabrous, the growing tips
mostly white -tomentose: berries very large and excellent. —
S. W. Texas. In some places associated with F. candicans,
F. Berlandieri, and F. monticola only, and in others with the
above and F. rupestris. Often found composing dense thick-
ets. Very promising as a parent of horticultural varieties.
(Fig. 18.)

DD. Diaphragms very thick and strong: young shoots bright
red: leaves often strongly lobed.

1'itis palmata, Vahl. (Red or Cat Grape.) A slender but strong-
growing vine, with small, long-jointed, angled, red, glabrous,
herb-like shoots and red petioles: leaves small to medium,
ovate -acuminate, dark green and glossy, sometimes indis-
tinctly pubescent on the nerves below, the sinus obtuse, the
blade either nearly continuous in outline or (commonly)
prominently lobed or even parted, coarsely notched: stamens
in the sterile flowers long and erect: clusters loose and long-
peduncled, branched; the flowers opening late: berries small
and late (%- to %-inch in diameter), black, with or without
purple bloom, with little juice, and commonly containing but
a single seed, which is large and broad.— A handsome plant;
Illinois and Missouri to Louisiana and Texas. More prom-
ising as an ornamental plant than as a vineyard plant. The
flesh is usually thin and the skin thick and tough, but the
flavor is often vinous and good.

106 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

BB Cordifolia-like grapes, with thickish and dull-colored or
grayish green leaves often holding some close dull pubes-
cence below at maturity (and the shoots and leaves nearly

Fig. 18. Barnes grape. Yitis Champini. (Adapted from Munson.)

always more or less pubescent when young), the teeth mostly
short or at least not deep-cut, the point mostly triangular
and conspicuous.

c. Plant strong and climbing, with stout persistent tendrils.
D. Young shoots terete, and glabrous or very soon becoming

so.
Pitts cordifolia, Michx. (True Frost Grape, Chicken, Raccoon,

THE CORDIFOLIA GRAPES 107

or Winter Grape.) One of the most vigorous of American
vines, climbing to the tops of the tallest trees, and some-
times making a trunk 1 or 2 feet in diameter: internodes
long; the diaphragms thick and strong: petioles long; leaves
long-cordate, triangular-cordate with a rounded base, or
cordate ovate, undivided but sometimes very indistinctly
3-lobed or 3 -angled, the basal sinus rather deep and narrow
and normally acute, the margin with large angular acute
teeth of different sizes, and the point long and acute, the
upper surface glossy and the lower bright green and either
becoming perfectly glabrous or bearing some close and fine
inconspicuous grayish pubescence on the veins: stamens
erect in the sterile flowers and short reflexed- curved in the
fertile ones: clusters long and very many -flowered, most of
the pedicels branched or at least bearing a cluster of flow-
ers: berries numerous and small (about %-inch in diameter),
in a loose bunch, black and only very slightly glaucous, late
and persistent, with a thick skin and little pulp, becoming
edible after frost ; seeds medium and broad. — In thickets
und along streams from Pennsylvania (and probably S. New
York) to E. Kansas and southwards to Florida and Texas.
It gives little promise to the experimenter.

Far. fcetida, Engelm. , has fetidly aromatic berries, and grows
in the Mississippi Valley.

Far. semper virens, Munson. A glossy-leaved form, holding its
foliage very late in the season : leaves sometimes suggesting
forms of F. palmata. — S. Florida.

Far. Helleri, Bailey. Leaves more circular (i. e., lacking the
long point), and the teeth round-obtuse and ending in a
short mucro.— Kerr county, S. Texas, 1,600 to 2,000 feet.

DD. Young shoots angled, and covered the first year with to-
mentum or wool.

Vitis Baileyana, Munson. ('Possum Grape.) Less vigorous
climber than V. cordifolia, rather slender, with short inter-
nodes and very many short side shoots: petioles shorter and
often pubescent; leaves frequently smaller, the larger ones
shortly but distinctly 3-lobed (lobes mostly pointed and
much spreading), bright green but not shining above and

108 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

gray below and pubescent at maturity only on the veins,
the point only rarely prolonged and often muticous, the teeth
comparatively small and notch-like and not prominently
acute, sinus more open: floral organs very small; the sta-
mens reflexed in the fertile flowers; pedicels short, making
the bunch very compact: berries about the size of V. cordi-
folla, black and nearly or quite bloomless, late; seed small
and notched on top.— Mountain valleys, 800 to 3,000 feet
altitude, S. W. Virginia and adjacent West Virginia and
W. North Carolina, Tennessee and N. Georgia; also at com-
mon levels in the uplands of West -central Georgia. The
eastern counterpart of V. Berlandieri. Not promising for
the cultivator.

Vitis Berlandieri, Planch. 'Mountain, Spanish, Fall, or Winter
Grape.) A stocky, moderately climbing vine, with mostly
short internodes and rather thick diaphragms: leaves me-
dium-large, broadly cordate-ovate or cordate-orbicular (fre-
quently as broad as long), glabrous and glossy above,
covered at first with gray pubescence below but becoming
glabrous and even glossy except on the veins, the sinus
mostly inverted -U-shaped in outline but often acute at the
point of insertion of the petiole, the margin distinctly angled
above or shortly 3-lobed and marked by rather large open
notch- like acute teeth of varying size, the apex mostly pro-
nounced and triangular- pointed: stamens long and ascending
in the sterile flowers, laterally recurved in the fertile ones:
clusters compact and compound, mostly strongly shouldered,
bearing numerous medium to small (%-inch or less in diam-
eter) purple and slightly glaucous very late berries, which
are juicy and pleasant-tasted ; seed (frequently only one)
medium to small.— Limestone soils along streams and hills,
S. W. Texas and adjacent Mexico. Well marked by the
gray-veined under surface of the leaves. No varieties in
cultivation, and gives little promise in that direction, al-
though it crosses with one or two other species; but valu-
able as phylloxera-proof stock on limy soils.

Vitis cinerea, Engelm. (Sweet Winter Grape.) Climbing high,
with medium to long internodes and thick and strong dia-
phragms; leaves large, broadly cordate-ovate to triangular-

THE CINEREA GRAPES 109

cordate -ovate (generally longer than broad), the sinus mostly
wide and obtuse, the margin small -notched (teeth much
smaller than in V. Berlandieri) or sometimes almost entire,
mostly distinctly and divaricately 3 -angled or shortly 3-lobed
towards the apex, the triangular apex large and prominent,
the upper surface cobwebby when young but becoming dull
dark green (not glossy), the under surface remaing ash-gray
or dun-gray webby-pubescent : stamens in sterile flowers
long, slender and ascending, in the fertile ones short, and
laterally recurved: cluster mostly loose and often straggling,
containing many small black berries, these only slightly if
at all glaucous, ripening very late, and after frost becoming
sweet and pleasant; seeds small to medium. — Along streams,
mostly in limy soils, central Illinois to Kansas and Texas
and Mexico, also N. Florida. Readily distinguished from
V. (esttialis by the triangular-topped sharply 3-lobed ash-
gray leaves and the gray tomentum of the young growth. No
varieties in cultivation, but it hybridizes with V. rupestris
and V. Linsecomii.

Far. Floridana, Munson. Growing tips rusty-tomentose, as
are sometimes the veins on the under sides of the leaves:
cluster longer- peduncled and more compound. — Manatee
county, Florida, and apparently also in Arkansas ; not un-
likely a compound with V. cestivalis, but the leaves have the
characteristic shape of V. cinerea. Not to be confounded
with any form of V. Caribaa, because of the lobed tri-
angular-topped leaves and much larger teeth.

Far. canescens, Bailey. A form with rounded or heart-like
leaves, the upper half of the leaf lacking the triangular and
3-lobed shape of the type. — St. Louis, Missouri, and S. Illi-
nois, to Texas.

cc. Plant scarcely climbing, the tendrils perishing if failing

to find support.

Vitis Arizonica, Engelm. (Canon Grape.) Plant weak, much
branched, with short internodes and thick diaphragms,
branchlets angled: leaves mostly small, cordate-ovate and
with a prominent triangular-pointed apex, the sinus broad
or the base of the blade even truncate, the teeth many and
small and pointed or mucronate, the margin either contin-

110 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

uous or very indistinctly 3-lobed (or sometimes prominently
lobed on youiig growths^ the leaves and shoots white -woolly
when young, but becoming nearly glabrous with age : sta-
mens ascending in sterile flowers and recurved in the fertile
ones: bunches small and compound, not greatly, if at all,
exceeding the leaves, bearing 20 to 40 small black berries
of pleasant taste; seeds 2 to 3, medium size.— Along river
banks, W. Texas to New Mexico and Arizona, mostly south
of the 35th parallel, to S. E. California and N. Mexico. Not
promising horticulturally

Far. glabra, Munson. Plant glabrous, with glossy and mostly
thinner and larger leaves. — In mountain gulches and canons,
with the species and ranging northwards into S. Utah.
Readily distinguished from F. monticola by its triangular-
pointed and small-toothed leaves.

BBB. Orbicular- scallop -leaved species of the Pacific Coast.
Vitis Californica, Benth. Vigorous species, tall-climbing upon trees
(Fig. 19), but making bushy clumps when not finding support,
the nodes large and diaphragms rather thin: leaves mostly
round -reniform (the broader ones the shape of a horse's
hoof -print), rather thin, either glabrous and glossy or (more
commonly) cottony -canescent until half grown and usually
remaining plainly pubescent below, the sinus ranging from
very narrow and deep to broad and open, the margins vary-
ing (on the same vine) from finely blunt-toothed to coarsely
scallop -toothed (the latter a characteristic feature), the upper
portion of the blade either perfectly continuous and rounded
or sometimes indistinctly 3-lobed and terminating in a very
short apex: bunches medium, mostly long-peduncled and
forked, the numerous small berries glaucous -white, seedy
and dry but of fair flavor; seed large (%- to TVinch long),
prominently pyriform.— Along streams in central and N. Cal-
ifornia and S. Oregon. Leaves becoming handsomely colored
aud mottled in fall. Of small promise horticulturally.

AA. Colored -leaved Grapes, marked by thick or at least firm
foliage, the leaves prominently rusty or white -tomentose or
glaucous-blue below. V. cinerea, V. Arisomca, and possibly
V. Californica may be sought here; and late -gathered forms
of F. bicolor may be looked for in A.

THE CALIFORNICA GRAPES

111

. Leaves only flocculent or cobwebby or glaucous below when
fully grown (i. e., not covered with a thick, dense, felt-like
tomentum, except sometimes in V. Doaniana).

Fig. 19. Vitis Californica growing on a stub over 50 feet high. Yallo Ballo
Mountains, Cal. W. L. Jepson, 1897.

c. White-tipped grapes, comprising species with the ends of
the growing shoots and the under surfaces of the leaves
whitish or gray.

Vitis Girdiana, Munson. (Valley Grape.) Strong climbing vine,
with thick diaphragms : leaves medium to large and rather
thin, broadly cordate -ovate, with a rather deep and narrow
sinus and nearly continuous or obscurely 3-lobed outline
(sometimes markedly 3-lobed on young shoots), the teeth
many and small and acute, the apex short-triangular or
almost none, the under surface remaining closely ashy-
tomeutose : clusters large and very compound, each one
dividing into three or four nearly equal sections, which are
in turn shouldered and thyrse-like: berries small, black, and

112 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

slightly glaucous, the skin thin but tough, pulp finally be-
coming sweet; seeds medium in size, pyriform.— S. Cali-
fornia, south of the 36th parallel. Differs from V. Calif or -
nica in the more pubescent shoots and foliage, smaller and
sharp teeth, decompound clusters, smaller less glaucous
berries, and smaller seeds. Shoots of V. California often
bear leaves with small and muticous teeth, and such speci-
mens without the flower-clusters are difficult to distinguish
from this species. Some of the forms which have been
referred to V. Girdiana are evidently hybrids with the wine-
grape, V. vinifera; and at best the plant is imperfectly
understood and its merits as a species are yet to be deter-
mined.

fit is Doaniana, Munson. Plant vigorous, climbing high or re-
maining bushy if failing to find support, with short inter-
nodes and rather thin diaphragms : leaves bluish green in
cast, mostly large, thick and firm, cordate-ovate or round-
ovate in outline, bearing a prominent triangular apex, the
sinus either deep or shallow, the margins with very large
angular notch-like teeth and more or less prominent lobes,
the under surface usually remaining densely pubescent and
the upper surface more or less floccose: cluster medium to
small, bearing large (%-inch and less in diameter), black,
glaucous berries of excellent quality ; seeds large (%- to
%-inch long), distinctly pyriform. — Chiefly in N. W. Texas,
but ranging from Greer county, Oklahoma, to beyond the
Pecos River in New Mexico. The species varies greatly in
pubescence, some specimens being very nearly glabrous at
maturity and others densely white -tomentose. The plant
would pass at once as a hybrid of V. vulpina and V. candi-
cans, except that the former does not often occur in its
range. It is very likely a hybrid, however, and V. candicans
seems to be one of the parents. Promising as a parent of
varieties for the dry regions.

cc. Rusty-tipped grapes, comprising the sestivalian group, the
unfolding leaves and (except in V. bicolor} the young shoots
distinctly ferrugineous, and the mature leaves either rusty
or bluish below, or sometimes becoming green in V. bicolor.

Vitis (esttvalis, Michx. (Summer, Bunch, or Pigeon Grape.)

THE ^STIVALIS GRAPES 113

Strong, tall -climbing vine, with medium -short internodes,
thick diaphragms, and often pubescent petioles : leaves mostly
large, thinnish at first but becoming rather thick, ovate-
cordate to round-cordate in outline, the sinus either deep
(the basal lobes often overlapping) or broad and open, the
limb always lobed or prominently angled, the lobes either
3 or 5, in the latter case the lobal sinuses usually enlarged
and rounded at the extremity, the apex of the leaf broadly
and often obtusely triangular, the upper surface dull and
becoming glabrous and the under surface retaining a cover-
ing of copious rusty or red -brown pubescence which clings
to the veins and draws together in many small tufty masses:
stamens in fertile flowers reflexed and laterally bent: clus-
ters mostly long and long-peduncled, not greatly branched
or even nearly simple (mostly interrupted when in flower),
bearing small (%-inch or less in diameter), black, glaucous
berries, which have a tough skin, and a pulp ranging from
dryish and astringent to juicy and sweet; seeds medium size
(%-inch or less long), two to four. — Chemung county, New
York, and Long Island to central Florida, and westward
through S. Pennsylvania to the Mississippi and Missouri. A
marked type among American grapes, being readily dis-
tinguished from other species by the reddish fuzz of the
under sides of the leaves. Most of the tomentose-leaved
species have been at one time or another confounded with
it, but when allowed to stand by itself, it is not a difficult
species to understand. Vitis cestivalis has given rise to more
cultivated varieties than any other species except V. La-
brusca (see page 81). Michaux's original specimens are well
preserved in Paris, and they have been properly understood
by American botanists. (See Fig. 16, page 82.)

Far. glauca, Bailey. Leaves (and mature wood) glaucous-blue
on the body beneath, but the veins rusty : berries and seeds
larger. S. W. Missouri to N. Texas. Much like V. bicolor,
but leaves thicker and more pubescent below, and tips of
shoots rusty-tomentose.

Far. Linsecomii, Munson. (Post-oak, Pine-wood, or Turkey
Grape.) More stocky than V. cestivalis, climbing high upon
trees but forming a bushy clump when not finding support:

114 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

leaves densely tomentose or velvety below: berries large
(X- to %-inch in diameter), black and glaucous, mostly
palatable ; seeds mostly much larger than in V. cestivalis
(often %-inch long).— High post-oak (Quercus stellata) lands,
S. W. Missouri to N. Texas and E. Louisiana. Very likely
derived from the sestivalis type through adaptation to dry
soils and climates. Perhaps worth recognition as a geo-
graphical species. Of great promise to the cultivator.
Far. Bourquiniana, Bailey. A domestic offshoot, represented
in such cultivated varieties as Herbemont and Le Noir, dif-
fering from V. cestivalis in its mostly thinner leaves, which
(like the young shoots) are only slightly red-brown below,
the pubescence mostly cinereous or dun-colored or the under
surface sometimes blue-green: berries large and juicy, black
or amber- colored. — A mixed type, some of it probably a
direct amelioration of V. cestivalis, and some hybridized with
the wine-grape ( V. vinifera). Much cultivated South, and
the parent of many excellent varieties (see page 81), which
Munson (Texas Farm and Ranch, Feb. 8, 1896) arranges in
two sections, — the Herbemonts and the Devereuxs.

Vitis tricolor, LeConte. (Blue Grape, or Summer Grape of the
North.) A strong, high-climbing vine, with mostly long
internodes and thick diaphragms, the young growth and
canes generally perfectly glabrous and mostly (but not
always) glaucous-blue, tendrils and petioles very long :
leaves large, round-cordate-ovate in outline, glabrous and
dull above and very heavily glaucous -blue below, but losing
the bloom and becoming dull green very late in the season,
those on the young growth deeply 3-5-lobed, and on the
older growths shallowly 3-lobed, the basal sinus running
from deep to shallow, the margins mostly shallow-toothed
or sinuate -toothed (at least not so prominently notch-toothed
as in V. cestivalis): cluster mostly long and nearly simple
(sometimes forked), generally with a long or prominent
peduncle: the purple and densely glaucous berries of me-
dium size (%-inch or less in diameter), sour but pleasant-
tasted when ripe (just before frost); seeds rather small.—
Abundant northwards along streams and on banks, there
taking the place of V. cestivalis. Ranges from New York

NATIVE GRAPES 115

and Illinois to the mountains of W. North Carolina, and to
W. Tennessee. Well distinguished from V. cestivalis (at least
in its northern forms) by the absence of rufous tomentum,
the blue-glaucous small -toothed leaves, and long petioles
and tendrils. It has been misunderstood because it loses its
glaucous character in the fall. Of small promise horticul-
turally.

Vitis Caribcea, DC. Climbing, with flocculent- woolly (or rarely
almost glabrous) and striate shoots; tendrils rarely contin-
uous: leaves cordate-ovate or even broader, and mostly
acuminate-pointed, sometimes obscurely angled above (but
never lobed except now and then on young shoots), becom-
ing glabrous'above but generally remaining rufous-tomentose
below, the margins set with very small mucro-tipped sinuate
teeth: cluster long and long-peduncled, generally large and
very compound : berry small and globose, purple ; seed
obovate, grooved on the dorsal side. — A widely distributed
and variable species in the American tropics, running into
white-leaved forms (as in F. Slancoi, Munson). Little
known in the United States: Louisiana, Lake City, N. Flor-
ida; swamp, near Jacksonville, Florida.
BB. Leaves densely tomentose or felt-like beneath throughout

the season, the covering white or rusty white.
c. Tendrils intermittent (every third joint with neither tendril
nor inflorescence opposite).

Vitis cnndicans, Engelm. (Mustang Grape.) Plant strong and
high climbing, with densely woolly young growth (which is
generally rusty tipped), and very thick diaphragms: leaves
medium in size, and more or less poplar- like, ranging from
reniform-ovate to cordate-ovate or triangular-ovate, dull
above but \ery densely white-tomentose below and on the
petioles, the basal sinus very broad and open or usually
none whatever (the base of the leaf then nearly truncate),
deeply 5-7-lobed (with enlarging rounded sinuses) on the
strong shoots and more or less indistinctly lobed or only
angled on the normal growths, the margins wavy or sinuate-
toothed: stamens in the sterile flowers long and strong,
those in the fertile flowers very short and laterally reflexed:
clustar small, mostly branched, bearing a dozen to twenty

116 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

large (%-inch or less in diameter) purple or light-colored
or even whitish berries, which have a thick skin and a very
disagreeable, fiery flavor; seeds large, pyriform. — E. Texas,
mostly on limestone soils. Not promising to the experi-
menter.

Far. coriacea, Bailey. (Leather-leaf or Calloosa Grape.) Dif-
fers from the species chiefly in bearing much smaller (about
%-inch in diameter), thinner- skinned, and more edible
grapes, with mostly smaller seeds, and perhaps a less ten-
dency to very deep lobing in the leaves on young shoots,
and possibly rather more marked rustiness on the young
growths.— Florida, chiefly southward, in which range various
Texan plants reappear. The more agreeable quality of the
fruit is probably the result of a more equable and moister
climate. More promising than the species.

Fitis Simpsoni, Munson. Distinguished by mostly much-cut
leaves on the young shoots, and comparatively thin, large,
and large-toothed ones on the main shoots, rusty white
tomentum below and very prominently brown-tomentose
young growths,— the character of the leaves and tomentum
varying widely, the foliage sometimes becoming almost blue-
green below.— Central Florida: Lake county; Manatee Eiver,
etc. This is likely a hybrid of V. cestivalis and V. candicans,
var. coriacea. Some forms of it are very like V. Labrusca,
and might be mistaken for that species.

cc. Tendrils mostly continuous (a tendril or inflorescence op-
posite every node).

Vitis Labrusca, L. (Fox Grape, Skunk Grape.) Fig. 11, page 58.
A strong vine, climbing high on thickets and trees; young
shoots tawny with much scurfy down : leaves large and thick,
strongly veined (especially beneath), broadly cordate -ovate,
mostly obscurely 3-lobed towards the top (on strong growths
the sinuses sometimes extending a third or even half the
depth of the blade, and rounded and edentate at the bottom)
or sometimes nearly continuous in outline and almost del-
toid-ovate, the petiolar sinus mostly shallow and very open
(ranging to narrow and half or more the length of the
petiole), the margins shallowly scallop -toothed with mucro-
pointed teeth (or sometimes almost entire), and the apex

VITIS LABRUSCA 117

and lobes acute, the upper surface dull green and becoming
glabrous, but the lower surface densely covered with a
tawny white, dun-colored or red-brown tomentum: stamens
long and erect in the sterile flowers and (in wild forms)
short and recurved in the fertile ones: raceme short (berries
usually less than 20 in wild types), generally simple or very
nearly so, about the length of the peduncle when in flower :
berries large and nearly spherical, ranging from purple -
black (the common color) to red-brown and amber-green,
generally falling from the pedicel when ripe, variable in
taste but mostly sweetish musky and sometimes slightly
astringent, the skin thick and tough; seeds very large and
thick. — New England and southwards in the Alleghany re-
gion and highlands to West -central Georgia. Not known to
occur west of E. New York in the North, except at the
southern end of Lake Michigan (E. J. Hill), and in S. Indi-
ana, by Munson. The parent of the greater part of
American cultivated grapes. It is often confounded with
V. (esticalis in the South, from which it is distinguished by
the habitually continuous tendrils, the more felt -like leaves
which are not floccose, and especially by the small -toothed
leaves, very short clusters and large berries and seeds. Vitis
Labrusca is the parent stem of the greater part of American
grapes. It is well represented in Catawba, Concord and
Worden. In its wild state it is very variable in size, color
and quality of fruit, and in size of cluster. Its berries tend
to fall from the stem, and the "shelling'' of grapes in vine-
yards may be a lingering of this ancestral trait. See Mun-
son, in Amer. Gard., xii. 580.

American Grape Literature

The best illustration of the high part which the
grape has played in the industrial development of the
country, is afforded by a survey of the voluminous
literature of the subject. Probably no less than a
hundred books, counting the various editions, have
been published in this country on the grape. The

118 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

following catalogue of the volumes of this American
literature which are in the author's library at the
moment this volume goes to press (excluding works
devoted exclusively to wines), will give the reader a
good idea of this species of writing :

ADLUM, JOHN. A Memoir on the Cultivation of the Vine in
America, and the Best Mode of Making Wine. Washing-
ton : Davis & Force. Copyr. 1823. 1823.* Pp. 142.

The same. 2d ed. Washington : William Greer.

Copyr. 1828. 1828. Pp. 180.

ALLEN, J. FISK. A Practical Treatise on the Culture and Treat-
ment of the Grape Vine : Embracing its history, with direc-
tions for its treatment, in the United States of America, in
the open air, and under glass structures, with and without
artificial heat. 2d ed., enlarged. Boston : Dutton & Went-
worth. Copyr. 1848. 1848. Illustr. Pp. 247.
— . The same. 3rd ed., enlarged and revised. New York:
C. M. Saxton, Barker & Co. Copyr. 1853. 1860. Illustr.
Pp. 330.

ANDRAE, E. K. A Guide to the Cultivation of the Grape Vine
in Texas, and Instructions for Wine -Making. Dallas, Texas:
Texas Farm and Ranch Pub. Co. Copyr. 1890. 1890. Illur.tr.
Paper. Pp. 45.

BAILF.Y, L. H. American Grape Training. An account of the
leading forms now in use of training the American Grapes.
New York : Rural Publishing Co. Copyr. 1893. 1893. Illustr.
Pp. 95. (Republished and extended in "The Pruning-Book.")

BRIGHT, WILLIAM. Bright's Single Stem, Dwarf and Renewal
System of Grape Culture, adapted to the vineyard, the grapery,
and the fruiting of vines in pots, on trellises, arbors, etc. New
York: C. M. Saxton, Barker & Co. Copyr. 1860. 1860.
Pp. 123.

— . The same. 2d ed. New York: C. M. Saxton, Barker
& Co. Copyr. 1860. 1861. Pp. 155.

*Date of imprint.

AMERICAN GRAPE LITERATURE 119

BUCHANAN, ROBERT. The Culture of the Grape, and Wine Mak-
ing ; With an Appendix Containing Directions for the Culti-
vation of the Strawberry, by N. Longworth. 3rd ed. Cin-
cinnati : Moore & Anderson. Copyr. 1852. 1852. Illustr.
Pp. 142.

- . The same. 4th ed. Cincinnati : Moore, Anderson &
Co. Copyr. 1852. 1853. Illustr. Pp. 142.

— . Tl.e same. 5th ed. Cincinnati : More, Wilstach, Keys
& Co. Copyr. 1852. 1855. Illustr. Pp. 142.

- . The same. 6th ed. Cincinnati : More, Wilstach, Keys
& Co. Copyr. 1852. 1860. Illustr. Pp. 142.

- . The same. 7th ed. Cincinnati : Moore, Wilstach, Keys

Co. Copyr. 1852. 1861. Illustr. Pp. 142.

The same. 8th ed. Philadelphia : Crawford

Illustr. Pp. 142. No date.

BUSBY, JAMES. Grapes and Wine. A visit to the Principal Vine-
yards of Spain and France ; giving a minute account of the
different methods pursued in the cultivation of the vine and the
manufacture of wine ; with a catalogue of the different varieties
of grape ; an attempt to calculate the profits of cultivating the
vine ; an estimate of the profits of Malaga fruit, &c., &c. New
York: C. S. Francis & Co.; Boston : J. H. Francis. 1848.
Pp. 106.

BUSH & SON & MEISSNER. Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of
American Grape Vines. A Grape Growers' Manual. 3rd ed.
St. Louis: E. P. Studley & Co. Copyr. 1883. 1883. Illustr.
Pp. 153.

— . The same. 4th ed. St. Louis: K. P. Studley & Co.
Copyr. 1894. 1895. Illustr. Pp. 208.

CHORLTON, WILLIAM. The American Grape Grower's Guide. In-
tended especially for the American climate. Being a practical
treatise on the cultivation of the grape vine in each department
of hothouse, cold grapery, retarding house, and outdoor cul-
ture. With plans for the construction of the requisite build-
ings, and giving the best methods of heating the same. New
York: C. M. Saxton & Co. Copyr. 1852. 1856. Illustr.
Pp. 171.

120 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

. The same. New edition. With descriptions of the later

exotic grapes, by Dr. George Thurber. New York: Orange
Judd Co. Copyr. 1883. 1883. Illustr. Pp. 208.

. The- same. New edition. With descriptions of the later

exotic grapes, and a select list of the native varieties, by Dr.
George Thurber. New York: Orange Judd Co. Copyr. 1887.
1890. Illustr. Pp. 211.

The Cold Grapery, from Direct American Practice : being

a concise and detailed treatise on the cultivation of the exotic
grape vine, under glass, without artificial heat. New York :
J. C. Riker. Copyr. 1853. 1853. Illustr. Pp. 95.

COPE, F. J. (See Saunders, Wm.)

CUTTER, ELIZABETH H. (See Muench, Frederick.)

DE BERNEAUD, THIEBAUT. The Vine Dresser's Theoretical and
Practical Manual, or the Art of Cultivating the Vine ; and
Making Wine, Brandy, and Vinegar. With descriptions of the
species and varieties of the vine ; the climates, soils, and sites
in which each can be successfully cultivated, with their times
of blossoming and bearing ; the diseases of the vine and means
of prevention. With instructions for the preservation of wines,
brandies, vinegars, confections, &c., of the grape ; for the care
of the wine-cellar, the economy of the vineyard ; and a brief
sketch of the diseases incidental to the vine dresser. Fro-n
the 2nd French edition, by the translator of Le Solitaire, Le
Notti Romane, &c. New York: P. Canfield. 1829. Illustr.
Pp. 158.

DENNISTON, G. Grape culture in Steuben county, N. Y. Albany :
C. Wendell. 1865. Maps. Pp. 22. Reprint from Trans. N.
Y. State Agric. Soc. xxiv.

Du BREUIL [A.]. The Thomery System of Grape Culture. From
the French. New York: Excelsior Publishing House. No
date. Illustr. Pp. 60.

Du BREUIL, A. iSee Warder, John A.)

DUFOUR, JOHN JAMES. The American Vine Dresser's Guide, be-
ing a Treatise on the Cultivation of the Vine, and the Process
of Wine Making, adapted to the Soil and Climate of the United
States. Cincinnati : S. J. Browne. Copyr. 1826. 1826.
Illustr. Pp. 317.

AMERICAN GRAPE LITERATURE 121

EISEN, GUSTAV. The Raisin Industry. A Practical Treatise on
the Raisin Grapes, their History, Culture and Curing. San
Francisco : H. S. Crocker & Co. Copyr. 1890. 1890. Illustr.
Pp. 223.

FISHER, S. I. Observations on the Character and Culture of the
European Vine, during a Residence of Five Years in the Vine-
growing Districts of France, Italy and Switzerland. To which
is added The Manual of the Swiss Vigneron, as adopted and
recommended by the Agricultural Societies of Geneva and
Berne, by Mons. Brun Chappius, and The Art of Wine Making,
by Mons. Bulos. Philadelphia : Key & Biddle. Copyr. 1834.
1834. Pp. 244.

FLAGG, WILLIAM J. Three Seasons in European Vineyards:
Treating of vine-culture ; vine disease and its 'cure ; wine-
making and wines, red and white ; wine drinking, as affecting
health and morals. New York : Harper & Brothers. Copyr.
1869. 1869. Illustr. Pp. 332.

FULLER, ANDREW S. The Grape Culturist : A Treatise on the
Cultivation of the Native Grape. New York : Davies & Kent.
Copyr. 1864. 1864 Illustr. Pp. 262.

— . The same. New and enlarged edition. New York :
Orange Judd & Co. Copyr. 1867. Illustr. Pp. 286.

. The same. New, revised and enlarged edition. New

York : Orange Judd Co. Copyr. 1894. Illustr. Pp. 282.

GOESSMANN, C. A. Contribution to the Chemistry of the Ameri-
can Grape Vine. Paper. Pp. 16. Reprint from Proc. Amer.
Chemical Soc. ii. No. 1.

GRANT, C. W. Manual of the Vine, including Illustrated Cata-
logue of Vines (8th ed.); and, Grape Vines: Description of
Stock of Vines for sale at lona Island (3rd ed.). lona : C. W.
Grant. Copyr. 1864. Illustr. Paper. Pp. 101.

HARASZTHY, A. Grape Culture, Wines and Wine-Making. With
notes upon Agriculture and Horticulture. New York : Harper
& Brothers. Copyr. 1862. 1862. Illustr. Pp. 420.

HASKELL, GEORGE. An Account of Various Experiments for the
Production of New and Desirable Grapes, and an Account of
Forty Varieties obtained by Hybridization. Ipswich,
1877. Paper. Pp. 18.

122 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

. A Narrative of the Life, Experience, and Work of an

American Citizen. [Autobiography. Contains an account of
the author's work with American Grapes]. Ipswich, Mass.:
1896. Pp. 156.

HOARE, CLEMENT. A Practical Treatise on the Cultivation of the
Grape Vine on Open Walls. Second American edition. Bos-
ton : William D. Ticknor. Copyr. 1837. 1840. Illustr. Pp.
144.

— . The same ; to which is added a descriptive account of an
improved method of planting and managing the roots of grape
vines. Third American edition. Boston : William D. Ticknor
& Co. Copyr. 1837. 1845. Illustr. Pp. 192.

. The same. Fourth American edition. Boston : William

D. Tickner & Co. Copyr. 1837. 1848. Illus. Pp. 180.

. A Practical Treatise on the Cultivation of the Grape Vine

on Open Walls, with a descriptive account of an improved
method of planting and managing the roots of grape vines. To
which is added an appendix containing remarks on the culture
of the grape vine in the United States. New York : H. Long
& Brother. 1847. Illustr. Pp. 209.

HOFER, A. F. Grape Growing. A Simple Treatise on the Single
Pole System, or How Grapes are Cultivated in the Upper Rhine
Valley. New York: E. H. Libby. 1878. Illustr. Paper.
Pp. 32.

HORTICOLA. (See Mohr, Frederick.)

HUSMANN, GEORGE. The Cultivation of the Native Grape, and
Manufacture of American Wines. New York: Geo. E. Wood-
ward. Copyr. 1866. 1870. Illustr. Pp. 192. [The back-
stamp is "Grapes and Wine," and the book is often quoted
under that title.]

— . The same. Fourth edition, Revised and rewritten.
With several added Chapters on the Grape Industries of Cali-
fornia. New York : Orange Judd Co. Copyr. 1895. 1896.
Illustr. Pp. 269.

. American Grape Growing and Wine Making. With con-
tributions from well-known Grape Growers, giving a .Wide
Range of Experience. New York: Orange Judd Co. Copyr.
1880. 1880. Illustr. Pp. 243.

AMERICAN GRAPE LITERATURE 123

LONGWORTH, N. The Cultivation of the Grape, and Manufacture
of Wine. Also, Character and Habits of the Strawberry Plant.
Cincinnati : L'Hommedieu & Co. 1846. Illustr. Paper.
Pp. 19.

LOUBAT, ALPHONSE. The American Vine Dresser's Guide. New
York: G. & C. Carwill. Copyr. 1827. 1827. Pp.138. [Pages
alternately English and French.]

. The same. New and revised edition. New York : D.

Appleton & Co. Copyr. 1872. 1872. Portrait. Pp. 123.
[Pages alternately English and French.]

McMiNN, J. M. (See Saunders, Wm.)

McMuRTRiE, WM. Report upon Statistics of Grape Culture and
Wine Production in the United States for 1880. Washington :
Government Printing Office. 1881. Paper. Pp.104. Special
Rep. No. 36, U. S. Dept. of Agric.

MEAD, PETER B. An Elementary Treatise on American Grape
Culture and Wine Making. New York : Harper & Brothers.
Copyr. 1867. 1867. Illustr. Pp. 483.

MITZKY & Co., C. Our Native Grape. Grapes and Their Culture ;
also Descriptive List of Old and New Varieties. Rochester :
W W. Morrison. Copyr. 1893. 1893. Illustr. Pp. 218.

MOHR, FREDERICK. The Grape Vine. A Practically Scientific
Treatise on its Management. Explained from his own ex-
perience and researches, in a thorough and intelligible manner,
for vineyardists and amateurs in garden and .vine culture.
Translated from the German, and accompanied with hints on
the propagation and general treatment of American varieties.
By Horticola [Charles Siedhof]. New York : Orange Judd &
Co. Copyr. 1867. 1868. Illustr. Pp. 129.

MUENCH, FREDERICK. School for American Grape Culture : Brief
but thorough and practical guide to the laying out of vineyards,
the treatment of vines, and the production of wine in North
America. Translated from the German by Elizabeth H. Cutter.
St. Louis : Conrad Witter. Copyr. 1865. 1865. Pp. 139.

MUNSON, T. V. Classification and Generic Synopsis of the Wild
Grapes of North America. Washington : Government Print-
ing Office. 1890. Paper. Pp. 14. Bulletin No. 3, Division
of Pomology, U. S. Dept. of Agric.

124 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

MY VINEYARD AT LAKEVIEW, by a western Grape Grower [A. N.
Prentiss]. New York : Orange Judd & Co. Copyr. 1866.
Illustr. Pp. 143.
' PARKER, E. AND C. (See Warder, John A.)

PERSOZ. New Process for the Culture of the Vine. Translated by
J. O'C. Barclay, Surgeon U. S. N. New York : C. M. Saxton
& Co. Copyr. 1856. 1857. Illustr. Paper. Pp. 58. Also in
Saxton's (or Moore's) Rural'Hand-Books, Fourth Series (with-
out the plates).

PHELPS, R. H. The Vine : Its Culture in the United States.
Wine Making from Grapes and other Fruit ; Useful Recipes,
&c. Hartford : Case, Tiffany & Co. Copyr. 1855. 1855.
Illustr. Paper. Pp. 83.

,PHIN, JOHN. Open Air Grape Culture : A Practical Treatise on
the Garden and Vineyard Culture of the Vine, and the Manu-
facture of Domestic Wine. Designed for the use of amateurs
and others in the Northern and Middle States. Profusely illus-
trated with new engravings from carefully executed designs,
verified by direct practice. To which is added a selection of
examples of American vineyard practice, and a carefully pre-
pared description of the celebrated Thomery System of Grape
Culture. New York : C. M. Saxton. Copyr. 1862. 1863.
Pp. 375. [The back -stamp of the book is "Grape Culture and
Wine Making."]

— . Open Air Grape Culture : A Practical Treatise on the
Garden and Vineyard Culture of the Vine. New York : Geo.
E. Woodward & Co.; Orange Judd Co. Copyr. 1876. 1876.
Illustr. Pp. 266.

PRINCE, WILLIAM ROBERT, AIDED BY WILLIAM PRINCE. A Treatise
on the Vine ; Embracing its history from the earliest ages to
the present day, with descriptions of above two hundred foreign
and eighty American varieties ; together with a complete dis-
sertation on the establishment, culture, and management of
vineyards. New York : T. & J. Swords, G. & C. & H. Car-
vill, E. Bliss, Collins & Co., G. Thorburn & Sons ; Philadel-
phia : Judah Dobson ; Boston : J. B. Russell ; Baltimore :
Gideon B. Smith ; Richmond : James Winston ; Charleston,
8. C.: Joseph Simmons. Copyr. 1830. 1830. Illustr.
Pp. 355.

AMERICAN GRAPE LITERATURE 125

EAFINESQUE, C. S. American Manual of the Grape Vine and the
Art of Making Wine : Including an account of 62 species of
vines, with nearly 300 varieties. An account of the principal
wines, American and foreign. Properties and uses of wines
and grapes. Cultivation of vines in America ; and the art to
make good wines. Philadelphia. 1830. Illustr. Paper. Pp. 64.

REEMELIN, CHARLES. The Vine Dresser's Manual, an Illustrated
Treatise on Vineyards and Wine Making. New York : C. M.
Saxton & Co. Copyr. 1855. 1855. Illustr. Pp. 103. Also in
Saxton's Rural Hand-Books, Third Series, New York, 1856.

. The Wine- Maker's Manual. Cincinnati : Robert Clarke

& Co. Copyr. 1868. 1868. Illustr. Pp. 123.

SAUNDERS, WILLIAM. Both Sides of the Grape Question. "Com-
prising An Essay on the Culture of the Native and Exotic
Grape, by William Saunders ; Physiography in its Application
to Grape Culture, by F. J. Cope ; and A Contribution to the
Classification of the Species and Varieties of the Grape Vine,
with Hints on Culture, by J. M. McMinn. Philadelphia : J.
B. Lippincott & Co. and A. M. Spangler. New York : C. M.
Saxton, Barker & Co. Copyr. 1860. 1860. Illustr. Paper.
Pp. 96.

SIEDHOF, CHARLES. (See Mohr, Frederick.)

SPOONER, ALDEN. The Cultivation of American Grape Vines, and
Making of Wine. Brooklyn : A. Spooner & Co. Copyr. 1846.
1846. Illustr. Pp. 96.

STRONG, W. C. Culture of the Grape. Boston : J. E. Tilton &
Co. Copyr. 1866. 1867. Illustr. Pp. 355.

TOMES, ROBERT. The Champagne Country. New York : George
Routledge & Sons. Copyr. 1867. 1867. Pp. 231.

TRYON, J. H. A Practical Treatise on Grape Culture, with In-
structions How to Prune and Train the Vine on the Horizontal -
Arm System. Willoughby, Ohio. 1887. Illustr. Paper.
Pp. 22.

— . The same. 2nd edition. Willoughby, Ohio. 1893.
Illustr. Paper. Pp. 27.

WAIT, FRONA EUNICE. Wines and Vines of California. A Trea-
tise on the Ethics of Wine Drinking. San Francisco : The
Bancroft Co. Copyr. 1889. 1889. Illustr. Paper. Pp. 215.

126 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

WARDER, JOHN A. Vineyard Culture Improved and Cheapened. By
A. Du Breuil. Translated byE. and C. Parker, of Longworth's
Wine House. With Notes and Adaptations to American Cul-
ture by John A. Warder. Cincinnati : Robert Clarke & Co.
Copyr. 1867. 1867. Illustr. Pp. 337.

WOODWARD, GEO. E. & F. W. Woodward's Graperies and Horti-
cultural Buildings. New York : Geo E. Woodward & Co. ;
Orange Judd Co. Copyr. 1865. Illustr. Pp. 139.

II

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF THE
MULBERRIES

WHEN the history of American agriculture shall be
written, the record of the many attempts to raise
silk -worms and to establish a great silk -growing
industry will form an important and suggestive
chapter. Sketches of these attempts have been made
from time to time, but there still lacks any full
collation of the subject with collateral events. The
literature of American silk-growing from the manu-
facturer's side, however, is as extensive and satis-
factory as that of any other agricultural -manufacturing
industry. It is not my purpose to explore these
interesting fields, but rather to present a rapid view
of the rise and extent of mulberry -planting, more
especially in the earlier days, and then to make
observations on the subsequent evolution of the mul-
berry fruits, — a subject which, strangely enough,
has escaped the attention both of botanists and of
writers.

Summary Sketch of the Early Silk Industry

We have seen (page 10), when reviewing the

early attempts at grape culture, that "silke worme

seed" was sent to Virginia in 1621 by the London

Company, along with grape vines. If we were to

(127)

128 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

trace the history of the attempts to raise silk in the
New World, we should find that it is intimately asso-
ciated with the efforts to grow the European types of
grapes and to make wine. But the experiments in
silk culture were even more persistent, and they were
frequently the subjects of legislative encouragement
and regulation. The very early efforts in Virginia
were largely instigated by James I., whose insistence
upon the feasibility of raising silk in England is as
well known as his strenuous efforts to discourage the
cultivation of tobacco in Virginia. The earliest writ-
ing directed to any special crop in the New World
was devoted to the raising of silk, and independent
books and monographs have continued to appear until
our own time. Justin Winsor's "Narrative and Criti-
cal History" records that "The King addressed a letter
to the Earl of Southampton with a review of Bonceil's
treatise on the making of silk, and this was pub-
lished by the Company in 1622. * * *
The Company also published, in 1629, Observations
* of Fit Rooms to keepe silk wormes in."
In 1650, Edward Williams, under the signature of
"E. W. Gent.," wrote an essay on Virginia, in which
is an account of "The Discovery of Silk -worms, with
their benefit. And Implanting of Mulberry Trees.
Also the Dressing of Vines, for the rich Trade of
making Wines in Virginia." After painting a vivid
picture of the profit of silk -growing in China, Persia
and other countries, he rises to Virginia and its mar-
vellous great wild silk- worms, "a Countrey which Nature
hath no lesse particularly assigned for the production,
food and perfection of this Creature then Persia or
China, stored naturally with infinities of Mulberry-

EUTOPIAN VIRGINIA 129

trees, some so large that the leaves thereof have by
Frenchmen beene esteemed worth 51. in which the
indigenall and naturall Worme hath beene found as
bigge as Wallnuts." Williams recalls that Virginia
"is parallell with China, and the happiest Countries
of the East and Westerne World in scituation," and
it is "comparable to Persia." It is little wonder,
then, that he should foresee that the colony was
destined to be one of the greatest silk -producing
countries of the world, particularly as the experiment
had not yet been fully tried.

But Williams was not alone in these fertile prophe-
cies of Virginia. The writings of most of his contem-
poraries, touching the climate and natural resources of
this new land, can be compared to nothing else than
the burning pictures which have been painted of our
Pacific coast within our own time. Nothing was im-
possible in Virginia and the adjoining lands to the
southward. Here, in Virginia, the sugar-cane, cotton,
indigo, ginger, rice and pepper, may grow alongside
"all the Spiceryes of the Phillippines"; corn (grain)
will yield two or three harvests in the season ; there
are riches in copper and iron ore, "with great proba-
bility of a Golden Mine" ; the native fruits " are various
and delicate"; the fishes "for number and tast com-
parable to any other" ; the beasts are many, of excel-
lent flesh, "the Hides of divers usefull, and the Furres
extraordinary rich"; in short, as Williams thinks of it,
"Virginia duly considered for exactnesse of temperature,
goodnesse of soyle, variety of Staples, and capability of
receiving what ever is produced in any other part of
the World, gives the right hand of preheminence to no
Province under Heaven."-

130 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

In this abounding new country, all the rural
scheme's which had proved to be visionary in England
could be expected to thrive. One of the most inflated
of all these instructions for the betterment of the
colony was a treatise by Samuel Hartlib, published in
1655, called "The Reformed Virginian Silk Worm."
The most remarkable part of this book is a letter
"wherein the Experiment of a vertuous Lady of this
Nation for the breeding of Silk-worms, is addressed
unto the Planters of Virginia."* This lady sets herself
before the reader in a most ambitious introduction :
"Hearken wel you beloved Planters, to what in these
few lines I shall declare unto you ; and is thus sent
you in Print, that all of you may communicate the
great and superlative good and benefit will be unto
every one of you : who so is wise, will ponder these
things, and give praise and glory to God, the Author
of all good Inventions, how Providence having brought
this to pass for all your exceeding great happiness and
increase of store of wealth, with so much ease, so little
labour, no cost unto you ; and in so short a time as
fourty daies, this wealth flowes in upon you. * * *
She hath I say this Spring found out (by the speciall
blessing of God upon her intentions) so rare, so speedy,
and so costless a way and means for the feeding of
Silkwormes ; by the triall and experiment she so luckily
made, to the admiration of all that have seen or heard
of it, as a thing scarce credible ; because not heretofore
thought of, nay, as it were, held impossible by such

*Hartlib was a prominent man of his time, and made what is probably the
first definite plan for a school of agriculture. See a brief sketch of the man
and a summary of his "Essay for the Advancement of Husbandry-Learning,"
1651, in Garden and Forest, vol. x., p. 168.

A WOMAN'S APPEAL 131

Authours as have written of the ordering and feeding
of Silkworms: that this her invention being thus made
known unto you, her beloved friends in Virginia, she
is most confident, and assures herself you will all there
instantly, without further delay (which will be the joy
of her heart) become great and rich Masters of this
noble Silk -work to all your unspeakable wealth."
With dramatic art, she delays the unfolding of her
wonderful secret until the torrent of appetizing sen-
tences has roused the curiosity to the highest pitch.
Now she is ready, and the reader is eager : " In the
beginning of May last 1652, when her young Mulberry-
tree in her Garden began to put out its buds, then her
Silkworm -eggs began to hatch, as the nature of this
wise creature is, when her food begins once to appear,
she conies forth of her shell : she presently laying a
Mulberry- leaf e upon these little crawling creatures, they
came all upon it instantly ; then she carried the leaf
and them upon it to the tree, upon whose leaves they
made hast to be ; and there they day and night fed
themselves, creeping from leafe to leafe, and branch to
branch at their own liberties most pleasing to them-
selves ; they grew and thrived wonderfully, and sur-
passed in largness of body those other wormes she kept
in her chamber (she having been many a year a Mistris
of Silkworms, and kept them by the Book-rules) this
good and prosperous beginning heightened her hopes.
The wormes, as their nature is, cast off or slipped out
of their skins four severall times, still growing greater
and greater to the singular " delight and contents of
their Mistris. About 45 dayes thus feeding upon the
leaves, they began that rare and glorious work of spin-
ning their Silk-bottomes upon the leaves and branches

132 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 4

of the tree ; such a gallant sight to behold, it ravished
the Spectators, and their Mistris joy was crowned with
excess of happiness herein and hereby, apparently find-
ing the incomparable felicity this would prove to her
dearly beloved Virginia, (for so you must give her
leave to call it,) for she concluded, and so must all you,
that this being thus effected in England, how much
more with assured confidence will the wormes live, feed,
and spin in Virginia ? she upon serious and due con-
sideration of this thing, gave God hearty and humble
thanks." All of which means that, although it was
customary then, as now, to feed worms on picked
leaves, the worms will nevertheless live and thrive,
under congenial conditions, upon the tree itself !

A book of such prophetic tendencies must, of
course, end in poetry. The first georgic, written by
John Ferrar, is dedicated to "the most Noble, Virginian
natural Silk -Worm her wonderful, various, plentiful
food ; The infinite, speedy, great wealth she will pro-
duce to her protectors ; (in 45. days the time of her
feeding) with small labour, cost, or skill, (learnt in an
houres space by any child.) The singular aptness of
that rare Superlative Climate, in Breeding them on so
many several kinds of Trees in her Woods where they
live, Feed and Spin, their mighty large, strange,
double -bottoms [cocoons] of Silk : To the admiration
of this our Old World ; but to the exaltation and glory
of incomparable Virginia, in the New."

*******

"Many a man the causes faine would heare,
How these rare Worms came first or still come there.
Insects produced are by heat and moisture
Who in strange shapes and formes do oft appeare.

SILK -WORM POETRY 133

In Spring our trees the Caterpillei*s reare ;
Their trees likewise these noble creatures beare.
And some proceed from eggs that scaped are
From their enemies sight, which thing is rare.
They feed not only on the Mulberry
Which in our World sole food is held to be
For all such precious Worms of that degree:
But Poplar, Plum, Crab, Oake, and Apple tree,
Yea Cherry, and tree called Pohickery:
So on the Shrubs and Bushes feed full many
Her Worms are huge whose bottoms dare
With Lemmons of the largest size compare."

The grand conclusion of the book disports in human
worms :

"HOMO VERMIS

Wee all are creeping Worms of th' earth,
Some are Silk -Worms great by birth,
Glow- Worms some that shine by night,
Slow-Worms others, apt to bite,
Some are Muck-Worms, slaves to wealth,
Maw-Worms some that wrong the health,
Some to the publique no good willers,
Cancker-Worms and Cater- pillers;
Found about the earth wee'r crawling,
For a sorry life wee'r sprawling,
Putrid stuff we suck, it fills us,
Death then sets his foot and kills us."

The details of the early silk experiments are so
many that we cannot follow them further with profit,
but some of the leading events must be noted.
James I. attempted to compel the London Company
to grow silk in Virginia. The Company imposed "a
fine of ten pounds of tobacco upon every planter who
did not cultivate at least ton mulberry trees for every

134 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

100 acres of his estate," writes Brockett iii his "Silk
Industry in America." "This was in 1623, and for
some time the business went on well." Under Sir
William Berkeley's governorship (beginning in 1641),
"a Reward of fifty Pounds of Tobacco was given for
each Pound of Silk," according to Robert Beverley;
and "all Persons were enjoin'd to plant Mulberry-
Trees, for the food of the Silk -worm, according to
the Number of Acres of Land they held." The
industry thrived for .a time, and a little silk is
said to have been exported to England about the
middle of that century. Some or all of the bounties
were removed, at least for a time, in 1666, because
the industry was considered to be well established;
but tobacco was so much more profitable that it soon
eclipsed every other crop. Robert Beverley, writing
upon "The Present State of Virginia" in 1720, recalls
"how formerly there was Incouragement given for
making of Linen, Silk, etc., and how all Persons not
performing several things towards producing of them
were put under a Fine: But now all Incouragemeut
of such things is taken away or intirely dropt by the
Assemblies, and such Manufactures are always neg-
lected when Tobacco bears anything of a Price."

The efforts to grow silk in the New World did
not stop with Virginia. With the founding of Caro-
lina and Georgia the attempt was made with all the
vigor which characterized the early experiments along
the James River. In fact, the best conceived and
most persistent scheme for silk -raising appears to have
been that which was set on foot in Georgia. The
designs of the trustees of the colony, as told
by Stevens in his "History of Georgia," "comprised

IN GEORGIA 135

three points: to provide an asylum for the poor debtor
and persecuted Protestant ; to erect a silk, wine, and
drug -growing colony ; and to relieve the mother
country of an overburdened population." It was
estimated that the silks imported into England from
Italian, French, Chinese and other sources, amounted
to five hundred thousand pounds a year at the time
of the colonization of Georgia, about 1732 to 1735.
"With this Georgia will abundantly supply us," the
account of the secretary of the trustees runs, "if we
are not wanting to ourselves, and do not neglect the
opportunity which Providence has thrown into our
hands. The saving of this five hundred thousand
pounds per annum is not all; but our supplying our-
selves with raw silk from Georgia carries this further
advantage along with it, that it will provide a new or
additional employment for at least twenty thousand
people in Georgia, for about four months in the year,
during the silk season; and at least twenty thousand
more of our poor here, all the year round, in working
the raw silk, and preparing such manufactures as we
send in return; or to purchase the said raw silk in
Georgia, to which country our merchants will trade to
much greater advantage than they can expect to do in
Italy." The first colonial seal represented silk -worms
upon one of its faces.*

*Although this seal is described in various histories, I have been unable to
find a print of the side bearing the silk-worms. None is in the collection of
Colonel Jones, the author of the history, nor of Otis Ashmore, an authority
on the seals of Georgia. Mr. Ashmore published a history of all the seals of
Georgia in the Morning News of Savannah, April 15, 1894. See, also, Jones'
History of Georgia, p. 97. It is probable that no impression of this aide of
the seal exists in this country, and it is presumed that Colonel Jones obtained
his information concerning it from the British Colonial Office. Another seal
was subsequently made.

136 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Sir Thomas Lombe, an eminent silk manufacturer in
England, appears to have been the leading agitator of
the silk industry for Georgia. Oglethorpe was thor-
oughly convinced of the practicability of the industry.
The trustees secured Italian silk -growers to accompany
the colonists. Encouraging results were soon reached.
Samples of raw silk began to be received in England.
"In May, 1735," writes Jones in his "History of
Georgia," "the trustees, accompanied by Sir Thomas
Lombe, exhibited a specimen to the Queen, who desired
that it should be wrought into a fabric. This was
done, and Her Majesty was so much pleased with the
manufactured silk that she ordered it to be made up
into a costume, in which she appeared at Court on her
birthday." In or about 1750, Pickering Robinson was
sent from England to France for the purpose of in-
specting the growing and manufacture of silk, and
upon his return, the trustees of the colony despatched
him to Georgia, upon a salary of one hundred pounds
a year and an allowance of twenty -five pounds for a
clerk, to assume charge of the silk industry. Oper-
ations were begun at Savannah in 1751, and in order
to encourage the growing of silk, the most exorbi-
tant bounties were offered for cocoons. Despite all
the forced and statutory encouragement, the silk in-
dustry did not return the money expended upon it,
although the annual production of the raw product
reached many hundred pounds for a number of years.
As tobacco had gained the supremacy in Virginia, so
rice and cotton soon became the dominant industries
in Georgia ; the troubles with the mother country
depressed the markets for silk, and after 1766 silk-
growing rapidly declined.

THE SALZBURGERS 137

There was one apparent exception to this decay and
unprofitableness of the silk industry, and this was
among the Salzburgers, a settlement of German Prot-
estants, who came to Georgia in 1734, and settled
twenty -five miles above Savannah, at Ebenezer.
Under the care of their pastor, John Martin Bolzius,
the silk culture of the settlement attained to much
prominence. "In 1736," writes Rev. P. A. Strobel,
historian of the Salzburgers, "mulberry trees were
planted at Ebenezer under the direction of Mr.
Bolzius, and the Salzburgers were among the first
and most successful in carrying out the wishes of
the trustees in this particular. In 1742, five hundred
trees were sent to Ebenezer, and a machine was
erected for preparing the silk. In 1745 and 1746,
specimens were sent to England, and in 1748, four
hundred and sixty -four pounds were produced. In
1749, the trustees authorized Mr. Bolzius to erect ten
sheds and ten machines for reeling, and other means
necessary to carry on the manufacture. In 1750,
nearly all the colonists had abandoned the experiment
of silk -raising, except the Salzburgers. They perse-
vered, and every year became more skilled in the
business, and in 1751, they sent over to England a
thousand pounds of cocoons and seventy -four pounds
two ounces of raw silk, yielding the handsome sum
one hundred and ten pounds sterling, or upwards of
five hundred dollars, the price being at that time
thirty shillings per pound. * Many

mulberry -trees are still [1855] standing at Ebenezer,
which no doubt have sprung from the original stock ;
and many of the descendants of the Salzburgers con-
tinue to raise silk, which they manufacture into fish-

138 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ing- lines, and sell very readily in Savannah." These
thrifty Germans continued the production of silk until
the very eve of the Revolution. As late as 1772, they
Nsent to England four hundred and eighty -five pounds
of raw silk, and it is recorded that "some persons in
almost every family there understand its process from
the beginning to the end."

But the doom of the southern silk industry, which
had been portended by the rise of cotton and rice
and other interests, as well as by restriction of
climate, was finally set by the American Revolution.
The trustees of the colony, according to Charles C.
Jones, Jr., had "seriously misinterpreted" the agricul-
tural capabilities of Georgia. "Although substantial
encouragement had been afforded to Mr. Amatis, to
Jacques Camuse [Italian silk -growers], to the Salz-
burgers at Ebenezer, and to others ; although copper
basins and reeling machines had been supplied and a
filature erected ; although silk -worm eggs were pro-
cured and mulberry trees multiplied,— silk culture in
Georgia yielded only a harvest of disappointment."

The center of activity in the silk industry was now
transferred to the northward. About 1760, silk worm
eggs and mulberry trees began to be planted in Con-
necticut, and there soon arose in that state the most
important— because the most nearly self-sustaining-
silk -growing industry which has yet been seen in
America. The industry was greatly encouraged by
the writings of Jared Eliot, an able preacher and
naturalist, whose memory is preserved to us, amongst
other ways, in his excellent "Essays upon Field Hus-
bandry," which appeared at sundry times from 1747
to 1759. He lived from 1685 to 1763. He was

JARED ELIOT 139

grandson of the apostle Eliot. In 1762 he wrote
"An Essay on the Invention or Art of Making
very good Iron from black Sea Sand." Drake, in
his "Dictionary of American Biography," says that
Eliot "was the first to introduce the white mulberry-
tree into Connecticut, and with it the silk -worm, and
published a treatise upon the subject." Such a treatise
is unknown to bibliographers, so far as I can learn.
It is probably the sixth and last essay in Eliot's "Field
Husbandry," published in 1759. I am the fortunate
possessor of this rare and interesting work, but noth-
ing is said in this particular essay about the original
introduction of the mulberry into Connecticut. In
fact, the essay speaks of the tree as being well known,
and silk had been made in the colony. Eliot urges
the growing of silk with much enthusiasm, and aside
from the main object, he sees the following subsidiary
advantages of planting mulberry trees : they may be
planted in places which are not used for tilled crops;
they produce fire wood, "which is much wanted in
our old towns ; " they may afford timber ; " they are
worth planting for Shade, Ornament and Beauty;"
may be used for hedges ; they yield fruit, — "the white
Mulberry Tree bears abundance more Fruit, than the
black ; in Italy, where they abound in these Trees,
they fatten their Swine and Poultry with the Fruit;
the Writers say, that the Pork raised in this Manner,
is exceeding good ; what is made by this Means costs
nothing, for the Hogs are their own Carvers ; the
Flesh raised this Way, is a clear Gain, like our Wood
fed Pork. I apprehend that a better Improvement of
the Fruit would be, to make artificial Wine ; what is
now made in the Country is from Cherries, and Cur-

140 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

rants; but, as the Fruit is sour, it requires a great deal
of Sugar to make it good, which is an heavy Weight
upon that Manufacture; but as the Juice of Mulberries
is very sweet, especially the white Sort, I cannot but
think, that from these, very good artificial Wine may
be made, without any, or with very little Sugar ; what
is Sweet has a spiritous Strength, in Proportion to
the Degree of Sweetness ; Honey will make strong
Metheglin, and Molasses makes Rum." The mulberry
may be made to afford groves, — "proper Places for
Retirement, Study, and Meditation; this will have
Weight with those who love Contemplation, those
who are wise and good ; he that is not Company for
himself, when alone, will be none of the most pleasing,
or edifying Company for others."

Eliot says that "The Society established at London,
for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and
Commerce," offered premiums for the production of
silk in North America, and "pointed out Georgia,
Pennsylvania, and Connecticut" as the most promising
colonies in which the undertaking might be prosecuted.
The Rev. Samuel Pullein's "Culture of Silk" for the
"Use of the American Colonies," published in Lon-
don in 1758, is a further evidence of the desire of the
mother country to foster this new industry.

Rev. Dr. Stiles, subsequently president of Yale
College, was also early interested in promoting the
raising of silk, and he aided in obtaining from the
legislature an offer of a bounty of ten shillings for
every hundred mulberry trees of three years' standing,
and another of three pence per ounce for all raw silk
produced in the colony. The production of silk was
so great in Connecticut that for many years the valua-

SILK FABRICS 141

tion of it was from $100,000 to $200,000 per annum.
Its production persisted throughout the Revolution,
and even into this century. The chief reason of the
continuance of the business in Connecticut seems to
have been that the silk was used almost wholly in
domestic manufacture, and therefore did not need the
English market to keep it alive.*

In most or all of the eastern states silk cul-
ture has been undertaken, particularly in the colonial
period. Of the fabrics made of this silk, Mr. Brockett
speaks as follows: uWe find instances, occasionally,
* of some delegate to the Colonial
Assembly coming thither with a silk waistcoat or
handkerchiefs made from silk of his own raising,
and woven in his own house; or of some grand lady
appearing at a reception of the Colonial Governor or
in a public assembly, clad in a gown woven from
native -grown silk. In either case, the fabrics were
greatly praised; yet it must be confessed that, as
compared with the silks of our own time, they were
very imperfect goods, and would be scouted by our
belles and beaux as unworthy to be worn."

The "Multicaulis Craze1'

Although the interest in the growing of silk had
greatly subsided before the close of the last century,
it had not completely died out. Here and there a
local interest survived, and carried over the memory

*Persons who are interested in the early ideas respecting the species of silk
worms, should consult Moses Bartram's "Observations on the Native Silk
Worms of North America," 1768, published in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. i.. 2nd
ed. 294.

142 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

of the old ambitious experiments and served as a stim-
ulus to the inception of an enterprise which set the
country aflame in the early part of the present century.
In 1806, for example, Frederick Pursh, a botanical
traveler, found mulberries cultivated in orchards near
Cayuga Lake, N. Y., "may be for the raising of silk
worms, as the trees were low and planted in regular
close rows." The particular event which seems to have
awakened general interest in this second silk enter-
prise, was the report of the Committee on Agriculture
of the House of Representatives, in 1826, respecting
the imports of silks and the exports of bread stuffs.
These imports were increasing with wonderful rapidity,
while the exports were decreasing in like ratio. This
committee took the matter up in pursuance of a reso-
lution introduced into the House on the 29th of
December, 1825, by Mr. Miner: "Resolved, That the
Committee on Agriculture be instructed to inquire
whether the cultivation of the mulberry tree, and the
breeding of silk worms, for the purpose of producing
silk, be a subject worthy of legislative attention; and
should they think it to be so, that they obtain such
information as may be in their power, respecting the
kind of mulberry tree most preferred, the best soil,
climate, and mode of cultivation, and probable value
of the culture, taking into view the capital employed,
the labor, and the product, together with such facts
and opinions as they may think useful and proper."
The report of the Committee on Agriculture, made on
the 2nd of the following May, contained a statement
of the imports and exports of which I have spoken,
and .it requested that the Secretary of the Treasury
"cause to be prepared a well -digested Manual" upon

CONGRESS ACTS 143

the culture of silk. This Manual was prepared under
the direction of Secretary Richard Rush, and submitted
to the Speaker on the 5th of February, 1828. It com-
prises an illustrated volume of 220 pages.

Silk culture was now agitated everywhere. Congress
took it up time and again. The Senate published a
treatise on the subject in August, 1828, by De Hazzi,
Counsellor of State, Germany, who had been attracted
by the resolutions of the House of Representatives.
State legislatures considered the culture of silk. Public
meetings of all sorts took up the refrain, and it was
echoed from housetop to housetop from Maine to the
Gulf. The House of Representatives of Massachusetts
had the question up in 1831, and it passed a resolution
that "his Excellency the Governor be requested to
cause to be compiled a concise Manual, to contain the
best information respecting the growth of the Mulberry
tree, with suitable directions for the culture of Silk, —
and that this manual be distributed in suitable numbers
in the city of Boston, and to every town in the Com-
monwealth.— That to defray the expense thus incurred,
he be authorized to draw his warrant on the treasury
for a sum not exceeding six hundred dollars." Jonathan
H. Cobb, of Dedham, who had had considerable success
in making silk, was chosen to write the manual.
The book quickly went to second and third editions.
In the second edition, 1833, the author makes this
explanation: "Since the publication of the former
edition of this little work, the Legislature of Massa-
chusets having further noticed it by ordering an addi-
tional number of copies to be purchased for further
distribution in the different towns of this Common-
wealth; and the Congress of the United States hav-

144 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ing also resolved to purchase 2,000 copies for distri-
bution in that honorable body ; the author has
thought it his duty to enlarge the present edition
by giving such further information as he could ob-
tain * *." A fourth edition was
made in 1839. Other books appeared in various parts
of the country. (See pages 155 to 158.)

The wildest notions of the possibilities of this new
silk culture were widespread, and took conservative
men off their feet. I shall make an extract from
Cobb's Manual in support of this statement ; but
before doing so I quote a contemporaneous account of
Mr. Cobb's experiments, taken from the Boston "Mer-
cantile Journal," to show that this author had really
had a successful experience with silk -growing, and was
able to speak with authority : "There is a gentleman
in this vicinity, (Mr. Cobb, of Dedham,) who, for a
shorter period, has perhaps been working as effectively
as any other person in the way of experiment. He
began the cultivation of the mulberry tree in 1826 ; and
since that time, notwithstanding the nature of the soil,
which is not the most favorable, has extended his
operations so much as to be now in the habit of bring-
ing to the Boston market American silk, manufactured,
to the amount of about a hundred dollars a week, the
year round." Projecting this experience at Dedham
across the country at large, Mr. Cobb drew a picture
which is vividly like the florid expectations of the first
American silk advocates, exactly two centuries before:

"Now taking the smallest estimate of income, and
in what way can a farmer, remote from a seaport. town,
acquire so much, with so little capital and labor, in
about five weeks' time? If any person will point out

JONATHAN COBB'S PROPHECIES 145

any way, and prove it, to the satisfaction of the Legis-
lature or Agricultural Society, I think he would merit
a great reward. But this business may be particularly
recommended to overseers of the poor in every town,
who have a farm — and every town ought to have one —
to keep their paupers ; for if one -half their paupers
are able to gather leaves and feed the worms five weeks,
this business would support all of them a year, exclu-
sive of the cost of an overseer. Permit me to suggest
one consideration more, — if all the highways in country
towns were ornamented with a row of mulberry trees,
on each side, half a rod apart, each mile would con-
tain 1380 trees, the income of which, after seven
years, would probably pay for repairing all the high-
ways and the expenses of the public schools, if the
inhabitants would restrain their cattle and sheep from
going at large. There is another method of producing
silk from mulberry trees, one year after transplanting
them; which is, to plant them in rows 3 feet by
2 apart, which would give about 7000 to an acre, and
every other year with a sharp instrument to cut them
off within three or four inches of the ground, and
feed them out or cut off every year. But whether this
method will produce as much or more silk than to
omit picking the leaves for seven years, I have not
obtained information sufficient to decide.

T'I further remark, that the education of youth is
of the utmost importance to the public. May I be
permitted to address the inhabitants of every school
district, that they would seriously and without delay,
consider the importance of connecting the silk business
with summer schools, by procuring two or three acres
of suitable land near each school house, and hare

146 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

them well covered with mulberry trees and fenced with
a mulberry hedge, with sheds near the school house,
for feeding the worms and reeling the silk; and hav-
ing a suitable mistress and twenty four scholars and
over, to be employed in gathering leaves and feeding
worms at times not interfering with regular school
hours, for the term of four months, the silk worms
to be hatched in succession, once in eight or ten days,
and the produce of silk will be more than enough to
pay the wages and board of the mistress at $20 per
month, and the board of the scholars at $1 per week
during that time. This can be proved by actual
experiment and arithmetical demonstration, if we may
believe the testimony of all the silk -growers and
authors on the silk business.

"A shed may be erected near a school house of the
following dimensions; viz., 20 feet long and 16 wide,
with nine feet posts, boarded with square edged
boards, the roof shingled, but no floor, two small
windows, one at each end ; two frames made like
ladders for four tier of shelves fifteen feet long and
four and a half wide, the lower ends of the ladders
to be two and a half feet above the ground, and two
and a half feet between them ; at one end of the shed
four more shelves the height of the others, thirteen feet
long, one foot and eight inches wide ; these twelve
shelves will serve for one hundred thousand worms,
and will consume about twenty five hundred pounds of
leaves previous to their spinning cocoons, after each
hatching, and produce two hundred and eight pounds
of cocoons and make twenty six pounds of reeled silk,
according to Messrs. Homergue's and Cobb's calcula-
tions ; and by hatching the worms in succession for

DREAMS OP WEALTH 147

sixteen weeks, the second hatching in fourteen days
after the first, and then in ten days, and then once in
eight days, until there is ten hatchings, which at that
rate will make two thousand and eighty pounds of
cocoons, and two hundred and sixty pounds of reeled
silk, which, at the lowest price that Mr. Cobb has sold
his for, $4.50 per pound, amounts to $1,170, or selling
the cocoons at 40 cents the price at Philadelphia, they
would amount to $832 ; or say 25 cents, the lowest
price offered anywhere, they amount to $520. Then,
allowing the mistress $20 per month, and the board of
the twenty four scholars for sixteen weeks, each at $1
per week, it amounts to $464, which, deducted from
$520, there remains $56 ; which allowing three acres of
land and the trees to cost $600, the $56 will pay the
interest of the money and $20 left to pay interest for
two sheds which will be wanted if the silk is reeled ;
thus you have the children schooled and boarded
without any expense to their parents or the town, and
interest on the capital in the bargain. What more do
you want, but faith and resolution."

The author recurs to his estimates of profits again
and again. "Now, let a young man of 21 years
of age, of steady habits," he advices, "purchase such
an establishment, and mortgage it for security of
the payment, and get it insured against fire and other
casualities, and put the leaves out on shares, and work
himself at some mechanical or agricultural employment,
he would at the expiration of twenty years, if a tem-
perate man, undoubtedly acquire double the property
which the greater number of professional men attain
to, who must have a large sum expended upon them
previous to commencing business."

148 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Just at the time when the public began to feel the
excitement of the new silk industry, a new element
was added to the contagion, and there arose the
wildest speculation which American agriculture has
ever known. This was the introduction of the mul-
ticaulis mulberry. Perrottet had introduced a new
mulberry into France from the Philippines in 1824,
the large leaves and rapid growth of which at once
attracted the attention of all silk-growers. It turned
out that this tree had come originally from China,
and was thought to be the source of the famous
Chinese silk. Perrottet called it Morus mnlticaulix,
from its habit of branching or sprouting from the base.
This tree reached America about 1826, and in 1830 or
1831 it was introduced into Massachusetts by William
Kenrick, author of the "New American Orchardist."

The fame of the tree spread rapidly. The records
of the next ten years read like fiction. Many nursery-
men gave up all other business that they might grow
the mulberry, and they realized several hundred per
cent profit. The secret of the Chinese silk had been
discovered, and every available acre from New Eng-
land to the Gulf must be covered with the mulberry,
and men must train their hands to the breeding of the
worms and the spinning of silken threads ! One nur-
seryman, who is still living, went to the West Indies,
that he might grow hundreds of thousands of trees
during the winter season, so great was the haste for
plants. From the thinly settled parts of the West
the planters came eager for trees at almost any price,
and even in Maine the demand was great. Then
came the reaction. The market was supplied and soon
overstocked. A disease appeared. The winters of

THE MULTICAULIS BUBBLE 149

New England were too severe. One man near Hartford
lost nearly ten thousand trees from cold. Men lost
their fortunes ; and in 1839 the bubble burst. One
man near Philadelphia sold 250,000 trees at one auction
in the fall of that year. He realized 31 cents each,
with a discount of 7% per cent for cash. His buyers
were mostly from the West. The eastern men had
grown cautious before this. Other dealers sold for
much less, and many had thousands of trees left upon
their hands. "The trees were sold, in some instances,
for a few cents each, and thousands, if not millions,
were never replanted after they had been taken out
of the ground in the fall of 1839," runs a contem-
porary account. So Morus multicaulis passed from
sight, and the present generation knows nothing of
it. No nurseryman in the North grows it. One of the
last specimens in the East was cut down about twelve
years ago. It stood on the old battle ground at Ger-
mantown. Among others who went down as a result
of this great collapse, was Jonathan H. Cobb, who in
the meantime had assisted in the establishment of the
Connecticut Silk Company, at Hartford. But his
name must always stand amongst those enthusiastic
and prophetic souls who contribute so much to the
progress of the world.

I cannot leave this exciting topic without quoting
Brockett's stirring account of this speculation, which
he very properly calls "The Morus multicaulis mania":
"One after another of the experimenters in silk culture
began to advocate the Morus multicaulis, and recom-
mend their friends to cultivate the trees, and raise silk
if they could ; but at all events to raise multicaulis
trees. Grave doctors of medicine and doctors of divin-

150 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ity, men learned in the law, agriculturists, mechanics
and merchants, and women as well as men, seemed to
be infected with a strange frenzy in regard to this mul-
berry tree. They met in solemn conclaves over bundles
of Morus multicaulis twigs, discussing seriously the
glorious time when, in the not distant future, every
farm should be a nursery for the young trees, every
house should have its cocooneries attached, its silk-
worms of the bivoltine, trivoltine or polyvoltine breeds
yielding two, three or four crops of cocoons per year.
The farmers' wives and daughters, when not engaged
in feeding the worms, were to reel the silk, and perhaps
to spin and twist it, till silk should become as cheap
as cotton, and every matron and maid rejoice in the
possession of at least a dozen silk dresses. It does
not clearly appear where and on what occasions they
were to wear these dresses, while their whole time was
to be occupied with the care of the silk -worms and
cocoons.

"Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, is said to have
owned the first multicaulis tree in the United States,
which was planted in 1826 ; but Dr. Felix Pascalis, of
New York, was the first to make known to the public
the remarkably rapid growth and supposed excellent
qualities of the tree ; and so may be said to have
opened this Pandora's box, from which so many evils
escaped. The excitement in regard to the Morus
multicaulis grew steadily; slowly, indeed, at first, but
increasing with a geometrical progression until 1839,
when it culminated in utter ruin to the cultivators.
The shrewdest and wariest operators, men who did not
believe in its loudly heralded virtues, were fairly carried
off their feet by the surging tide of speculation. The

MULTICAULIS SPECULATION 151

young trees or cuttings, which were sold in 1834 or
1835 for $3 or $5 a hundred, came soon to be worth
$25, $50, $100, $200, and even $500 a hundred. The
writer well recollects being in Northampton in the
spring of 1839, when Mr. Whitmarsh and Dr. Stebbins
were rejoicing over the purchase of a dozen multicaulis
cuttings, not more than two feet long and of the thick-
ness of a pipe-stem, for $25. 'They are worth $60,'
exclaimed the Doctor, in his enthusiasm. It is said
that a florist and nurseryman, on Long Island, who was
one of the first to introduce the tree into the country,
though he had no particular faith in it, devised a plan
for enhancing its price. He had sold small quantities
to nurserymen in Providence and Newport, and several
of the Massachusetts cities and large towns ; and one
day, in 1835, while at work in his nursery, he deter-
mined to make a bold push for a speculation. Hastily
returning to his house and putting up a change of
apparel,, he mounted his sulky, drove into New York,
and on board the Providence boat. Arriving at New-
port, he landed, drove to the first nursery there, and
asked, in an excited way, 'Have you any multicaulis
trees?' 'A few,' was the reply. 'I will give you fifty
cents apiece for all you have,' said the Long Islander.
The nurseryman thought a moment. 'If,' he said to
himself, 'Mr. — — is willing to give that price for
them, it is because he knows they are worth more.' He
raised his head. 'I don't think I want to sell what
few I have, Mr. — — .' 'Very well,' was the reply;
'I presume I can get them for that,' and he drove off.
Every nurseryman who was known to have any trees in
Newport, Providence, Worcester, Boston, or the towns
adjacent, Springfield, Northampton, &c., was visited,

152 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the same offer made, and the same answer returned.
'I came back,' said Mr. - — , 'without any trees;
but you could not have bought multicaulis trees, in any
of the towns I had visited, for a dollar apiece, although
a week before they would have been fully satisfied to
have obtained twenty -five cents apiece for them.' Yet
this very man, shrewd as he was, was carried off his
feet by the greatness of the demand which followed.
He imported large quantities from France, multiplied
his cuttings by all the devices known to his profession ;
and at last, so enormous were his sales, that, in the
winter of 1838-9, he sent an agent to France with
$80,000 in hand, with orders to purchase one million or
more trees, to be delivered in the summer and fall.
Before the whole of his purchase had arrived, the crisis
had come. The nurseryman had failed for so large a
sum that he could never reckon up his indebtedness ;
and the next spring his multicaulis trees were offered
in vain to the neighboring farmers at a dollar a hun-
dred, for pea -brush.

"Another incident related of the speculation was,
that after the crash came at the East, some of the
largest holders of the trees, in their desire to get them
off their hands, chartered a vessel notorious^ un-
seaworthy, loaded her with the multicaulis shrubs, and
sent the cargo by way of "New Orleans to Indiana,
insuring it in one of the marine companies at a high
price. Greatly to their disappointment the vessel
reached New Orleans safely, and the cargo was trans-
shipped at an enormous expense to river boats, and
when the trees reached Indiana they found no one who
was willing to take them as a gift. This discreditable
adventure cost the shippers a large sum of money.

MULTICAULIS SPECULATION 153

"The times were rife with speculation. The great
panic and disaster of 1837 had thrown to the surface
many restless, unscrupulous spirits, who were willing
to embark in any enterprise, however daring or doubt-
ful its character, which seemed to promise the slightest
opportunity of regaining the fortunes they had lost.
Numbers of these plunged into the multicaulis specu-
lation, and made it more disastrous in its results than
it otherwise would have been ; but there is this ground
of consolation in regard to them, that not one of them
escaped the ruin they helped to bring upon others."

I will transcribe even another account of this wild
speculation, in order that the reader may see this
curious chapter in our history as understood by different
students. The following is extracted from a paper
on "The Silk Industry in the United States from
1766 to 1874," by A. T. Lilly, contained in a bulletin
of the "National Association of Wool Manufacturers,"
1875. Mr. Lilly speaks of this speculation as the
"multicaulis fever," and then continues: "Haste to
be rich led the way. Instead of the old method of
planting mulberry orchards with the well-known and
hardy varieties of the tree, the system was adopted of
securing from trees of a single season's growth leaves
fit for feeding. For this purpose, planting in close
hills or in hedges was necessary, and the Morus multi-
caulis was the favorite tree. Its luxuriant growth,
when stimulated, was indeed remarkable. Its leaves,
fed to the worm, produced a silk that. was not equal
in quality to that from the white mulberry. The trees
had to be housed in winter, either in cellars or in
earth-vaults. Notwithstanding the objections to it,
the multicaulis grew rapidly in popular favor. Rarely

154 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

was a garden or a cultivated spot to be seen without
this tree. A demand for the trees themselves sprung
up,— a demand that gave them an absurd and fac-
titious value. Prices ranged, for trees produced from
one bud or cutting, and of a single season's growth,
from five cents to ten, twenty, fifty cents, one dollar,
and in some instances five dollars apiece. The value
of trees became greater than that of the silk that
could be obtained by them; the trees were worth too
much to be used for silk culture, and the raising of
these trees became a speculative business of great
activity. The excitement reached its culminating point
in 1839, when the fortunes of many thrifty men who
had embarked in the enterprise were wrecked in bank-
ruptcy. Even then, although the failure of the multi-
caulis was assured, the mania for raising mulberry -
trees was not abated, hardier varieties being its objects.
The writer was witness to an instance of the height to
which this excitement carried prices, and places the
facts here as a matter of record. Two trees of one
season's growth, raised by Elder Sharp, of North
Windham, Conn., were sold, standing in his nursery,
in August, 1842, after due advertisement, at auction.
The first one offered brought $106, the second $100;
and further sales were withheld because the bidding
was not considered as sufficiently spirited. Disaster
followed this baseless speculation, as might have been
anticipated, when the price of the trees exceeded the
worth of the product ; . and in 1843-44 the fabric of
artificial values collapsed. A deep reaction in popular
feeling took the place of the former excitement ; and
the whole business of silk culture sank into disfavor,
along with the costly and now neglected mulberry -trees.

LITERATURE OP 1825 TO 1844 155

A blight of a general character, to which even the
hardy white mulberry yielded at last, gave the finishing
blow, and silk culture in America ceased to exist."

Some interest in the multicaulis mulberry and in
silk -growing lingered on after the crash came in 1839,
but the hard winter of 1844 wiped out the industry,
and the second great epoch of silk -farming in America
came to an end. This second epoch may be said to
have reached from 1825 to 1844. A large special
literature sprung up in these twenty years. To show
something of the extent of this literature, I note be-
low the titles of the books of this period which are
in my own library at this writing :

AMERICAN SILK GROWER, THE ; AND FARMER'S MANUAL. A new
monthly publication, designed to extend and encourage the
growth of silk throughout the United States. Edited by Ward
Cheney & Brothers, Burlington, N. J. Philadelphia: Published
by Charles Alexander. No. 6 (vol. i.), Dec., 1838; No. 7,
Jan., 1839; No. 9, March, 1839; No. 10, April, 1839. Pp. 24
in each issue.

CLAPP, AARON. An Experiment on the Morus multicaulis, with
Directions for Preserving Silk Worms' Eggs, and Feeding Silk
Worms, and twenty receipts for making cheap dyes for coloring
sewing silks. With a supplement containing extracts from
various authors in relation to the profit of raising silk. Hart-
ford: Printed by Case, Tiffany & Co. Copyr. 1839. 1839.*
Illustr. Pp. 72.

CLARKE, JOHN. Treatise on the Mulberry Tree and Silkworm.
And on the Production and Manufacture of Silk. Second
edition. Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. Copyr.
1839. 1839. Illustr. Pp. 363.

COBB, J. H. A Manual Containing Information Respecting the
Growth of the Mulberry Tree, with Suitable Directions for the
Culture of Silk. In three parts. Boston: Carter, Hendee &
Co. 1831. Illustr. Pp. 68.

*Date of imprint, or title-page.

156 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

. The same. New edition. 1833. Pp. 98.

. The same. (Bound with Essays on American Silk, by

John d'Homergue and Peter Stephen Duponceau, and A Prac-
tical Treatise on the Culture of Silk, by F. G. Comstoek.)

. The same. Fourth edition, enlarged. Boston: Weeks,

Jordan & Co. Copyr. 1839. 1839. lllustr. Pp. 162.

COMSTOCK, F. G. A Practical Treatise on the Culture of Silk,
adapted to the soil and climate of the United States. Hart-
ford: Wm. G. Comstoek. Copyr. 1836. 1836. lllustr. Pp.
106.

. The same. (Bound with Essays on American Silk, by

John d'Homergue and Peter Stephen Duponceau, and A Man-
ual containing Information respecting the Growth of the Mul-
berry Tree, by J. H. Cobb.)

DENNIS, JONATHAN, JR. Dennis' Silk Manual: Containing com-
plete directions for cultivating the different kinds of mulberry
trees, feeding silk worms, and manufacturing silk to profit,
adapted to the wants of the American cultivator, and believed
to contain more practical information than any similar work
now before the public. With a supplement of extracts from
various authors in relation to the profit of raising silk. In
three parts. New York: Mahlon Day & Co. Copyr. 1839.
1839. lllustr. Pp. 107.

D'HOMERGUE, JOHN, and DUPONCEAU, PETER STEPHEN. Essays on
American Silk, and the best means of rendering it a source of
individual and national wealth. With directions to farmers
for raising silk worms. Philadelphia: John Grigg. Copyr.
1830. 1830. lllustr. Pp. 120.

— . The same. (Bound with a Practical Treatise on the Cul-
ture of Silk, by F. G. Comstoek, and A Manual containing
Information respecting the Growth of the Mulberry Tree, by
J. H. Cobb.)

FESSENDEN'S PRACTICAL FARMER AND SILK MANUAL. Devoted to
Agriculture, Rural Economy, and the Culture of Silk. T. G.
Fessenden, editor. Boston: Puplished Monthly, by George
C. Barrett. Vol. i., May 1835 to April 1836. Pp. 192. Vol.
ii., May 1836 to April 1837. Pp. 192.

LITERATURE 157

HAZZI, DE (COUNT VON). A Treatise on the Culture of Silk in
Germany, and especially in Bavaria: or, Complete Instruction
for the Plantation and the Management of Mulberry Trees, and
the Rearing of Silkworms. Washington : " Printed by order of
the Senate of the United States." 1828. Illustr. Pp. 106.
Transmitted to Congress by James Mease.

[JULIEN, STANISLAS.] Summary of the Principal Chinese Trea-
tises upon the Culture of the Mulberry and the Rearing of Silk
Worms. Translated from the Chinese. Washington : Peter
Force. Copyr. 1838. 1838. Illustr. Pp. 198.

["This 'Summary' was first translated from the Chinese by
Stanislas Julien, member of the French Institute, and Professor
of Chinese Literature, in the College of France, and printed at
the Royal Press, in Paris, by order of the Minister of Public
Works, Agriculture, and Commerce. The French copy from
which this translation was made, was transmitted from Paris,
to the Secretary of State, and by his recommendation has been
translated and published here."— Note by the Publisher.]

KENRICK, WILLIAM. The American Silk Grower's Guide; or, The
Art of Raising the Mulberry and Silk on the System of Succes-
sive Crops in each Season. Boston: George C. Barrett and
Russell, Idiorne & Co. Copyr. 1835. 1835. Pp. 111.
— . The same. Second edition, enlarged and improved.
Boston: Weeks, Jordan & Co. Copyr. 1839. Illustr. Pp.167.

LARDNER, REV. DIONYSIUS. A Treatise on the Origin, Progres-
sive Improvement, and Present State of the Silk Manufacture.
Philadelphia: Carey & Lea. 1832. Illustr. Pp. 276. (One
of the Cabinet Cyclopaedia Series.)

MORIN, M. The Silk Raiser's Manual; or, The Art of Raising
and Feeding Silk Worms and of Cultivating the Mulberry Tree.
Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon. Copyr. 1836. 1836. Illustr.
Pp. 128.

PASCALIS, FELIX. Practical Instructions and Directions for Silk-
worm Nurseries, and for the Culture of the Mulberry Tree.
Vol. i. New York : William B. Gilley. 1829. Illustr. Pp.
112.

158 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ROBERTS, EDWARD P. A Manual, containing Directions for Sow-
ing, Transplanting and Raising the Mulberry Tree; together
with proper Instructions for Propagating the Same by Cuttings,
Layers, &c., &c. As also, Instructions for the Culture of
Silk: to which is added, Calculations Shewing the Produce and
probable Expense of Cultivating of from one to ten Acres, as
tested by actual Results. Third edition, with improvements
and additions. Baltimore: Samuel Sands. 1838. Pp.100.

RUSH, RICHARD, Compiler. Growth and Manufacture of Silk,
adapted to the different parts of the Union. February 7, 1828,
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture. Doc. No. 158, Ho.
of Reps., 20th Congress, 1st session. Washington: 1828.
Illustr. Pp. 220.

SILK QUESTION SETTLED, THE. The Testimony of One Hundred
and Fifty Witnesses. Report of the Proceedings of the National
Convention of Silk Growers and Silk Manufacturers, held in
New York, Oct. 13th and 14th, 1843. Published under direction
of the American Institute. Second edition, with additions.
Boston: Printed by T. R. Marvin. 1844. Pp. 80.

VERNON, WILLIAM H. A Methodical Treatise on the Cultivation
of the Mulberry Tree, on the Raising of Silk Worms, and on
Winding the Silk from the Cocoons. United to an accurate
description of the Winding Mill. With plates. Abridged from
the French of M. De la Brousse: with Notes and an Appendix.
Boston: Hilliard, Gray & Co. Copyr. 1828. 1828. Illustr.
Pp. 174.

WHITMARSH, SAMUEL. Eight Years' Experience and Observation
in the Culture of the Mulberry Tree, and in the Care of the
Silk Worm. With remarks adapted to the American system of
producing raw silk for exportation. Northampton: J. H.
Butler. Copyr. 1839. 1839. Illustr. Pp. 156.

An Account of the Mulberries

There is now practically no effort to grow silk in
North America upon a commercial scale. The restric-
tions of climate, the greater certainty of many other

CAUSE OF THE FAILURES 159

crops, the opening of trade directly with China and
Japan, the cheaper labor of France and Italy, — all these
factors have made the business precarious and unprofit-
able. "This branch of industry," writes the botanist-
traveler, Michaux, early in this century, "is adapted
only to a populous country, where there are hands not
required for the cultivation of the earth that may be
employed in manufactures so as to afford their products
at moderate prices. In the United States this period is
still remote." Yet the persistent experiments to grow
silk have been productive of good results, aside from
teaching us what the limitations of our country are.
A very large silk -manufacturing industry has arisen,
the fabrics being made from imported raw silks. The
net annual value of the finished goods of American
manufacture is about seventy million dollars, and the
annual imports of raw silks reach about six million
pounds.

But there is another curious development of all
this early experiment, the history and evolution of
which had never been traced until the present writer
made the attempt in an experiment station bulletin a
few years ago.* This second outcome is the evolution
of the mulberry itself, and this is the theme which
forms the proper subject and conclusion of all this dis-
cussion of American silk -growing. Historians have
followed the course of the development of the silk
industry, but have neglected the subsequent course of
the mulberry, upon which all the efforts at silk produc-
tion have rested. The reasons for this oversight are
the comparative unimportance of the mulberry for any

•Mulberries, Bull. 46, Cornell Exp. Sta. (Mot-ember, 1892).

THE TYPES OF MULBERRIES 161

other use thaii the feeding of silk worms, and the
botanical perplexities of the genus Morus, to which
lln-sc trees belong.

For two or three centuries the earth has been
searched for new forms of mulberry trees for the feed-
ing of the silk worm. All the best types have been
found to be forms of the white mulberry (Morns alba]
of China, or types which are evidently direct offshoots
of it. This type of mulberry trees produces fruit of
inferior quality, and little effort has been made to
develop fruit -bearing varieties of it. The fruit-
bearing mulberry of history is another species, the
black mulberry (Morus nigra) , probably a native of
Persia and adjacent regions. But there has been very
little desire for the introduction of a fruit -bearing mul-
berry in this countrjr, so that the black mulberry is
little known here, although horticultural writers have
generally referred any valuable fruit -bearing mulberry
which has chanced to appear in this country to Morus
nifjrn, because this is the species described in the Euro-
pean fruit-books. A third important factor in the
evolution of American mulberries is the re -introduction
in recent years of the Morus Tatar ica, now generally
known in this country as the Russian mulberry, and
which is really only an outlying form of the white
mulberry.

A fourth important factor is the native red or
purple mulberry (Morus rubra, Figs. 20, 21), and to
this we need to give special attention in this explora-
tion of the evolution of our native fruits. The species
is greatly variable, and it grows naturally from west-
ern New England and Long Island to Florida and
Kansas and Texas. It is mentioned by very many of

162 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the early adventurers and narrators of the colonization
and colonial periods of the country, and it was often
used as a food for the silk worm. It appears to have
been originally found in the Massachusetts Bay region,
for Francis Higginson speaks of "mulberries," amongst

• Fig. 21

mulberry, as it grows in central N

other wild fruits, in his "New -England's Plantation,"
published in 1630 ; but it is not now indigenous to that
region. William Strachey, who was in Virginia about
1610 to 1612, and wrote a "Historic of Travaile into
Virginia Britannia," says that the Indians were familiar
with the tree: "By their dwellings are some great
mulberrye trees, and these in some parte of the country
are found growing naturally in pretty groves: there
was an assay made to make silke, and surely the

THE NATIVE MULBERRY 163

wormes prospered excellently well untill the master
workeman fell sick, during which tyme they were eaten
with ratts, and this willbe a commoditie not meanely
profitable. Now yt is seriously considered of, and
order taken that yt shalbe duly followed." A part of
this statement, in the identical words, is found in John
Smith's earlier account of the natural productions of
Virginia. The tree was early spread widely in the
settlements. In 1749, Peter Kalm found it planted at
Montreal, where it had been brought some twenty
years before, but the most northerly place at which he
knew it to grow naturally was "about twenty English
miles north of Albany." It was early introduced into
Europe.

Although this red mulberry was early planted in
cultivated grounds, no attempt appears to have been
made to improve its fruit. Michaux speaks of it early
in this century as follows: "The fruit * * * *
might easily be augmented in size and quantity by
careful cultivation : a very sensible improvement is
witnessed in trees left standing in cultivated fields."
William Prince, writing in his "Treatise on Horticul-
ture," in 1828, speaks of the "Red American, a com-
mon native of our forests," as one of the "most
valued" mulberries "for their fruit," but he knew no
named varieties. The Congressional Manual of 1828
gives a good account of the distribution and attributes
of the native red mulberry. "There are several varie-
ties in the red mulberry tree," it says, "depending on
the leaves and fruit :

"1. Leaves all orbiculated (round).

"2. do deeply lobed.

"3. do with three short lobes.

164 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

"4. Fruit, berries nearly white.

"5. Fruit, berries blueish purple.

"6. do do red and long.

"7. do do blackish red."

Up to this time, no distinct domestic variety of the
red mulberry had been introduced. Yet it is a signifi-
cant fact that the first -named variety of mulberry
originating in this country is an offspring of this wild
Morns rulra, and not an offshoot of the many foreign
types which had been introduced here. This variety
is the Johnson. The first mention of it, so far as I
know, is in the first edition of Downing's "Fruits and
Fruit Trees," in 1845.

Four well-marked named varieties of this red mul-
berry have appeared in cultivation, — the Johnson,
Hicks, Stubbs, and Lampasas, the first three named
for persons who were instrumental in introducing
them to the public. They are all chance varieties found
in the woods or wild places. If the mulberry were a
fruit of great importance, numbers of distinct varieties
would no doubt soon be bred from this native mulberry
stock. In the original edition of A. J. Downing's
"Fruits and Fruit Trees," 1845, it is said that the
variety known as Johnson has been "lately received
from Professor Kirtland, of Cleveland, one of the most
intelligent horticulturists in the country ; " and it is
distinctly stated that it is a form of our native species.
Charles Downing reaffirms this latter statement in
Purdy's "Fruit Recorder," in 1872, and in comparing
the fruit with that of the wild Morus rubra, says that
it is "of about the same quality, but of larger size."
In the second revision of "Fruits and Fruit Trees,"
1872, by Charles Downing, it is described as follows:

THE NATIVE MULBERRY 165

"A seedling from Ohio. Fruit very large, oblong
cylindric; blackish color, subacid, and of mild, agree-
able flavor. Growth of the wood strong and irregular.
Leaves uncommonly large." The Johnson is very little
known at the present time, and will probably soon pass
from sight. Mr. Berckmans, of Georgia, writes that
the "fruit is large, very good, but too little of it," and
that he has "long since discarded it." "The fruit,"
he says "is fully two inches long by three -fourths inch
in diameter, very black and of a rich, vinous flavor."

The Hicks (or Hicks' Everbearing) is a Georgian
variety, as near as I can learn, although Downing, in
1872, credits it to Kentucky. It was brought to notice
about 1850, or before, by Simri Rose, of Macon,
Georgia, who is said to have obtained it from Thomas
Elkins, of Effingham county, Georgia. Mr. Elkins
"planted it in avenues, on his lanes, in his fence
corners, and many other favorite places on his plan-
tation, for his hogs, and it is said that he always had
pork or bacon to sell." At the present time it is much
used in parts of the South as a food for swine. Mr.
Berckmaus says that "the value of mulberries as an
economic food for hogs is beginning to be appreciated
by many farmers, who have planted large orchards of
the Hicks for that purpose." It is also one of the very
best varieties for poultry. It is a most profuse bearer,
producing a continuous and bountiful crop for three
and four months. The fruit is medium to large, very
sweet, and rather insipid.

The original Stubbs mulberry tree was found grow-
ing in a wood near Dublin, Laurens county, Georgia.
Col. John M. Stubbs, of that place, gave cions to Mr.
Berckmans some twenty years ago, and Mr. Berckraaus

166 THE EVOLUTION OP OUE NATIVE FRUITS

introduced it to the public. It is probably the most
productive of all mulberries, even exceeding the wonder-
ful prolificacy of the Hicks. The fruit is deep black,
with a very rich, subacid, vinous flavor. It is fully
two inches long and over a quarter as thick in well-
developed specimens.

The Lampasas variety was found in the woods in
Lampasas county, Texas, by F. M. Ramsey, and was
introduced in 1889 by T. V. Munson, of Denison,
Texas. It has a somewhat spreading and shrub -like
habit. Mr. Munson writes of it: "The Lampasas
mulberry, although a native of the region only 200
miles southwest of here, is so tender here as to winter-
kill. I have ceased to propagate it on that account.
I have never been able to fruit it." This variety is
interesting to the botanist because it belongs to the
pubescent -leaved type of the mulberry, to which
Rafinesque gave the name Morus tomentosa in his
monograph of North American mulberry trees, and
which Bureau, a more recent monographer, called
Morus rubra var. tomentosa.

The Mexican mulberry (Morus ceUidifolia), which
reaches as far north as Texas, New Mexico and Arizona,
"in the countries south of the United States is fre-
quently planted as a fruit-tree," writes Sargent, in his
great "Silva," quoting from Kunth, "although the
fruit which it produces is inferior in size and flavor to
that of the red and black mulberry trees." This and
the common red mulberry are the only species native
to the United States.

We must now enquire if the foreign types of mul-
berry trees, which were early introduced for the
feeding of silk worms, have given any fruit-bearing

THE BLACK MULBERRY 167

varieties of importance ; for although these trees are
somewhat foreign to the purpose of a book upon native
fruits, we may find their evolution to be so interesting
that we cannot forego the pleasure of an acquaintance-
ship with them. We have already learned that the
fruit -bearing mulberry of the Old World, and therefore
of history, is the black (Morus nigra) , and that our
own cultivated varieties have been assumed to belong
to it. As a matter of fact, however, it is very little
known in America. It is not hardy, except in pro-
tected places, in New England and New York. The
Black Persian mulberry of the South and of California
is undoubtedly this species. This variety, with others,
was inserted in the fruit catalogue of the American
Pomological Society for 1875. It was dropped from
the catalogue in 1883, and has not been inserted since.
It is named in Wickson's "California Fruits," 1889,
without particular comment. The same volume also
mentions the black mulberry of Spain, as having been
fruited by Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, California.
This I take to be Morus nigra. There must be large
regions in this country which are congenial to the true
black mulberry, and it is strange that it is so little
known. The fruit of this species is much larger than
that of any other, and it possesses an agreeable subacid
flavor. The fruits of the white mulberry (Morns alba),
however, are often too sweet for most tastes when
fully ripe, and in such case they should be picked
before they have fully matured.

We have seen that the multicaulis mulberry quickly
passed from sight after the speculative collapse of 1839
and the hard winter of 1844. Yet one record of the
old contagion is left to us in the Downing mulberry

168 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

(Fig. 22). This originated at Newburgh on the Hud-
son, from seeds sown about 1846 by Charles Downing,
one of the brothers who have become household com-
panions to every American fruit-grower. It was
noticed by the late C. M. Hovey in his "Magazine of
Horticulture," in March, 1858, as "a new seedling
raised by C. Downing, of Newburgh, N. Y., from the
Moms multicaulis." The Downing often looks very
different from the old multicaulis, and I have some-
times doubted if its history is correct ; but there is
probably no mistake as to its origin. For many years
the Downing was the leading fruit -bearing mulberry,
but it proved to be short-lived, and was often injured
by the winters in the northern states ; and even as far
south as Texas it frequently suffers from the cold. In
Florida and other parts of the South it is still some-
what grown, particularly as cuttings
upon which to graft varieties which
root less freely. Yet the nurserymen
everywhere still sell the Downing mul-
berry ; but it turns out, upon inves-
tigation, that the Downing which they
sell is not the variety originated by
the Down ings. In fact, it is not even
Morus multicaulis! The variety which,
in good faith, they sell for Downing is
really a form of Morus alba, the species
which elsewhere in the world is grown
only for the silk -worm or for orna-
With the gradual passing out of the Down-
ing has come the gradual usurpation of the name
and the good -will by a variety of the other species,
and no man has recorded the transfer; and now the

Fie. 22.
mulberry, nearly
natural size.

ment!

THE STRANGE RESULT 169

true Downing is all but lost to cultivation, and the
false variety is gaining in reputation. It is an excel-
lent illustration of the operation of the struggle for
existence, and the better has survived ; but the wonder
is that such a striking transformation could take place
before our very eyes and we see it not !

The variety which, in the North, is sold as Down-
ing, is really the New American. This variety was
brought to notice about 1854, by N. H. Lindley, of
Bridgeport, Connecticut. No one knows its history,
but it is undoubtedly a chance seedling of one of the
old silk-worm mulberries. Two other varieties, the
Trovvbridge and Thorburn, are almost indistinguishable
from it, and of these the history is also unknown ; but
they are forms of Morus alba. The Russian mulberry
type has also given us large -fruited varieties within
recent years. Two of these which have received
names are Ramsey White and Victoria. A Japanese
mulberry, too (Morus Japonica), has been introduced,
but it has not yet given us important fruit -bearing
varieties.

It will thus be seen that our cultivated mulberry
flora, although small, is yet delightfully confused ; but
the confusion, when once understood, is found to be
the result of a curious evolution, in the course of which
the old-time fruit -bearing mulberry has lost its promi-
nence, the native mulberry has come to the fore, the
epoch-making multicaulis, introduced for silk, came to
be grown for its fruit, and its best fruit -producing
variety has been driven out by a variety of another
species which has heretofore been grown only for
silk ; and the entire transformation has been wrought
by intelligent men who were ignorant of it !

Ill

THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN PLUMS
AND CHERRIES

THE early records mention plums nearly as fre-
quently as they speak of grapes. In fact, the abun-
dance of many kinds of wild fruits made a great
impression upon all the settlers of America, from the
valley of the St. Lawrence to Georgia. The wild
plum tree was seen and admired by Jacques Cartier,
upon his visit to the St. Lawrence River in 1535. In
the preliminary reconnoissance of the Cape Cod region,
various fruit plants were encountered. Bradford and
Winslow, in their journal, speak of "vines everywhere,
cherry trees, plum trees, and many others which we
know not." Edward Winslow writes to a friend in
England in 1621, from Plymouth, of "grapes, white and
red, and very sweet and strong also ; strawberries,
gooseberries, raspas, &c.; plums of three sorts, white
black, and red, being almost as good as a damson."
Francis Higgiuson, in his "New-Englands Plantation,"
1630, mentions the following amongst the natural
productions of the country: "Mulberries, Plums,
Raspberries, Corrance, Chesnuts, Filberds, Walnuts,
Smalnuts, Hurtleberries and Hawes of White -thorne
naere as good as our Cherries in England, they grow
in plentie here." Thomas Morton, in his "New English
Canaan," 1632, makes the following reference: "Plum-
trees, of this kind there are many ; some that beare
(170)

EARLY ACCOUNTS OP PLUMS 171

fruit as bigg as our ordinary bullis : others there
be, that doe beare fruite much bigger than peare
plumraes, their colour red, and their stones flat, very
delitious in taste." William Wood gives a more
explicit account of the wild cherries and plums, in
his "New England's Prospect," published in 1634:
"The Cherrie trees yeeld great store of Cherries which
grow on clusters like grapes ; they be much smaller
than our English Cherrie, nothing neare so good if
they be not fully ripe, they so furre the mouth that
the tongue will cleave to the roofe, and the throate
wax hoarse with swallowing those red Bullies (as
I may call them) being little better in taste. Eng-
lish ordering may bring them to be an English
cherrie, but yet they are as wilde as the Indians.
The Plummes of the Countrey be better for Plumbs
than the Cherries be for Cherries ; they be blacke
and yellow, about the bignesse of a Damson, of a
reasonable good taste."

Wood's cherry is instantly recognized as the choke
cherry, and it is probable that this is the species
which the other writers had in mind, although it is
possible that the sand cherry or even the beach plum
may have attracted their attention and have been rec-
ognized as cherries. Their plum is undoubtedly the
common native wild plum, which has a wide range
from New England westward and southward. It is not
plain, however, what the white plum of Winslow may
have been. Alexander Young, in his "Chronicles of
the Pilgrim Fathers," says that in the original edi-
tion of Winslow, published in London in 1622, the
word "white" occurred as "with," which he calls "an
error of the press;" but inasmuch as there is no white

172 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FEUITS

plum, it is possible that the original printing is cor-
rect, although if "white" be omitted, there remain only
two of the "three sorts" of plums, — the black and the
red. If white was intended, it is probable that the
writer had in mind fruits which are light -colored from
the presence of a heavy "bloom." But it is evident that
these running observations must not be translated too
exactly. It is enough to know that the settlers found
plums of eatable quality.

Captain John Smith was attracted by the wild
plums when he first went to Virginia. "Plumbs there
are of 3 sorts," he says. "The red and white are like
our hedge plumbs : but the other, which they call
Putchamins, grow as high as a Palmeta. The fruit is
like a medler ; it is first greene, then yellow, and red
when it is ripe : if it be not ripe it will drawe a
mans mouth awrie with much torment ; but when it
is ripe, it is as delicious as an Apricock." The reader
will instantly recognize this last plum as the persim-
mon ; and the word " putchamin" is no doubt a pho-
netic rendering of the Indian word from which the
word persimmon is derived. Strachey, writing some
four or five years later (that is, sometime from 1610
to 1612), also speaks of a "plomb which they call
pessemmins," and he likens it to a medlar and an
apricot, no doubt in imitation of Smith. Strachey
also says : "They have cherries, much like a dam-
oizin, but for their tast and cullour we called them
cherries ; and a plomb there is, somewhat fairer than
a cherrie, of the same relish, then which "are seldom e
a better eaten." I suppose that the cherry to which
Strachey refers is the Chickasaw plum, which gro^vs
abundantly in that region, and which is even now

RANGE OF THE NATIVE PLUMS 173

called "mountain cherry" in parts of Maryland and
Virginia. John Smith's language is very similar, and
it is probably the source of Strachey's information:
"They have cherries, and those are much like a Dam-
sen ; but for their tastes and colour, we called them
Cherries." The other plum mentioned by Strachey is
probably a form of Prunus Americana, or possibly
some large -fruited form of the Chickasaw plum.

The Native Plums in General

It is not my purpose to make an inquiry into the
early records of wild plums, but merely to mention
the fact that the colonists were attracted by the fruit,
and that they seemed to think it worthy of improve-
ment. This improvement did not develop, however,
until the present century, and even then it was not
the outcome of any direct effort at a definite object,
but only the aggregate result of bringing together
such wild or chance varieties as attracted the attention
of lovers of fruit. It is interesting to notice, also,
that these varieties originated or were discovered in
parts of the country which were being newly settled.
The great territory of New England, New York, Penn-
sylvania and Michigan has never produced a variety of
native plums which has been named and attained
to any prominence. This is partly due to the fact
that the wild plums of this great region, while of the
same species as those in the tipper Mississippi valley,
are less prolific of large-fruited forms than those
farther west. It is chiefly due, however, to the cir-
cumstance that the European plum thrives admira-
bly in this geographical region, and there was, there-

174 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

fore, little need of giving any attention to the inferior
natives ; and at the present time the fruit-growers
of the East care little for and know less of these
native fruits. The European plums thrive so well
in these states and adjacent territory that they have
become spontaneous along roadsides and in copses in
many places, where they bear an annual abundance
of little fruits which are commonly called damsons,
and which are gathered for use in making conserves.
Even as early as 1663, John Josselyn writes as
follows of some of the fruits of New England :
"The Quinces, Cherries, Damsons, set the Dames
a work, Marmalad and preserved Damsons is to be
met with in every house. It was not long before
I left the Countrey that I made Cherry wine, and
so may others, for there are good store of them both
red and black."

In Virginia and southward, however, the European
plum does not thrive so well, and the inhabitants of
those regions, previous to the present generation, have
not been noted for their attention to horticultural
industries. The result has been that no plum indus-
try has developed in the South until very recently.
Yet the wild plums have long been gathered and
employed in domestic uses, as, indeed, they have in
thinly settled portions of Ontario and other parts of
the northwestern territory. But it appears to have
been chiefly in the newly settled regions, as I have
said, that these large -fruited native plums have been
sorted out and named. The settlers often suffered for
lack of fruit, and were, therefore, eager to seize upon
the native productions. Sometimes these plums were
carried into the new country by the emigrants, and

THE FIRST NAMED VARIETY 175

there obtained their first notoriety. Thus, some forty
or fifty years ago, a native plum was taken from Ala-
bama to Texas, and it is now introduced from Texas
under the name of Saffold. The most interesting
instance of this migration and subsequent fame is
that of the Miner plum ; and as this appears to have
been the first native plum to have received a name, it
may well serve to introduce our narrative.

The seed which produced the Miner plum was
planted in 1814, in Knox county, Tennessee, by Wil-
liam Dodd, an officer under General Jackson. Dodd
appears to have had two batches of seed, one which
he gathered the year previous upon Talaposa creek,
and the other given him by an Indian chief. It is
not clear from which lot this plum sprung. The
plum gained some notice when it came into bearing,
and was known as Old Hickory and General Jack-
son. In 1823 or 1824 Dodd moved to Illinois and
settled near Springfield, taking sprouts of this plum
with him. The plums soon attracted attention among
Dodd's neighbors, and the variety was called in its
new home William Dodd and Chickasaw Chief. The
year following William Dodd's removal to Illinois, his
brother moved to Galena, Illinois, and took some of
the plums. About Galena the plum became known as
the Hinckley. I do not know how the name Miner
came to be applied to it, but Down ing's reference to
Mr. Miner of Pennsylvania— who probably grew and
disseminated it — undoubtedly explains it. It is said
by D. B. Wier that the late Hon. James G. Soulard,
of Galena, introduced this plum to general cultivation.
As the variety became disseminated, it received new
or local names. Downing gives Hinckley, Isabel,

176 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Gillett, Townsend and Robinson as synonyms of it.
The Robinson now known is a very different fruit.
The Miner is one of the best and most popular of the
native plums. The fruit is large, round or roundish-
oblong, dull red, skin rather thick; stone cling, short
and broad, smooth or very nearly so, very short-
pointed, rather sharp on the front edge ; leaves large
and heavy, usually inclined to be obovate, rather long-
pointed, the stalks glandular. It is one of the latest
ripening of all ihe plums of its class.

The second important event in the evolution of
the native plums is the origination of the Wild
Goose. On account of its productiveness, earliness,
beauty, good shipping qualities, and its early intro-
duction, this is the most popular of the native plums.
It was first brought to notice by James Harvey, of
Columbia, Tennessee. Some time before 1850, a man
shot a wild goose near Columbia, and on the spot
where the carcass was thrown this plum came up the
following spring. It was introduced about 1850 by
the late J. S. Downer, Fairview, Kentucky. The
fruit is large, round-oblong, light red, skin thin, the
flesh thin and juicy ; cling, stone long and narrow,
prolonged above into a sharp point and below into a
narrow base, finely pitted; leaves oblong -lanceolate,
peach -like, not prominently pointed, the margins finely
and evenly serrate. Early, of poor quality, but because
of its many striking features it is widely grown.

Another important event was the introduction of
the Robinson. This is a seedling grown by a Mr.
Pickett, of Putnam county, Indiana, from a seedling
brought with him from North Carolina about fifty
years ago, and almost every season (since large

TYPICAL VARIETIES 177

enough) it has borne abundant crops. The variety
was neglected, and never brought to the notice of
the public till 1879, when Dr. J. H. Robinson (of
the same township) read a paper on Chickasaw plums
before the Indiana Horticultural Society, and gave a
very flattering description of this plum. He had
been watching it since 1872, and had had two good
crops on his own trees, which bore two bushels to the
tree five years after planting. It was named by the
Putnam County Horticultural Society in honor of Dr.
Robinson. Albertsou & Hobbs, nurserymen, of Bridge-
port, Indiana, introduced the variety in the fall of
1884 and spring of 1885.

Since 1860, many plums of the type of these three
have come into notice in the region south of the Ohio
and east of Kansas. Some of the leading varieties
are Wayland, which came up in a plum thicket in
the garden of Professor H. B. Wayland, Cadiz, Ken-
tucky, and which was introduced to the public by
Downer & Bro., Fairview, Kentucky, about 1876;
Missouri Apricot (or Honey Drop), a plum found
wild in Missouri and introduced by Stark Bros.,
nurserymen, of Louisiana, Missouri, in 1886 ; More-
man, a Kentucky plum, introduced by W. F. Heikes
in 1881 ; Golden Beauty, found wild in Texas, and
introduced by George Onderdouk in 1874 ; Potta-
wattamie, found in Tennessee, but taken west and
first prominently introduced by J. B. Rice, Council
Bluffs, Iowa, in 1875; Newman (Fig. 23), found in
Kentucky, and introduced by W. F. Heikes.

While these events were transpiring in the South,
another type of native plums was coining into promi-
nence in the upper Mississippi valley. In this region

'

TYPICAL VARIETIES 179

the plums were large and thick-skinned, often flat-
tened, and bearing a distinct suture or groove, the
flesh firm and meaty, and the stone usually large and
often very flat. The tree, too, is of a different
type, being a stiff grower, with dull shoots and large,
heavy, dull, more or less obovate and coarsely toothed
leaves, while those in the South are slender,
twiggy growers, with bright or light -colored shoots,
and more slender and often peach -like, closely toothed
leaves. The settlers in Wisconsin, northern Illinois,
Minnesota and Iowa found this type of plum abun-
dant in the timber belts. Very often trees were found
bearing fruit of unusual size and excellence. Such
trees were removed to gardens, or seeds of them were
sown, and very soon a new race of plums had come
into cultivation.

The Wolf was one of the first of these varieties
to be named. This originated on the farm of D. B.
Wolf, Wapello county, Iowa, about forty years ago,
from pits said to have been gathered from wild trees.

The Rollingstone is one of the prominent varieties
of this type. It was found nearly forty years ago
on the bank of the Rollingstone Creek, Winona
county, Minnesota, by O. M. Lord, and he intro-
duced it to public notice about fifteen years ago.
The fruit of the Rollingstone is very large (often 1%
inches each in diameter), round, flattened and truncate
at the ends, mottled and spotted pink -purple, skin very
thick ; flesh firm, sweet and excellent ; semi-cling,
stone nearly circular, rather flat, sharp on the back
edge, nearly smooth ; leaves large and firm.

The Quaker was found wild by Joseph Bundy, of
Springville, Linn county, Iowa. It was disseminated

180

THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

about 1862 by H. C. Raymond, Council Bluffs, and
by him named Quaker, in compliment to Mr. Bundy,
who is a Quaker. It is a very large purple-red plum,
with very firm and sweet flesh.

De Soto is one of the most popular plums in the
Northwest. It was found wild on the Mississippi

Fig. 24. Forest Garden plum. Natura

at De Soto, Wisconsin, and generally introduced by
Elisha Hale, Lansing, Iowa, in 1863 or 1864.

Forest Garden (Fig. 24), another excellent kind,
was taken from the woods at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, by
Thomas Hare, and introduced by H. C. Raymond, of the
Forest Garden Nurseries, Council Bluffs, about 1862.

Cheney was found in Mormon Ravine, a few miles

TYPICAL VAR1ET1KS 181

below La Crosse, Wisconsin, some years ago, and
introduced by E. Markley, of La Crosse.

The Weaver, a loading native plum, was found
wild near Palo, Iowa, by Mr. Weaver; introduced by
Eimis & Patten in 1875. O. M. Lord tells me that
plums indistinguishable from the Weaver are wild
in profusion on the St. Peter or Minnesota River.

In this way, about a hundred choice forms of the
native plum of the Northwest have been gathered and
sorted and given names ; and they are so much more
hardy and reliable in that region than the European
type of plum that they will probably form the chief
foundation from which the future orchard plums of
the northern prairie states will spring. They are
already grown to an important commercial extent.

The Americana Group of Plums

It will be necessary, before proceeding further
with the historical data, to discuss the natural species
from which the plums that we have mentioned have
come. The layman may not know that the genus
Prunus, to which the plums and cherries belong, is
one of the hard knots to botanists. That is, the
plants are widely variable, and there are few pro-
nounced or constant marks to distinguish one type
of variation from another. The numerous forms
grade into each other so imperceptibly and inextri-
cably that the genus cannot be readily broken up into
species. But these genera which are the despair of
the systematic botanist are the inspiration of the evo-
lutionist. In them the philosopher thinks that he
can trace the influences of soil and climate and the

182 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

other environments which cause plants to assume
new forms. If, therefore, we cannot delimit the
species of Prunus to our satisfaction, we shall, never-
theless, find them to be a most suggestive study when
we attempt to trace the evolution of our native fruits.
The wild plum of the North is known to botanists
as Prunus Americana (Fig. 25). It was first de-
scribed by Humphrey Marshall in his "Arbustxum
Americanum," in 1785. Marshall's complete account
is as follows :

"Prunus Americana. Large Yellow Sweet Plumb.
This generally rises to the height of 12 or 15 feet,
spreading into many stiif branches. The leaves are
oblong, oval, acute pointed, sharply sawed on their
edges and much veined. The flowers generally come
out very thick round the branches, often upon thick
short spurs ; and are succeeded by large oval fruit
with a sweet succulent pulp. We have a great variety
of these, growing naturally in a good moist soil, with
reddish and yellowish fruit, but differing much in
size, taste and consistence."

The species has a wide range. It grows in thickets
and woods from Newfoundland to Colorado, Florida
and Texas, and northern Mexico. It is commonly a
small low-headed tree, or sometimes only a large bush,
making a thick and usually thorny top. It bears a
firm, meaty, usually compressed, dull -colored late
fruit, with thick and usually very tough, glaucous
skin, and large more or less flattened stone, which is
often nearly or quite free ; and the leaves are large
obovate, thick, veiny, jagged and dull. The fruits of
wild forms of Prunus Americana vary widely in sea-
son, size, shape, flavor, and character of stone. Trees

Fig. 2o. Prunus Americana. Half size.

184 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR' NATIVE FEUITS

in the same clump often vary two weeks iii season of
ripening of fruit, which may vary from dull, deep red
to yellow, and from the size of a small cherry to that
of a common garden plum. It should be said, how-
ever, that there is no true clear yellow fruit in this
species. The yellow of P. Americana is always a
more or less ill -denned under- color, over which are
laid blotches of red. The fruits are commonly marked
with a distinct suture. All the varieties have a light
purple bloom. The Texan form of Primus Americana,
known locally as the Hog plum, appears to differ some-
what from the northern forms, but there seems to be no
reason to regard it as a distinct species. The Prunus
Texana of Scheele is Prunus Americana, as shown by
an authentic specimen in the Engelrnann herbarium at
St. Louis. The Texan type is not in general culti-
vation, however, and need not be further discussed
here. It is in the northern prairie states, as I have
said, that this species reaches its greatest excellence
in fruit-bearing. All the horticultural varieties of
merit, so far as I know, have originated in northern
Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota,
Nebraska and Kansas, with one or two unimportant
exceptions in Texas.

Some botanists suppose that this northern plum
really comprises more than one natural species. Pro-
fessor Sargent is of the opinion that the Prunus
nigra of Aiton should be revived to designate those
forms which are characterized by very flat and smooth
stones, very broad leaves, glandular leaf -stalks and
calyx lobes, and large flowers ; and he inserts a plate
and description of what he conceives to be this
species in his noble "Silva of North America." My

PRUNUS NIGRA 185

friend, Professor Charles A. Davis, of Michigan, finds
two forms, which he distinguishes as follows : "The
large-flowered form is the more common, and blooms
about a week or even ten days before the other, and
usually before the leaves begin to appear. The small-
flowered form I have never found until this spring,
when I came upon a clump of it in full bloom, and at
once became interested in it because of its decided dif-
ferences from the other and common form. The trees
were larger, more spreading, and with a much rougher
bark than the large -flowered form; and a number of
the trees bore flowers with a decidedly yellowish tint,
which was very noticeable from a short distance. The
fruit was late, maturing the middle of September, and
was reddish, almost purple in very ripe specimens, with
a whitish bloom, small and rather palatable."

Aiton described his Primus nigra in "Hortus
Kewensis," in 1789, from a tree growing in England.
He did not know Marshall's previous description. In
1808, John Sims figured what he supposed to be the
same plant in the "Botanical Magazine." There is
little in either of these descriptions which can be con-
strued as delimiting the plant from Marshall's Primus
Americana. Perhaps the only designative characters
are the "petiolis glandulosis," and the "glandular-
toothed" calyx segments.* Six years ago, in my bul-

*Aiton described Prunus nigra as follows (Hort. Kew. ii. 165, 1789):—
14. P. umbellis sessilibus solitariis paucifloris, foliis deciduis ovatis acumiuatis,
petiolis biglandulosis.

Black Cherry Tree.
Nat. of Canada.

Introd. 1773, by Messrs. Kennedy and Lee.
Fl. April and May.

I have seen Alton's specimen in the Natural History Museum, at South
Kensington. It comprises a spray of foliage and a flowering branch. It is
apparently the same plant which contemporaneous botanists are calling Prunvt
nigra.

186 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

letin upon "The Cultivated Native Plums and Cher-
ries," I was unable to find any warrant for accepting
two species of these northern plums, although I had
made a studious effort to do so for several years. In
the meantime I have studied the plants diligently in
the wild and under cultivation, and have now gone
over much herbarium material anew, but I have been
utterly unable to find characters upon which to make
two species. The glandular character of the calyx-
lobes may be present or absent in the same horticul-
tural variety when grown in different places, and it
is not associated with large or early flowers, with
biglandular leaf -stalks or with large and flat stones
in the fruit. The presence or absence of two glands
upon the leaf -stalk is of no classificatory importance.
The glands are frequently present and absent on con-
tiguous leaves on the same tree. In the shape of the
stones there is the most insensible gradation from the
small turgid stone, which is assumed to be designative
of Prunus Americana, to the great flat stone of Primus
nigra. The accompanying illustration (Fig. 26) shows
this admirably. Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 are stones of
named varieties which Professor Sargent considers to
belong to Prunus nigra. All the others are forms of
typical Prunus Americana. One of the flattest stones
in the lot is No. 2, which came from a tree in cen-
tral New York which has most pronounced characters
of the extreme and typical Americana form. The
inventory of these stones is as follows :

No. 1, Prunus Americana from Colorado ; 2, same
from central New York (stone flat, from a small very
early, red fruit); 3, same from Wisconsin (stone very
turgid); 4, same from central Michigan (small -flow-

VARIATIONS IN PLUM PITS

187

Fig. 26. Stones of Prunus Americana. Natural size.

ered, typical Americana form, but stone as flat and
as strongly edged as in the nigra form); 5, Deep
Creek, grown in Maryland; 6, Louisa, grown in
Maryland ; 7, De Soto, grown in Maryland ; 8, De
Soto, grown in Iowa; 9, Forest Garden, grown in
New York; 10, Purple Yosemite (Prunus nigra},
grown in Maryland; 11, Quaker (P. niyra), grown

188 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

in Maryland; 12, Weaver (P. nigra), grown in Mary-
land ; 13, Weaver, grown in Minnesota ; 14, Weaver,
grown in Texas.

To give the reader an opportunity to compare this
interesting variation in plum stones with like varia-
tion in another and foreign species, I insert a picture
(Fig. 27) of stones of the myrobalan plum (Primus
cerasifera) selected from an imported commercial
sample. (See discussion beginning on page 208.)

The early flowering of some trees of this Primus
Americana stock is a most conspicuous character, but
I do not see that it should excite any more interest
than the very early maturing of fruit on some trees ;
nor do I see that an occasional large -flowered form
is any more worthy of being accorded specific rank
than a large -fruited form. These are all probably
individual variations, and likely have no close rela-
tion to the genetic history of the species.

I am obliged, therefore, to unite Prunus nigra
with P. Americana. This I regret the more because
it is undoubtedly true that there are two or more well
marked wild varieties passing as P. Americana, and
growing together in the East. One type is a twiggj',
virgate grower, with large and mostly earlier flowers ;
another is a stout and stiff grower, with small flowers.
So far as I have been able to determine, the fruits
and stones of these two forms, save possibly in time
of ripening, are not characteristically distinct. These
forms are certainly common in central New York and
in Michigan. It is a question, however, if the habit
of growth is not largely determined by the soil, posi-
tion, or other circumstances in which the trees grow.
At all events, these differences are not more marked

PRUNUS NIGRA 189

than similar varieties in elms, mulberries or haw-
thorns, and which no one associates with specific
differences. I am not yet prepared to affirm that
the wild plum of the North contains but a single
species, but I am convinced that no botanist has yet
been able to draw designative characters to separate
out a second or third species.

The extreme forms of this Americana plum are
so well marked, however, that it will be useful, for
purposes of study, if incidental names be given them.
I am, therefore, inclined to follow Waugh* in calling
this northern type Primus Americana var. nigra.

It should be said that beyond the Mississippi there
is a very pubescent -leaved form of Primus Americana,
which is known to botanists as the variety mollisj
It is from this type that the Wolf plum comes.
There is also a form of this with flowers as com-
pletely double as those of St. Peter's Wreath, or

*F. A. Waugh, Bull. 53, Vt. Exp. Sta. 58 (Aug. 1896):—

P. AMERICANA, Marsh. COMMON WILD PLUM. The type distinguished by
entire calyx lobes, which are pubescent on the inner surface ; stone turgid ;
leaves oval or slightly obovate ; petioles mostly without glands. Tree spreading,
ragged, thorny, 8-20 ft. high ; flowers large, white, on slender pedicels ; leaves
very coarsely veined, never glossy or shining ; fruit more or less flattened upon
the sides, firm and meaty, the skin tough and glaucous and never glossy, ripening
through yellow to red. Occurs wild from New Jersey and New York, to 31 on-
tana and Colorada. It varies southward, in Texas and New Mexico represented
mostly by the variety mollis.

Var. NIORA. CANADA PLUM. RED PLUM (P. nigra. Ait ; P. Americana, T. &
G. ; and 6th ed. Gray's Manual). In its extreme forms easily distinguished by the
glandular-serrate calyx lobes, glabrous on the inner surface ; compressed stone ;
broadly oblong-ovate to obovate leaves with petioles bearing two glands. Flowers
large, white, with short, thick peduncles conspicuously marked by the scars left
by the falling of the bud scales ; pedicels dark red, slender, glabrous ; calyx tube
broadly obconic, dark red on the outer and bright red on the inner surface ; fruit
oblong-oval, orange-red ; stone nearly oval, compressed. Occurs wild from New-
foundland west to Rainy and Assiniboine rivers in Canada, and commonly in the
New England states, where it is found alona roadsides and in waste places.

tThis is Prunus australis of Munson. See Waugh, Hot. Gaz. xxvi., 50.

190 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

similar spireas. The named varieties of native plums
which, it seems to me, can be confidently referred
to Prunus Americana are named below. There are
others which belong to this species, but I have not
had an opportunity of critically examining them:

American Eagle, Beaty's Choice, Cheney, Chip-
peway, Cottrell, Deep Creek, De Soto, Forest Garden,
Gaylord, Harrison's Peach, Hawkeye, Illinois Iron-

Fig. 27. Variation in stones of Myrobalan plum. Natural size.

clad, Itaska, Jessie, Kickapoo, Late Rollingstone, Le
Due, Little Seedling (of Chas. Luedloff), Louisa,
Luedloff 's Green, Luedloff 's Red, Maquoketa, Min-
netonka, Mussey, Newton Egg, Ocheeda, Peffer's
Premium, Purple Yosemite, Quaker, Rollingstone,
Smith's Red, Speer, Stoddart, Wazata, Weaver,
Wier's Large Red, Wyant, Yellow Sweet. Of the
variety mollis, of Prunus Americana, two named fruit
varieties are well marked, the Wolf (or Wolf Free),
and the Van Buren.

THE CHICKASAW PLUMS 191

The Chickasaw Group

It now remains to discuss the botanical status of
the southern type of plums, of which the Newman,
Pottawattamie, Wild Goose, Miner and Way land are
examples. We shall find that greater uncertainty
and confusion attach to these fruits than to their
congeners of the North. These southern fruits are
generally known as the Chickasaw plums. If we
examine them critically, however, we shall find that
they fall somewhat readily into two groups. One of
these groups we shall call the true Chickasaws (Fig.
28). This group differs from other plums by a more
slender, spreading and zigzag growth, usually smaller
size of tree, red twigs, by smaller, lanceolate or
oblong -lanceolate, very closely serrate, shining leaves,
which are conduplicate or trough -like in habit, by
early small flowers which, upon old wood, are densely
clustered on the spurs, and by an early red (rarely
yellow) and more or less spotted translucent fruit,
the flesh of which is soft, juicy, and more or less
stringy, and very tightly adherent to the small, broad,
roughish stone.

This species, like Prunus Americana, was founded
by Humphrey Marshall in 1785. His full descrip-
tion is as follows: "Prunus angustifolia. Chickasaw
Plumb. This is scarcely of so large a growth as
the former [P. Americana], but rising with a stiff,
shrubby stalk, dividing into many branches, which
are garnished with smooth lance -shaped leaves, much
smaller and narrower than the first kind [P. Ameri-
cana] , a little waved on their edges, marked with
very fine, slight, coloured serratures, and of an equal,

CHICKASAW PLUMS 193

shining green colour, on both sides. The blossoms
generally come out very thick, and are succeeded
by oval, or often somewhat egg-shaped fruit, with
a very thin skin, and soft, sweet pulp. There are
varieties of this with yellow and crimson coloured
fruit. These being natives of the Southern states,
are somewhat impatient of much cold." It was later
described by Michaux as Primus Chicasa* It is also
undoubtedly the plant intended by Rafmesque, when
he described Prunus stenopliyllus in his "Florula
Ludoviciana," in 1817. In a wild state the little trees
or bushes are thorny, and the thorns persist in some
of the cultivated varieties. It grows wild, often in
dense thickets, from southern Delaware to Florida,
and westward to Kansas and Texas. It is commonly
stated in the books that the Chickasaw plum is not
native to the Atlantic states, and some suppose that
it was introduced into the United States from
countries to the south of us. I have been unable
to find sufficient reasons for these opinions, and I
believe that the species is native to the Southeastern
states. In Maryland, as I have seen it, it behaves
like an indigenous plant, and the people regard it
as a true native. The small, acerb fruit of the
thorny and scraggly wild bushes is known in Mary-
land as "mountain cherry."

One of the first persons to call attention to the
horticultural possibilities of the Chickasaw plum

*The specimens in Michaux's herbarium, at Paris, are Prunus hortulana, not
the plant we have taken to be P. angustifolia ; but they are marked with an
interrogation point, and they may not be the plant which he meant to designate.
His Prunus hyemalis is P. Americana ; his P. tphaerocarpa is P. maritima.
Of his Cerasus borealis there are two things on the sheet, but they are both forms
of P. hortulana.

194 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

was William N. White, of Athens, Georgia. In the
"Horticulturist" for 1852, he describes the tree and
fruit, — the latter "either bright red or yellow" — and
speaks of one variety which ripens nearly a month
later than the ordinary forms, the fruit being "nearly
free from astringency" and "about the size of Prince's
Yellow Gage." In the original edition of his "Gar-
dening for the South," 1856, Mr. White also mentions
the Chickasaw plum, and adds: "Doubtless many
excellent native varieties will be originated from this
hardy native fruit. Some are now found almost
entirely free from astringency. This plum seems
free from curculio, and never fails of a crop."

The varieties which seem to be the most unmis-
takably true Chickasaws, among those which I have
studied, are the following :

African, Arkansas Lombard, Caddo Chief, Coletta,
Early Red, El Paso, Hoffman, Jennie Lucus, Lone
Star, Newman (Figs. 23, 28), Ogeechee, Pottawatta-
mie, Robinson, Schley's Large Red, Transparent or
Yellow Transparent.

The Hortulana Group

The second group of these southern plums is
probably the most important type of native plums
now in cultivation. It includes varieties character-
ized by strong, wide - spreading growth, and mostly
smooth twigs ; a firm, juicy, bright -colored, thin-
skinned fruit, which is never flattened ; a clinging,
turgid, comparatively small, rough stone, which is
sometimes prolonged at the ends, but is never con-
spicuously wing -margined, and by comparatively thin

THE HORTULANA PLUMS 195

and firm, shining, smooth, flat, more or less peach-
like, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, long-pointed leaves,
which are mostly closely and obtusely glandular -ser-
rate, and the stalks of which are usually glandular.
In the wild state, it appears to follow the Mississippi
river from northern Illinois to Arkansas, in its mid-
dle region ranging as far east as eastern Kentucky
and Tennessee, and possibly to Maryland, and in
the southwest spreading over Texas. It is probable
that the large red plums of which Humphrey
Marshall had heard, over a century ago, as grow-
ing upon the Mississippi, and which he called
Prunus Mississippi, were of this hortulana group.
Marshall's complete description of this plum is as
follows: "Prunus Mississippi. Crimson Plumb. This
grows naturally upon the Mississippi, and is of
larger size than most of the other kinds. The
fruit are crimson coloured, and somewhat acid."
(Arbustrum Americanum, 112.)

To this group belong the Wild Goose, Miner,
and Way land, and their kin. It had not been
recognized and delimited by botanists as distinct
from other tribes of plums, and six years ago,
when attempting a monograph of the cultivated
native plums, I proposed the species Prunus hortu-
lana to designate the group. The name hortulana
was chosen to record the fact that these interesting
plums were first studied by horticulturists rather
than by botanists. The varieties are intermediate
betweed the Americana and Chickasaw groups. The
fruits lack entirely the dull -colored, compressed,
thick-skinned and meaty characters of the Ameri-
canas, and approach very closely to the Chickasaws.

196 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

They are usually covered with a thin bloom, and are
more or less marked by small spots. They are variable
in period of ripening, there being a difference of no
less than two months between the seasons of some
of the cultivated varieties. In color they range from
the most vivid crimson to pure golden yellow.

In the seven years which have now elapsed since
I made my first serious study of the botanical fea-
tures of these fruits, I have had trees and botanical
specimens of the native plums constantly before me
in great variety, and certain novel conclusions
respecting the botanical status of this hortulana
class have been forced upon me. If one attempts
to make an analytical study of this Prunus hortu-
lana, he is first of all impressed with the singular
fact that, whereas cultivated varieties of it are numer-
ous, it is rare in a wild state, and is almost
unknown to field botanists. It turns up now and
then in the Mississippi valley region and in Texas,
but the stations of the feral plants are widely scat-
tered and local. Associated with this comparative
rarity of the wild plant is the fact that the species
has no distinctive range. It grows where both the
Chickasaw and Americana types grow, but it appears
not to occur where either of those species alone
grows. Well-marked species of plants nearly
always have an individual geographical range, but
the distribution of Prunus hortulana seems to be
accidental. The next remarkable feature which strikes
the critical student is that, although there are cer-
tain types of it which seem to have well-marked
specific characters, it grades off imperceptibly to the
Chickasaw group on one hand and to the Americana

THE GENESIS OF THE HORTULANAS 197

Fig. 29. Kanawha pluin.

group on the other. So true is this, that I cannot
give a single technical character which seems to be
invariably associated with the species. A fourth
noticeable feature is the tendency to emphatic de-
partures from the assumed type of the species,
especially in the direction of large-leaved forms, as
in the Kanawha (Fig. 29). The reader has already
guessed my conclusion : Prunus hortulana is a name

198 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

for a brood of natural hybrids between Prunus an-
gustifolia and Primus Americana*

I am aware that it is a dangerous expedient to
invoke hybridity to account for inexplicable behaviors
of plants. It is likely to serve only as a cloak for
superficial knowledge, but it is convenient, never-
theless, and in the present instance there is no other
resort to cover the writer's ignorance of the subject.
But there is really much explicit foundation for the
belief in this hybridity, as I have already explained;
and it is known that many of these native plums
can be freely hybridized. I am the more convinced
of the validity of this position from the similar
behavior of certain wild apples, the vagaries of which
are explained in the next chapter. Some of the
plums which I have referred to Prunus hortulana
may be direct developments from the true Chickasaw
type, and others may be direct offshoots or variations
from the Americana type. In my monograph upon
"The Cultivated Native Plums and Cherries" (Bull.
38, Cornell Exp. Sta.), I made a sub-group of this
hortulana class to comprise "a few anomalous varie-
ties which appear to be intermediate between Prunus
hortulana and P. Americana. They may be an off-
shoot of P. hortulana, or it is possible that they
constitute a distinct species. The Miner is par-
ticularly well marked, but there are others which
it is somewhat difficult to separate from P. hor-
tulana. The group differs from the species by
the dull and comparatively thick leaves, which are

This disposition was first made in Bot. Gaz. 1896, p. 462, but it was sug-
gested two years earlier (see « Survival of the Unlike," 424). See, also, Bull. 131,
Cornell Exp. Sta. 170 (1897).

GENESIS OP THE HORTULANAS 199

conspicuously veiny below, and irregularly coarsely
toothed, and more or less obovate in outline, by a
late, very firm fruit, and by a more or less smooth
and Americana -like stone. I am not able to designate
the range of the wild plant, but it appears to occur
in Illinois (and perhaps Indiana), Missouri, Ten-
nessee, and perhaps in Arkansas." This sub-group
I called Prunus hortulana var. Mineri. The varie-
ties Miner and Forest Rose are typical of it. These
are so near Prunus Americana that Sargent refers
them to that species. In foliage and fruit they have
marks of the hortulana tribe, and I now regard them
as hybrids — perhaps secondary ones — which partake
very strongly of the Americana blood.

One who diligently studies the native plums will
be impressed with the great variation which is asso-
ciated with change of climate or locality. In the
southern states, the flowers tend to appear wholly
in advance of the leaves, and they are borne upon
short stalks, or may be nearly or quite sessile. In
the North, the flowers and leaves are generally coeta-
neous, and the flower stalks are usually longer This
curious phenomenon, which is illustrated in the
accompanying engravings (Figs. 30, 31), is due to
the more sudden outburst of spring in the North,
by virtue of which all the latent energies of the plant
are pushed into simultaneous expansion*. The same
sudden outburst is seen in Prunus Americana (Fig.
32). This difference is often so pronounced in
botanical specimens of flowering shoots of the same
horticultural variety, taken in the South and the
North, that even good botanists may be confounded

*See, also, "Survival of the Unlike," Essay XVII.

Pig. 30. Newman, grown ir
New York.

Fig. 31. Newman, grown in
Maryland.

INFLUENCE OP CLIMATE

201

by it. But the differences in climate are not recorded
in the flowering and the leafing alone, but often also
in the form and texture of the
leaves and in the character of
the fruit. The Newman plum,
as I have seen it growing in
Maryland, I should refer un-
hesitatingly to Prunus angusti-
folia, but as it grows in New
York, I am in
doubt whether to
refer it to that spe-
cies or to Prunus
hortulana. These
considerations in-
cline me the more
to discard my Prunus hortulana
as an original species, and to
use it in the future merely to
designate a well-marked group
or race of cultivated plums, the
origin of which is to be found
in contemporary environments
and in the natural mixing of
two parent stocks ; and thereby
the name hortulana — "belong-
ing to a garden" — becomes even
more significant than I in-
tended. I do not propose this ~**
as my final conclusion, but it states the case as
I see it at this writing. To my mind, this view
of the origin of these valuable hortulaua plums is
most satisfactory and inspiring, for it is a working

Fig. 32.

Itaska, grown it

Maryland.

202 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

and elastic hypothesis which explains and co-ordi-
nates the rapid events of contemporary evolution.

An interesting peculiarity of the Wild Goose
plum is the facility with which it appears to
hybridize with the peach. The most famous in-
stance of such apparent hybridization is that of
the so-called Blackman plum. About thirty years
ago, Mrs. Charity Clark procured from an orchard
in Rutherford county, Tennessee, which contained
Wild Goose and Washington plums, seeds of plums,
and gave them to Dr. Blackman, of Nashville. One
tree among the resulting seedlings bore good fruit,
which was called the Blackman, and was dissemi-
nated by a local nurseryman. A competing nursery,
in endeavoring to procure cions from this tree, inadver-
tently cut them from an adjacent tree — itself one of
the batch of seedlings — and sold the trees which it
grew as Blackman. Now, this second tree makes fruit-
buds in abundance, but they never open ; and from the
resemblance of the leaves to those of the peach, the
plant is generally thought to be a hybrid between the
Wild Goose and the peach. Curiously enough, the
genuine Blackman has never been widely disseminated,
but the spurious and worthless substitute has been sold
in large quantities. In order to avoid confusion, the
original Blackman has been rechristened Charity Clark.
There are, therefore, two Blackman plums, one of
which is practically unknown to cultivation, but which
has been renamed, and the other is barren and will
soon pass from sight.

The only authentic hybrid which has come from the
union of the Wild Goose and the peach has been pro-
duced by J. W. Kerr, of Maryland. Mr. Kerr's tree,

THE HORTULANA VARIETIES 203

as I recall it, is large, spreading and peach -like. The
leaves are long and peach -like, although rather broad
and short -pointed, but the flower-buds, although they
form in profusion, never open, so that the tree is bar-
ren. This is a hybrid between the Wild Goose and
Troth's Early peach. Twenty -five flowers of Wild
Goose were emasculated in the bud and covered with
paper sacks. When in full bloom, peach pollen was
applied, but the flowers were not again covered.
Twenty -one of the flowers set fruit, and twenty -one
trees were obtained from the seeds. Twenty of the
trees were indistinguishable from peach, but the re-
maining one, as indicated above, gives every evidence
of being an intermediate.

The varieties that I have studied which fall into
Primus hortulana are as follows :

Clara, Clark, Cumberland, Garfield, Golden Beauty,
Indian Chief, Kauawha, Missouri Apricot (Honey
Drop), Moreman, Mrs. Clifford, Pool's Pride, Reed,
Roulette, Saffold, Sophie, Sucker State, Texas Belle,
Wayland, Whitaker, Wild Goose, Wooten, World
Beater.

To the Miner sub-group I should refer the follow-
ing varieties:

Clinton, Forest Rose, Idol, Indiana Red, Iris, Langs-
don, Leptune, Miner, Prairie Flower, Rachel.

Since the above account of the hortulana plums
was written, Waugh has given the group independent
study, and writes of it as follows:*

When, in 1892, Professor Bailey proposed the species Prtinus
hortulana to include the Wild Goose plum and its nearest rela-
tives, it was at first a relief and afterward a puzzle to horticul-

*"The New View of the Hortulana Plums," Garden and Forest, Sept. 1, 1897.

204 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

turists. It was a relief to have these anomalous forms separated
from Prunus Americana and from P. angustifolia, where they had
previously caused confusion ; and it was gratifying to have them
separately characterized, even though it was very difficult to
make the specific description fit all the varieties. But to main-
tain a description for the species which would fit all the varie-
ties has been an ever-growing puzzle. And thus a second time
Professor Bailey has brought us relief by his decision that this
is "a mongrel type of plums, no doubt hybrids"

of Prunus Americana and P. angustifolia.

This new view of the hortulana plums seems likely to find
much readier currency among pomologists than did the distinct
species view. Indeed, some reputable horticulturists have never
accepted the separate species notion ; and no two anywhere or at
any time have fully agreed upon the varieties which were to be
referred to the species.

These cultivated varieties present an inextricable confusion
of closely graded differences of character passing without a
break from Prunus Americana, through the Miner group (Bailey's
P. hortulana var. Mineri), then through the Wild Goose group,
and by way of such varieties as Schley, Clifford and Macedonia
into the true Chickasaws. There is absolutely no line of demar-
cation, however dim, among these varieties. Such a series of
forms cannot be conveniently doled out into species, even when
we take the most advanced evolutionary view of what constitutes
a species. But as soon as the Wild Goose group is understood to
be a company of hybrids, the matter becomes comparatively clear.
We can easily believe that there have been numerous independent
hybrid origins followed by still more numerous secondary, ter-
tiary and quartenary crosses, and these would account fully for
the extraordinary variability and wide diversity of characters
among these plums. The varieties of the Miner group may rea-
sonably be supposed to be secondary hybrids between Wild Goose
types and Prunus Americans ; or they may be, in some instances,
primary hybrids in which the Americana influence has preponder-
ated. Such varieties as Ohio Prolific, Schley, Texas Belle and
Wooten may be supposed, on the other hand, to be secondary
hybrids between Wild Goose and the Chickasaws.

All this will drive every plum student, pomologist or botanist

WAUGH ON THE HORTULANAS 205

to a conclusion which we ought to have reached independently
before; namely, that no full classification of our cultivated varie-
ties can be made which shall be satisfactory to everybody. It is
a matter of unquestionable convenience to divide our multiform
varieties into several groups, but the lines between these groups
are purely imaginary and arbitrary, and certain varieties which
come near the division line somewhere may be put into one
group by one man and into the other group by another, and
both men be right. It is all a matter of judgment, and a very
delicate matter, too. There has already been too much contro-
versy over some of these doubtful varieties. What plum students
need now is less controversy and more patience.

The cultivated hortulana plums may be best understood by
arranging them in four groups. Three of these have been men-
tioned— the Miner group, the Wild Goose group, and the Schley or
Clifford group. These form an unbroken series from Prunus
Americana to P. angustifolia. There is a fourth group at present
classified with the hortulanas, but comparatively distinct from the
others. This group is made up of such varieties as Wayland,
Moreman, Golden Beauty, Eeed, Leptune, Kanawha and others.

Waugh makes a further contribution to the subject
in the following sketch of "The Wayland group of
plums:"*

In an article in last week's issue [quoted above] I called
attention to the continuity of the series of intergradients
between the Americana and the Chickasaw plums, and said
that the series might be roughly marked by three types, the
Miner, the Wild Goose, and the Schley or Clifford. It was
also noted that another group, standing somewhat aside from
this series, might, for the present at least, be regarded as
belonging among the hortulana plums, and that this group
is comparatively distinct, and very interesting. This I have
designated as the Wayland groupt from one of its best types,
the Wayland plum. Golden Beauty is also a good type of this
group, and is well known in the southern states, though not

*Garden and Forest, September 8, 1897.
tVermont Experiment Station, 10th Report, p. 103.

206 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

northward. Moreman is the commonest variety of the group
in the northern states, but is not well known in the South, and
is not quite so good an exponent of the characters which mark
this group. After considerable deliberation, I think that Way-
land is the best and most convenient group name for these
varieties.

Of course, this group is not free from puzzling forms which
show equivocal characters, apparently borrowed from the Chicka-
saws, Ainericanas, and other groups ; but on the whole, it is
much better marked than the Miner or Wild Goose sections,
which have for several years been thought worthy of recog-
nition. The varieties are characterized by straight, slender,
dark-colored twigs ; very large, luxuriant foliage, broad leaves,
which are often pubescent on the larger veins beneath, and
which have from two to six glands on the petioles ; axillary
buds often triple ; blossoms and fruit very late, mostly after
Miner ; fruit spherical, or nearly so, red or yellow, with many
small dots, thin-skinned and of fine quality.

Several varieties of this group are already widely distributed
in cultivation. Others of considerable promise have been
recently introduced. Those which I have had the opportunity
to examine, and which seem to belong with Wayland, rather
than in any other group, are Columbia, Crimson Beauty, Cum-
berland, Garfield, Golden Beauty, Kanawha, Leptune, Missouri
Apricot, Moreman, Nimon, Reed, Sucker State, Wayland and
Worldbeater. Mr. T. V. Munson, in correspondence, mentions
another variety, Erby's September, growing in his grounds,
which apparently belongs with those named here.

Of these varieties, Cumberland, Golden Beauty, Kanawha,
Leptune, Reed and Wayland best show the distinctive foliage
and tree characters which separate them from adjoining types.
These are all good plums from the planter's standpoint. All
of them are very ornamental. Reed is one of the most beauti-
ful trees of its size I ever saw.

These varieties have usually been put in the Wild Goose
class, though Bailey, who has done most of the work in the
classification of native plums, puts Leptune, one of the best
marked varieties, into the Miner group, and President Berck-
mans, who introduced Kanawha, says "this is beyond question

PRUNUS RIVULARIS 207

a form of Prunus Americana." The whole group has also been
roughly referred to P. glandulosa, Torr. & Gray, but this is evi-
dently a mistake. Mr. T. V. Munson has given this question
serious study, and has concluded that all these varieties are
derived from P. rivularis, Scheele. This is a somewhat start-
ling decision, and extremely important if true. The facts are,
however, first, that we are yet too poorly acquainted with this
species to make critical comparisons ; secondly, that Scheele's
description, made at second hand from Lindheimer's speci-
mens, is not sufficiently precise to preclude mistakes ; thirdly,
that the description,* what there is of it, fails, in important
particulars, to fit the varieties in question ; and fourthly, that
many of these varieties have originated in localities where it
is almost impossible to believe that P. rivularis could be grow-
ing. (See pages 223, 224.)

To particularize further, the National Herbarium f contains
only the following specimens : Those of Lindheimer, collected
in western Texas in 1846 ; one by Hall, from Dallas ; two by
Wolf, collected in Illinois in 1875, and very possibly cultivated
specimens ; and one of doubtful authenticity, by Thomas Bass-
ler, from Manhattan, Kansas. Other herbaria seem to have
no better representation of the species, and this could hardly
be the case were it so common and so widely distributed as to
furnish the well-known cultivated varieties mentioned above.

*Sinee this description is inaccessible to many students, it will be well to
transcribe it here :

Prunus rivularis, Scheele, Linncea, xxi., 594. Frutex 3-6 pedalis; rami angu-
lati glabri nitidi cinerei verruculosi, verrucae parvae coiifertse. Petioli glandulosi
canaliculati puberuli. Folia ovate-oblonga acuuiinata insequaliter serrulata, basi
glandulosa, subtus sporeae pubescentia, supra glabra, serraturw callosae confertae.
Umbellse laterales sessiles subbiflor*. Squamae gemmae floriferae aphylla?. Pe-
dunculi glabri elongati subglandulosi, petiolum aequantes. Flores . . . Drupa
rubra globosa glabra nitida acida.

"Gesellschaftlich an Bachrandern, selltener aber jedesmal in Menge zusam-
menstehenden auf Hugeln. Strauch 3-6' hoch, Frucht kugelig, hell-roth, ange-
nehm sauerlich, von der Grosse eiuer Kirsche biszu der einer Mirabelle. %-i"
diek. Die Tawakong-Indianer sollen die Frucht, mit honig gekocht, sehr lieben.
Die Texaner nennen sie 'Tawakong plum.' "—Lindheimer.
Gehort zur Rotte Eucerasus, Torr. & Gray.
Seltener stehen die Blnmen einzeln.

tThe specimens in the National Herbarium were kindly examined for me by
Mr. Lyster H. Dewey.

208 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The varieties in question differ from Scheele's description in
having single straight trunks, in being from fifteen to twenty
feet high, instead of from three to six feet, and in having often
three flowers to each fascicle, instead of one or two. The dis-
tribution of the species is given by Coulter as "not uncommon
on the Colorado and its tributaries, and extending to the upper
Guadalupe and the Leona," and the specimens referred to
above give no important evidence of its occurrence this side
of western Texas. In comparison with this distribution, the
origin of the cultivated varieties should be carefully considered.
As far as known, their sources are as follows : Cumberland,
Tennessee ; Garfield, Ohio ; Golden Beauty, southwest Texas ;
Kanawha, Fairview, Kentucky ; Leptune, Arkansas ; Missouri
Apricot, Missouri ; Moreman, Kentucky ; Sucker State, Illinois ;
Wayland, Cadiz, Kentucky.

The evidence of this list is quite contrary to the supposition
of a Prunus rivularis parentage for the varieties named ; but,
on the other hand, must be regarded as decidedly favorable to
their classification in the pseudo- species, P. hortulana.

It seems to me important that this group of plums should
be understood separately, and that its relationships should be
worked out as speedily and as accurately as possible ; and
while the evidence here reviewed leads me to reject the
hypothesis of their derivation from Prunus rivularis, that
species seems to be a promising one, and we would do well
not to lose sight of it too soon.

The Marianna Group

In 1884 a strange plum was introduced from Texas
under the name of Marianna. It was said to be a na-
tive. It proved to have little value for fruit, however,
because it is not very productive and the quality of
the plums seems to lack character; but it is found
to grow readily from cuttings, and it soon came to be
extensively used as stock upon which to graft other
kinds of plums, and even peaches and apricots ; and it

THE MYBOBALAN PLUM 209

is still much employed for this purpose in the South.
A study* of this new type of plum at once revealed some
striking botanical features, and it was found that the
De Caradeuc, an older plum, is very closely related to
it ; and the Hattie is probably to be referred to the
same group. This class differs from any of the fore-
going in habit of tree, very early flowering, elliptic-
ovate, rather small and finely serrate dull leaves, gland-
less leaf -stalks, and soft, spherical, very juicy plums
of a "sugar and water" character, and broad, ovate
stones, which are scarcely pointed and are prominently
furrowed on the front edge. The botanical position of
these plums has been a subject of speculation, to which
1 have added my full share of confusion by referring
them to Prunus umbellata of the South. I was soon
convinced, however, that the De Caradeuc is a myro-
balan plum, and that the Marianna is either the same
species or a hybrid between it and some American
plum, possibly the Wild Goose. This seemed to be a
startling conclusion at the time that it was first ex-
pressed, particularly as the Marianna had come to be so
extensively used as a stock to replace the myrobalan,
which appears to be growing in disfavor. Before
entering into detail containing the origin of these
plums, it will be useful to our inquiry to clear up some
of the history of the myrobalan plum itself.

The myrobalan plum is a foreigner. The word
myrobalan (or myrobolan), as a noun, is used to desig-
nate various small tropical fruits which are used in the
arts, chiefly for tanning purposes. It is now com-
monly applied to the fruits of the species of Terminalia,
of the family CombretaceeB, which are imported from

*In Bull. 38, Cornell Exp. Sta. 1892,

N

210 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

India. The word was early applied to a small plum
grown in Europe, probably because of some resemblance
in size or other characteristics to the myrobalans of
commerce. This plum has had a curious history. The
first undoubted reference to it which I know is in Clu-
sius' Rariorum Plantarum Historia, 1601. Clusius
gives a good figure of it, but says that it was not gen-
erally known. Some people thought that it came origi-
nally from Constantinople, and others that it came
from Gaul. Clusius leans toward the latter view. He
calls it the rayrobalan plum, but does not know the
origin of the name. For nearly two hundred years
after Clusius wrote, the fruit is described by various
authors in different parts of Europe, under the names
of myrobalan and cherry plum, during which time
doubts were cast upon its European origin. Thus
Tournefort in 1700 said that it came from North
America. In 1789 Ehrhart* described it as a distinct
species under the name Primus cerasifera, or "cherry-
bearing plum," and said distinctly that it was a native
of North America. Some thirty years before this time,
Linnffius had described it as Prunus domestica var.
myrobalan, and gave it a European origin. In 1812,
Loiseleur-Deslongchampst described it as Prunus myro-
balana, saying that it was supposed to be of American
origin. From that time until now the nativity of the
myrobalan plum has been uncertain, but European
writers have usually avoided the difficulty by referring
it to America ; and American botanists have for the
most part ignored it because it is a cultivated plant.
So it happens that this pretty fruit has fallen between

*Beitrage zur Naturkunde, iv. 17.

tNouveau Duhamel Traite des Arbres et Arbustes, v. 184, t. 57, Fig. 1.

THE MYROBALAN PLUM 211

two countries, and is homeless. Sereno Watson, in
his "Index to North American Botany," published in
1878, refers Ehrhart's Prunus cerasifera to the com-
mon beach plum (Prunus maritima) of the Atlantic
coast. But the myrobalan is wholly different in every
character from the beach plum, and it has been long
cultivated upon walls in Europe, a treatment which no
one would be likely to give to the little beach plum.
Torrey and Gray, in 1838, in the "Flora of North Amer-
ica," do not mention the myrobalan plum. After all
the exploration of the North American flora, no plant
has been found which could have been the original
of this plum ; while its early cultivation in Europe,
together with the testimony of Clusius and other early
herbalists, is strong presumption that it is native to
the Old World. This conviction is increased by the
doubt which exists in the minds of the leading bota-
nists, from Linnaeus down, as to its systematic
position, for if there is difficulty in separating it from
Prunus domestica, the original of the common plum,
and which is itself a native of the Old World and
immensely variable, there is strong reason for suspect-
ing that it is only an offshoot of that species; and this
presumption finds strong support in other direc-
tions. One need not study far into the European
plums until he convinces himself that the essential
features of the myrobalan plum are present in sev-
eral of the wild or half -wild forms of southern and
southeastern Europe, no matter what the ultimate
origin of the fruit may have been. In recent years a
purple -leaved variety of this myrobalan plum has
come into cultivation from Persia, under the name
of Primus Pissardi. I have no doubt, therefore, that

212 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the myrobalan plum is native to Europe or Asia; and
it is full time that an American origin be no longer
ascribed to it.

The myrobalan plum has long been used in this
country as a stock for various plums. Except upon
the Pacific coast, it appears to be falling into dis-
repute, however, as it dwarfs the cion, and is not
suited to all varieties. The endeavor to find some
stock which can take the place of the myrobalau
has resulted in the popularizing of the Marian na,
which, if not pure myrobalan, certainly partakes
very largely of it. The myrobalan stock is widely
distributed in this country, and bearing trees of it
are occasionally seen. The Golden Cherry plum of
Downing is undoubtedly this species, and the fruit
now known as Youngken's Golden Cherry is cer-
tainly myrobalan, and it is probably identical with
the variety described by Downing. The fruits may
be either yellow or red in various shades. They are
round and cherry -like, with a depression at the base,
on slender stems, ranging in size from that of a large
cherry to an inch and a-half in diameter. The myro-
balan is very variable, a fact which finds record and
confirmation in the various characters of the stones,
as shown in the illustration on page 190.

The first variety of this Marianna or myrobalan
type to be introduced as a native plum was the De
Caradeuc. This is an early garnet -red plum. It
originated with A. De Caradeuc, upon his former
farm near Aiken, South Carolina, about the years
1850 to 1854. Mr. De Caradeuc imported some
French plums, from the seed of which this variety
came. There were several Chickasaw plums in the

THE MARIANNA 213

vicinity of the French trees, and Mr. De Caradeuc
thinks that the variety under consideration is a
hybrid, but I am unable to discover any evidence
of hybridity. The original tree of the variety "out-
grew the parent," Mr. De Caradeuc writes me, "and
reached a diameter of head of fifteen feet, was
entirely free from thorns and suckers, and bore a
remarkably rich and beautiful foliage." The variety
was named by P. J. Berckmans, the excellent pomol-
ogist of Georgia, and he regards it as pure myro-
balan, a conclusion with which I am strongly inclined
to concur. Another indication that it may be myro-
balan, is the fact that J. W. Kerr, of Maryland, has
grown a purple -leaved plum tree from a seed of the
De Caradeuc, thus suggesting Prunus Pissardi, which
is a purple form of the Old World myrobalan.

The Marianna is, in several respects, intermediate
between Prunus cerasifera, as represented in De Cara-
deuc, and the native American plums, particularly in
the short-stemmed fruit, small, nearly sessile, and
clustered, later flowers, and erect, narrow calyx lobes,
and spreading habit. It is, therefore, little surprise
to learn that the originator considers it a seedling of
Wild Goose. It originated as a seedling in a mixed
orchard at Marianna, Polk county, Texas, the property
of Charles G. Fitze. So far as I can learn, the seed
was not hand -sown, and there is a chance for error
in the history. The variety was introduced in 1884,
by Charles N. Eley, Smith Point, Texas.

The Hattie and some others are of this group, but
I have not traced the history of them.

214 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The Beach Plum Group

The beach plum is a straggling, more or less
decumbent bush, reaching three to six or even twelve
feet in height, growing in the sands of the sea-coast
from New Brunswick to Virginia, and perhaps extend-
ing farther towards the Southwest ; and also near the
head of Lake Michigan, where it has recently been
found. The flowers are rather large for the size of
the plant, and are borne on promi-
nent stalks in clusters. The fruit
(Fig. 33), is about half an inch
in diameter in the best forms,
and is deep, dull purple when ripe,
and covered with a dense bloom ;
the flesh is brittle, sweet and
juicy, entirely free from the stone;
the skin is thick and tough, and
usually leaves an acrid taste in
Fig. 33. the mouth when the fruit is eaten.

Beach plum (Pmnus mar- Upon the Jersey coast the fruit

itima). Full size

is ripe the middle of August.

Primus maritima, as this beach plum is called, is
in cultivation as an ornamental plant, it being very
showy when in bloom and interesting in fruit. It
succeeds well under cultivation in the interior states.
As a fruit plant it has given rise to but one variety,
the Bassett's American. This variety is a third larger
than the ordinary wild beach plum, but it does not
•differ greatly in other respects than in size. It was
introduced about twenty years ago by Wm. F. Basse tt,
Hammonton, N. J., who bought the original tree from
a man who found it in the neighborhood. It grows

PRUNUS SUBCORDATA 215

well upon the Wild Goose, and Mr. Bassett writes me
that he has a tree on such roots which is fifteen feet
high. It was brought to notice largely through the
efforts of the Rumson nurseries, in New Jersey, where it
was worked upon the myrobalan plum and the peach.
I have seen a vigorous, large tree at Mr. Kerr's, in
Maryland, grafted upon the Richland, which is Prunus
domestica. Mr. Kerr also finds that it grows upon
the Chickasaws. The variety has small merit.

The beach plum type is variable, and Small has
recently described a new species of it, Prunus Gravesii,
from Connecticut.*

The Pacific Coast Plum

The wild plum of the Pacific coast is the nearest
approach to the European type of any plum in the
American flora. There is a reason for this in the
similarity of climate of our western coast to that of
Europe, for similar conditions develop similar plants.
It is interesting to note, also, that- the pomology of
California — with its wine and raisin grapes, olives,
figs, almonds, and citrous fruits — is more akin to that
of Europe than it is to that of eastern America.
This wild Pacific plum is Prunus subcordata (Fig.
34). It grows west of the mountains in northern
California and southern Oregon. The typical form
grows either as a tall shrub or a small tree, but usu-
ally not reaching above three to six feet high. The
fruit varies from nearly globular to oblong, and is
usually dark red and subacid, the flesh clinging
tightly to the flat, smooth stone. It is usually unpalat-

*Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, xxiv. 45.

216 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

able, and the plant is probably not in cultivation out-
side'of botanic gardens and experimental grounds

There is a form of this Pacific plum which produces
attractive fruit, however. This is the so-called Sisson
plum, bearing the name of Mr. Sisson, of Strawberry

Fig. 34. Pacific coast plum. (Primus subcordata.l Natural size.

valley, near the base of Mt. Shasta, who has been
instrumental in bringing it to notice. This form is
known as Prunus subcordata var. Kelloggii (J. G. Lem-
mon, Pittonia, 1890, p. 67). The tree is a taller grower
than P. subcordata itself, the leaves less cordate, and
the fruit larger, yellow or red, soft and palatable.
Luther Burbank writes me that the twigs of yellow -
fruited plants are greenish yellow, and those of the
red -fruited plants are reddish brown. He also tells
me that seeds of the yellow fruits may produce red

PACIFIC COAST PLUM 217

plums, and vice-versa. This Sisson plum is locally
cultivated in parts of California, and it is thought
by some to give promise of a new race of plums.

The fruits shown in the accompanying photograph,
received from California, were light herryred, marked
with many minute golden dots. They were depressed-
globular, with a distinct suture, a short stem, and a
firm, meaty, rather dry, insipid flesh, and freestones.
Mr. Burbank sends me fruits of hybrids of this species
with the Robinson (one of the Chickasaws), which
are an improvement in quality.

Wickson, in his "California Fruits," writes as fol-
lows of the Pacific plum : " Early efforts were made to
domesticate these wild plums, and they showed them-
selves susceptible of improvement by cultivation to a
certain extent. In 1856 there was on the Middle Yuba
river, not far from Forest City, in Sierra county,
a wayside establishment, known as 'Plum Valley
Ranch,' so called from the great quantity of wild
plums growing on and about the place. The plum by
cultivation gave a more vigorous growth and larger
fruit. Transplanted from the mountains into the valley,
they are found to ripen earlier. Transplanted from
the mountains to a farm near the coast, in Del Norte
county, they did not thrive. One variety, moved from
the hills near Petaluma, in 1858, was grown as an
orchard tree for fifteen years, and improved both in
growth and quality of fruit by cultivation. The atten-
tion of fruit-growers was early drawn to the possible
value of the wild plum as grafting stock, and it is
reported to have done fairly well on trial. Recently
excellent results have been reported from the domesti-
cation of the native plum in Nevada county, and fruit

218 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

shown at the state fair of 1888 gave assurance that by
cultivation and selecting seedlings, valuable varieties
can be obtained. It is stated that in Sierra county the
wild plum is the only plum which finds a market at
good prices, and that cultivated gages, blue and egg
plums scarcely pay for gathering. The wild plum
makes delicious preserves."

Varioits Other Types of Plums

We have now explored all those groups or families
of native plums which have been impressed into
cultivation to any extent for the sake of their fruits.
There still remain a few species whose fruits, in the
wild state, are sufficiently palatable to attract the
experimenter, and which should be mentioned in this
narrative.

Sand plum. — The Sand plum of Nebraska and cen-
tral Kansas is the most important of the plums
which we have not yet discussed. So recently has
this plum come to be known that it has never had a
specific name until Professor Sargent described it as
Prunus Watsoni, four years ago ("Garden and Forest,"
vii. 134). It is a compact -growing bush of three or
four feet in height, bearing a profusion of small, red-
dish, juicy fruits (Fig. 35). The inhabitants of those
parts of the West where this plum is native collect
the better forms in large quantities for domestic con-
sumption, and even sell the fruits in the towns. The
plant is also occasionally transplanted to gardens.
"The hardiness of Prunus Watsoni in regions of
extreme cold," writes Sargent, "its compact, dwarf
habit, abundant flowers and handsome fruit, make it

SAND PLUM

219

an ornamental plant of first-rate value, and as selec-
tion and good cultivation will doubtless improve the
size and quality of the fruit, it will, perhaps, become
a valuable inmate of small fruit -gardens." This sand

Fig. 35. Sand plum. Natural size.

plum is very like the Chickasaw plum in botanical
characters, and I think that it is only a modified form
of that species, the variation having been brought
about by the dry soils and climates in which it grows.
It differs from the Chickasaw in its dwarfer habit,
thicker leaves and thicker- skinned fruit, and some-

220 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

what different stone ; but all of these characters are
eminently variable in plums, and they seem, for the
most part, to be the result of adaptation to habitat.
We shall recur to this sand plum in our discussion
of the Utah Hybrid Cherry (page 244.)

The latest contribution to our knowledge of the
sand plums is the following sketch by Waugh : *

Although it is now nearly four years since Sargent distin-
guished Prunus Watsoni from P. angustifolia (C. S. Sargent,
Garden and Forest, vol. vii., p. 134, 1894), the individuality of
the group does not seem to have made any very decided impres-
sion either upon botanists or horticulturists, and material which
ought to be referred to this species is still sometimes carelessly
classified with the Chickasaw plums. As the group has already
given some evidence of utility, and as it may prove of consider-
ably greater importance in the future evolution of American
plums, it appears to be especially desirable to have the knowl-
edge of it clearly in the minds of plum students.

The most striking difference between the sand plum and the
Chickasaw is that of stature. The sand plum is distinctly a
dwarf, seldom growing much higher than a man's head, and some-
times reaching maturity and prolific fruitage at a height of four
feet. Beside this, the whole dwarfish appearance is measurably
intensified by the short-jointed, often sharply -zigzagging twigs,
which give an effect of thorniness. These twigs are apt to be
ashy-gray, especially at two or three years of age. The leaves are
smaller than those of the Chickasaw plums, and are more finely
crenulate upon the margins, but offer no safe distinctive char-
acters. In the most carefully prepared published descriptions of
the two species, the few distinctions given are hard to apply. Of
Prunus angustifolia the calyx lobes are said to be glandular- ciliate,
while those of P. Watsoni are described as eglandular-ciliate.
And while all the garden and herbarium specimens of P. Watsoni
which I have examined have shown eglandular calyx lobes, so
have several of the cultivated varieties of Chickasaw parentage.
The two species are evidently closely related, but one who is

*"The Sand Plums," Country Gentleman, January 27, 1898.

WAUGH ON SAND PLUMS 221

acquainted with P. Watsoni would seldom be troubled in separat-
ing them in the field. With herbarium material alone, a case of
doubt would be hard to settle.

The sand plums are confused in several trade catalogues, and
in the minds of some persons who ought to keep such things
straight, with the sand cherry, Prunus Besseyi, and still more
seriously with the Utah Hybrid cherry, which Bailey supposes to
be a hybrid of P. Besseyi and P. Watsoni. This confusion is
entirely unnecessary, and it is to be hoped that it will quite dis-
appear as soon as attention can be fixed upon the facts.

The natural range of Prunus Watsoni seems to be quite cir-
cumscribed. Sargent locates it upon "sandy streams and hills,
south and southeast Nebraska and central and western Kansas."
As a matter of fact, its distribution within this limited range is
by no means general. In Kansas, where I have been entirely
familiar with it, the sand plum is confined almost exclusively
to the sandy lands in the immediate valleys of the Republican
and Arkansas rivers and their tributaries, although it is found
more sparsely in the Smoky Hill and Kansas River valleys.
Mason says: "Have not noted it east of Wabaunsee county."
(S. C. Mason, "Variety and Distribution of Kansas Trees," page
8.) The species is commonly reported from Oklahoma, but
though I have frequently been as far west as Kingfisher and El
Reno, I have never seen it. The dwarf sand plums which I have
frequently found in that territory, and which I have sometimes
seen brought to the market, were of the species Prunus gracilis.
Still I think it probable that P. Watsoni grows in Oklahoma, at
least in some of the western counties. This opinion is strength-
ened by the introduction of undoubted varieties of this species
from the Panhandle of Texas (see below).

Early settlers in Kansas, before their own orchard plantings
came into bearing, used to find the sand plums well worth their
attention. In July and August everybody for fifty miles back
from the Arkansas sand hills used to flock thither to pick, and it
was an improvident or an unlucky family which came off with less
than four or five bushels to can for winter. Whole wagon loads
of fruit were often secured, and were sometimes offered for sale
in neighboring towns.

The fruit gathered from the wild trees was of remarkably fine

222 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

quality, considering the conditions under which it grew. The
plums were quite uniformly large— I would say from memory that
they often reached three-fourths of an inch to an inch in diameter.
They were thin-skinned and of good flavor, not having the un-
pleasant astringency of the wild Americana plums, which were also
sometimes gathered. They were excellent for canning, and made
the finest of jelly. In this connection I may quote F. T. Ramsey,
nurseryman of Austin, Texas, who writes me: "As far back as I
can remember, I have heard people who crossed the upper plain of
Texas speak of the large wild plums that grew there. It seems
that in their wild state they grew as large as a Wild Goose."

Naturally, the settlers who went every year to the- sand hills
for plums brought back trees to plant in the gardens they were
opening. Almost every farm within the range mentioned above
had a few or many of the dwarf trees growing. Some of these
were fruitful and worth their room, but most of them have now
died out, or are neglected and forgotten. This is because people
have paid no attention to their selection, propagation and culti-
vation. Further than this, however, the sand plum has often
failed signally to come up to its record when transferred to culti-
vation. It seems not to adapt itself readily to a wide diversity of
soils and conditions.

Still, an occasional variety has been deemed worthy of
propagation and the distinction of a name. The Bluemont was
introduced by E. Gale, of Manhattan, Kansas, during the sixties
(Vermont Exp. Sta. Bull. 53, p. 62, 1896). A reliable nursery-
man of Junction City, Kansas, writes me that the Bluemont is
considered the best variety they have for canning, but it has
always been propagated from root- sprouts, which is a drawback
to its widest popularity. Recently I have found four other
varieties growing in Mr. Kerr's orchards in Maryland, which I
have referred to this species (Vermont Exp. Sta., 10th Ann.
Rept., p. 106, 1897). These are Strawberry, Purple Panhandle,
Red Panhandle, Yellow Panhandle. Strawberry is mentioned
by Bailey (Cornell Exp. Sta., Bull. 38, p. 31, 1892), who knew
nothing of its history, and is by him put with the Chickasaws,
as were all forms of Prunus Watsoni at that time. On the same
page where Strawberry is mentioned, the author says : "I have
plants from Kansas, under the name of ' Kansas Dwarf Cherry,'

SAND PLUM 223

which are evidently a bush-like form of this species." These
must also have been Prunus Watsoni* The varieties, Purple
Panhandle, Red Panhandle and Yellow Panhandle, were intro-
duced from Texas by F. T. Ramsey. Mr. Ramsey says that
eight or nine years ago he got a quantity of stock "from various
counties in the upper Panhandle proper" of Texas. Besides
the varieties named, he had another called Clarendon. He says
further : " I have been greatly disappointed in them here, and
have dropped them from my catalogue this year, for the one reason
that they did not grow large enough. This winter I have been
surprised to have several inquiries for them from parties who
bought them from me, on account of the enormous crops they
bore."

It seems entirely possible that we may yet find ourselves in
possession of some valuable varieties derived from this species,
though no vevry sweeping recommendation could fairly be given
any variety now known.

At one time and another I have heard a good deal of talk
about using Prunus Watsoni as a dwarf stock for working other
plums, but I never knew of an experiment in that line. The
tendency to sprout from the roots would be a defect in using
the plants for stocks.

In Maryland, the young growth and blossoms, especially of
Strawberry, are severely damaged by the brown-rot fungus,
Monilia fructigena. In their original wild state, along the
Arkansas river, they used to be free from brown-rot, black-
knot and curculio, but I lived in that country long enough my-
self to see them attacked by both curculio and black-knot.

The rivwlaris plum.— The Towakong or Creek plum,
of Texas, is one of which I have no personal knowl-
edge, except from herbarium specimens. It was first
brought to notice by the botanical collector Lind-
heimer, and described in 1848 by Scheele as Prunus
rivularis in "Linnaea" (xxi. p. 594). This is a bushy
plant, three to six feet high, which Gray speaks of as

* The supposition is correct. Both the Strawberry and the Kansas form are
Prunus Watsoni.— L. H. B.

224 THE EVOLUTION OF OUB NATIVE FRUITS

"verging to Americana." It grows on the banks of
streams and margins of bottom -woods, mostly in
thickets. The fruit is said to be very agreeable.
Scheele describes the fruit as the size of cherry to
that of a mirabelle (myrobalan plum), half an inch to
an inch thick, spherical and red. The Towakong
Indians boil it with honey, and use it for food.
Coulter, in his "Flora of Western Texas," says that
this plum is "not uncommon on the Colorado and its
tributaries and extending to the upper Guadalupe and
the Leona." It is not in cultivation. It evidently
bears much the same relation to the Prunus Ameri-
cana that Prunus Watsoni does to the Chickasaw
plum* (see pages 207, 208).

The southern sloe.— The black sloe of the southern
states, Prunus umbellata, attains a height of twelve to
twenty feet, and the foliage is somewhat like narrow-
leaved forms of the myrobalan plum. It is distributed
in the maritime districts from South Carolina to Texas,
reaching north, in its southwestern ranges, to south-
ern Arkansas. Sargent says, in his "Silva," that "the
fruit is gathered in large quantities and is used in
making jellies and jams." In Florida it is sometimes
called Hog plum. Fruit sent me from that state was
orange -yellow, with faint blushes of red, or some
specimens pure yellow, with a thin bloom, freestone,
very sour and bitter. A Texas correspondent writes
that the fruit is usually unpleasant or disagreeable,
but that an occasional form bears large and good
fruit. Prunus umbellata is not in cultivation for its
fruit, and it is not likely that it can compete in

* Scheele's Prunus Texana, of which there is a duplicate type in the her-
barium of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, is Prunus Americana. See p. 184.

PRUNUS UMBELLATA

225

hortu-

fruit- bearing merits with the Chickasaw and
lana plums.*

The Alleghany plum is a small tree or straggling
bush, closely allied to Primus Americana, which occu-

Fig. 36. Alleghaiiy pluui. Natural size.

pies a very restricted range in the mountains of cen-
tral Pennsylvania. The species was distinguished

*Since this account was sent to the printer, John K. Small has published
a new species. Primus injucunda, closely allied to P. umbellata (Bull. Torr.
Bot. Club, xxv. 149). It has an oblong, very bitter fruit, and grows on Stone
Mountain, N. W. Georgia

226 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

from the Americana plums nearly forty years ago, but
it was not described as a distinct species until 1877,
when Professor T. C. Porter named it Prunus Alle-
ghaniensis. According to Sargent, "the fruit is col-
lected in large quantities, and is made into excellent
preserves, jellies and jams, which have a considerable
local consumption." He holds the opinion that it
"will probably be improved by selection and cultiva-
tion." As I have grown the Alleghany plum, it
makes an upright small tree, and bears rather freely
of small, hard, spherical plums (see Fig. 36) of dark
purple color, with a decided bloom, and acerb and
uneatable in quality. Its merits as a fruit-bearing
plant seem to be so inferior to those of the Ameri-
cana plums, that I do not look for any attempt to
ameliorate the species for many years to come.

NOTE.— Persons who wish to follow the details of varieties
and methods of cultivation of the native plums should consult
Goff's excellent account of "The Culture of Native Plums in the
Northwest," Bull. 63, Wis. Exp. Sta. Oct. 1897; also Waugh's
"Pollination of Plums," Bull. 53, Vt. Exp. Sta. Aug. 1896, and
10th Rep. Vt. Exp. Sta. 1896 7. A good account of the botany
of plums and cherries, by Bessey, may be found in Rep. Nebr.
Hort. Soc. 1895. See, also, Waugh, Bot. Gaz., July, 1898.

The Native Cherries

North America has little to attract the experi-
menter in the way of native cherries. Most of the
tree cherries belong to the racemose type, the flowers
being borne in more or less elongated clusters, of which
the lowermost — those nearest the parent shoot — open
first. This type of cherries has never given important
results in the amelioration of the fruits in any part

BIRD CHERRIES 227

of the world. The chief historic representative of this
class is the Padus or bird cherry (Primus Padus) of
the Old World, of which our choke cherry (Prunus
Virginiana) is the occidental congener. There are
occasional forms of the Padus which bear fruit of
some merit, but they are wretchedly inferior to the
improved forms of the umbellate -flowered or garden
cherries. Now and then one finds a choke cherry
bush which bears more pulpy and more pleasant-
tasted fruit than is the wont of the species, but even
these variations offer little temptation to the cultiva-
tor. The choke cherry is cultivated for ornament,
however. It is scarcely inferior for that purpose
to its Old World congener (Prunus Padus), although
its flowers are somewhat smaller than in that species,
and they are also a few days earlier. If grown as a
lawn tree where a symmetrical development cau be
secured, the choke cherry, both in bloom and in
fruit, is an attractive object. Although rarely more
than a large tree -like bush, the choke cherry is often
confounded with the wild black cherry, but it is
readily distinguished by the very sharp small teeth
pf the leaves. The fruit of the choke cherry is
commonly red, but amber -fruited plants are occasion-
ally found.*

The choke cherry is undoubtedly capable of some
improvement under cultivation. Even in a wild state,
the fruit is capable of yielding acceptable jelly. t
Ameliorated varieties of the choke cherry are occa-
sionally described, but there is a suspicion that

*Prunus Virginiana var. leucocarpa, Watson, Bot. Gnz. xiii. 233.
tSee, for example, P. A. Waugh, Garden and Forest, U. 388, and J. E.
Learned, 1. c. 408.

228 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

some of them may be the European bird cherry,
Prunus Padus, which is distinguished from the choke
cherry with difficulty, and which is often grown here
for ornament. The following extracts show to what
extent these fruits have yet appealed to the culti-
vator :

THE CHOKE CHERRY IN CULTIVATION.*— Recent notes in
"Garden and Forest," as well as other sources of information,
seem to indicate that the choke cherry is unknown to cultivation.
Such is not the fact, although its use is apparently limited and
local. One of the earliest recollections of my boyhood has to do
with two or three choke cherry trees beyond the garden in the
edge of the old orchard, and I can almost feel their pucker yet,
and I recall the feeling of danger when some older companion
would utter the grave warning never to drink milk after eating
choke cherries. These could hardly be called cultivated choke
cherries, however, and the trees were simply spared where they
had chanced to spring up.

In distinct contrast with this puckering little fruit I call to
mind another kind, always spoken of as the "tame" choke cherry.
The merits of this fruit may have seemed greater than the reality,
since none of it was to be found on our own farm. Still, any boy
would call this fruit good, and when prepared for the table, boys
still call it good, no matter what may be their age. The botanical
characters of the tree appear to be the same as those of the wild
choke cherry, Prunus Firginiana, though the tree reaches a larger
size than that commonly reached by the shrubs along the fence
rows. In this cultivated form the trunk often reaches a diameter
of from four to six inches, and the tree attains a height of fifteen
to twenty feet.

The fruit is much larger than in any wild forms which I have
seen, perhaps ranging from three-eighths to half an inch in
diameter. It also has much less astringency, and whatever
remains of this entirely disappears with cooking. The fruit is
much used, both for pies and sauce, and is also canned for winter
use. Any criticism as to its quality in these forms would be that

*Fred W. Card, Garden and Forest, x. 47 (1897).

CARD ON THE CHOKE CHERRY 229

it lacks in pronounced flavor rather than that it possesses any
strong or unpleasant ones. It does not make a rich sauce, but
one which is, on the whole, very cooling and agreeable.

It is not necessary to cook the fruit in order to dispel its
astringency. Those most familiar with its use have learned that
when the fruit is fully ripe, if it is put into a cloth sack and rolled
back and forth or shaken in a closed vessel, this quality disap-
pears. Treated in this way and served with sugar and cream, like
peaches or other fresh fruit, it is a dish by no means to be passed
by. I do not remember that the fruit was ever used for jelly, but,
of course, it might be and perhaps is.

There are certain qualities possessed by this fruit which seem
to make it worthy of being better known than it now is. In the
first place, it ripens at a time when other cherries are gone.
Furthermore, the tree is uniformly productive, seldom, if ever,
failing to yield a crop. Although small, the fruit is borne in
clusters, so that it is quickly and easily picked. It also has the
quality of remaining a long time on the tree after ripening, which
is a desirable feature for home use. The tree is apparently well
able to care for itself, for all of those which I have observed have
been growing absolutely without care. It seems, further, that it
must have few serious enemies, otherwise it would not prove so
uniformly productive. As to its longevity I cannot testify.
Among the trees of my earliest remembrance several are gone,
while others, when I last saw them, were still yielding their
annual crop of fruit.

The chief objection against this little recognized claimant
for admission to our gardens is its small size, and the conse-
quent number of pits. If the suggestion of one ot your corre-
spondents for a pitting machine were to take tangible shape, it
would add greatly to the importance of this fruit. Indeed, there
seems to be no reason why such a machine should not be as
readily devised for cherries of this size as for larger ones. It is
possible that the same machine might answer for both, for in
size these fruits are about intermediate between the wild choke
cherry and the Early Richmond. As commonly served, the pits
are left in, and in that case it becomes largely a question of
leisure, for while they are easily removed, it takes time to
do it.

230 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

So far as I have learned the history of this fruit from
inquiries made in northern Pennsylvania where I have known
it, the original trees were brought to that region from Connecti-
cut by one of the older settlers. The trees sprout from the
roots to some extent, and these sprouts have served as a means
of distribution in this farming community, so that it is not at
all an uncommon fruit in that immediate vicinity. As to its
remoter history I know nothing. Probably it is merely an
improved form originally selected from some hedgerow. The
variation in size of fruit which these wild groups present cer-
tainly lends color to such a supposition.

Craig comments on this article as follows:*

I was very much interested in the letter of Professor Card,
which appeared in your issue of February 3d, on "The Choke
Cherry in Cultivation." I send you this note to corroborate the '
statement of Professor Card, and to say that in the clay flats of
the Province of Quebec, bordering the Richelieu and St.
Lawrence rivers, the choke cherry is one of the principal
fruits cultivated by the French habitant. This is owing largely
to the character of the soil, which is of the pronounced blue-
clay stamp and of the stickiest and most impervious type. In
this region the choke cherry may be found in almost every
French garden. It is cultivated mostly in tree form, and mul-
tiplied by means of the suckers which spring up about the roots.
A great many variations occur. Fruit large and small, light and
dark, astringent and non- astringent, may be found. Two years
ago I found a tree bearing large clusters of yellowish white
cherries. I have sown the seed of these, and am watching the
young seedlings with interest, hoping that improved forms may
appear. The French use this fruit in many ways, but it is most
largely partaken of uncooked, next as preserves, while a smaller
proportion is made into jelly. The tree is hardier than the wild
black cherry, Prunus serotina, and is found all through the
northwest territories, even upon elevated portions of the foot-
hills of the eastern Rockies.

'Garden and Forest, x. 68.

CHOKE CHERRIES 231

A periodical has the following sketch of improved
choke cherries from H. Knudson, an experimenter in
Minnesota : "I have three improved varieties of choke
cherry, which I have numbered 1, 2, 3. They all
differ from the common type of choke cherry, both in
leaf and bud, and especially in fruit. No. 3 is the
greatest departure from the original type, and when
its leaves are fully developed, is readily distinguished
from any other sort by its leaves alone. Nos. 1 and
2 are of slender, upright growth, and attain a height
of twenty to twenty-five feet. No. 3 is of a rather
more spreading habit.

"They are all thrifty growers, so far free from dis-
ease, and good annual bearers, producing the best
fruit of its class I have ever tasted, having very little
of the astringency common to the race.

"There certainly appears to be an inclination in
this fruit to break away from the original type, and
inasmuch as they possess in a high degree those quali-
ties that are found lacking in our cultivated varieties,
imported from Europe; viz., health and hardiness,
may it not be best for us to turn some of our efforts
toward developing the native cherry, as well as the
native plum?"

Upon the plains and westward, Prunus Virginiana
is represented by Prunus demissa, which has thicker
leaves with less pronounced teeth, and mostly longer
racemes of better fruit. Wickson says that in Cali-
fornia "the wild fruit is used to some extent for mar-
malade. It has been cultivated to some extent in
places near its habitat." It has also been used for
stocks for garden cherries. This western cherry was
introduced into the plant trade in 1881 by Edward

232 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Gillett, Southwick, Massachusetts, as an ornamental
plant.

Primus serotina, the wild black, or ruin cherry,
the wood of which is often used for cabinet work and
house furnishing, is planted for forestry purposes,
as an ornamental tree, and sparingly for its fruit

Fig. 37. Wild black cherry. Prunus serotina. One-third size.

(Fig. 37). Infusions of the bark are used for medi-
cinal purposes, and the fruit is often employed in the
manufacture of cherry brandy, or as a flavor to rum.
Occasional trees bear fruit of unusual size and attrac-
tiveness, but it is doubtful if any sustained attempt
will ever be made to develop it into a fruit plant.
As an ornamental plant, the wild black cherry pos-
sesses decided merits in its attractive habit, clean, shin-
ing foliage, striking white racemes and handsome
fruit. There are several cultivated varieties : pendula,
a weeping form, worked standard -high ; variegata,
with leaves more or less discolored with yellow ;

THE DWARF CHERRIES 233

golden -leaf, found wild by Jackson Dawsoii, of the
Arnold Arboretum, and somewhat disseminated, and
probably essentially the same as variegata; carthagena,
with small, short -elliptic or ovate -elliptic leaves.
Primus serotina ranges through the eastern and
southern states as far west as Kansas.

Prunus Pennsylvania, the bird, wild red, pigeon
or pin cherry, is occasionally cultivated for ornament,
although it is not so well known as its merits
deserve. It sprouts badly, a feature which no doubt
discourages its dissemination. The species has been
lately recommended as a stock for the common orchard
cherries. The union with the orchard cherries, both
sweet and sour, appears to be good as a rule, and the
species certainly possesses promise as a cheap and
hardy stock in climates too rigorous for the ordinary
cherry stocks. The fruit is sometimes used in the
preparation of cough mixtures, but is never edible.
It is generally distributed throughout the northern
half of the Union from the Atlantic to Colorado.

The Dwarf Cherry Group

There is one well marked group of native cherries
which seems to be destined to play an important part
in the evolution of American fruits. This includes
two or three bush cherries. They are just now begin-
ning to attract the attention of experimenters, and
already hybrids between one of them and the true
plums have been produced. It is fortunate that the
history of the group is now written, before it has
become so profoundly modified by domestication that
it is not necessary to invoke speculation to determine

BK

^?f7/7-'

Fig. 38. Common sand cherry. Prunus pumila.
Nearly two-thirds natural size.

THE DWAEF CHERRIES 235

the genesis of garden forms. And yet even here,
upon the very threshold of their introduction into
domestic gardens, we shall find certain points which
can be understood or explained only by inference.

These dwarf cherries are the American congeners
of the ground or dwarf cherry of Europe and north-
ern Asia, which is known as Primus Chamcecerasus,
and which is in cultivation in this country for orna-
ment. This European plant is so like our own that
it has received the name of Primus pumila— which is
the American plant —from nurserymen who have been
instrumental in disseminating it. There are two
species of dwarf cherry which are concerned in this
contemporaneous evolution, but only one of them
seems to promise much under domestication. These
are the sand cherry (Primus pumila, Fig. 38), and
the western dwarf cherry (Primus Besseyi, Fig. 39).
The history of this dwarf cherry group was first writ-
ten by the present author less than four years ago
("The Native Dwarf Cherries;" Bulletin 70 of the
Cornell Experiment Station), and it was upon that
occasion that the western plant was separated from
the eastern plant, and designated as Prunus Besseyi,
in compliment to Professor Charles E. Bessey, of the
University of Nebraska, who has often called attention
to the merits of the fruit.

Of these two cherries, the better known to bota-
nists is the common dwarf or sand cherry of the East,
Primus pumila, which grows chiefly upon sandy and
rocky shores from northern Maine to the District of
Columbia and northwestward to Lake of the Woods.
It is abundant among the Great Lakes, where it often
grows in drifting sand. The plant is strictly erect

236 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

when young, but with age the base or trunk be-
comes reclined, and often covered with sand; but
the young growth maintains its erect character. The

Fis. 39.

Western sand cherry.

Prunus Hesseyi. Two-third

natural size.

plant has long and narrow, sharply -toothed leaves
and a willow -like habit. This sand cherry is variable
in its wild state, especially in its fruit. As a rule, the
fruit is small and very sour and scarcely edible, but
now and then one comes upon a bush which has fruit
of pleasant flavor, and as large as small Early Rich-

ROCKY MOUNTAIN- CHERRY 237

mond cherries. The illustration, Fig. 38, shows the
ordinary type of fruit of the sand cherry, nearly natu-
ral size. The fruit is ordinarily black, always without
bloom, and in New York ripens late in July and early
in August. It is very abundant on the sand dunes of
Lake Michigan, where it makes a shrub from five to
ten feet high, and bears very profusely of variable
fruits. Some of these natural varieties are large,
sweet and palatable, and at once suggest an effort to
ameliorate them. The fact that the plant grows in
the lightest of sand suggests its use for poor or arid
regions, which are present in most states, and upon
which few or no crops can be grown with profit. This
cherry was advertised in the Midway Plaisance at
the World's Fair, 1893, by Martin Klein & Co., of
Detroit. The plant was said to have probably come
from Japan, but it was the ordinary Prunus pumila
of our eastern states. The plant was recommended
chiefly, it seems, for some medicinal virtue which was
said to reside in its red roots, although its merits as
a fruit plant were not overlooked. Unfortunately,
there are no named varieties of this sand cherry on
the market, and very little attention has been given
to it by experimenters. It has less merit as a fruit
plant than the next species, but it is nevertheless
worth attempts at improvement.

The western sand or bush cherry (P. Besseyi) grows
on the plains from Manitoba to Kansas, and westward
to the mountains of Colorado and Utah. It is in culti-
vation as the Improved Dwarf Rocky Mountain cherry,
introduced in 1892 by Charles E. Pennock, of Bell-
vue, Colorado. It has received attention at many ex-
periment stations. This species is a dwarfer and more

238 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

compact and bushy plant than the sand cherry, and
it has a denser and better foliage. The cherries are
frequently as large as those of the Early Richmond,
and are often very palatable. The fruits are variable
in shape, from nearly globular to oblong -pointed. It
is from this species that the best results are to be
expected in a horticultural way; and from the fact
that it grows over such a great area of the interior
plains, I expect. that it will be found to adapt itself
to most trying soils and situations.

This dwarf cherry is not mentioned in the Rocky
Mountain botanies, although there can be no doubt
that it is wild in Colorado and Utah. Dr. C. C.
Parry collected it in eastern Colorado in 1867, and
apparently the same was found somewhere in the
Rocky Mountains, presumably in Colorado, in 1888,
by S. M. Tracy. It was collected even so long ago
as 1839 by Geyer, in Nicollet's famous expedition,
being found on "arid sandy hillsides of the upper
Missouri." I remember with great distinctness, that
a "Rocky Mountain cherry" grew in my father's yard
from my earliest boyhood. Pits were brought by a
friend from Pike's Peak in an early day. As the
western botanies do not mention any dwarf cherry, I
had always been puzzled over this friend of my
earlier years.

The horticultural history of the plant seems to
begin with A. S. Fuller's "Small Fruit Culturist,"
1867. Mr. Fuller mentions having collected the sand
cherry (the true Primus pumila) upon Hat Island, in
Lake Huron, in 1846. But he also had this western
species. "A few years ago," he writes, "through the
kindness of Professor George Thurber, I received some

WESTERN SAND CHERRY 239

cherry seed from Utah Territory." He raised plants
from these seeds, and noticed that the plants were dif-
ferent from those which he had found upon Hat
Island. "I do not consider this cherry of any par-
ticular value as it is found in its normal condition,"
he continues ; " but if we could obtain an improved
variety of a similar growth, and as hardy and pro-
ductive, it would certainly be a great acquisition.
There is no reason why this should not be accom-
plished, for, as I have said, it is nearly related to our
cultivated varieties, and a hybrid can, and probably
will be, produced between them." Now, after the
lapse of a quarter of a century, the fulfillment of this
generous prophecy is in sight.

In 1888, Gipson, in "Horticulture by Irrigation,"
speaks of the wild native Colorado dwarf cherry as
bearing a fruit "especially valuable for pies and pre-
serves, and is often pleasant to eat from the hand.
It is wonderfully productive, and will survive all
changes and vicissitudes of the most exacting cli-
mate." In 1889, Professor C. E. Bessey called the
attention of the American Pomological Society to it
as "a promising new fruit from the plains" of Ne-
braska. It is only within the. last five or six years,
however, that the sand cherries have come into actual
cultivation for their fruit, although as ornamental
plants they have been sold many years. Professor C.
A. Keffer described a dwarf cherry in 1891, in a bul-
letin of the South Dakota Experiment Station, and a
little later Professor Green, of Minnesota, did the same.
Both men had grown it, and found it to be variable
and promising. In South Dakota plants set three
years bore heavily the second and third years. The

240 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

"fruit begins to ripen the first week in August. The
cherries on most of the bushes were ripe by August
20, and some few last into September, showing a sea-
son of from four to six weeks in a seedling planta-
tion. Classifying roughly according to the fruit, we
find yellow and black -fruited sorts. The yellow-
fruited sorts, as a class, are earlier than the blacks,
and of rather better flavor. They are greenish yellow
when fully ripe, and vary in size, the largest being
about the size of a medium Early Richmond cherry."
The fruits vary greatly in flavor, some being entirely
worthless, while others were acceptable for some culi-
nary purposes. "While of little value when the
quality of the fruit is considered, it would seem that
these dwarf cherries should give rise to a race espe-
cially adapted to the Northwest. They have withstood
all the dry weather of the past three years without
injury, and they have been covered with bloom for
two seasons, though unprotected during the winter."
Professor Green, in Minnesota, had "fruit varying in
color from quite light red to almost black, and in
form from round -oblate to oval. The largest fruit
we have is oval, with three -fourths inch and five-
eighths inch diameters, while one other is round and
eleven -sixteenths of an inch in diameter ; this is
nearly as large as the Early Richmond cherry. The
quality varies greatly, some being a mild, not dis-
agreeable subacid, others insipid, and still others very
astringent. * * * When cooked it makes a nice
sauce. The period of ripening varies from July 24
to August 15. A peculiarity of the plant is that all
the fruit on any plant is ripe at nearly the same time,
and can all be gathered at one picking. * * * I

PENNOCK'S DWARF CHERRY 241

consider this cherry not only of prospective value
for its fruit, but of immediate value as a hardy
shrub."

Professor Budd and others suggest its use as a
dwarf stock for cherries, while it is found to grow
well, for a time, at least, upon the peach. Finally,
Charles E. Pennock, of Bellvue, Colorado, introduced
the "Improved Dwarf Rocky Mountain cherry," a
description and history of which follow, made in 1892,
by the present writer, in his "Cultivated Native Plums
and Cherries" (Bulletin 38, Cornell Experiment Sta-
tion) :

Mr. Pennock's "Improved Dwarf Rocky Moun-
tain cherry" is the only named cultivated form, so
far as I know, of pure Prunus Besseyi. His first
account of this fruit, as given in the "American
Farm and Horticulturist" for April, 1892, is as fol-
lows : "I have never seen a bush more than four feet
high. They should be planted about eight feet apart,
as they grow on the ground. The first I ever saw or
heard of it was in 1878. I was making and floating
railroad ties down the Cache la Poudre river, in the
mountains, about eight miles from my present farm.
I thought at that time they were the most valuable
fruit I ever saw growing wild. I got a start of these
cherries, and have been improving them by planting
seed (pits) of the best fruit. They vary somewhat in
size, flavor, and season of ripening, and are capable
of great improvement. I have known only one bush
that was not good in my experience with it. We
have nearly all kinds of fruit, but we like the cherry
to eat out of hand when fully ripe better than any of
its season. It ripens a month later than Morello —

242 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

in fact, I picked them off the bushes and exhibited
at our county fair September 23, 24 and 28, where
they attracted a great deal of attention. I have
learned since I have had these cherries that other
residents of the county had them in their gardens
more than twenty years ago, and have them yet, so
I do not claim to be the discoverer of them, but I
believe I am the first to improve them and make
their value known to the public. They are very
scarce in their wild state here. There are two kinds
of them — one that grows outside the mountains in the,
foot-hills, and is in every way inferior to the one
that grows near the bank of the Cache la Poudr-5
river. There are not 2,000 of these cherries of inins
in existence. I could sell wagon loads of these
cherries at 10 cents per quart. I have kept 200 of
the young trees, which I intend to send to respon-
sible parties who desire them for testing. The young
trees I have are one year from seed. I have had
them loaded down at two years of age from seed.
They have never failed to bear fruit every year ; late
frosts never affect them ; they are entirely hardy,
having endured 40 degrees below zero without injury ;
ripen when all others are gone ; would grace any
lawn when in blossom ; are easier pitted than other
cherries."

Bessey writes as follows of the merits of this
cherry:* "No native fruit appears more promising
than this. Even in a wild state it is very prolific,
and when fully ripe it is edible in the uncooked state.
The astringency which is present in the unripe fruits
almost or entirely disappears at maturity. Plants

*Rept. Nebr. Hort. Soc. 1895, 168.

PRUNUS BESSEYI 243

appear to differ a good deal in the amount of astrin-
gency, as well as in the size and shape of the cherries
which they bear. In many parts of the state the
sand cherry has been transplanted to the garden or
orchard. Wherever this has been done the results
have been encouraging. The plants become larger,
and the cherries are larger and more abundant. They
root freely from layers, and hence are propagated with
the greatest ease. My studies of this interesting
native cherry, supplemented by the testimony of
numerous observers in all parts of the state where it
grows, lead me to the conclusion that we have here
a fruit which needs only a few years of cultivation
and selection to yield us a most valuable addition to
our small -fruit gardens. It has recently attracted the
attention of cultivators in the states eastward as a
promising stock upon which to graft or bud some of
the more tender varieties of the cultivated cherries of
the Old World."

The efforts to improve Prunus Besseyi by means
of crossing have been made chiefly in Minnesota.
Professor S. B. Green, of the Minnesota Experiment
Station, writes (1894) that he has "raised probably five
thousand seedlings in the last four years, and has seen
many seedlings on the grounds of the Jewell Nursery
Co., at Lake City, Minn. Among these I have seen
many that produce very good fruit, but I have not
yet selected the one which I shall propagate. I have
attempted quite a number of hybrids between it and
Prunus Americana, but have so far failed to get one
that I felt sure represented both species. It is a very
good stock for the P. Americana. It suckers very
freely the first season, but when the graft or bud gets

244 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

a good start there is but little trouble from this
cause. The Russian cherries bud on it fairly well,
but do poorly when grafted. I think the round fruits
are much more often of good quality than those hav-
ing a pointed apex." Mr. C. W. H. Heideman, of
New Ulm, Minnesota, has been at work about ten
years in endeavoring to secure crosses of Prunus
hortulana (as the Miner) upon Prunus Besseyi, with
good success. He informs me that all his pollinations
are made upon emasculated and protected flowers.
He has made some five hundred distinct crosses, some
of them with pollen of Prunus Americana, but the
issues of this latter combination "are all very weak,
and I am afraid," he writes, "that they will not pull
through." It is yet too early to determine what the
practical results of these crosses may be, but I am
looking for something useful for the Northwest and
for many of the dry lands of the East. A hybrid of
these species is shown natural size in Fig. 40. It
is an oblong dull red plum, with rather meaty and
sweet flesh, a sourish skin, and a rather large stone.
The Compass cherry, being introduced by H. Knud-
son, is said to be a hybrid of this cherry with
Prunus hortulana*

Perhaps the most interesting of these derivatives
of the western dwarf cherry is the variety known
as the "Utah Hybrid cherry" (Fig. 41). All botani-
cal evidence goes to show that the plant is a hy-
brid of Prunus Bessnji and the sand plum, P. Wat-
soni; and its history t bears out this statement.

*Consult Minn. Horticulturist, Apl. 1896, 132, and Oct. 1896, 416.
tPirst given in "The Native Dwarf Cherries," Bull. 70, Cornell Exp. Sta.,
1894. By Dieck, the plant has been named Prunus Utahensis.

HYBRID CHERRIES 245

The Black Utah Hybrid cherry,— which, I think,
is the one now in cultivation, — originated with
J. E. Johnson, now deceased, at Wood River, Ne-
braska, on or near the Platte river, probably some

Fig. 40. Hybrid of the western sand cherry with the Miner plum.
Natural size.

time in the sixties. Mr. Johnson grew native dwarf
cherries and sand plums in his garden. Seeds of
these cherries were sown. Only one tree of the origi-
nal batch of cherry seedlings was considered worthy
of attention, and this tree was propagated. Mr.
Johnson soon afterwards moved to Utah, from
whence, it appears, he distributed this variety as the
Utah Hybrid cherry. There is no species of plum
or cherry known to which this Utah Hybrid can

246 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

be referred, and it is probable
that it is a natural hybrid be-
tween the cherries and plums
growing in Mr. Johnson's gar-
den. It is an almost exact in-
termediate between the western
dwarf cherry and the sand plum.
The fruits are cherry -like in
form and in the character of
the pit, but they have the
"bloom" of the plum. The
illustration shows the Utah
Hybrid, half natural size,
as grown by myself.
It is a very hand-
some fruit of deep
mahogany color, with
a light plum -like
bloom, ripening about
the first of August
at Ithaca. The qual-
ity is poor. The
flesh is soft and
juicy, and rather
pleasant, but it
lacks body ; and the
skin, in our speci-
mens, is very bitter.
The pit is very like
that of Prunus Bes-
The plant is a
tree -like bush three
or four feet high,

Fig. 41. Utah hybrid cherry. S€
Half natural size.

UTAH HYBRID CHERRY 247

with a tendency, evidently derived from the sand plum,
to make a zigzag growth of shoots. The foliage has
every appearance of being a combination of the dwarf
cherry and the sand plum. The leaves are slightly
trough -shaped, or conduplicate, as they hang on the
plant, while those of the sand plum are strongly
conduplicate, and those of the cherry are perfectly
flat. In outline, the leaves are oblong -ovate. They
are dull glossy above and much reticulated be-
neath, with rather coarse, obtuse serratures, and a
firm, thick texture.

The Utah Hybrid cherry, as I have grown it,
appears to possess no immediate value, because of the
poorness of its fruit ; but the tree is hardy and pro-
ductive, and it indicates that there may be combina-
natious of dwarf plums and cherries which shall have
distinct horticultural merits, particularly for dry or
arid soils and trying situations. It also shows how
evanescent is the line of demarcation between the
cherry and the plum.

Retrospect

We have now traced in some detail the curious
and intricate history of the evolution of cultivated
varieties of our native plums and cherries. We have
seen that, although the varieties already named and
impressed into domestication number something like
two hundred, the greater part of them have been
merely fortuitous or accidental variations, and that the
history of even the oldest of them runs back scarcely
more than three -fourths of a century, whereas most
of them are very recent. Five accepted species or

248 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

types of native plums and one or two of native cher-
ries have entered into this domesticated flora, and
hybrids have appeared not only between native plums,
but probably between native and foreign species, and
between the native plum and the peach ; and hybrids
have even arisen between the plum and the cherry. Of
late years, too, another and distinct species of plum has
been introduced from Japan. It is attracting attention
from fruit-growers in every part of the Union, and is
slowly adapting itself to the new environments, and
it must soon meet and blend with some of the native
species. There are already reports that such nuptials
have been made. A half dozen native species not
yet brought into cultivation are inviting the attention
of the experimenter. In the meantime, the interest in
commercial plum culture is increasing rapidly, and
the enterprise is each year carried into new and
untried regions. Of all the books which have been
written upon American horticulture, not one of any
consequence has been given wholly to the plum. To
the student, our native and domestic plum flora will
long remain the most inviting, perplexed and virgin
field in American pomology.

IV

THE NATIVE APPLES

FIVE types of native apples are known in the United
States. These are, the common wild crab of the
northeastern states and Canada, the narrow- leaved
crab of the middle and southern states, the prairie-
states crab, the Soulard crab, and the Oregon crab.
None of these are of sufficient merit to have attracted
much attention for their fruits, from the early settlers,
although many early narrators mention them. John
Smith saw "some few Crabs, but very small and
bitter," upon coming to Virginia. Strachey records :
" Crabb trees there be, but the fruict small and bitter,
howbeit, being graffed upon, soone might we have of
our owne apples of any kind, peares, and what ells."
The crabs of the eastern states are mentioned and
described by many early naturalists and botanists, but
these records contain so little of prophecy for the fruit,
or even interest in it for food purposes, that we do
not need to examine them. The European apples were
so much superior, and thrived so well upon introduc-
tion into the New World, that the wild crabs offered
little reward in the comparison.

What man neglected to perform for himself, nature
did for him, for there have now come into existence
certain named and worthy varieties of apples which
have sprung from the native stock. Before enquiring
of the history of these varieties, however, it will be

249

250 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

necessary to take a brief survey of the various indige-
nous stocks.

The Indigenous Species

We will first simplify our account by disposing of
the Oregon crab, since it is not in cultivation for its
fruit. This species ranges from Alaska to northern
California. It is the largest -growing species of native
apple, making a tree twenty -five to forty feet high. It
received its name, Pyrus rivularis — the "creek Pyrus"
— from Douglas in 1833. The species is more like
the Old World apples, especially the Siberian crab,
than our other indigenous apples. The leaves are
ovate and apple -like in shape, usually smooth, and
only rarely notched or lobed, but uniformly finely
serrate. The little fruits are oblong, three -fourths
inch or less long, with a scant, dryish flesh, and yel-
low or reddish in color, ripening in September and
October. The calyx falls before the fruit is fully ripe,
as it does in the Siberian crab. According to Sar-
gent, "the fruit, which has a pleasant subacid flavor
when fully ripe, is gathered and consumed by the
Indians." He quotes Robert Brown as follows: "The
fruit of the crab -apple (Pyrus rivularis) is prepared
for food by being wrapt in leaves and preserved in
bags all winter. When the apples have become sweet,
they are cooked by digging a hole in the ground,
covering it over thickly with green leaves and a layer
of earth or sand, and then kindling a fire above
them." Wickson, in his "California Fruits," speaks
of specimens of this crab tree "with bodies one foot
in diameter, with spreading tops, loaded with small,

WILD CRABS 251

oval fruit, of a golden color when ripe." He adds
that the fruit of this Oregon crab "is eaten by Indians,
and was used in early times for jelly making by the
white settlers."

The wild apples of the Mississippi valley and
eastward have usually been distinguished into two
species, the Pyrus coronaria or garland crab of the
North, and the Pyrus angustifolia or narrow -leaved
crab of the South. Within the last generation or two,
botanists and experimenters have occasionally called
attention to these crabs as the possible parents of
improved varieties, but nothing very definite appears
to have been put on record until the present writer
made an essay in this direction a few years ago
("American Garden," August, 1891), in which two
new species or types of Pyrus were proposed, and in
which an effort was made to discover the botanical
features of certain cultivated forms of them. At this
point we must examine the botanical features of the
two old-time species of eastern crabs, and of the
prairie states crab, which was there proposed as a
distinct species.

1. The wild or garland crab of the northeastern
states (Pyrus coronaria, Linnaeus). Leaves short-
ovate to triangular-ovate, sharply cut-serrate and often
3-lobed, thin and hard, smooth, on long and slender
but stiff and hard, smooth petioles ; flowers large (over
an inch across), on long (1% to 2 inches) and slender,
stiff, smooth or very nearly smooth pedicels, the calyx
smooth, or very nearly so, on the outside. A small,
slow- growing and spreading, thorny tree, growing in
glades from New York to Michigan, and even to Mis-
souri and Kansas and southwards, probably, to Georgia.

252 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

It is in cultivation as an ornamental plant (" Pyrus
coronaria odorata"), but it appears never to have been
grown for the economic uses of its fruit. The fruit
is always distinctly flattened endwise, clear yellowish
green at maturity, without spots or dots ; stem very
slender, but varying in length, the cavity small and
regular; basin (at apex of fruit) symmetrical, rather
deep but broad, and marked by regular corrugations,
the calyx small and smooth. Various aspects of this
crab apple are shown in Figs. 42-45.

2. The wild or narrow -leaved crab of the Southern
states (Pyrus angustifolia, Aiton). Leaves lanceolate-
oblong to elliptic, small, varying from almost entire
in f,he inflorescence to bluntly and mostly sparsely
dentate -serrate, obtuse or bluntish (only rarely half-
acute), stiff and firm and polished above, as if half-
evergreen, on short (usually an inch or less) and
hard, smooth or nearly smooth petioles ; flowers habit-
ually smaller than in the last, on very slender but
shorter, smooth pedicels, the calyx smooth, or essen-
tially so, on the outside. A small, hard-wooded tree,
growing from Pennsylvania to Tennessee (and south-
ern Illinois?) and Florida. Dr. Gattinger, of Nash-
ville, Tenn., writes me that the species is "confined
to the siliceous sub -carboniferous formation, and I
have never seen it on the silurian limestones around
Nashville." Pyrus angustifolia is more easily confused
with P. coronaria than the western forms of crabs are.
The best character of distinction between P. angusti-
folia and P. coronaria, it seems to me, is the thick,
half -evergreen, shining leaves of the former— a char-
acter which appears to have been omitted in the later
books. I presume that it was this character of leaves

•

Fig. 42. The garland crab. I'yrut corvnaria.

NATIVE CRABS 255

which led Desfontaine to call the species Mains sem-
jH-ri'irens, "evergreen crab apple." Pyrus angustifolia
is thus characterized by Torrey and Gray in 1848, and
the description is excellent: "Leaves lanceolate-oblong,
often acute at base, dentate -serrate or almost entire,
glabrous, shining above." It is said that the styles

Fig. 44. Pynis eoronaria from Pennsylvania. Nearly natural size.

in Pyrus angustifolia are distinct, while they are united
in P. coronaria, but this character does not hold. The
coherence of the styles in all these wild crabs, as in
the apple itself, is very variable, and it seems to me
to be entirely unreliable as a distinguishing mark.
These species have been confused from the earliest

256 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FEUITS

times. For example, Michaux left two specimens of
Pyrus angustifolia in his herbarium at Paris, one
of which is ticketed Mains
angustifolia and the other
Mains coronaria,— the latter
said to grow in "Pennsyl-
vania et Virginia."

Pyrus coronaria
and P. angustifolia
are essentially smooth
species, and the young
wood is dense and
hard. The young
leaves and
"< shoots are some-
Mimes thinly
^ -__ ( hairy, but they
/ soon become
'< smooth. The
western types are
essentially pubescent
species, and the
young growth is
thicker and softer ;
and the pubescence
is floccose or woolly,
and persists upon the
under surface of the
leaves throughout the
season.

3. The prairie states crab (Pyrus loensis, Bailey,
Ainer. Gard. xii. 473. Pyrus coronaria, var. loensis,
Wood, Cl. Bk. Botany, 333, 1860). Leaves rather

Fig. 45.
Leaf of Pyrus coronaria.

NATIVE CRABS

257

large, firm in texture and white - pubescent beneath, on
stout and rather thick, pubescent petioles (1 to 1%
inches long) , various in shape : those in the flower-
clusters are oblong and blunt and marked above the
middle by notches, while the mature leaves range from
elliptic -oblong to ovate-
oblong, and are irregu-
larly and mostly bluntly-
toothed, and bearing a
few nothes or right-
angled lobes or teeth

Fig. 46. Leaves of Pyrus loensis.

(See Fig. 46) ; flowers nearly or quite as large as in
P. coronaria, on rather slender but white -pubescent
pedicels an inch or so long (Fig. 47). A small tree,
growing in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Mis-
souri and Kansas.. The fruit is characteristically dif-
ferent from that of Pyrus coronaria, and these differ-
ences are well shown in the accompanying illustra-
tions. The fruits of this species (Fig. 48) are oblong,
dull, rather heavy green, with many light -colored dots
Q

258 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

in the skin ; stem short and thick as compared with
fruits of P. coronaria, the cavity mostly oblique or
unsymmetrical ; basin variable, narrower and shallower
than in the other, with less uniform corrugations, the

Fig. 47. Flower cluster of Pyrus loensis.

calyx closed and pubescent. The fruit is generally
more angular and irregular in shape than that of
P. coronaria, averaging larger, and often has a greasy
feel ; not so handsome as the other.

The only description of this prairie states crab, as

PYRUS IOENSIS 259

distinct from the eastern crab, which I have ever found,
is Wood's characterization of as it P. coronaria, var.
loensis, in 1860, as follows: "Lvs. (when young),
pedicels and calyx densely tomentous. Lvs. ovate and
oblong, distinctly lobed ; (fr. not seen). Sent from
Iowa by Dr. Cousens." Pyrus loensis is a variable
species. The leaves on young and strong shoots
are sometimes triangular-ovate, but the blunt teeth,
thick petioles and white tomentum distinguish them
from P. coronaria, the leaves of which upon similar
shoots are very sharp-toothed. The flower -clusters and
accompanying foliage, barring the white pubescence,
are often much like P. angusti folia. It is not improb-
able that it may be found to simulate P. coronaria
upon its eastern limits. I am convinced that this
prairie states crab is sufficiently distinct from the east-
ern crab to be held as a valid species. It has a nor-
mal range, marked technical botanical features, and
a very distinct fruit. Figs. 46-48 are characteristic.

In their native and unmixed state, the fruits of
these wild crabs offer little promise to the horticul-
turist. In newly settled localities they are sometimes
gathered for winter use, but they are then used in
cookery, although I have known of the fruit of Pyrus
coronaria being buried until spring, when it becomes
fairly edible, when other fruit is not to be had. Cider
has also been made from these wild crabs. Sargent
says of Pyrus coronaria : " The fruit is used for pre-
serves, and is often manufactured into cider;" and
the same remark is made of P. angusttfolfa. Hum-
phrey Marshall, over a hundred years ago, speaks of
the fruit of Pyrus coronaria as "small, hard, roundish,
umbilicated, and extremely acid. It is frequently

THE SOULARD CRAB 261

used for conserves, &c." But if the native crabs lack
in attractive qualities of fruit, they make good the
deficiency in beauty and fragrance of flowers. They
are amongst the choicest of native small tress for
ornamental planting. There is also a double -flowered
form (probably of Pyrus loensis) , introduced to the
trade in 1893 as "BechtePs Double -flowering Crab."

Amelioration Has Begun

If the forms or types of native crabs ended here,
the matter would be simple enough ; but there are
certain large -fruited kinds which have been picked
up in the Mississippi valley arid introduced into cul-
tivation, and three or four of them have received trade
names. We must now make an effort to understand
their botanical features and histories. The most
important of these crabs, which have been found in
the wild, is the Soulard {Figs. 49, 50). This Soulard
crab has been much talked about, and yet there ap-
pears to be little definite information concerning it,
particularly in reference to its botanical characters.
The fruit was named for Hon. James G. Soulard,
of Galena, Illinois, who introduced it. The follow-
ing account of its origin was given before the Hor-
ticultural Society of Northern Illinois by Mr. Soulard
in 1869 ; and the same facts are also given by him
in "Gardener's Monthly," x. 199 (July, 1868) :

"At the request of the Horticultural Society of Jo
Daviess county, 111., I proceed to give a statement of
this remarkable hybrid. It originated on a farm
about twelve miles from St. Louis, Mo., where stood
an American crab thicket not enclosed, near the farm

262 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

house, about 25 years since. The thicket was cut
down and the ground cultivated some two or three
years ; culture being discontinued, another crab
thicket sprang up, and when bearing, one tree (the

Fig. 49. Soulard crab.

Pyrus Soulardi. Five-eighths

natural size.

identical kind now called Soulard crab) was dis-
covered. The fruit astonished me by its remarkably
large size, being sent to me by a friend whose
widowed mother, Mrs. Freeman Delauriere, occupied
the farm. I immediately propagated by grafting upon
crab stock and upon our common seedlings. Upon

THE SOULARD CRAB 263

both stocks producing the same fruit and thriving
admirably, I disseminated it among my friends as a
very desirable fruit, having nothing of the Siberian
type. It is to me conclusive that this crab is the off-
spring of an accidental hybridization of the wild crab
by our common apple. The tree, its foliage, habit,
increased size of fruit and tree, and decreased acer-
bity, convince me it is a hybrid, and as far as I know,
the first instance of such cross.

"I consider it the most desirable of all crabs that
I have seen. Adding sweetness, it is delicious baked.
It makes most excellent preserves, being large enough
to be quartered, and unsurpassed by any crab for
jams, jellies, etc., imparting its delicate taste and
rich crab aroma. The largest have measured over
seven inches around. In form, color and smell it is
like the common crab, and it hangs on the tree until
destroyed by frost. It will keep two years, with com-
mon care, in a cellar, and will stand repeated freezing
and thawing in a dark place. It is agreeable to many
palates in the spring.

"The tree is an immense grower in the nursery,
coming early into fruit and making but little growth
afterwards, and is an immense and regular bearer. I
have made some cider as clear as wine, with sugar or
a quarter part of sweet apples. It will make delicious
strong cider. Tree perfectly hardy, having stood the
severest winters here and at St. Paul, Minn., for 25
years. I have none for sale, and never expect to dis-
pose of any ; I am too old. But I believe that there
is money in it for younger ones."

Downing, in the first Appendix to his "Fruits and
Fruit Trees," says that the Soulard crab originated

264 THE EVOLUTION OF OUE NATIVE FRUITS

with Antoine Lessieur, Portage des Sioux, a few miles
above St. Louis, Missouri. Confusion appears to have
arisen from the fact that a seedling apple raised
at Galena by Mr. Soulard has been distributed as the
Soulard apple. And some writers have said that the
Soulard apple came from St. Louis, and the Soulard
crab from Galena. Downing was confused on these
fruits, and other writers have added to the perplexity.
In "American Gardening" for April, 1893, a correct
description and figure of the Soulard apple are given,
but the confusion respecting the origin is still per-
petuated.

There is a great difference of opinion concerning
the value of the Soulard crab, due in large part to a
misconception of its merits. It must be remembered
that it is a crab apple, and is not to be compared
with eating apples. As a crab, it appears to possess
some advantages, particularly as a possible parent of
a new race of fruits for the West. Professor Budd
speaks of it as follows, in "Rural Life:" "The only
value of the Soulard crab known to the writer is for
mixing sparingly with good cooking apples for sauce,
to which it imparts a marked quince flavor, which
most persons like. It is also said to make a jelly
superior to that of the Siberian crabs." D. B. Wier,
for many years a fruit-grower in Illinois, writes me
as follows concerning it : " It is simply a variety of
the common wild crab of the northern United States.
Its fruit is quite large for the type, smooth, round,
somewhat elongated, and of a clear, bright, golden
yellow when ripe ; and it keeps with little loss, with
care, until spring, when it becomes, we may say,
nearly eatable. The fruit, like the type generally, is

THE SOULARD CRAB 265

very fragrant, and, cooked with plenty of sugar, it
makes a most delicious preserve or sweet-meat, highly
prized by the pioneer housewife. The tree is a fine
pyramidal grower, rather ornamental in form, leaf and
flower. It is propagated by root -grafting on seed-
lings of the common apple. With me in Illinois it
was not fully hardy, our severe test winters reducing
its vitality plainly. I could not recommend the
Soulard crab as being a fruit of much value. With
me it was for many years a scanty bearer. It is a
rather fine ornamental tree, and did not have the
suckering habit, which would make most of the
varieties of the species nuisances in the garden."
J. S. Harris, of La Crescent, Minn., gives me these
notes of it: "The Soulard crab was introduced
here about thirty years since, as being a cross
between Pyrus coronaria and the common apple ; as
hardy, fruitful and a good substitute for the quince,
which it is supposed will not grow here. At one time
it was planted quite freely, with the view of making
cider from the fruit, but I think it has never proved
satisfactory. The fruit is used to some extent in our
western cities as a substitute for the quince for pre-
serves, and mixing with better fruit, to which it
imparts its aroma; but it has never had a 'boom,'
and hence the demand for the fruit is limited and its
commercial value not great. It is no better than the
wild crab as a stock upon which to work the apple.
There is no reliable evidence that it is a hybrid, and
I believe it to be a natural variation." The "Farmer's
Union," of Minneapolis, published the following state-
ment in 1873, in reply to a remark made in the "Gar-
deners' Monthly:" "The Soulard grows at Pembina,

266 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

more than three hundred miles north of St. Paul.
The Soulard of all other crabs is the most valuable.
It cannot be used as an eating apple. It is bitter,
worse than a quince, but for preserves it is quite
equal if not superior to the quince. We consider it
to-day the most valuable fruit grown in the North-
west." It is probable that too much was expected of
the Soulard crab when it was first introduced, and
that it afterwards suffered from the partial collapse.
Such an array of apples has now been introduced into
the cold Northwest — from the East, from Russia,
offspring of the Siberian crab, and local seedlings of
the common apple— that the Soulard crab and its kin
have been obscured.

What is the botanical history of this Soulard crab!
So far as I know, this crab has always been regarded
as Pyrus coronaria, or as a hybrid between it and the
common apple. Any one familiar with Pyrus coronaria
as it grows in the eastern states will at once observe
that the leaves and short petioles and peduncle of the
Soulard crab belong to some other species. In my first
critical study of the Soulard crab, I became convinced
that it represents a distinct natural species, and accord-
ingly named it Pyrus Soulardi ("American Garden,"
xii. 472), and this conclusion was fortified by the fact
that the plant occurs in a wild state from Minnesota,
apparently, to Texas. The technical characters which I
found to separate this plant from both Pyrus coronaria
and P. loensis are the following :

"Leaves round -ovate to elliptic -ovate, either
rounded or tapering at the base, large, bluntly and
closely serrate or dentate -serrate when young, irregu-
larly crenate- dentate at maturity, with a tendency to

THE SOULARD TYPE

267

become lobed, obtuse or even truncate at the top, on
short (1 inch or less) and thick pubescent petioles,
very thick and conspicu-
ously rugose, and clothed
below with a dense tomen-
tum like the ordinary
apple leaf, which it much
resembles in color and
texture (Fig. 50) ; flowers
smaller than in P. coro-
naria, crowded in close
clusters like those of the
common apple, and borne
on short (% to % inch
long), densely white-
woolly pedicels. A rather
upright and stout -growing
tree, occurring from Min-
nesota (Lake Calhoun,
Hb. H. Mann.} to Texas
(Gillespie county, O.
Jermy). Judging from the
few specimens in herbaria,
this must be an uncommon
species. In fact, I have
seen but three wild speci-
mens, as follows : Lake
Calhoun, Minn., Hb.
Mann. (Cornell Univer-
sity) ; St. Louis, Mo., Hb. Fi8' »' Mature leaf
Torrey, and Texas, Hb. Dept. Agr. I have the
cultivated plant from several sources.

"Whatever value my conclusions may ultimately be

268 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

found to possess," I said at the time, "I hope that the
arrangement now proposed will serve to elucidate the
confused knowledge of our wild crab apples." With
this saving clause in mind, I now
confess to a belief that Pyrus Soulardi
is not a true species, but is a hy-
brid between Pyrus loensis and the
common apple, Pyrus Mains. The
jr chief considerations which lead me

to this conclusion are -the
facts that the plant, in a
wild state, seems to have
no connected or normal
range, and that various
specimens which I have
had an opportunity to ex-
amine during the past few
years have shown almost
complete gradations from
one of these species to the
other. I cannot now de-
fine Pyrus Soulardi by any
characters which are not
also common to one or
both of the other species,
Pyrus loensis or P. Malus.
The reader can trace the
features of these assumed
parents in the various pic-
tures of them and of the
Soulard type which accompany this text. Fig. 46 shows
outlines of the leaf of Pyrus loensis, and Fig. 51 of
the common apple. Fig. 50 is a good intermediate.

Fig. 51. Leaf of com

apple.

270 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Forms of large -fruited crabs are now frequently
discovered in the thickets of the West. The photo-
graphs of the Mathews crabs, shown full size in Figs.
52 and 53, will give an idea of the
size and beauty of some of these wild
fruits. These specimens were sent
Fi 53 m me by B. A. Mathews, of Knoxville,
Mathews crab. % Iowa, who is cultivating it. It has
Natural si*,. | very large, apple -like,

smooth leaves. Mr.
Mathews writes that
trees of this which he
has in cultivation gave
fruit, in the fall of
1890, which "sold at
one dollar per bushel,
while good fruit of
Grimes' Golden,
Roman Stem and
others was selling for
fifty to seventy -five cents." Mr. Mathews adds :
"I saw specimens of another wild crab last fall
which reminded me of small Grimes' Golden. It was
the nicest one I have seen." J. S. Harris, Minnesota,
writes, "I saw a sample of native crab last fall that
was larger than the Soulard, and quite distinct
from ."

The late D. B. Wier, of Illinois, once wrote me as
follows respecting wild crabs: "Along the streams
in northern Illinois I have seen many wild crabs the
superior of the Soulard in every characteristic, yet none
with qualities such as would give them much value for
cultivation, though many might be useful as culinary

WILD CRABS 271

fruits. If the quince is a valuable culinary fruit, the
better varieties of the wild American crab are worthy
a place in the garden and orchard for the same
purposes. The crab is much the hardier, handsomer
tree, and subject to much fewer ills than the quince,
and is usually enormously productive of its peculiar
austere fruit. The wild crab ripens its fruit from
early autumn until the following summer. The old
practice in pioneer times was to bury the hard fruit in
the soil late in autumn and so leave it until spring,
when it would open out a fine golden yellow.

"In its wild state, this crab is a variable fruit in
size, color, flavor, shape and time of ripening. I have
seen trees of it growing wild, with fruits averaging
fully two inches in diameter. The fruit of the Soulard
runs from one and a -half to two inches. The fruit
of it is generally round, somewhat flattened, averaging
about an inch in diameter, though often larger or
smaller. It is rarely oblong, sometimes pyriform, and
I have seen it (or one of the same type) in one instance
with the fruit pyriform, and with a bright red cheek,
growing in the woods miles away from domesticated
apples; and I have heard of two other like instances.
The better varieties of our wild crab should be a fruit
of value in the far north, above the line where the
common apple can be safely grown. And there is no
doubt, from its natural variability, that a fruit of con-
siderable value could be produced from it for culinary
purposes. The pioneers had little use for it, simply
because sugar in those days cost money, and money
at times was not to be had."

The Fluke crab is another of these hybrids, from
Iowa, with fruits as large as those of the Mathews.

272 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

It is strange that hybrids of the common apple and
Pyrus coronaria have never been found, although both
species are common in the eastern states. But the fact
that the apple seems to hybridize freely with Pyrus
loensis and not with P. coronaria, is' still further indi-
cation that these two native crabs are really distinct
species, as species go. To my mind, there is much
promise of good to come from the further amalgama-
tion of Pyrus loensis and the common apple, particularly
in the augmentation of hardiness of tree and keeping
qualities of the fruit. There is warrant for this opinion
in the old-time crabs of our gardens, of the Transcen-
dent type, for these are hybrids of the common apple
and the Siberian crab, Pyrus baccata. So distinct in
appearance are some of these apples that Willdenow
long ago called them a distinct species, Pyrus pruni-
folia.* There are many crabs in cultivation which
belong to this prunifolia class, and they are prized for
culinary qualities, beauty, productiveness and hardi-
ness. Pyrus prunifolia is to the apple and the Siberian
crab what Pyrus Soulardi is to the common apple and
the prairie states crab ; and if the former type is val-
uable we have reason to hope that the latter will be
also. Various experiments have already been made in
hybridizing this western crab with the apple, by C. G.
Patten, of Iowa, by experimenters at the Iowa Agri-
cultural College, and elsewhere ; but it is probable
that the larger part of the future improvement will
be fortuitous, for nature makes her experiments upon
an extensive scale, and she never gives up. The years

*Willdenow's type of P. prunifolia, preserved in Berlin, shows flowers and
leaves, and has the botanical characters of the Transcendent and Hyslop crabs.
It is almost unmistakably a hybrid of Pyrus Malus and P. baccata.

PROPHECY 273

are hers. The insinuation of the native blood into
domestic apples will probably be very gradual and
undemonstrative, and much of the result will prob-
ably never be discovered ; but the benefits will be all
the greater if the native species shall be so com-
pletely blended with other types that their influence
is not recognized.

THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN RASPBERRY -
GROWING

THE raspberry has long been one of the important
bush -fruits of Europe. The wild plant is native to
Europe, and it was named Rubus Idceus by Linnaeus,
from Mt. Ida, in Greece, where it seems to have been
early esteemed. This raspberry has been cultivated
from the fourth century of our era, and perhaps even
earlier, although its cultivation had not attracted much
attention until two or three centuries ago. About
twenty named varieties were known in England early
in this century.

This excellent European fruit was early introduced
into American gardens. M'Mahon recommends it
in his admirable "American Gardener's Calendar," in
1806. "There are many varieties of the Rubus Idceus,
or European raspberry," he writes, "but the most pref-
erable are the large common red, the large common
white, the red Antwerp, and the white Antwerp rasp-
berries." The first edition of Prince's "Pomological
Manual," 1831, describes a dozen varieties, the greater
number of which are of foreign origin. It was soon
found, however, that this European type of raspberry
is unreliable in North America. This is chiefly because
of lack of hardiness, both in withstanding the cold of
winter and the drought and heat of summer. Conse-
quently, the raspberry failed to attract much attention
274

THE FIRST RASPBERRIES 275

except in garden cultivation, where some protection
and the best care could be given it. The Antwerp
and the Fontenay, varieties of this species, are still
grown by amateurs.

Early American History

But, as in the grapes, plums, gooseberries, and
other fruits, there are raspberries growing in the
woods which quickly lent themselves to domestication
as soon as an effort was made to tame them. In
fact, they came into cultivation without an invitation,
and so little have we cared for their genealogies that
it is not until the last six or eight years that any
real attempt has been made to discover the botanical
affinities of the various types. The first native berry
to come into cultivation was called the English Red,
the name itself recording the ignorance of its origin.
In 1831, when Prince wrote, this was "the only variety
at present cultivated to a great extent for the supply
of the New York market, and there are probably near
one hundred acres of land on Long Island appropri-
ated to its culture." Prince was aware of its botani-
cal affinities, and he substitutes for the name English
Red the truer one of Common Red, and gives it
Rubus Americanus for its Latin name. He says that
it "is a native of our state, and grows naturally in
the Catskill Mountains." "The fruit is one of the
earliest at maturity, of medium size, fine flavour, and
held in great estimation, as well for the dessert as
for making cherry brandy, &c." Prince also men-
tions the Virginia Red, which appears not to have
been in cultivation; the Pennsylvania!!, a red-fruited

276 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

variety which he obtained "from a London nursery,
under the title of Rubus Pennsylvanicus, but have
since found it to be identical with plants received
from the forests of the State of Maine ; " and the
Canada Red, or Rubus Canadensis, a red raspberry of
medium size which he had seen growing along the
roadsides near Montreal, and the fruit of which was
there collected and "large quantities sold in the mar-
kets." Prince also mentions the wild black raspberry,
but this was not cultivated. The preference for the
red berries is easily explained from the fact that the
fruits of the European raspberry are red or purple.
The earliest raspberry -growers naturally followed the
foreign models ; but these patterns were destined soon
to be obscured by a new type of fruit.

We shall find this new type of fruit — the improved
black raspberry or black -cap — developing in the West,
and its genius is Nicholas Longworth, the same pro-
phetic spirit who put American grape -growing on its
feet. He had found a wild raspberry of unusual
promise in Ohio in 1832. After he had cultivated it
for a number of years, he was not only convinced of
its value for America, but wanted it tried in England
as well. So we find him writing to the "Gardener's
Magazine," in London, about his new berry:*

"When driven into the interior of the state by the
cholera, in September and October of 3832, I found a
raspberry in full bearing, a native of our state, and
the only everbearing raspberry I have ever met with.
I introduced it the same winter into my garden, and
it is now cultivated by me in preference to all others,

*A synopsis of this history is published iu Bull. 117, Cornell Exp. Sta.

THE OHIO EVERBEARING 277

and ray table is supplied from the beginning of June
till frost.

"By means of heat, under glass, it might be made
to bear well through the winter. The first of June it
produces a most abundant crop, about ten days earlier
than any other variety. The wood producing that
crop dies through the early part of the summer, and
the second shoots begin to ripen fruit before the crop
on the old wood is over, and continue to bear till
frost, and then produce the June crop of the follow-
ing season. The fruit is black, of good size, and is
preferred by a majority of persons at my table to the
Antwerp. The vine is a native of the northern part
of our state, where the summers are not as dry and
warm as at our city, and they have a substratum of
clay. In my garden the substratum is gravel, and
our summers are dry and hot. From these causes it
does not bear as well with me through the heat of
the summer as it does in its native region, and will
do in a cooler and moister climate. I sent some to my
sister, nine miles from New York, where the substra-
tum is clay, and the climate cooler and less subject
to drought. With her it produces double the fruit in
the heat of summer that it does with me. From these
causes I have believed it would bear most abundantly
in most parts of Great Britain. It does not increase by
offsets, as other raspberries do, but in September and
October the shoots descend to the ground, and each
one, as it strikes the earth, throws out six or seven
small shoots, that immediately take root and throw up
shoots. I say it is a native, because I have never
seen or heard of it except the few plants in a par-
ticular location where I found it in 1832. It has

278 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

not yet been offered for sale, except a few plants by
Mr. Howarth, who now contemplates taking his entire
stock to England. It is unknown out of this vicinity,
and there is but one person who has more than a few
plants, as there have been none for sale. Our sea-
sons have been dry of late years, and, anxious to
supply my own garden, I could spare none, except a
plant to a particular friend. All beyond what are
wanted in my garden, my gardener furnished to Mr.
Howarth. The vine is very hardy, is not killed by
frost, is of rapid and vigorous growth, and requires
no particular cultivation, except that, from its vigor-
ous growth, it should have a higher trellis than the
Antwerp. ******
"CINCINNATI, OHFO, September 30, 1841."

Attached to this letter is a memorandum from
J. B. Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati, testifying to the
goodness of both Mr. Longworth and the fruit:
"I feel happy in expressing my perfect assent to
what has been stated above, on which the most
perfect reliance can be placed," the reverend gentle-
man says. "Mr. Longworth has no interest but the
public good and the advancement of horticulture
to promote, by his bringing before the people of
England this luxurious, hardy, and indigenous va-
riety of the raspberry. As far as my judgment
goes, I have never tasted a finer species of that
fruit." The editor of the magazine adds that "plants
of this raspberry are in a London nursery, but none
of them will be sold till the worth of the variety
is ascertained." The variety never gained much
note in England, but Robert Hogg still retains it
in the fifth edition of his "Fruit Manual," in 1884,

THE OHIO EVERBEARING 279

although it is probably long since extinct in America.

Long worth's letter to the "Gardener's Magazine"
is not the earliest record of this raspberry, however.
The earliest note of it which I have seen is the fol-
lowing, in Hovey's "Magazine of Horticulture," Bos-
ton, for 1837:

"Everbearing Raspberry. — The 'Genesee Farmer'
states that a new kind of raspberry has been found in
New York state, near Lake Erie, by the Shakers
residing there, and that it produces its fruit through-
out the summer and autumn. It is also stated to be
really a valuable variety, and worthy of extensive cul-
tivation. The fruit in appearance is longer than the
wild black raspberry, and approaches near, in size and
excellence, to the White Antwerp, but is not so high
flavored. The habit of growth is somewhat similar
to the common purple raspberry, the shoots of which
are very vigorous, bending over and touching the
ground, and take root, by which mode it is rapidly
increased. Its mode of producing its fruit is as fol-
lows : In the spring the old shoots throw out their
new branches, as in other sorts upon which the first
crop appears, but soon the new shoots begin to grow,
and when they have attained a good size, which is
generally just before the first crop is gone, they pro-
duce the second crop ; to this latter circumstance it
owes its name, and its peculiarity. The fruit of the
second crop is considered the best. It is grown by
Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati, and by the Shakers
near Lebanon, but has not yet found its way into any
of our Atlantic cities."

In 1842, the same magazine makes another account
of this variety :

280 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

"The Everbearing Raspberry.— In our Vol. III., p.
154, under our Miscellaneous Notices, we gave an
account [quoted above] of this fruit, which had then
just been brought into notice ; since then, we have
heard very little of it till the past year. It is now
attracting more attention, and as it is deemed a valu-
able acquisition, we have copied a further description
of it below, which we find in the 'American Agricul-
turist : '

"The Ohio everbearing raspberry was first dis-
covered some fifteen years ago, in the northern part
of the state, near Lake Erie, but in what particular
part is unknown. Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati, intro-
duced it into his garden in 1832, at which period he
was driven into the back country by the cholera, where
he found it growing. It has been little known, how-
ever, in Cincinnati, until within the last two years,
but there is now great effort made by the gardeners
to cultivate it for the market of that city. The fruit
resembles the wild native raspberry, but is much
larger, more fleshy, and of a much finer flavor, and
is almost a very ^profuse bearer. In Cincinnati, the
wood of the previous year bears one crop in June,
after which it soon dies ; the young shoots then come
into bearing, and continue doing so into October, till
the frost cuts them off, when may be seen buds and
blossoms, and the fruit in every stage from green up
to full ripe, on the bush, stayed by the hand of nature
in the midst of their productiveness. The fruit is
preferred by many to the Red Antwerp, and with its
large, erect clusters of flowers, presents a beautiful
appearance.

"Mr. Longworth, in a communication describing

THE OHIO EVERBEARING 281

this fruit, in the 'Gardener's Magazine' [already
quoted] , states that the plants, in light, dry soils, are
not very productive in the autumn crop ; but if grown
on a stiff loam on a clayey subsoil, bear profusely till
destroyed by frost. From all that has been said in
relation to it, it appears a desirable fruit, and we hope
soon to test its qualities ourselves."

From these two last accounts, one is not sure
whether the variety was found in New York or Ohio,
notwithstanding the explicit statement [p. 279] that it
came from New York state, for it is stated that it had
not yet found its way into the Atlantic states, but was
grown only by Longworth and by the Shakers at
Lebanon, which is about thirty miles from Cincinnati ;
and, moreover, it could not have occurred in the
" northern part of the state " of New York and yet be
found "near Lake Erie." Longworth's own account
explicitly states that he found the berry in Ohio.

The berry became known as the Ohio Everbearing,
and, by the natural process of elimination, as the
Ohio. At the present time, an Ohio raspberry is
extensively cultivated, so extensively that in western
New York alone probably not less than a thousand
tons of the dried berries are marketed each year from
this single variety. But this contemporaneous variety
is not the berry of Longworth. It originated from a
single plant which came in a planting of another
variety, obtained from Ohio, early in the sixties, upon
the farm of Hiram Van Dusen, of Palmyra, New
York. The old Ohio has passed away, but berry-
growers have not known the fact, because the present
variety, of like name, has been confounded with it.
The materials which are concerned in the evolution

282 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

of horticulture are so transient, and the records and
histories are so few and so inaccurate, that many of
the milestones are lost forever; but this generation
should do something to rescue and to hold the passing
events upon which so much of the knowledge and
experience of the future must rest.

The next event in the domestication of the native
black -cap was the introduction of a variety found
growing wild by Leauder Joslyn, of Phelps, Ontario
county, N. Y., and introduced by H. H. Doolittle,
of Oaks Corners, in the same county, about 1850.
This was variously known as American Black, Joslyn's
Black-cap, Joslyn's Improved, American Improved,
and Doolittle. Under the last name, the variety was
widely disseminated, and was cultivated until ten or
fifteen years ago. Several other varieties followed
within the next few years, but raspberry culture grew
slowly, nevertheless. The American Pomological
Society, at its session in 1853, commended only five
varieties, and all of them were foreigners. The grow-
ing of small-fruits had not yet assumed great impor-
tance in this country. There were no facilities for
marketing such fruits in any quantity, people had not
learned to use them freely, and the farmers were
wedded to the old-time crops. It was not until after
1870 or 1875 that, under the stimulus of a general
awakening and new teaching in agricultural matters,
the cultivation of the bush -fruits began to attract wide-
spread attention. Meantime, however, the foundations
were all laying. Forehanded persons here and there
were learning how to grow and handle the new fruits.
Books and periodical articles, some of them in advance
of their time, were expounding the new ideas. Now

DR. BRINCKLE 283

;md then a patient investigator was working out new
problems and securing new varieties. The bud of a
new type of agriculture was slowly developing. We
now foresee the full bloom.*

Among the earliest American experimenters with
raspberries was Dr. William D. Brinckle, of Philadel-
phia, "a busy physician, who," as Professor Card
writes, "having a taste for pomology, pursued it as a
means of recreation from other duties. He experi-
mented with strawberries and pears, as well as with
raspberries. So important was his work in these
lines that he seems to be much better remembered for
that than for his medical reputation, although he was
successful and prominent in this field also. He was
president of the American Pomological Society at its
second session, and for many years vice-president of
the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, repeatedly
refusing its presidency. Unfortunately, his work on
raspberries was with the Rubus Idceus species, and
most of the varieties which he produced have suffered
the fate of the class to which they belong; yet he
obtained in Brinckle 's Orange the variety which has
stood as the desideratum to be sought in quality to
the present day." This variety has the following his-
tory, to quote Dr. Brinckle himself : " It originated
* * * * * from a seed of Dyark's Seedling,
a large English crimson variety, imported by Mr.
Robert Buist, of Philadelphia. The seed was planted
July 13th, 1843, vegetated in the spring of 1844,
fruited in 1845, and described in the 'Horticulturist'

*For a. very full description of all the varieties of raspberries cultivated in
the United States, see (Jrozier, Bull. Ill, Mich. Kxp. Sta. Consult, also, Card1*
"Bush-Fruits."

284 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

for October, 1846." Dr. Brinckle died in 1863. He
was born in Delaware, and lie began his medical
career in 1820 in Wilmington. In 1825, he removed
to Philadelphia. A correspondent signing himself
"R. B." (whom I take to be Robert Buist, the dis-

Fig. 54. William D. Brinckle, an early experimenter with the raspoerry.

tinguished seedsman and author, of Philadelphia), writ-
ing to the "Gardener's Monthly" upon the occasion of
Brinckle 's death, remarks that "Dr. Brinckle stood at
the very head of the pomological fraternity, and had
done more for the science than any other person,
whether American or European." Another correspon-
dent, "J. J. S." (no doubt John Jay Smith, editor of
Michaux's "Sylva," and once editor of the "Horticul-
turist"), gives the following reminiscence of Brinckle:

DR. BRINCKLE 285

" Soon after the establishment of the ' Horticulturist'
I introduced my much lamented friend Downing to
Dr. Brinckle, at the time residing in Girard Row,
Chestnut street, then the most distinguished range of
houses in Philadelphia. His dwelling was capacious
and fashionable, but its attraction to Downing was a
garden about as large as the parlor, and a fourth -story
front room looking south; in the former was con-
tained a few raspberry bushes, on which the Doctor
was experimenting ; and there stood the Brinckle
Orange, then bearing, for the first time, half a dozen
of its golden berries ; others were about, but the
Orange was evidently his pet, and it did not deceive
his hopes. That fruit alone is a passport to enduring
fame ; an acquisition in every sense to be proud of.

"The up -stairs front room floor was covered with
pots of strawberries, on which hybridizing experiments
were in progress, and the Doctor told us, with evident
satisfaction, that he could pick a bowl of fruit for a
patient at all seasons. Much conversation ensued
between the two lovers of improvement, and when we
left, Downing said much what your correspondent has
written [page 284], that Brinckle had done more for
horticulture than any other person in America. If I
am not mistaken, he thought more than all the rest
of us put together.

"Dr. Brinckle was eminently a genial man, and
loved to have his friends around him. He gave, on
one occasion, of a fruit-growers' exhibition, the most
superb fruit party ever seen in this country. All the
gardeners and amateurs vied with each other to fill his
noble table with their best fruits; these, combined
with the very recherche cookery of Philadelphia's best

286 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

restaurateurs, and the best American and foreign
wines, with the addition of the elite of our citizens
and the gardeners, formed a scene such as I have wit-
nessed in no country. The occasion proved a most
interesting one, serving not only to make people bet-
ter acquainted with each other, but to promote the
cause of fruit progress.

"On one occasion a pleasant ruse was tried upon
the palates of some of our best judges of wine. Long-
worth's champagne was then a new and unknown pro-
duct, and a supply had been forwarded to the Doctor.
I was requested to change the labels from some very
superior foreign champagne to Longworth's bottles,
and to replace his on the European. Then came the
trial! The supposed foreign was condemned and
Longworth's had the preference from some of the
most noted Cognescenti. The triumph was complete,
and was long a standing subject of hilarity and joke.

"Little in the way of labored panegyric need be
said of our lamented friend. His own merits are
established, 'and his deeds do follow him.'"

The Present Types of Cultivated Raspberries

With the exception of the English Red, there
appears to have been no native red raspberry in cul-
tivation until nearly or quite 1860, when Allen's Red
Prolific and Allen's Antwerp — varieties sent out by
L. F. Allen, Black Rock, N. Y., and which, accor-
ding to A. S. Fuller, were "merely accidental varieties
of the wild red raspberry of his locality"— were intro-
duced to the public ; and it was many years after this
that the true red raspberries began to attract much

THE VARIOUS TYPES 287

attention from berry -growers. The old English Red
appears not to have been a true red raspberry, but to
be a representative of a distinct class, which later came
to be called the Purple Cane. When Fuller wrote his
most excellent "Small-Fruit Culturist," in 1867, there
were four types of raspberries in cultivation : the
black -caps, represented by the American Improved or
Doolittle, Dawson's Thornless, Elsie, Miami, Ohio
Everbearing, Seneca, Summit Yellow -cap, Surprise,
White -cap and Woodside ; the red raspberries, com-
prising Allen's Red Prolific, Allen's Antwerp, Kirt-
land, Pearl, Stoever and Scarlet; the purple-canes,
with Catawissa, Ellisdale, Gardiner, Purple Cane and
Philadelphia ; the foreign or Idaeus types, of which he
mentions sixty -seven varieties, but which, as a class,
although "larger and better flavored than those of our
native species," present few varieties "that are hardy
in the northern states, and their leaves burn more or
less at the South." The black raspberries are direct
offspring of the wild black -cap or thimbleberry, Rubus
occidcntalis, which is common everywhere in the north-
eastern states. It is the first pure native species to
give domestic offspring, and it is now the most widely
and extensively cultivated of any American raspberry.
The true red raspberries are direct offspring of the wild
red or scarlet berry, Rubus strigosus, which is the
American representative of Rubus Idaus, and by some
botanists held to be only a geographical modification of
the latter. It has a wide natural range, extending
farther north than the black -cap. The foreign varie-
ties are direct offshoots of Rubus Id&us, which grows
wild from Norway and Siberia to Spain and Greece.
But what is the purple -cane tribe, of which the

288 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

English Red was the prototype ? This was called Ru-
bus Americanus by Prince in 1831, and his Rubus Penn-
sylvanicus is likely the same type. A. S. Fuller appears
to have been the first author to separate this class of
garden berries. He calls them the "purple -canes," and
characterizes them as follows : " The principal differ-
ence between the varieties of the black -cap and purple-
cane is in the fruit. The first, as is well known, has a
rather dry, tough fruit, with a peculiar flavor. Its
grains are numerous and very irregular in size. The
fruit of purple -cane, as a rule, is rather soft, juicy,
often very brittle, the grains separating very readily ;
color varying from light red to dark brownish purple,
but never black ; the flavor mild and agreeable, but
entirely distinct from those of the true black rasp-
berry." I think that some of the sorts which have
been referred to Rubus Idceus belong to this type, and
also the Doolittle's Red -flavored Black, which Mr.
Fuller refers to the true black -caps. I am convinced
that it is the most important type of raspberry known
for America. From pure red raspberries, or Rubus
strigosus, we appear to have obtained fewer varieties
than is commonly supposed ; Cuthbert appears to me
to be the first decided advance in that species.

In 1869, Professor C. H. Peck studied certain wild
raspberries in New York, and used the name Rubus
neglectus for what he took to be a distinct natural
species. The following year, C. F. Austin, writing of
northern Jersey plants, in the "Bulletin of the Torrey
Botanical Club," speaks as follows of this raspberry :
" R. neglectus, Peck, a hybrid, I have no doubt, between
R. strigosus and R. occidentalls, occurs in Orange
county, but seldom more than one bush in a place ; it

THE FOUR TYPES 289

will hardly average a bush to a hundred acres of
land." Finally, in 1890, the present writer referred
the purple -canes to this Rubus neglectus of Peck, and
attempted to designate the botanical characters which
distinguish the cultivated forms from those of Rubus
occidentalis and R. strigosus. The garden berries which
he then referred to this species are Shaffer, Caroline,
Gladstone, Philadelphia, Reliance "and probably
Crystal White." This Rubus neglectus is widely dis-
tributed in a wild state. In order to understand it, we
must draw the characters of its relatives, the black and
the red ; and in these features the accompanj'ing
pictures of these species will help us.

The botanist may distinguish our four types of
cultivated raspberries by the following marks :

Rubus occidentalis, Linnaeus (Blackcap, Thimble-
berry of some). (Fig. 55.) Stems long, and at ma-
turity recurved and rooting at the tips, conspicuously
glaucous, armed with stiff, hooked prickles ; inflores-
cence densely cymose, the peduncles all aggregated or
rarely one or two somewhat remote, short and stiff,
simple and erect, bearing stiff prickles and sometimes
also straight bristles ; petals shorter than the sepals ;
fruit depressed, firm and dense, black. Here belong
the Gregg, Ohio, Hilborn, Ada, and others. The close-
fruited clusters are well shown in the accompanying
photograph (Fig 55), and it will be seen that the
condensation is greater in the Gregg than in the wild
berry. Amber-fruited forms of the black-cap are
occasionally found in wild areas.

From Wyoming westward the wild black -cap rasp-
berry is represented by another species, known as Rubus
Uucodermis. It is doubtful if the plant is really distinct

THE FOUR TYPES 291

from the eastern species, and Card thinks it a variety.
Its chief marks are shorter and more hooked prickles,
more coarsely toothed leaves, and a yellowish red fruit
which has a white bloom. It has been recommended
for cultivation for its fruit, but no named varieties have
yet appeared. Wickson speaks of it as having "a
yellowish red fruit, rather large, with a white bloom,
and agreeable flavor." Shinn says that it "occasionally
carries a fair crop of fruit, but one may often search
a whole acre of thimbleberry bushes in the season with-
out obtaining a double handful."

Bubus neglectus, Peck. (22nd Rep. Regents N. Y.
State Univ. 53, 1869.) Habit various, but the stems in
typical forms long and rooting from the tip ; stems
glaucous, usually more or less armed with prickles,
often bristly also ; inflorescence racemose-cymose, the
peduncles short and usually prickly, mostly stiff, the
upper ones erect or ascending, simple or nearly so
above but unequally branched below, some of them
aggregated above ; fruit varying from purple -black to
bright purple or even yellowish. Among cultivated
sorts, the Shaffer (Fig. 56) may be considered the type
of the species. A glance at the illustration will show
the aggregated character of the fruit cluster at its
apex and the gradual tailing out of the cluster at
the base. The lowest branches in the cluster are apt
to give imperfect fruit. There are all gradations,
from the heavy-topped cluster of the Cuthbert to the
loose cluster of the Caroline, but the ragged cluster
is usually characteristic of Bub us nrglectmt.

Bub-iis strigosus, Michaux (Red Raspberry). (Fig.
57.) Stems, at least in the wild plant, densely clothed
with straight and weak bristles, usually brown or

292

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

reddish brown ; inflorescence racemose, the peduncles
scattered, all slender and drooping, either simple or
2- or 3 -flowered, not aggregated at the top, smooth
or bristly ; petals as long as the glandular sepals ;
fruit light red, soft. The racemose character of the

Fig. 56. The Shaffer raspberry. Xubus neglectus.

inflorescence of this species is well shown in the pic-
ture of Cuthbert, a variety which appears to closely
represent in all particulars the true Rubus strlgosus.
Hansell also appears to be E. strigosus. The wild
plant is densely clothed with weak bristles, but these

THE FOUR TYPES

293

mostly disappear iu cultivation. They sometimes per-
sist near the base of the cane, and traces of them can
be seen in the inflorescence. I have a white -fruited
raspberry, which is Ruins strigostts. The stems are
whitish. The leaves also possess a curious dentation,

the teeth being rounded and tipped with a short cusp,
but I am not sure that this is a constant character, or
that the variety possesses any other distinguishing
mark than albinism.

Rufais Idaus, Linnaeus (European Raspberry).
Plant usually stiff and erect, usually stronger than

294 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

R. strlgosus, the stems bearing nearly straight slender
prickles or weak bristles, and usually light -colored ;
inflorescence sub -corymbose — the pedicels short, and
aggregated above, where they are erect or ascending;
fruit large and broad, appearing more or less contin-
uously throughout the summer, purple or yellowish,
firmer than that of R. strigosus ; calyx glandless. The
raspberries belonging to this species are usually ten-
der in the North, as we have seen, and they have not
been grown to any extent since the introduction to
cultivation of the native species. Here belong the
Fontenay, Antwerps, Fastolf, Brinckle's Orange, and
their kin.*

These descriptions and figures show that the purple-
cane or Ritbus neglectus class is intermediate between
the black -cap and true red raspberries. The type has
no characters which are not found in one or both of
the other two. Neither has it any normal or contin-
uous range, but occurs where the black and red spe-
cies are associated. All this points strongly to hybrid-
ity; and there is now sufficient accumulation of exper-
imental evidence to prove a hybrid origin for these
berries.

* Card, who has given much thought to the raspberries, gives me the follow-
ing contrasts of the two red-fruited species:

I{iil>us Idams. — Plant usually stiff, erect, and light-colored, the main stems
bearing nearly straight slender prickles ; flowering shoots, petioles, veins, pedi-
cels and calyx finely pubescent, but not glandular, and sparsely beset with firm
recurved prickles; leaves thicker than in R. strigosus, whitened downy beneath
and usually somewhat wrinkled; calyx tomentose; fruit dark red or yellow,
produced more or less continuously throughout the season.

R. strigosus.— Stems more slender than R. Idceus, beset with stiff, straight
prickles, usually brown or reddish brown, somewhat glaucous; flowering shoots,
pedicels, calyx and petioles hirsute with glandular-tipped hairs in the wild
type, though largely disappearing in cultivation; calyx slightly pubescent or
hirsute; fruit light red, rarely yellow, produced less continuously than in
X. Idceus.

RESUME 295

The salient points in our raspberry history, then,
are these : The Old World berry was early introduced
and widely tested, but it proved to be tender, and is
now known in this country only in the gardens of
amateurs. The varieties which we now grow are all
derived from our native species. The first of these
native berries to be domesticated appears to have been
a natural hybrid between the wild black and the wild
red, and to have come into cultivation about 1825.
This hybrid class, which seems to be the most rromis
ing type of American berries, was not recognized as dis-
tinct until Fuller denned his purple -cane group in
1867; in 1869, Peck founded a new species of rubus on
it, calling it Rubus neglectus; in 1890 the purple-cane
raspberries and Rubus neglectus were determined to be
of similar type and origin. The first direct effort at
improving the native berry was the introduction of a
promising wild Ohio berry in 1832 by Nicholas Long-
worth, and this berry subsequently came to be known
as Ohio Everbearing. The chief merit of this first
cultivated black -cap, in the eyes of its disseminators,
was its habit of bearing a second crop of fruit in the
fall, a feature which is by no means uncommon in the
black raspberries. This Ohio is probably no longer
cultivated, but there is another Ohio raspberry, of later
origin, which is widely grown. The general influence
of amelioration in enlarging the fruit and condensing
the cluster is shown in Fig. 55. The Gregg is a fail-
example of the improved black-cap, although a recent
variety has brought the size of individual berries to an
inch in length and three inches in circumference at
the base. The domestication of the true wild red
raspberry began shortly before 1860. But the red

296

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

type which is most productive of good and various
forms is the purple -cane group, which we have already
discussed.

There is every reason to believe that much greater

Fig. 58. A garden hybrid. Gregg X Shaffer.

results are possible in the improvement of the Ameri-
can raspberries than have yet been obtained. The
European raspberry is still superior in size and quality,
but if it has been possible to derive the varied garden

OTHER RASPBERRIES 297

berries of the Old World from a single species, still
greater results may be expected from the ameliora-
tion of two species which freely hybridize.

Outlying Types

The Salmon -berry of the Pacific coast has come
into cultivation within the last very few years as a
fruit plant. The best type is Rubus Nutkanus var.
vclutinus. Charles Howard Shinn, of the California
Experiment Station, writing in "Garden and Forest"
in 1894, says that this plant "belongs more distinctly
to the northern California coast, where it is highly
esteemed, but it does not grow well elsewhere."
Wickson, in "California Fruits," says that the variety
"thrives best in the upper coast counties, and
efforts to introduce it as a commercial fruit generally
throughout the state have not proved successful."
Ruins Nutkanus itself ranges from northern Michigan
to Alaska and New Mexico, always being a boreal,
subalpine or highland plant. It is closely allied to
the common flowering -raspberry, or Rubus odoratus, of
the East, from which it differs chiefly in having
white flowers, a less dense clothing of glandular
hairs, less acuminate lobes to the large leaves, and a
larger fruit. It bears a large and sweet hemispherical
red fruit. This species itself, as well as the variety
velutinus, is recommended for cultivation. Both are
known as Salmon -berries.

VI

EVOLUTION OF BLACKBERRY AND DEW-
BERRY CULTURE

NORTH AMERICA is the only country which can boast
of the cultivation of blackberries and dewberries for
their fruits. The hedges of Europe are full of black-
berries, and many of the bushes produce excellent
fruit, but they are too common and the bushes too
vicious and wayward to attract the cultivator. Now
and then bushes are transplanted to the gardens, but
there appear to be no named varieties. "Nowhere in
the three kingdoms," writes Grindon in his "Fruits
and Fruit -Trees," "is it more plentiful or of finer
quality than in the southern parts of Ireland. Yet
there, this natural gift of the soil, untaxed, uncharged
for, 'without money and without price,' while it might
be made a source of immense and permanent wealth to
the poorer inhabitants, is left wholly untouched ; and
this when we are sending millions of money every
year to foreign countries for fruits that have not half
the intrinsic worth of the ill -requited Rnbus fruti-
cosus." Hogg, in his great English "Fruit Manual,"
does not mention the blackberry.

"Perhaps it would be casting discredit on the
worthy ancestors who braved so many dangers in the
settlement of our country to charge them with undue
conservatism," writes Professor Card, in a sketch of
the blackberry, in "American Gardening," "yet it can
(298)

BLACKBERRY HISTORY 299

hardly be doubted that men who would brave the
uncertainties, not to say terrors, of an ocean voyage
on an almost unknown sea, and the settlement of a
new country peopled with savages of unknown traits
and tendencies, rather than surrender ideas which they
cherished, would not be quick to form new ones.
Hence we can readily conclude that the blackberry
of America was to them much what the blackberry of
England had been — simply a wild bramble, to be
destroyed when possible and replaced by something
better, and whose fruit was to be gathered at will.
Moreover, to cultivate a fruit which was so readily
obtained in abundance for the gathering would have
been folly to them, when many other things conducive
to their safety and comfort were so much more needed.
As time went on, however, this gratuitous feast of
nature, provided for the fostering of 'infant indus-
tries,' began to diminish, and the demand of growing
cities for increased quantities of fruit doubtless led to
the idea of cultivating the blackberry among the rest.
Just when this state of affairs was reached it is impos-
sible to say, but evidently not until quite late in our
national development, for the blackberry does not
seem to have begun to receive much notice or to be
talked about in the horticultural journals until about
1850. From 'Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture,' it
appears that Capt. Josiah Lovett, of Beverly, Mass.,
figured prominently in introducing it to cultivation.
Even then, as with many other good and useful things,
first impressions were unfavorable. Of course, the
first effort would naturally be to bring plants which
bore the most promising fruit from the woods and
clearings, and set them in the garden. This attempt

300 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

to tame the wild protege of the forest did not often
prove satisfactory. These plants evidently did not
take kindly to the refinements of civilization, and
longed for their free and easy life of the wood. Cap-
tain Lovett reports repeated failures in trying to get
good berries by this method. He persevered for five
years, and at last gave up in despair, about 1840, and
surrendered this wild gypsy of the fruits to its native
haunts as untamable. In spite of these discouraging
results he evidently did not give up the dream of a
cultivated blackberry, for Downing gives him the
credit of having introduced the Dorchester, which in
time proved so valuable, although according to Mar-
shall P. Wilder, as reported in the 'Transactions of
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society' for 1883,
p. 129, it was brought to notice by Eliphalet Thayer,
who first exhibited it before that society, August 7,
1841.

"But the first introductions to cultivation, the
Dorchester and New Rochelle, were not calculated to
bring swift and lasting popularity to the blackberry
as a garden fruit, for although large and attractive,
their habit of turning black before they are ripe nearly
always led to their being gathered and eaten while
green, and their consequent condemnation as sour and
poor in quality. Moreover, their culture, being little
understood, led to frequent failures and unsatisfactory
results, while their propensity to persist and spread,
aided by their unmerciful thorns, conspired to render
them a terror to many timid gardeners. In spite of
all this, the blackberry has steadily pushed its way
into prominence, until it is to-day one of our most
satisfactory and profitable crops. Here, as with all

EARLY HISTORY 301

other fruits, we are far from attaining perfection.
We have no ideal variety. If we demand the best in
point of hardiness, we must yield in size and quality;
if delicacy of flavor is the desideratum, something else
will be deficient. Yet to stand by a well -grown row
of Early Cluster, for example, to see its glistening
sprays of glossy black hanging in such graceful pro-
fusion, to gather its magnificent berries and to test
their sweet and melting quality, just like those finest
and ripest ones you used now and then to chance
upon in some wooded nook which everybody else had
missed, is to forget for the time being that there is
anything further to be desired in a blackberry. Still,
we have reason to hope that the achievements of this
energetic and vigorous pomological youth are but an
omen of what is yet to come."

The blackberry is not mentioned by William Prince
in his "Treatise on Horticulture," published in 1828,
nor in his son's "Pomological Manual," either in the
first edition, 1831, or in the second, 1832. Kenrick,
in "New American Orchardist," 1833, mentions the
blackberry as being worthy of cultivation, and remarks
that plants were then occasionally transplanted to gar-
dens. Speaking of the wild "bush blackberry," he
says: "This plant thrives in a rich, moist, sandy
loam, and is often cultivated in gardens, where its
fruit is much improved in size, and its crops very
abundant." "It is singular," he says, "that a fruit so
productive as the tall blackberry should be so little
cultivated." He also speaks of the "trailing black-
berry," and the "white -fruited bramble." William
Parry, of New Jersey, says that about 1835 he
"planted a patch of blackberries for market, and

302 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

continued to increase the quantity until we got more
than fifty acres." He mentions no varieties, however,
and it is probable that his plantations had not reached
great size before 1860. It is likely that he began
with the wild berry. The New Rochelle (or Lawton)
and the Dorchester appear to have been the first
named sorts introduced to cultivation. The Dor-
chester was first brought to notice in 1841, before
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

" The first thing we find to notice in the exhibitions
of 1841," runs the account in the history of the Society,
"is the high -bush blackberry cultivated by Eliphalet
Thayer in his garden, where it attracted much attention
from its large and beautiful appearance." It was about
1850 that the variety was introduced into cultivation
under a name. In 1857 "the Lawton blackberry was
exhibited and carefully tested in comparison with the
Dorchester (as the improved high -bush was now
called), the opinion being- unanimously in favor of the
latter." This berry, which surpassed all others in
popularity until 1870, was found in the town of
New Rochelle, New York, by Lewis A. Seacor. The
Holcomb, brought to public notice in 1855 by E.
A. Holcomb, Granby, Connecticut, was also one of the
famous old berries. Wilson's Early, of which I shall
speak later, was known as early as 1854. It may be
said that the blackberry began to attract attention as
a cultivated fruit between 1850 and 1860. Fuller
enumerates eighteen varieties of fruit -bearing black-
berries in his "Small Fruit Culturist," in 1867.

The blackberry is now extensively grown in the
northern states, some farmers cultivating as high as
forty and fifty acres, and the fruit is much esteemed,

THE MALIGNED BLACKBERRY 303

although the cultivation of it did not begin to attract
much attention until about twenty years ago. In the
southern states it is rarely cultivated, because it grows
in such profusion on the abundant wild lands.
There is no bush -fruit which is capable of yielding
greater profit. It is the last of the small fruits to
ripen, and when it is well grown it affords a luscious
addition to the dessert of midsummer. Some of my
readers will at once take issue with me respecting the
lusciousness of the blackberry, and we may as well
argue the subject to a finish while we are in the
mood. In justification of my position, I shall say
that those persons who do not like the garden black-
berry have probably never eaten a ripe one. Those red
and juiceless objects which one finds frying in the
sun and patronized by flies in front of grocery stores
are not the fruits about which I am writing. They
might have been green berries or red berries, but they
were never ripe blackberries. There is no berry fruit
grown which sooner deteriorates after picking, and few
which are necessarily picked in such unfit condition.
The blackberry is not ripe simply because it is black;
it must be soft, and it must drop into the hand when
the cluster is shaken. In this condition it is full of
the sweetness and aroma of midsummer. It is our
most delicious bush -fruit. Of course, such berries as
these never find their way to the market, and hence it
comes that my reader who has never grown the fruit
is still wincing in memory of the unbearable acid of
the blackberry. Then, there are those who declare that
the tame berry is intolerably sourer than the wild one.
It is true that it is more juicy when well grown, and
this juice is very sour until the berry is soft to the core.

304 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

But the flavor of the wild berry is usually quite as much
a compound of pleasant memories of youthful associa-
tions and stimulating adventures as it is of sweet-
ness and flavor ; and then, when one picks wild berries
he always selects the ripest and the best, and these
become the standard with which he compares the un-
timely fruits which he buys of the groceryman. I also
held tenaciously to the opinion that the tame berry is
inferior to the wild one until, a few years ago, I visited
the wild patch in which grew those incomparable ber-
ries of my boyhood. But I found the berries scant and
seedy, many of them inexcusably sour, and the briers
intolerable. I came back to my Agawams with relish,
and they are to this day my ideal of summer fruits.

What a silent evolution the blackberry has under-
gone ! It is not yet fifty years since the first named
blackberry, the Dorchester, was introduced to general
notice, and ,in 1875 that the New Rochelle, or Lawton
was exhibited before the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society; and thereupon blackberry culture began to at-
tract wide attention in the country. The Lawton held
undisputed sway until it was superseded by the Kitta-
tinny some ten or fifteen years later. The Kittatinny,
in turn, gave way to the Snyder in about ten or fifteen
years, and this latter variety is now the leading com-
mercial blackberry. In the meantime, however, a host
of varieties had appeared, very many of them wildings
or chance bushes found in fence -rows, but so quietly
have they come in that no one has been sufficiently
attracted by them to enquire minutely into their
genesis or to attempt to classify them into botanical
groups. In spite of all the attention given to it, the
blackberry is still a neglected and unknown fruit !

LONG -CLUSTER TYPE 305

The botanical features of the blackberry are obscure
and variable. This is true of the genus Rubus as a
whole, but particularly of the groups which comprise
the blackberries and dewberries. It is probable that
no two monographers will ever agree upon the limits of
the species and natural varieties in these groups.
Some classification of these forms must be made, how-
ever, before we can understand the evolution of the
garden types, and I therefore ask the reader's forbear-
ance if I seem to refine this discussion beyond the
needs of a popular narrative.

The High -bush Blackberry and Us Kin

The commonest blackberry of North America is an
upright and very thorny and villous bush, which pro-
duces a long raceme of flowers and fruit. The type
of this species may be assumed to be that shown in
Figs. 59 and 60.

It is often known as the "high-bush blackberry."
The particular marks of this plant are the tall stature;
the long stalks to the leaves and the leaflets; the long-
ovate, rather thin and shallow -toothed pointed leaflets;
the very long, open and leafless simple raceme, with the
slender branchlets or pedicels standing off from the cen-
tral stem at a very obtuse angle. The lowest flowers in
the raceme open first. The calyx -lobes are long and
narrow. The fruits are oblong and thimble -like, firm,
aromatic and sweet when ripe. In cultivation, this
type of blackberry is represented by the Taylor and
Ancient Briton. For horticultural purposes the group
may be called the "Long -cluster Blackberries. "*

"This classification was first proposed in Bull. 99, Cornell Exp. Sta. (1895).
T

Fig. 59. High-bush blackberry. (Rubus villosus of American botar
but now to be called Rubus nigrobaccus.) X two-thirds.

SHORT -CLUSTER TYPES

307

A closely related form, common in open and dryish
places, is a bush generally only two or three feet
high, bearing a short
cluster of small
roundish mostly loose-
grained fruits. The
varieties of this type
have a strong ten-
dency to produce a
few later fruits on
the tips of the new
growth. These late
fruits often ripen as
late as the first week
in September. The
leaflets are broader,
more abruptly
pointed, usually
thicker and shorter-
stalked, and generally
very coarsely and un-
evenly serrate or even
jagged. This is the
commonest form of
blackberry in gar-
dens, and includes
such varieties as New
Rochelle or Lawtou,
Kittatinny, Snyder,
Agawam, Erie, and
Minnewaski. Typical
clusters of this group are shown in Figs. 61, 62. It
is comparatively few -fruited, leafy, the stems oblique

308 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

rather than spreading, the topmost fruits more or
less aggregated. The fruits are rounder than in the
Long -cluster group, the drupelets larger and mostly
softer and less uniform in arrangement. This type I
have designated the "Short -cluster Blackberries."

i ig. 61. Snyder. One of the short-cluster types. Full size.

This group is the most prolific in cultivated varieties.
One of the recent garden forms is shown in Fig. 63.
A third type of blackberry comprises dwarf, strict,
leafy bushes, generally growing on dryish soils from
New Brunswick to Kansas and the Gulf, bearing the
flowers in short leafy clusters (Fig. 64), the leaflets

LEAFY -CLUSTER TYPES

309

small and firm, more or less wrinkled, light colored,
persisting long in the fall, smooth or nearly so when
full grown, narrow, coarsely toothed. Fruit early,

Pig. 62. Agawam.

roundish, medium to small, the grains large and
rather loose. This is a very leafy plant, and is prob-
ably a distinct species from the common blackberry.
In cultivation, it is known in the Early Harvest

Fig. 63. Mersereau blackberry, four-fifths natural size. An offspring, by
of plants, of the Snyder.

MOUNTAIN BLACKBERRY

311

(Figs. 64, 65), Brunton's Early, and possibly Bangor.
The Dorchester, as I have seen it growing in late
years, also belongs here, but I do not know if the
plants which I have seen are
lineal descendants of the old
Dorchester introduced by
Captain Lovett. The wild
form (Ruins aryutus) is the
most widely dis-
tributed of any of
our blackberries.
In Texas it is rep-
resented by the
Dallas, which is
the best medium -
early blackberry
for that region .
Varieties of this
type I have called
the "Leafy -cluster
Blackberries."

A dwarfer or
more condensed
form of the high-
bush blackberry is
abundant in the
Adirondacks and
Allegheuies, where it is
often known as the moun-
tain blackberry. It has
been distinguished by Pro-
fessor Porter, who first
described it as Rubus vil- oneMr'Se

312 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

losus var. montanus, but who now ("Bulletin Torrey
Club," xxiii. p. 153) regards it as a distinct species,
and calls it Rubus AHegheniensis . "Its slender stalks
are less prickly than those of the common blackberry,"
he writes, "and usually reddish, but the chief differ-
ence lies in the fruit, which is much smaller, of
oblong shape, often narrowed toward the apex (thim-
ble-like), scarcely fleshy, and possessed of a peculiar
spicy flavor." The flower clusters are shorter than
those of the typical high -bush blackberry, but they
are of the same kind, and the leaves also retain the
distinguishing features of that species. It is probably
only a mountain or highland form of the common
blackberry.

A curious variation of the common blackberry is
the so-called white blackberry. It has the stems
throughout greenish yellow; leaflets much as in the
common blackberry in shape and dentation; clusters
long and bearing simple bracts, hairy and glandular;
fruit small, creamy white or amber -colored. I have
known this plant from childhood. It grew sparingly
in the woods in western Michigan, and it was
occasionally transferred to gardens. In one garden,
at least, it has grown for more than twenty years,
and it has always retained its characteristics. There
is also a patch of it along an old roadside in cen-
tral New York, where, except in the light color of
the foliage, stems and fruits, it does not appear to
differ from the normal high -bush blackberries in the
neighborhood. It is generally distributed from New
York to Michigan, but appears to be very local. The
white blackberries sometimes advertised by nursery-
men no doubt belong here.

LOOSE -CLUSTER TYPES

313

Fig. 65. Early Harvest. Half size.

Certain cultivated varieties, which I have called the
"Loose -cluster Blackberries," differ from all the pre-
ceding types. The class is characterized by a low and
often diffuse growth, broad, jagged and notched leaves,
mostly loose -grained, roundish or roundish -oblong

314 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

fruits, which are sometimes very large, and particu-
larly by the few flowers scattered on long stems to-
wards the end of the canes. Sometimes the canes
have a distinct tendency to root at the tip. The vari-
ous pictures (Figs. 66-69) show the features of this
curious tribe of berries.

The progenitor of these loose -cluster berries was
the Wilson Early, which was discovered in the wild
about 1851, by John Wilson, Burlington, New Jersey.
This attracted much attention in New Jersey, but it
was too tender for New York and New England. One
of the men to bring this variety into great promi-
nence was William Parry, a nurseryman and fruit-
grower of Parry, New Jersey. Fuller says, in 1867:
"It is but little known, except in the vicinity where
it originated. Mr. Win. Parry, John S. Collins, Jas.
S. Williams, and a few other fruit-growers near Phil-
adelphia have quite extensive plantations of this va-
riety, and from an examination of the fruit the past
season, I conclude that it will prove to be one of the
most valuable varieties yet introduced." Parry was
one of the few horticulturists who has made any
definite attempt to originate or breed new varieties of
blackberries. I give his own history of these efforts,
as told in "Fifty Years Among Small Fruits:"

"In 1860 we planted seeds of the New Rochelle, at
that time the largest and most attractive blackberry
known, but no attention was paid to crossing the
blossoms with another variety, and there was no im-
provement in the young seedlings, which bore well of
large, handsome fruit, very acid and late in ripening.
We never disposed of a plant of them, but destroyed
them all, as they were not of much value compared with

Fig. 66. Wild blackberry-dewberry hybrid, from central New York.

316 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FEUITS

the celebrated Wilson's Early, which was larger, more
productive, and more than a week earlier, and worth
two or three times as much per acre as any other
blackberry then known ; and in 1865 we planted
20,000 Wilson's Early for market; they did well,
yielded abundantly, and sold readily at wholesale, by
the wagon load, at 50 cents per quart, and were sold
at retail from the fruit stands at $1.00 per quart.
The plants sold at $1,500.00 per 1,000 at wholesale,
and retailed at from $2.00 to $3.00 each, and some
more. One of our neighbors, who planted seventy-five
acres of Wilson's Early blackberries, reported his
sales of fruit for several years about 1869 to 1872 at
$20,000 to $22,000 per annum. The Wilson Early was
the most valuable blackberry ever grown here ; yielded
more bushels of fruit and brought more dollars than
any other blackberry ever sent to Philadelphia or
New York since we have been in the business. In
1870 we selected a healthy young Dorchester and
planted in same hill with a strong, healthy Wilson
Early for breeders, located far away from any other
blackberries. They have done well together, been a
mutual help to each other, and we have raised many
valuable seedlings from them. They were both early;
the Wilson produced the largest berries, the Dorchester
had the best canes — strong, upright growers, health y
and vigorous, free from rust, fungus and other mala-
dies so very destructive among some blackberries.
We have never observed any defect in fruit or cane
of either of those two plants that have grown together
now for fifteen years, and we believe they are good
stock to breed from yet.

"In 1875 we selected some of the largest, best and

318 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

most perfectly developed berries from the Wilson
Early plant, which grew in same hill with the Dor-
chester, planted the seed first in greenhouse, and when
large enough to transplant in open, field were set in
single hills four feet apart in nursery row, and allowed
to remain there with good culture and pruning for
four years, until the true character of each was de-
veloped, and one proved to be superior to all the
others, producing an abundance of fruit, larger and
earlier than its parent, the Wilson Early. That one
best plant was called Wilson Junior, and preserved
for propagation. All the rest of that family of plants
were destroyed. The Wilson Junior has been carefully
propagated, and as fast as the young canes became old
enough to bear fruit, have been very satisfactory, and
last year (1884) one acre yielded 110% bushels of fruit
by side of five acres of Wilson Early in same field,
with similar culture, which averaged but 53 bushels,
and the whole crop of blackberries in the county of
Burlington, N. J., is reported at 47 bushels per acre.
The fruit was large, early and very fine, and sold better
in market than any other sent from the Pomona Nur-
series, selected berries measuring 4% inches around
lengthwise by 3% inches crosswise. Many visitors
called to see them, and all, so far as we know, thought
well of them. * * * *

"In 1877 we again repeated the same experiment,
by selecting the largest and most perfect berries from
the Wilson Early, grown by side of the Dorchester,
planted them separately, grew them four years, then
selected the best which is called Eureka, and all the
rest of that family were destroyed. Of the Eureka
we have propagated several thousand plants. They

PARRY'S EXPERIENCE 319

are good market berries, large and early, measure
4 inches around lengthwise, and 3% crosswise ; not
quite so large as Wilson Junior ; therefore we have
not disposed of or parted with any plants of Eureka,
as we do not approve of adding to the list of varie-
ties without gaming any new and valuable qualities.

"In 1879 we extended the experiment by select-
ing the best berries from both plants, set the
seedlings in rows separately, and when they devel-
oped their fruits, we selected two from the Wilson
Early seedling, called Rioter and Farmer's Glory ;
also two from the Dorchester seedling, called Gold
Dust and Primordian. All the other seedlings were
destroyed. Those four new seedlings were satisfac-
tory last year (1884), bore abundantly of large
early fruit. The Gold Dust was remarkable for the
short time in which the whole crop was ripening.
The first picking was on 4th of July and the last
on 8th of July, yielding a full crop of fruit in that
short time. In 1880 we increased the number of
our experimental hills for breeders, by setting one
plant of Eureka and one of Wallace in same hill;
also one plant of Taylor's Prolific and one of Eureka
in another hill, and in 1883 gathered the best berries
from all four varieties, planted the seeds, and now
[1885] have the plants growing in nursery rows set
six feet apart and all marked with the name of both
parents, and date, for future reference." Of these
types of varieties, only the two Wilsons ever gained
much prominence.

The Wilson Early and Wilson Junior blackberries
are still the leading varieties of the loose -clustered
type, but the latter is so nearly like the former, that

Fig. 68. Rathbuii blackberry. (X two-thirds.)

THE HYBRID TYPES 321

the two are not generally distinguished. These varie-
ties are early and productive, and where the winters
are not too severe, or when the bushes are laid down
in winter, they are satisfactory and profitable. Some
six or seven years ago a curious plant was noticed in
a patch of Wilson Early belonging to John Ster-
ling, Benton Harbor, Mich., where this variety is
now extensively grown. This plant was almost com-
pletely thornless, and the leaves were broad and
rounded. It was, no doubt, simply a seedling of the
Wilson Early. It is now called the Sterling Thornless
blackberry. The latest addition to this group of
blackberries is the Rathbun (Figs. 68, 69), which
originated with Alvin F. Rathbun, Smith's Mills,
Chautauqua county, N. Y., and which was intro-
duced to the trade bj" James Vick's Sons, in 1894.
This has a habit of rooting very freely from the tips,
and the fruit-cluster is very loose, with usually long
fruit-stems. It is the widest departure from the high-
bush type of any cultivated blackberry which I have
seen.

What is the origin of these loose -cluster black-
berries? Horticulturists have said that they are
hybrids between the common blackberry and the dew-
berry, but botanists have not investigated them, and
they have not admitted hybrids between these very
unlike species. But the horticulturists are right. In
1867, Fuller thought that "it is probably a sport of
the trailing blackberry [dewberry], or a cross between
it and the high -bush." These hybrids of the black-
berry and the dewberry are common enough in central
New York, although a positive statement that such
natural hybrids do exist appears not to have been made

322 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

until 1895 (in Bulletin 99 of the Cornell Experiment
Station). One is soon able to recognize them by
their low, or diffuse, or even half -trailing habit, the
broad, jagged and short -stalked leaflets, the loose,

Fig. 69. Showing how the Rathbun propagates by means of tips.

indefinite or scattered inflorescence, and the short,
irregular fruits. One occasionally finds them rooting
at the tips, like a dewberry (Fig. 69), and sending
up strong blackberry -like shoots. It is singular that
promising natural hybrid tribes should occur in
various genera, as the native plums, apples, rasp-
berries and blackberries. (See page 381.)

The thornless blackberry has lately come into
prominence among botanists. (See Figs. 92, 93.) It
was thus described by the writer some years ago :*

"A peculiar bush blackberry, with long .wand -like
canes, and entirely destitute of thorns, was collected
a year or more ago by Dr. C. F. Millspaugh in West

*Agric. Sci. vi. 66 (1892).

MILLSPAUGH'S BLACKBERRY 323

Virginia, at an altitude of 3,500 feet. It appears to
be specifically distinct from the common bush black-
berry, and it has recently been described as a new
species by Dr. Britton under the name of Rubus
Millspaugliii (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, xviii. 366, Dec.
1891). Dr. Britton knew no other specimens than
those of Millspaugh, except a single leaf of it in Lin-
naeus' herbarium, in London, collected by Kalm over
a century ago.* I am inclined to think, however, that
the species is generally distributed over the northeastern
states. I have recently had good specimens of it from
the highest mountains of the Smoky range, North
Carolina, above 6,000 feet, collected by Chas. A. Kofoid
and Mr. Beardslee. In Walter Deane's herbarium, at
Cambridge, Mass., there is a specimen of it from Ice
Gulch, Randolph, N. H. (White Mountains), collected
by J. R. Churchill in 1889, and Mr. Deane says that
there is another specimen in the Gray herbarium from
the Keweenaw peninsula, Lake Superior, collected by
J. W. Robbins many years ago. I have had canes of
a perfectly smooth blackberry sent me from northern
Michigan (near Grand Traverse), and I have no doubt
that they belong to this species, as the angular and
furrowed, perfectly smooth canes of Rubus Millspaughii
are easily distinguished from those of the common
blackberry. From all these records, it would appear
that the species occurs upon our northern borders, and
that it follows the mountains southwards ; and this
accounts for the finding of the specimen by Kalm, who
traveled in Canada.

"Now, as the canes of Rubus Millpaughii are per-

* Linnaeus described the plant us Jtubn* Canadenti*, and that name must
replace R. Millspaughii, as explained in the succeeding pages.— I,. H. B. 1898.

324 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

fectly thornless, it is important that horticulturists
should turn their attention to the species if it gives
any promise of good fruit. The so-called thornless
blackberries of gardens are only comparatively unarmed
forms of the common blackberry. The person who
sent me the thornless canes from northern Michigan
said that the fruit is good. Mr. Kofoid, who collected
the specimens in North Carolina, sends me the following
note: 'It seems to be very abundant where it occurs,
forming dense thickets of upright stems five to eight
feet in height. As late as the 29th of August we found
the fruit just turning a faint reddish tinge, and quite
palatable and sweet to a hur.gry man. Natives say
that the fruit becomes ripe and black in September.
The berries are large, long and slender and very
sweet, lacking the sharply acid or bitterish quality
of the berries of the lower mountains. There are
no thorns or prickles. One can go through the
patches unscathed. You may, however', find a few
minute prickles on the mid -vein, generally of the
terminal leaflet.' This is certainly a promising
account.

"There are several botanical characters which dis-
tinguish this species from the common blackberry, aside
from the absence of thorns. It lacks almost entirely,
except on some of the young shoots, the conspicuously
pubescent character of the common species. The leaves
are thin and the leaflets are sharply toothed and promi-
nently long -pointed. One of the most prominent
characters lies in the leaflet -stalks. Upon vigorous
shoots the leaflets are five, and the three upper ones
have stalks from one to two inches long."

It is now known that this interesting species is

THE TOPSY

325

distributed from Lake Superior to the mountains of
North Carolina. It is in cultivation in the Cornell
gardens, but it seems to have little merit as a fruit
plant. It will not be surprising, however, if good

Fig. 70. Topsy blackberry. Rubut cunetfolius.

varieties are found in the wild and are now and
then introduced into cultivation.

The Topsy blackberry (Fig. 70) is a stiff -growing
and exceedingly thorny bush, belonging to still another
species, the Sand blackberry, or Rubus cuneifolnts.
The wild plant is shown in Fig. 89. The fruits have

326 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

large and loose, very black drupelets, and they are
sour even when soft, and are not aromatic. The drupe-
lets cling to the receptacle. In its wild state the Sand
blackberry produces many varieties of excellent qual-
ity, but the smallness of the fruits hinders their intro-
duction into cultivation.

J. T. Lovett, who introduced the Topsy blackberry,
considers it (as he writes me) to be "a hybrid between
the Sand blackberry and some other species, perhaps
the dewberry, or probably Wilson's Early." I was
long inclined to accept a hybrid origin for it, but
having studied the Sand blackberry in the field, from
New Jersey to Florida, I am convinced that it is only
a direct variation of Rubus cuneifolius. The Topsy
was sent to Lovett about 1884 by a man in south
Jersey. It was subsequently sent out by Childs as
the Tree blackberry. Lovett dubbed it Topsy, because
it is so "wicked" with thorns.*

Hybrids between the raspberry and blackberry have
been produced artificially by several persons. The
following are records of experiments made by E. S.
Carman, and printed in "The Rural New-Yorker"
of various dates:

"In the summer of 1886, we applied pollen of rasp-
berry flowers to the stigmas of blackberry flowers,
and vice versa. * * * Our work was continued
assiduously during the entire period when blackberries
and raspberries were simultaneously in bloom. Some
twenty seeds formed on the blackberries, and perhaps
twice as many on the raspberries. All were planted,
separately, of course, in shallow boxes of mellow soil,
as soon as they were taken from the fruit. In many

* For accounts of all varieties of blackberries, see Card's "Bush-Fruits."

BLACKBERRY -RASPBERRY HYBRIDS 327

cases, a single drupe would form; sometimes two or
three — rarely more, and never a perfect berry. With-
out any experience to guide us in raising these fruits
from seed, we unwisely took for granted that the
fresh seed would sprout in a few weeks, and that the
plants would grow to a size which, with protection,
might be carried through the winter out of doors.
They did not sprout, however, so that it was con-
cluded to bury the boxes until February, and thus
expose the seeds to the action of frost. The boxes
were removed to the house early in February accord-
ingly. Many of the raspberry seeds sprouted in a
short time, though but nine lived to be set out the
ensuing May (1887). The blackberry seeeds did not
sprout at all.

"The Nine Hybrid Plants.— The following notes
were taken last October. The first plant is 3 feet
high, much branched, light green canes, covered with
raspberry prickles. Leaflets large, with an occasional
imperfect 5-pedate leaf. Under side of leaf glaucous.
The second plant is 3% feet high, with but a single
stem without laterals, and nearly without prickles.
Scarcely any bloom on the under side of the leaf.
Leaflets large and much wrinkled, as in the foreign
raspberry. Stem purplish. The third is a puny plant,
about 9 inches high, with the prickles of a rasp-
berry, the leaf of a blackberry. The fourth is 2%
feet high, long laterals, purple stem, hooked thorns,
like the blackberry, but closer together. Leaflets
small, no bloom on the under side. Resembles a
blackberry more than a raspberry. The fifth seems
to be a small, sickly raspberry, with slender, close-
jointed stems. The sixth seems to be a thornless

328 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

raspberry. The seventh has large, wrinkled leaflets,
borne on two stems 2% feet high. The stems are
light green on one side, light purple on the other.
Prickles many and long, but slender and soft. Very
little bloom under the leaves. A vigorous plant. The
eighth has leaves resembling the blackberry, and with-
out bloom. There were several pedate leaves. Prick-
les hooked, crowded and stiff. It is very branching,
and 2% feet high. Looks like a blackberry. The
ninth is but 9 inches high, though healthy. It resem-
bles the blackberry, except that the thorns are crowded
and there are no pedate leaves." — February 18, 1888.

"In one box we have seeds of the raspberry crossed
with the blackberry; in another, seeds of the black-
berry crossed with the raspberry." — August 14, 1886.

"Both the raspberry and blackberry buds were
opened and the anthers removed while green. Pollen
from each was applied to the other, and carefully
wrapped up in tissue paper, to prevent contact of pol-
len from bees or wind. About fifteen berries formed
from this hybridization, three -fourths on the rasp-
berry and the remainder on the blackberry. The
seeds of the raspberry have already been sown, and
those of the blackberries are to be planted when
ripe."— September 11, 1886.— By Farm Ed. World.

"Three of these plants have fruited the present
season. The first is, to all appearances, a raspberry.
The plant is very vigorous, the leaves very large, the
canes nearly thornless, the berries yellow, of medium
size, rather soft and of the quality of the Caroline.
Imperfect berries were noticed here and there. The
second bears a red berry of the same color, size and
quality of the Hansell. Some of these berries were

BLACKBERRY -RASPBERRY HYBRIDS 329

also observed to be imperfect. The third plant re-
sembles a blackberry in every way, though the spines
are less numerous and shorter. Some of the leaves
consist of 5-pedate leaflets, as in the blackberry pure
and simple. The back part of the leaves has none of
the whitish down or bloom common to the raspberry.
The canes are furrowed as in the blackberry. The
flowers resemble those of the raspberry, and the drupes
separate from the receptacle as in the raspberry.

"The best berry bore 5 drupes. These were jet
black, of large size, and of the raspberry flavor, in so
far as could be judged. It will be remembered that
these plants all came from raspberry mothers. If
judged from the past season's behavior, it will appear
that little is to be hoped from this hybridization. We
have about fifteen plants which have not yet fruited,
besides quite a number of hybrid seeds produced the
present season." — Rural New-Yorker, Sept. 22, 1888.

"Another of 'The Rural New-Yorker's' blackberry-
raspberry hybrids fruited during the past season — and
another chance to record a failure. The plant

is strong and vigorous, with characteristics both of
the raspberry and blackberry. It resembles the black-
berry, however, in most respects, though distinctly not
a blackberry. There was not a perfect berry on the
plant. It is an interesting fact that though the drupe-
lets were those of the blackberry, the flower of the
raspberry was pronounced. We have a dozen of these
hybrids which have not yet fruited, but those which
have fruited give little or no promise that anything
of value will ever come from the hybridization beyond
the interesting fact itself."— Rural New-Yorker,
November 23, 1889.

330 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The Dewberries

Within the Dast few years several varieties of dew-
berries have come into more or less prominence. The
greatest differences of opinion exist as to their merits,
and few systematic attempts have been made to deter-
mine their peculiarities and values. Some of them
must possess value for certain purposes, for they
have been strongly recommended by many growers
and dealers ; and it is also to be considered that the
presumption is against any new fruit, especially one
which has been rescued from the fields, and any com-
mendation which it receives from honest men is proof
that it possesses some points of usefulness. The
histories of fruits are soon lost, and all definite
knowledge of methods of variation and degrees of
improvement is, therefore, impossible. This is no-
where better illustrated than in the dewberries them-
selves, for although they are among the most recent
additions to our fruits, I have found it impossible
to learn the exact histories of all of them.

At first thought it seems strange that such
unqualified encomiums and sweeping condemnations
could be bestowed upon any fruit as have fallen to
the lot of the dewberry. But there are reasons for
these disagreements, some of which the following
pages may discover. Most fruits receive both praise
and censure, for there are few which succeed in
all parts of the country and under all kinds of
management ; and if the fruit is wholly new in
kind, it is particularly liable to be misunderstood
and mismanaged. But it further turns out, upon
investigation, that the varieties of dewberries are very

THE DEWBERRY TRIBES 331

dissimilar, and, therefore, not always comparable with
each other and not equally adapted to given con-
ditions. In fact, they represent various distinct spe-
cies, and marked natural or botanical varieties. It is,
therefore, necessary, before proceeding to a discussion
of their horticultural values, to distinguish their
botanical characteristics. A few years ago, I made
an attempt to discover the botanical features of the
dewberries, and the results were published in the
"American Garden" for November, 1890, and Feb-
ruary, 1891, the former issue containing the first
accurate drawing of the Lucretia. A horticultural
and botanical monograph of the dewberries was also
the subject of Bulletin 34 (November, 1891) of the
Cornell Experiment Station ; and a subsequent sketch
was made in Bulletin 117 of same station. The main
features of the present account of the dewberries
are drawn from those papers.

In common speech, the word dewberry is applied
to any trailing blackberry. There are several distinct
species or types of trailing blackberries, with only
the most prominent of which we need to concern our-
selves at present. It would seem as if the dewberries
could be at once distinguished from the true or bush
blackberries by their trailing habit, but there are
forms of wild blackberries which are low and decum-
bent, as we have seen in the account of the hybrid
blackberry -dewberry tribe. The botanies have even
described a true trailing form of the bush blackberry
(var. Jmmifusus), but this variety was founded upon
a dewberry itself, and it has now been described as a
distinct species under the name of Rubus Bailey anus.
It turns out, however, that it was described so long

332 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ago as 1823, under the name of Eubus Enslenii. There
is no true trailing form of the bush or common
blackberry (page 352). The best distinction between
the dewberries and bush blackberries lies in the inflo-
rescence or flower clusters. In the dewberries the flower
clusters are cymose — the center flower opening first, —
and the flowers are few and scattered. In the black-
berries, on the other hand, the clusters are essentially
corymbose or racemose — the lower or outer flowers
generally opening first — and the flowers are usually
borne in rather dense clusters. The dewberries are
also distinguished by propagating from "tips," while
the blackberries propagate by suckers.

All the trailing blackberries, therefore, are specific-
ally unlike the bush blackberries. They are all dew-
berries. Every one of my readers who has tramped
over fields, either in the northern or the southern
states, will recall the sprawling, thorny plants, with
their little sour fruits and their red -brown autumn
foliage.

Dewberries seem to be first mentioned as a culti-
vated fruit in 1863, in a report of the Fruit Growers'
Society of Western New York, when it was said that
Dr. Miner, of Honeoye Falls, had two varieties in cul-
tivation. These varieties were not named.

The first variety of dewberry to come promi-
nently before the public was the Lucretia (Fig. 71).
The story of its discovery and introduction is told
me by B. F. Albaugh, of Covington, Miami county,
Ohio, who introduced it to the trade. A young man
named Williams enlisted in the civil war from Miami
county, Ohio, During most of his service he was
stationed in West Virginia, part of the time near

Fig. 71. Lucretia dewberry. Half size.

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Beverly. While guarding
private property there he
became acquainted with the
woman who afterwards be-
came his wife. He settled
on her plantation after the
I war, and upon it found the
dewberries growing wild.
He transplanted some to his
garden, and these attracted
the attention of his father,
who visited him in 1875.
The following year plants
.were sent to the father in
Ohio, and they were distrib-
uted among a few friends.
The plants were carelessly
dug, however, and only five
of the genuine variety hap-
pened to be in the lot, and
these, along with many
worthless ones, chanced to
fall into the hands of Mr.
Albaugh. From these five
plants the present stock has
sprung. When the variety
was offered for sale Mr. Al-
baugh named it Lucretia,
for Mrs. Lucretia Garfield.
Mr. Albaugh told me that
the five original plants were
vigorous and fruitful in 1891.
A portion of one of the

Fig. 72. A trellis screen of Lucretia
dewberry.

LUCRETIA AND BARTEL 335

original plants — about one -ninth of it — was exhibited
at the Association of American Nurserymen at Wash-
ington, in June, 1886. This specimen bore 978 ber-
ries. E. Y. Teas, now of Irvington, Ind., appears to
have been the first to figure the Lucretia and to
offer plants for sale.

The Lucretia, like all dewberries, has made its
way into popular favor slowly. People have not yet
learned how to grow these fruits easily and success-
fully. Many persons laboriously tie them up on wire
screens (Fig. 72) or trellises, but the best results —
considering the outlay — are obtained when the canes
are tied to stakes. In this fashion, they are man-
aged more easily than blackberries, and the earliness
of the fruit — ripening a week or two in advance of
the blackberries — makes the plant a useful one to the
enterprising grower of small fruits.

Another prominent dewberry is the Bartel; and
it enjoys the distinction of being the first dewberry,
as far as I know, to receive a name. It was brought
to notice some time early in the seventies by Dr.
Bartel of Huey, Clinton county, southern Illinois.
The story goes that the plants appeared in an old
corn-field upon his farm, and some of the berries
were so large that he conceived the idea of selling
plants. He procured a lithograph of the berries, —
which did ample justice to the fruit, — described the
methods of growing them, and for a time disposed of
considerable stock. The introducer was an old man at
this time, and was one of those clever and picturesque
individuals who often lend an interest to a neighbor-
hood. The first printed record of this berry appeared
in December, 1875, in Purdy's "Fruit Recorder"

336 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

(p. 182). This is a communication from "T. C.
Bartles, of Clinton county, Illinois," and is headed
"Bar-ties' Mammoth Dewberry." The description of
the berry runs as follows : " This is a very fine berry,
ripening from the last of June until the middle of
August. The fruit is very large, rich and juicy,
slightly acid, but not so sour as the blackberry.
When ripe it is black, and is sufficiently solid to
bear shipment with safety. I have had berries over
two inches in length and one inch in diameter. They
are a perpetual bearer from the time they begin to
ripen (in ordinary seasons) until the last of August-
having blossoms on the same vine simultaneously
with the ripe fruit. They are very prolific, yielding
in a fair season from sixty to eighty bushels to an
acre. They do not blossom until late in the spring —
later than the strawberry — the fruit maturing in
from four to six weeks after blossoming — hence they
are seldom if ever injured by late frosts in the
spring. They are very hardy — having succeeded as
far north as Wisconsin and the northern part of
Iowa." An account of methods of cultivation is then
given. "I shipped some of my dewberries to New
York city from this place, for which I received six-
teen dollars per bushel. I also shipped to Rockford,
111., St. Louis, Mo., and to Independence, Iowa, for
which I received twelve dollars and eighty cents per
bushel; while the highest price paid for strawberries
did not exceed, on an average, six dollars and forty
cents per bushel. I consider the dewberry the most
profitable fruit raised." Mr. Purdy gave roots of
this dewberry as a premium to his paper at this
time, and among those who obtained it were I. N.

THE BARTEL DEWBERRY 337

Stone, of Fort Atkinson, Wis., and Hon. B. F.
Adams, of Madison, Wis., the only persons, probably,
as Mr. Stone writes me, "who had sufficient confi-
dence in it to give it a fair trial." Mr. Stone has
made a marked success of its culture, and all the
plants set in recent years appear to have come directly
or indirectly from him.

The first good account of the Bartel was published
in "Garden and Forest," in 1891, by Professor Goff.
"In the summer of 1889," Professor Goff writes,
"I saw a small plantation of Bartel on the grounds of
Mr. H. C. Adams, of Madison, Wis., that at once
established my faith in the possibilities of this fruit
[dewberry] . I was informed that the most productive
season had passed at the time of my visit, and that
the berries which I saw were inferior in size to those
gathered a few days earlier. But at this time the
vines were fairly well loaded with fruit of larger size
and more attractive appearance than the finest black-
berries, and, to my taste, altogether superior in quality.
There is a juicy, melting quality in the dewberry that
is scarcely equaled by any other fruit of my acquaint-
ance. The fact that the dewberry is prostrate in its
habit of growth is a decided objection to it in climates
where winter protection is unnecessary. But in regions
of severe winters, the ease with which the plants may
be covered is a partial recompense for this fault. It
is said that a plantation once started is eradicated
from the soil with considerable difficulty, which, if
true, is an additional objection to the plant in culti-
vation. I consider Bartel dewberry worthy of trial by
all who are interested in testing new fruits. Mr.
Adams, who is an extensive grower of blackberries,
V

338 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FKU1TS

has found this variety more profitable as a market
fruit than any blackberries he has grown." The
Bartel dewberry is not generally known, even now ;
but a few persons grow it with much satisfaction.

All this history of the Bartel dewberry is simple
enough, as one reads it, but some weeks of labor were
consumed in discovering the facts. This is but another
illustration of the fact that few useful records are
made of plant variation and of horticultural history.
Even the proper spelling of the name was not known
until this history was recorded in the Cornell Bulletin,
seven years ago. It was variously written Bartle,
Bartles', Bartell and Bartells', but I have the evidence
of a neighbor of the introducer, who is now dead,
that he spelled his name Bartel.

The reader may be interested to know how this
history was obtained. In the first place, it may be
said that there was no record of the origin of the
variety to be found in the many books or journals
to which the writer had access. He then wrote to
Mr. Adams and Mr. Stone, whose success with this
dewberry has been mentioned, asking where they
obtained the variety. One of them replied that he
obtained it years before as a premium to Purdy's
"Small -Fruit Recorder," a periodical which had dis-
continued publication. The writer had no file of this
journal ; but the editor is living, and he therefore
wrote him for information. The editor replied that
the correspondent was evidently mistaken, that he
had not offered the berry as a premium, to the
best of his memory, and that he knew nothing of it.
Yet the correspondent was positive in reasserting
his statements, and, thinking that the lapse of time

A DEVIOUS HISTORY 339

might have dimmed the editor's memory, I set about
to procure a file of the eighteen volumes of the
journal. The set was found and purchased. One of
the volumes contained an account of the dewberry,
written by "T. C. Bartles, of Clinton county, Illinois,"
as already quoted, but the narrative gave no infor-
mation as to the origin of the berry. It was neces-
sary, therefore, to discover the address of Mr. Bartles
and to correspond with him, but I could not secure
his address. The editor did not remember it. In
vain every horticultural and agricultural report of
Illinois was scanned. Files of periodicals were
searched. When every resource seemed to have
been exhausted, a catalogue of a western spray-
pump manufacturer fell into my hands, in which was
a testimonial of the pumps signed by T. C. Bartles,
Clinton county, Illinois ! The catalogue maker sup-
plied the post office address. But it turned out that
this T. C. Bartles, of Huey, Clinton county, 111.,
was a townsman but not kinsman of Dr. Bartel, the
man who introduced the berry! Dr. Bartel had died
some years before, but Mr. Bartles was able to supply
the history.

It is only within the last ten years that the dew-
berries have attracted much attention from horticul-
turists. The varieties have now increased to twenty or
more, every one of which seems to have been picked
up in the wild. If we would understand these varie-
ties, we must look more closely into the botanical fea-
tures of the dewberries. The three commonest species
of dewberries are Rubus villosus (Rubus Canadensis
of all writers), R. hispidus, and R. trivialis. The
first two are northern species and the last southern.

340 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Rubus hispidus (Fig. 73) is a very slender plant,
rarely rising at all above the surface of the ground,
and growing both in swamps and upon barren sand.
The leaflets are obovate, stiff, and shining above. The
flowers are few and very small, and the fruit is small
and usually red. The species appears to possess no
value as a fruit, and yet it is often confounded with
Rubus villosus (R. Canadensls of the books), which is
the parent of some of our cultivated varieties.

The Rubus villosus, to which the term dewberry is
usually restricted in the North, is much like the south-
ern dewberry, Rubus trivialis, in appearance. The
chief distinguishing points are these :

Rubus villosus, or northern dewberry (Fig. 74).
Main stems or canes rather sparsely and slightly
prickly ; leaves thin and deciduous, either destitute of
prickles or bearing only weak ones, and more or less
hairy ; leaflets ovate ; sepals often prolonged and leaf-
like, and sometimes lobed. (See, also, pp. 371-374.)

Rubus trivialis, or southern dewberry. Main canes
mostly thickly beset with stout prickles ; leaves firm
and nearly or quite evergreen, smooth or very nearly
so, the petioles or midribs usually bearing stout
prickles ; leaflets oval -oblong or almost lanceolate and
small ; sepals not prolonged nor cut. This species is
common from Delaware to Florida and Texas, on the
sandy lands. The canes often grow ten or fifteen feet
in length. It is variable, and attractive varieties are
often found. Some forms have even been mentioned
as possessing value as ornamental plants. (See p. 376.)
The northern dewberry is a very variable species.
In any locality where it grows in abundance a number
of unlike forms may usually be found. Some 'of the

SORTS OF DEWBERRIES

forms are probably worthy of botan-
ical names. To this species or its
botanical varieties most of the culti-
vated dewberries belong. It is read-
ily divided into two sections or sub-
types :

1. The common dew-
berries, Rubus villosus (or
R. Canadensis) proper. The
leaves vary greatly in size
and shape, those upon the
bearing canes being small,
while those upon growing
canes may be nearly as
large as the leaves of
blackberries.

Four varieties of this
type of Riibus villosus are
in cultivation:

WINDOM, first brought
into prominent notice in
1887 by the Seedling Com-
mission of the Minnesota
State Horticultural Society.
The report of J. S. Harris,
one of the Commission, is
as follows : "At Windom
[Cottonwood county] we
met Dewain Cook, of Dale
township, a wide-awake
man, who is pursuing fruit
culture under many dis-
advantages. He has dis-

THE WINDOM DEWBERRY 343

covered and is cultivating a hardy dewberry, which, if
it comes near up to what he claims for it, will prove of
great value to our lists of hardy fruits. It has been
cultivated here thirteen years. We have many testi-
monials showing its hardiness, productiveness, fair size,
and good quality of fruit, etc., and have secured plants
and had them sent to several of our experiment stations
to be tested and reported upon." A. W. Sias, one of
the Commission, writes me as follows: "In the fall of
1887, J. S. Harris, Rev. G. W. Fuller and myself were
on the Seedling Commission of the Minnesota State Hor-
ticultural Society, and while acting in this capacity Mr.
Harris and myself visited Dewain Cook, at Windom, and
were greatly pleased with the dewberry. His plants were
very heavily loaded with good fruit. The fruit is small
— perhaps not more than half the size of Lucretia — but
what it lacks in size it more than makes up in quality.
I purchased 1,000 plants of Mr. Cook while at his place,
and set them on a very heavy clay. While they suc-
ceeded much better than the Mammoth and Lucretia
near by, they did not equal Mr. Cook's plants, which
were on soil containing some sand." The variety
appears to have been sent out as early as 1886, at least
to experiment stations. It was first known as Cook's
Hardy. The exact origin of this dewberry is not known.
Mr. Cook informs me that he obtained his plants from
a neighbor, J. Q. Pickett, who had been growing them
for seventeen or eighteen years, but who refuses to dis-
close the origin of the variety. Mr. Pickett came from
Iowa, and it is commonly thought that he brought the
dewberry with him and that it grew wild in that state.
Mr. Cook resides near the Mennonites, and some have
supposed that the variety was originally introduced by

344 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

them from Russia, but I fail to find anything in the
botanical features of the plant which leads me to sus-
pect any other than an American origin.

LUCRETIA'S SISTER, discovered, or at least intro-
duced, by J. B. Treedway, of Brandt, Miami county,
Ohio, about 1886. I grew it in 1887, and a sprig of
the plant is illustrated in the "American Garden" for
February, 1890. It appeared to possess no value with
me, and I have not grown it since. It appears never
to have attained to any reputation.

GEER, discovered in a wood -lot upon the property
of a Mrs. Geer, of Plainfield, Livingston county, Mich.,
by F. L. Wright, a horticulturist of that place. Plants
were transferred to the garden in 1887, but it is not
generally introduced. It is a small berry, but a fair
cropper.

MA YES, or AUSTIN. This berry, with which I have
small acquaintance, seems to be a large and strong form
of Bttbus vittosus (common dewberry) . It is a Texan
variety, and was first described in the "Horticulturist,"
Pilot Point, Texas, for December, 1889. It is said to
be "a supposed cross between the common dewberry
and the native Texas blackberry." The history of this
berry is given me as follows by Dr. A. M. Ragland:

"About the year 1879 I purchased a hundred acre
tract of land three miles east of Pilot Point, on Pecan
creek. South of this and joining it was a tract which
was purchased about two years later by John Mayes.
There was only a wire cross fence between the farms.
On both of these tracts of land, east of Pecan creek,
there were twenty -five or thirty acres covered with
dewberry and the wild Texas or Dallas blackberry.
These dewberries were the common dewberry found

THE MAYES DEWBERRY 345

growing in many places in Texas and Louisiana.
People from our town were in the habit of visiting
this dewberry and blackberry field every spring, to
gather first the dewberries, and later the blackberries.
After Mr. Mayes came into possession of the farm, he
began to cultivate the land where these berries grew,
and discovered this berry occupying a small area of
not more than half an acre, or an acre at most. The
berries were so much finer than the other dewberries
growing all around it, that he decided to save them.
He plowed them, and found they grew firm, and so he
began bringing his surplus above home consumption
to town to sell. Their large size and earliness at-
tracted the attention of our Pilot Point Horticultural
Society, so that a member asked Mr. Mayes to bring
them plants — one or two hundred each. Among
those purchasing them at this time were Mr. J. W.
Austin, Mr. Sam Gaines and myself. That was about
1888 or 1889. Since then these berries have con-
tinued to grow in popular favor. The name, Mayes
Hybrid, was suggested by myself, because the plants
were found growing where both the common dewberry
(Rubus trivialifi) and common Texas blackberry, now
known as the Dallas berry, were both occupying the
locality indiscriminately. Col. W. W. Ross, who then
lived here, and myself proposed to Mr. Mayes to
call it the Mayes Hybrid and form a company, known
as the Mayes Berry Company, to propagate and sell the
plants. I first advertised them in 'The Horticulturist'
as the Mayes Hybrid Blackberry."

J. W. Austin,' of Pilot Point, Texas, also propa-
gated the plant, and introduced it as Austin's Im-
proved Dewberry.

346 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The MAYNARD, a Kansas variety, is one of the nov-
elties. It has a peculiar habit, intermediate between
Rubus villosus and the blackberry, but it seems to be
nearer the former. Card considers it a hybrid.

2. The Lucretia sub -type, variety roribaccus
(Fig. 71). As compared with Rubus villosus proper,
this variety is a much larger and stronger grower;
leaves large and the margins doubly serrate with small
teeth, and more or less notched or jagged : leaflets
broad at or below the middle, sometimes triangu-
lar-ovate ; peduncles or flower stems much longer,
straighter and stouter, more erect, habitually more
numerous and more conspicuously overtopping the
leaves ; flowers very large and showy (often two
inches across) ; sepals uniformly larger, some of them
much prolonged and leaf -like and conspicuously lobed
(sometimes becoming an inch long and wide) ; fruit
much longer and larger as a rule, and more or less
thimble -shaped. Strong forms of Rubtis villosus
itself often look much like this in •foliage, but I
have never seen any in which there was such a de-
velopment of long flower stems, large flowers and
fruits, and large sepals. The Lucretia appears to
be the only variety of this sub -type in cultivation.

The Bartel type, or Rubus invisus, is particularly
distinguished by the large and nearly simple teeth of
the leaves and the very long and ascending flower
stems. Canes stout and stiff, often partially ascending;
leaflets larger than in R. villosus, broad and thin,
smooth or very nearly so, the teeth usually very large,
simple and often rounded and terminating in a minute
point ; peduncles or flower stems long and straight ;
young flower buds commonly bearing a prominent tip

THE WILD RUBUS INVISUS

347

formed by the connivent ends of the sepals ; flowers
commonly larger than in R. villosus. As the wild

Fig. 7."). Kulnu ineintut, the Bartel type.

plant grows in New York, and as it is seen in the
cultivated varieties, it appears to be very distinct from
Rub UK rilloKus. But there may be intermediate

348 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

forms, and the botanical rank of the species cannot be
fully determined until our rubuses have received further
study. The cut (Fig. 75) shows a flowering stem of
the wild plant which grows at Ithaca, New York. It
grows here upon a rocky hillside, completely covering
the ground with a tangled mat a foot or a foot and a
half thick. The first ripe fruits on this wild patch
appear late in July. The fruits are small, containing
from six to eighteen drupelets, and are of no value.
In cultivation, this type has given us the Bartel,
already mentioned, and the three following :

GENERAL GRANT, introduced by Charles A. Green,
of Rochester, N. Y., in 1885 or 1886, as a premium to
his "Fruit Grower." It came from M. W. Broyles,
somewhere in Tennessee. Mr. Green informs me that
the variety did not prove to be as valuable as repre-
sented to him, and he therefore dropped it. I first grew
the variety in 1886, and it seems to possess little value.
The variety has never become prominent.

NEVER FAIL. I know this only from a specimen and
notes sent me by F. L. Wright, Plainfield, Mich., who
obtained it from some person in central Indiana. He
says : "It never fails to produce an abundance of wood,
but always fails to produce fruit. I never had a perfect
berry." It is said to have originated in central Ohio.

MAMMOTH. There are certainty two plants sold
under this name, one being Rubus invisus and the other
apparently true Rubus villosus. The former is, I think,
the same as Bartel, but the history and characteristics
of the latter I have been unable to trace.

So far as I can learn, the commoner Mammoth dew-
berry offered by nurserymen is only the Bartel, and
the plants which I have grown and seen of it appear to

THE VARIETY CALLED MAMMOTH 349

be the same. The original name of the Bartel was
BartePs Mammoth, and it is now often sold under this
name, and sometimes Bartel is omitted. I have written
to nurserymen who advertise the Mammoth, and all the
replies which I have received state that Bartel, Bartel's
Mammoth and Mammoth are the same. It is a common
impression among growers and experimenters, however,
that the two are distinct, perhaps because they were
received under different names. Mr. Lyon, in the
Michigan report of new fruits, published in 1883,
says that the "Mammoth is another variety of similar
character [to Bartel] scarcely more productive. Eipe
August 1." Separate reports of Bartel and Mammoth
are given by the New York State Experiment Station,
and Professor Goff speaks of them as different in his
articles already quoted in "Garden and Forest," 1891.
But no one, so far as I can learn, has pointed out any
differences between the two.

One of the replies to my inquiries of nurserymen,
from a very prominent western firm, is as follows: :'As
to Mammoth, we verily believe there is in reality no
specific variety generally distributed and known under
this name. Twenty years ago Dewey, the plate maker,
had a plate called 'Mammoth Prolific Dewberry,' and so
long ago as 1873 we scoured the country over trying to
find a few hundred of something by this name for a
customer who had sold them from the aforesaid plate,
but could not learn of anything of the kind then in
existence. Since the introduction of Lucretia, a firm
in Jackson county, 111., brought out a variety they
called Mammoth, and while we are not absolutely sure,
we think it was merely a wild variety which they took
up, propagated, and gave this name. We obtained

350 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

plants and have had them in cultivation for a number of
years. We do not know but that they have done about
as well as Lucretia, though we must say that none of the
dewberries have been particularly satisfactory with us."

I mistrust that the plate referred to is the one which
Dr. Bartel had made for his variety. I have been
unable to learn the history of the plate. It seems to
have made no impression upon the nurserymen of
western New York, where Dewey, the plate maker,
lived, and I have not been able to find a copy of it. I
feel sure that the common Mammoth is the Bartel.

The other Mammoth is the one referred to in the
letter above quoted as coming from a firm in Jackson
county, 111. I understand this firm to be Bailey
& Hanford, which is now dissolved. I have been
unable to get any direct statement of the variety^ I
have received the plant from a party who obtained it
indirectly from Bailey & Hanford, and it is distinct
from Bartel, for it belongs, apparently, to the type form
of Eubus mllosus. I know nothing yet of the value of
this Mammoth, but it is certain that it has not become
generally known.

In regard to this confusion, Mr. Stone writes me as
follows: "The Bartel was introduced as Bartel Mam-
moth, and is generally known by this name now, but
the word Mammoth has been dropped by some on ac-
count of there having been an entirely worthless variety
called Mammoth sent out quite extensively. It is for
this reason that I have dropped Mammoth. The variety
sent out under the name had a much larger cane and
blossomed freely, but never set any fruit; at least this
was the case with the stock I had."

There are many other interesting forms of the

A MICHIGAN TYPE

351

common dewberry which will no doubt be introduced
into cultivation in the course of time. The features
of the species have not been closely studied by bot-
anists. I cannot forbear, in passing, to speak of one
very promising form which I have collected in the
drifting sand upon the banks of Lake Michigan, in

\

Fig. 76. Rubus villosus var. Michiganensit.

southwestern Michigan. This is a very leafy and
vigorous, long-running plant, which produces large
globular -oblong fruits of excellent quality, and which
seems to be distinguished from all other dewberries in
the very deep and sharp, irregular teeth of the leaves.
(Fig. 76.) In my herbarium, Professor Card has named
this plant Rubus villosus var. Michiganensis (seep. 374).

352 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

A plant which has long been confounded with
Rubus villosus is the Rubus Enslenii, or Rubus Bailey -
anus of Britton ("List of Pteridophyta and Sperma-
tophyta," 185, 1894). This is a slender plant, with
weak spines or none, and almost herbaceous shoots,
small flowers mostly in 1- or 2-flowered clusters, and
very broad and thin, doubly toothed leaves (Fig. 87).
It seems to be a good species. It occurs freely in
eastern New York and in Pennsylvania, and I have
collected it in southwestern Michigan. It is probably
generally distributed in the northwestern states. This
is the plant which Torrey had in mind when he
founded Rubus villosus var. humifusus (Fig. 77),
which has ejected so much unnecessary confusion
into the knowledge of the high -bush blackberry, for
this blackberry has no trailing forms (page 331). The
picture (page 353) is a photograph of Torrey 's origi-
nal specimens, collected at West Point.

The southern dewberry, Rubus trivialis, is repre-
sented in cultivation by the Manatee, introduced in
1889 by Reasoner Brothers, Manatee, Fla. ; Bauer,
sent out in 1890 by Bauer's Nursery, Judsonia,
Ark.; Wilson's White, introduced in 1890 by Samuel
Wilson, Mechanicsville, Penna. (native of Texas) ;
probably the Fairfax, sent out about 1884, by C. A.
Uber, Fairfax county, Va.

The Pacific coast also has a native dewberry, and,
like most rubuses, its nomenclature is confused. The
species is not only perplexingly variable, but some
plants produce only pistillate flowers, others only stami-
nate, whereas others bear perfect flowers. It appears to
have been first described by Chamisso & Schlechtendal
in "LinnaBa," in 1827, as Riibus mtifolius, or vine-

OTHER TYPES OF DEWBERRIES

353

^PNF

Fig. 77. ItiiiniK Enslenii.

These specimens (about half size) are the types of Torrey's
Rubus villosus var. humifuaut.—From Torrey herbarium, Co-
lumbia College.

leaved bramble. On the following page, in the same
volume, the same authors described another form of the
species as Rubus ursinus, and this is the name by which,

w

354 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

though improperly, the plant is usually known. In
1833, Douglas described it as Rubus macropetalus .
Four named varieties of Rubus vitifolius are in cultiva-
tion, the Skagit Chief, Washington Climbing blackberry,
Belle of Washington, and Aughinbaugh. The first, as
I have grown it, is pistillate, and therefore incapable of
setting fruit; and it blooms too early to be pollinated
by our eastern dewberries, even if the species were to
admit of such cross -pollination. The Skagit Chief
(Fig. 78) and Belle of Washington are chance varieties
from the wild, and they were distributed sparingly to
experimenters late in 1891. The Washington Climbing
was introduced in 1892 by Samuel Wilson, Mechanics-
ville, Penna.

The Aughinbaugh variety is described in "Garden
and Forest" for 1894, as follows, by Charles Howard
Shinn :

"In blackberries, the Pacific coast has one very
variable but important species, Rubus ursinus [R.
vitifolius], bearing an oblong, sweet, highly flavored
fruit. This berry still grows in immense patches along
the river bottoms, fills the ravines, and even extends
far up among the oaks and manzanitas on dry hill-
sides. If it fruited abundantly it might long ago
have become the parent of many valuable varieties,
as has been the case with the blackberry. Occasion-
ally, in rich, sheltered places it bears so heavily that
people come for miles to camp in the berry-fields and
gather the delicious fruit. Variable in growth, in
leaves, and in many other particulars, it seems to vary
most in fruitage, and offers peculiar advantages to the
skilled hybridizer. As with other members of the
family, carefully selected plants from the woods and

THE PACIFIC COAST DEWBERRY 355

hills, transplanted to the garden, amply repay attention.
A white variety, found in Del Norte county, has been
somewhat disseminated in California, and several other
varieties have gained some local reputation. * * *

Fig. 78. Skagit Chief, a form of Rubus vitifolius.

"The most remarkable sport of the native black-
berry is the Aughinbaugh. The Aughinbaugh was
found growing wild on the sandy Eucinal, or peninsula

356 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

of Alameda, a good many years ago, by a pioneer who
once owned many acres there. Aughinbaugh removed
it to his garden, cultivated and disseminated it. He
lost his estate, and died in poverty; a city is built over
his pasture lands, but the wild berry vine he trans-
planted from under the oak forest which then covered
the Almeda shore has preserved his name from obliv-
ion. The Aughinbaugh blackberry, as I have grown
it from from his original stock, is a beautiful vine of
trailing habit, like a dewberry, but with much larger,
darker leaves, and of extremely vigorous growth.
Being pistillate, it does not bear well unless planted
with other varieties. Properly fertilized, on good soil,
and well trained on a fence or trellis, its bearing
powers are often astonishing, and in quality it is very
fine, but it has never become popular. I may add that
for some reason the nurseries did not take it up, and
one only finds it now in a few old gardens. Still it
ought to be more generally distributed. It has been
crossed with CrandalPs Early, producing a promising
line of seedlings."

Wickson, in his "California Fruits," says that the
Aughinbaugh— which is the " most famous" of the native
blackberries or dewberries — was "propagated and sold
by a man of that name about 1875. It achieved some
popularity, but, being a pistillate variety, needed asso-
ciation with other berries to fertilize it. For this and
other reasons it became unpopular, and has been
nearly lost sight of."

Wickson also mak'es the following account of this
Rubus vitlfolius: "The most delicious wild fruit of
California, and at the same time the most important
commercially, is the blackberry. We have one very

VARIOUS BRAMBLE FRUITS 357

variable species, bearing au oblong, very sweet and
desirable fruit. It was favorably mentioned by early
explorers, was highly esteemed by the Indians, and still
plays an important part in domestic economy from
Ventura county northward along the coast range. A
variety of this species has attained some fame as a
'white blackberry.' It is said that about 1860, parties
gathering blackberries about half a mile from Crescent
City, Del Norte county, discovered a few bushes or
vines loaded with a berry exactly in shape of the black-
berry, but of a white or cream color. The whole patch
did not extend beyond a space of a dozen feet square,
but the vines were luxuriant and bore well. It was a
great curiosity, and the place and the berry were much
sought for. Since that time the vines have spread
gradually over a space of perhaps half an acre of
ground. Plants have been taken from this locality to
different parts."

Remaining Types of Blackberry -like Plants

There are various other species of rubuses which
bear edible and attractive fruits, but which have not yet
become prominent in cultivation, or are known only in
the wild state. The most remarkable of these remain-
ing types is the Logan-berry (Fig. 79), which was intro-
duced to the public in 1893 by the California Agricul-
tural Experiment Station. The Pacific coast botanists
and horticulturists seem to be agreed that this singular
berry is a hybrid of the Aughinbaugh dewberry crossed
by the Old World type of red raspberry, Rubus Idceus.
The history of the plant is given by Charles Howard
Shinn in "Garden and Forest" for November 21, 1894:

358 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

"The Logan -berry originated several years ago in
the garden of Judge J. H. Logan, of Santa Cruz, from
self-sown seeds of the Aughinbaugh springing up in
the moist, warm soil of that sheltered district. The
other parent is supposed to be a raspberry of the Red
Antwerp type. Raspberries of several sorts grew

Pig. 79. Leaf of Logan-berry, half size. From Rural New-Yorker.

alongside, and, in fact, intermingled. The Logan- berry
shows so clearly the mingling of both types that no
horticulturist who studies the fruit has doubted that it
is a true hybrid of Aughinbaugh blackberry with some
large red European raspberry. The result is a very
sturdy plant of rambling or trailing growth, needing
support to be at its best, but even in this dry climate it

LOGAN -BERRY 359

is a vine of unusual substance and healthfulness, re-
sembling the Aughinbaugh blackberry, but readily dis-
tinguished from it in the field. The berry is large and
solid, resembling the Aughinbaugh in shape, and re-
taining its delicious wild flavor. It is dark red to
purple when fully ripe, and shows in texture, in the
easy slipping from the core, and partly in flavor, the
raspberry parentage.

" Tests made in different soils and in some very dry
sit nations have shown so far, that the Logan - berry will
grow and bear a fair amount of fruit in localities where
the gooseberry, currant, high -bush varieties of black-
berries and dewberries have entirely failed. As I have
said, plants of Riibus ursinus are sometimes found
thriving very well on dry hillsides with scrub oaks and
chaparral, but seldom bear fruit to any extent in such
arid places. In other words, some individuals of this
variable species of rubus grow in very hot, arid and
barren places, and the original Aughinbaugh, though
found on a sandy peninsula near the bay, instead of on
a hillside, seems to have had the power to transmit this
resistant quality, together with an increased produc-
tiveness.

"The Logan -berry is now grown for market near
Santa Cruz and Watson ville, and the results are said to
be gratifying, both in regard to price and yield. Like
the blackberry, the season is a long one, but I have no
data from the berry gardens. It is certain, however,
that the area planted is being extended rapidly. The
Logan -berry is hardy wherever tested in California, but
this proves nothing in respect to its value in colder
climates, though its wild blackberry blood must be an
advantage, possibly sufficient to counteract the weaker

360 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Red Antwerp cross. The fact that hardly a trace of the
raspberry remains in vine, leaf, or general appearance
supports this view."

At this writing, the Logan -berry has not been suf-
ficiently tested in the east to enable one to pass upon
its merits as a competitor of the blackberry and dew-
berry. (See Bulletin 45, Rhode Island Experiment
Station, for an account of its behavior in the east.)
Although I have not had opportunity to study this
berry in the field, I am unable to detect evidences of
hybridity in herbarium specimens of it; and it does
not appear to present characters which could not
readily be derived directly from Rubus vitifolius.

Another western blackberry which has been much
talked about, and which is said to be very promising for
the Pacific coast, is the Oregon Everbearing blackberry.
It has also been called the Evergreen and Climbing
blackberry. This is Rubus laciniatus, a plant long ago
described by Willdenow, and the nativity of which is
unknown. It is now generally agreed that it is a
cut -leaved form of the common European bramble or
blackberry, Rubus fruticosus. It has long been in cul-
tivation as an ornamental plant, and it has distinct
merits in this capacity; but in the eastern states it has
never attracted attention for its fruit.

A blackberry which has been singularly overlooked
by botanists is one which was described by Bigelow in
his "Florula Bostoniensus" as long ago as 1824, as
Rubus setosus (Figs. 80, 81). This was thought by
Torrey and Gray, in the "Flora of North America,"
to be a form of Rubus hispidus. A most careful
study of it has been made by Professor Peck, state
botanist of New York, who, not recognizing it as

Fig. 80. Jfiibnn setomi*. Half si

Fig. 81. Rubus setosus. Drawing made from specimen named Xubus hispidus
var. ruberectus by Peek.

RAND'S BLACKBERRY 363

Bigelow's plant, described it in 1891 as Rubits hispidus
var. snberectus (Fig. 81). It bears a rather small black
or reddish fruit, ripening in July and August, of about
the quality of the dewberry fruit. The plant is ascend-
ing or half erect, the older stems densely clothed with
slender but stiff slightly bent prickles. The leaflets
are very strongly toothed, not shining as in Rubus his-
pidus, and also thinner and longer than in that species.
The plant occurs in New York, Pennsylvania and New
England. It is not cultivated. (See page 377.)

A slender and peculiar woods form of the high -bush
blackberry, which is shown half-size in Fig. 82, is
found upon Mt. Desert, coast of Maine, westward and
northward, and which I. once named Rubus villosus var.
Randii (see Rand and Redfield's "Flora of Mt. Desert
Island," p. 94, 1894), in compliment to Mr. Edward L.
Rand, who has been a most energetic explorer of the
flora of the interesting island where it is found. It
gives no promise to the cultivator, but the student of
our native blackberries may like a characterization of
it, for the variety is probably widely distributed north-
wards. Its chief botanical marks are these : Low and
diffuse (1 to 2% feet high), the canes bearing very
few and weak prickles or often entirely unarmed, very
slender and soft, sometimes looking as if nearly her-
baceous ; leaves very thin and nearly or quite smooth
beneath and on the petioles, the teeth rather coarse
and unequal ; cluster short, with one or two simple
leaves in its base, not villous, and very slightly if at
all pubescent ; flowers half or less the size of those of
the blackberry ; fruit small, dry and "seedy." Its chief
characters are its low, weak and practically unarmed
stems, thin leaves and small flowers. (See page 385.)

364 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The Cloudberry,
Rubus Chamcemorus ,
an herbaceous little
bramble of the boreal
parts of the northern
hemisphere, affords a
most excellent fruit,
which is much used
by residents of the
countries where it
grows. It is not in
cultivation for its
fruit, but the follow-
ing account of the berry, by J. M.
Macoun in "Garden and Forest" for
1889, is so interesting that I transcribe
it for the conclusion of this discussion
of the rubus fruits :

"The Cloudberry, which is found
in few localities south of the Canadian
boundary, and even then not in a great
abundance, is quite common and greatly
prized in Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova

Fig. 82.
Rand's blackberry.

CLOUDBERRY 365

Scotia and northern Quebec. It is known under vari-
ous names, and is very abundant through northern
Canada, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
north to the Arctic sea. Growing always in peat bogs
at the south, and further north in open boggy places
in woods, it is found in the greatest profusion on the
barrens beyond the northern limit of tree growth,
occasionally ripening its fruit within the Arctic Circle.
In spite of the fact that it is very susceptible to frost,
and that frequently the fruit does not mature at all, it
seems to improve in quality, like a few other berries,
toward the northern limits of its distribution.

" Rubus arcticus and R. Chamcemorus are frequently
found together, the broad, rose -colored flowers of the
one contrasting beautifully with the large, white ane-
mone blossoms of the other. The Cloudberry resembles
none of its congeners in color or in flavor. The rich
amber or golden berries are only slightly tinged with
deep red on the side toward the sun ; and they never
have more than the slightest trace of acidity. Indeed,
so tasteless is the berry that it can hardly be eaten at
all until ripe. The berries when apparently mature are
often dry and insipid, tasting not unlike a very young
apple; indeed, the name 'Bake-apple berry/ by which
it is known in the maritime provinces, may have been
given to it on account of the real or supposed resem-
blance of its flavor to that of a baked apple.

"When quite ripe, however, the Cloudberry has an
intensly sweet, honey -like flavor, slightly recalling that
of the large white raspberry of cultivation ; and then,
if eaten in small quantities, it is perhaps the most de-
licious of our northern berries. The habitants of
Quebec and the Indians prefer it just as it approaches

366 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ripeness and before it has lost its acid taste ; but to
southerners it is at that time hardly palatable.

"It is known in northern Quebec and about Hud-
sou's Bay as the Yellow-berry, and in that part of
the country there is no fruit more sought after for
cooking. A small amount of sugar is needed in pre-
paring it for the table, and jam made from this berry
has such a rich and delicate flavor, so unlike that made
from any other fruit, that at several of the Hudson
Bay Company's posts large quantities are preserved and
sent to friends at home. The Chipvegan Indians of
the Mackenzie river valley make a sugar from the
juice of the birch, in which the Cloudberries are cooked,
and, prepared in this manner, they are considered a
great delicacy. Few birds eat the Cloudbeny, so that
when they are not picked by man they decay slowly on
the vines, and finally drop to the ground." The Cloud-
berry is often mentioned in the narratives of travelers
in the arctic.

The Botanical Names of the Blackberries
and Dewberries

The most curious and embarrassing confusion has arisen re-
specting the names of the American rubi of the blackberry and
dewberry group. In 1753, Linnaeus described Bubus Canadensis.
In 1789, Alton described Eubus mllosus. Linnaeus' species has
always been taken to be the common dewberry of the North, and
Alton's species has been taken to be the common high-bush
blackberry of the North. The original descriptions indicate that
the names have not been properly applied by American botanists.
Consequently, I had drawings made of the original specimens now
deposited in London, and it became evident at once that the
species had been misunderstood. I, therefore, laid aside the
work of revision of the group, and, consequently, the publication

CONFUSION IN NOMENCLATURE 367

of this book, until I could personally examine the original speci-
mens. I have now had the opportunity of examining the speci-
mens of Linnaeus and Aiton; also those of Willdenow and Link
at Berlin, and of Michaux at Paris ; and through the courtesy of
Professor Dr. Beck, I have obtained drawings and full notes of
the specimens of Trattinnick at Vienna.

Having now seen the original types of the American black-
berries and dewberries, I am able to make a new disposition of
the species. Linnaeus' Rubus Canadensis is unmistakably the
thornless blackberry, which was described in 1891 by Britton as
Rubus Millspaughii (p. 323). Aiton's Rubus villosus is unmistak-
ably the dewberry of the North, the plant to which we have
heretofore applied the name Rubus Canadensis. His specimens
are mostly sterile shoots, and are from plants which were grown
in the Kew gardens. These specimens are shown in the illus-
tration on page 372. Ordinarily the dewberry is not villous, and
the name, therefore, is a misnomer; but Aiton made the name
because the tips of the verdurous shoots of the dewberry contain
a villous pubescence. These leafy tips of the dewberry are
rarely seen in herbaria, and it is, therefore, not strange that
the specimens of Aiton have been misunderstood ; but the
specimens are nevertheless unmistakably the dewberry.

While the northern dewberry now has a name (Rubus villosus),
the common high-bush blackberry is left nameless. Our next
resource, therefore, is to look up the supposed synonyms of the
high-bush blackberry. The Rubus inermis described by Willdenow
in 1809, and credited by him to North America, is one of these
synonyms. The specimens in the Berlin herbarium are unmis-
takably a spineless form of Rubus ulmifolius of Greece! This
name is, therefore, disposed of. The next name in order of pub-
lication is the Ritbus argutus of Link, published in 1822. Link's
specimens in Berlin are well preserved, and are unmistakably the
form of high -bush blackberry which we have known as Riibun
frnmltixHN. This plant should be regarded as a good species; and
since Rubus argutus was published two years earlier than fron-
dostts, that name must stand. Two rubi were described by
Rafinesque in his "Florula Ludoviciana" in 1817 — Rubus angu-
lahis and Rnl>n* nitiilnx. Rafinesque left no specimens, and his
descriptions are so meager that it is utterly impossible to deter-

368 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

mine what plants he meant to designate, and the names must,
therefore, be dropped. Kenriek uses the name Rubus Americanus
for the "bush blackberry" in his "New American Orchardist,"
1833; but he probably had no particular form of blackberry in
mind, and, moreover, the name Americanus was earlier used by
Persoon and by Prince.

Rubus flagellaris of Willdenow is a puzzle. The specimens
are in the Berlin herbarium, and are well preserved (Fig. 83).
Willdenow says that the thing is American, but I have never
seen an American plant like it, and it seems to me to be one of
the European dewberries. It is a significant fact that this plant,
which Willdenow described from cultivated species, is still grow-
ing in a number of the botanical gardens of Europe under the
name Rubus Canadensis. If it is American, it is a most unusual
form, modified by cultivation; but I suspect that it is only a
form of a European species, allied to Rubus ccesius.

The Rubus procumbens of Muhlenberg's Catalogue cannot be
identified. I have not been able to discover that he sent any
specimens under this name to the European herbaria.

In 1823, Trattinnick described two species of rubi (Rubus
floridus, Fig. 91 ; and Rubus Enslenii, Fig. 87 ' . These have been
doubtfully referred to the dewberry of the North. His Rubus
floridus is a peculiar and well-marked form of the plant which
must now be called Rubus argutus, whereas his Rubus Enslenii is
the plant which Britton has recently named Rubus Bailey anus.

The Rubus suberectus of Hooker, 1833, collected by Eichard-
son in the Lake Superior region, is in the herbarium at Kew,
and is the plant which we must now call Rubus argutus, Link.

Of all the American blackberries and dewberries of which
types are in the European herbaria, only Michaux's Rubus trivialis
has been properly understood; and even this species has been
much confounded with forms of the northern dewberry.

Having now identified the various type specimens in the
European herbaria, we are prepared to rename the American
species. Before doing this, however, it will be necessary to
clarify our minds in respect to the natural groups or species of
the plants themselves. While it is to be hoped that the Ameri-
can rubi will never be the subject of such minute division as
the European congeners have been, it is nevertheless imperative

THE KINDS OP BLACKBERRIES

Fig. 83. The type of Willdenow
Rubus flagellaris, in Berlin.

that our recognized species should be broken up, if we are to
clearly understand them. Of the high-bush blackberry, there
are three general types or categories: (1) The common high-
bush blackberry of the North, which has large, pointed, villous
leaves and long, open, pubescent racemes. (See Figs. 59, 60.)
This is the plant which is ordinarily taken as the type of

370 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Bubus villosus, but strangely enough, although the common black-
berry, it now has no scientific name. I, therefore, propose to call
it Bubus nigrobaccus (p. 379). (2) The leafy-cluster type of black-
berry, which is characterized by a stiffer and mostly shorter
growth, by smaller and usually narrower leaves, short and leafy
flower-clusters, and the general, although not complete, iibsence
of villousness (Figs. 64, 65, 90). This plant must now receive the
name Bubus argutus, Link, and its synonyms are Bubus frondosus,
Bigelow, and Bubus suberectus, Hooker. A very large -flowered,
short -clustered and blunt-leaved type of this is the plant which
Trattinnick described as Bubus floridus, and which I now propose
to designate as Bubus argutus var. floridus. (3) The thornless
blackberry type (Figs. 92, 93 \ which must now be called Bubus
Canadensis, a synonym of which is Bubus Millspaughii.

Another form of the high-bush blackberry is a plant which
Porter has named Bubus Allegheniensis, or the mountain black-
berry. I have not had opportunity to examine this plant in its
native state. The herbarium specimens do not always seem to
be distinct enough to warrant the separation of the plant from
the common high-bush blackberry, but since Professor Porter
has studied the plant in its native state for many years, and
insists in several publications upon its distinctness, I shall accept
it as a distinct species (p. 381). I am the more inclined to this
opinion since if the common high-bush blackberry were to be
united with the mountain blackberry, Bubus Allegheniensis would
have to be taken as the type of the species; and I should consider
it unfortunate to take a mountain form as the type of a common
continental plant. This arrangement gives an analytical and
perspicuous treatment to the high-bush blackberries, and should
.be the means of making the various forms better known. It
goes without saying that in plants which are so confused as
rubi, intermediate and perplexing forms will be found; but even
these forms can be best understood when the plants are broken
up into their reigning types.

Coming to the dewberries, we find ourselves in new trouble.
In the first place, as we have seen, the common dewberry
of the North must be Bubus villosus and not Bubus Cana-
densis. This dewberry includes two or three distinct forms,
two of which I propose to separate at once as distinct species.

EARLY SPECIFIC NAMES 371

One of these species I shall now call Bubus invisus (p. 374), it
being the plant which I have formerly described as Bubus Cana-
densis var. invisus. There can be no doubt, I think, of the distinct-
ness of this species from the common dewberry. Of the merits
of the other species, I am not so well convinced, although from
a study of material from several sources, I have decided to
separate it as a species. It is the form which has been described
by Torrey and Gray as Bubus villosus var. humifusus (see Fig. 77,
page 353). This plant has been recognized by Britton as specifi-
cally distinct, and he has named it Bubus Baileyanus. As before
said, however, this is the plant which Trattinnick has de-
scribed as Bubus Enslenii, and this name must stand. There
are still two or three forms of the common dewberry of the
North which may need to be separately named, and I suspect
that in the near future one or two of them will be elevated to
specific rank. One is the plant which I formerly described as
var. roribaccus, and the other is now described by Professor
Card, from notes in my herbarium, as var. Michiganensis (p. 374).
The history of Bubus Enslenii brings up an interesting
question in respect to the variation of the high-bush blackberry.
Torrey supposed this to be a form of the common blackberry;
and it has been generally considered by botanists that the high-
bush blackberry has trailing forms (p. 352). As a matter of fact,
however, it has not. There are certain hybrids between the dew-
berry and high -bush blackberry, but they are so distinct in their
characters as to be easily recognized. It was one of these
hybrids which Willdenow had when he made the name Bubus
lirtrropliHllus. The name was published with no description,
so that it is not allowed to stand in botanical nomenclature.

The following running sketch will enable us to understand
the botanical characters of the East-American blackberries and
dewberries :
A. DEWBERRIES : plants trailing, or at most slightly ascending,

usually rootiiit/ by means of tips.
B. Fruit normally black (soiHrtiincs running into white forms).

c. Peduncles few- to several -flowered.
1. HI-BUS VILLOSUS Alton, Hort. Kew. ii. 210 (1789). B. Cuna-

/fr/i.sj.s, authors, not Linn. Common dewberry (Figs. 74, 84).
A strong- growing prickly plant, mostly with glabrous stems,

Fig. 84. Rubus villosus of Aiton. Prom original specimens,
in London. X one-half. (Page 373.)

THE DEWBERRY 373

which sometimes rise a foot or two above the earth and are
then prostrate ; leaves medium to rather large, firm and thick,
of three to seven oval or ovate, rather long-pointed and sharply
doubly-toothed leaflets ; racemes erect, with leaf-like bracts
and from 1- to 3-flowered, the central flowers opening first ; fruit
variable, but usually globose or ovoid, with a few large and
rather loose drupelets, shining black, sour, but becoming sweet
at full maturity. This is the common dewberry of the northern
states, growing along the roadsides and on banks, the strong
stems often reaching a length of five to eight feet. The species
has a wide range, occurring as far south as Florida, and west
and southwest to Kansas, Oklahoma and Arizona. In its
southern ranges, it has been confounded with R. trivialis. It
is a very variable species, and it is probable that future obser-
vations will show that it should be broken up into two or three
specific types. The form which Aiton had (Fig. 84), and which
is here intended, is the one with large and firm, glabrous leaflets
and strong growth. Another form has much smaller and ashy
pubescent leaflets, weak growth, and fewer-flowered peduncles ;
but I am not able to separate these two forms. So far as I
have observed them, they seem to be associated with soil and
environment.

The Fig. 84 is made from Alton's type of Rubus villosus in
the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, London. A
and B are exact copies; C is a leaf from a third and remaining
sprig. The large specimen is the tip of a verdurous trailing
shoot. Such shoots have a villous pubescence, although the
species is normally glabrous. The name Bubus villosus is, there-
fore, an unfortunate one for the common dewberry (p. 367).

In cultivation, B. villosus has given a number of varieties of
dewberries, among them being the Windom, Geer, Mayes or
Austin, Lucretia's Sister, and evidently the Maynard.

Var. RORIBACCUS.* R. Canadensis var. roribaccus Bailey, Amer.

Gard. xii. 82 (1891). Lucretia dewberry (Figs. 71, 72, 85).

A robust form, distinguished by large wedge-obovate, jagged

leaflets, very long flower-stalks and large flowers (sometimes

*Since it is important, as a matter of nomenclature, to know the date of
a new name, it is hereby stated that this book is actually published October
26. 1898.

374 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

two inches across), and leaf -like sepals. This is represented
in cultivation by the Lucretia dewberry, which is a native of
West Virginia. (See pages 332-335.) I am in doubt as to
whether this variety actually occurs
in the wild state except in the
form of the original Lucretia ; that
is, it may be a mere incidental va-
riation from a single plant, from
which we have derived a cultivated
stock, rather than a true geograph-
ical form. It is very well marked in
cultivation. It is possible that the
variation has been brought about
by domestication.

Var. MICHIGANENSIS Card in
herb. (Fig. 76, p. 351.)

A robust form, with woody
stems and comparatively few weak
recurved prickles, and strong, up-
right, pubescent flower-shoots, long
stipules and very large leaflets,
which are very deeply and irregu-

Fig. 85. Lucretia. One-third size, larly cut. This plant has been col-
lected by myself on the sandy banks

of Lake Michigan, in southwest Michigan, where it seems to be

distinctly marked.

2. RUBUS INVISUS. B. Canadensis var. invisus Bailey, Amer.
Gard. xii. 83 (1891). (Fig. 75, 86.)

A very well-marked dewberry, with somewhat ascending and
not very prickly stems, a light-colored foliage, and large, thinnish
leaflets which are coarsely and simply toothed ; peduncles forking
into two or three parts ; pedicels long, the flowers large, and
sepals leaf-like. This plant grows upon banks and along roads
from New York to Alabama and west to Kansas and Missouri.
The large, simple notches in the leaves, and the long, forking
flower-clusters readily distinguish this plant from its fellows.

RUBUS ENSLENII

375

Fig. 86. Rubus invisus.

In cultivation, it has given the varieties Bartel, Mammoth,
Never Fail, and General Grant.

cc. Peduncles mostly 1- or 2 -flowered.

3. RUBUS ENSLENII Tratt., Eos. Monogr. iii. 73 (1823). R'. vil-
losus var. humifusus Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. i. 455
(1840), not R. humifusus Weihe. E. invisus Britton, Bull.
Torr. Bot. Club, xx. 279 (1893). R. Baileyanus Britton,
Pterid. & Spermat. N. Am. 185 (1893-4). (Figs. 77, 87.)

A weak plant, trailing flat upon the ground, the stems some-
times almost herbaceous, with a very few weak prickles and thin
leaflets; flowers solitary, or sometimes in twos, on short leafy
shoots ; fruit small and loose, black. Grows in sandy places,

376 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

13s

probably throughout the northern states, al-
though I know it only from southwestern
Michigan and eastern New York. The spe-
cies has no economic importance, being too
weak and soft a grower to promise much
reward to the cultivator.

*VA 4. RUBUS TRIVIALIS Michx.,

v' - N, Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 296

(1803). Southern Dew-
berry (Fig. 88).

Stems very long, often
growing ten to fifteen feet,
mostly thickly beset with
prickles and sometimes with
reddish bristles ; leaves rather
short-stalked, and compara-
tively small, rigid, and ever-
green or nearly so, the
petioles and midribs strong
and prickly, the leaflets vary-
ing from nearly oblong to
oblong-ovate ; pedicels mostly
short and simple, termina-
ted by a large and showy
flower ; fruit variable in size,
usually oblong, and more or
less dry and seedy. This
species is widely distributed
from Virginia south and

from" the type"sp"e7imen"in southwest. It is a variable
Trattinniek's herbarium species, running into some
at Vienna. X one-half . varieties with rather broad
leaves and very large flow-
ers. It is possible that two species are confused
under this name, but much of the confusion has
arisen from the confounding of E. villosus with it.
The specimen upon which Michaux founded the
species is the form with narrow, hard leaflets and

Fig. 87. Rubus Enslenii,

VARIOUS DEWBERRIES

377

Fig. 88. Rubua trivialis.
One-third size.

short, straight, prickly peduncles. In cultivation, this species
has given the Manatee, Wilson White and Bauer.

In the southwest, from Missouri to Texas, there is a curious
form of dewberry which I have at various times intended to make
the type of a new species, but which
may be a series of hybrid forms be-
tween B. trivialis and R. argutus. It
has much the range of variation of the
well-known hybrid of the northern dew-
berry and blackberry, and until I have
opportunity to study the plants in the
field, I should prefer to call it a hybrid.
It is sometimes trailing, and some-
times sub-erect. It is variously pubes-
cent, is usually armed, and sometimes
hispid ; the flowers are sometimes two
or three, and sometimes in elongated
clusters ; the leaves are very variable,

ranging from the narrow forms of some strains of R. trivialis
almost to the broader forms of R. argutus.

BB. Fruit red and small, scarcely eatable.

5. RUBUS HISPIDUS Linn. Sp. PI. 493 (1753) (Fig. 73).

Stems scarcely woody, but lasting over winter, perfectly
prostrate, and beset with small, reflexed, weak bristles, sending
up many short and leafy flowering shoots ; leaflets mostly three,
obovate, blunt and shining, firm and thick in texture, and
tending to be evergreen ; flowers small and few on leafless pe-
duncles ; fruit of few grains, red or purple and sour. Sandy
places and low woods in the northern states, and southward to
the mountains of South Carolina. Linnaeus' specimen is well
preserved in his herbarium in London, and is properly under-
stood by American botanists.

AA. BLACKBERRIES : characterized by erect or strict growth (No. 6
often an exception], and the plants propagating from
suckers.
B. Plant weak, hispid rather than thorny, the fruit reddish.

6. RUBUS SETOSUS Bigelow, PI. Bost. ed. 2, 198 (1824) (Figs.

80, 81).
An ascending or almost erect low-growing plant, the older

378 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

stems densely clothed with very slender though slightly bent
prickles; leaflets usually large, ovate to oblanceolate, pointed,
scarcely shining, very strongly toothed; fruit reddish black. In
bogs throughout the northern states and southward to Florida
and Arkansas. It is distinguished
by a light cast of foliage and
yellowish prickles. In many cases
it looks as if it were a hybrid
between a blackberry and red
raspberry, and has, in fact, been
taken for such. It has ordi-
narily, however, been con-
founded with E. hispidus, with
which it has little in common.
The long, slender, and scat-
tered bristles and diffuse, open
habit distinguish it from its
, allies.

BB. Plant rather low and stiff,
very thorny, the under
surfaces of the leaves
white -pubescent ; fruit
Mack.

RUBUS CUNEIFOLIUS Pursh.,
PI. Am. Sept. 347 (1814)
(Figs. 70, 89).

A stiff and very thorny plant,
growing from one to three feet
high ; leaflets obovate, thick,
dull green above and white -
tomentose below ; petioles armed ;
flower-clusters rather small and
short, bearing from two to eight flowers, and often leafy
below ; fruit medium size, firm, but sweet and often delicious.
This species ranges from New Jersey to Florida. In cultiva-
tion, it has given us the Topsy, or Tree, blackberry, which is
characterized by most vicious thorns. Very strong and verdur-
ous shoots of the Sand blackberry bear oblong- ovate leaflets,

EUBUS NIGROBACCUS 379

which are distinctly pointed and deeply notched, and which tend
to lose their pubescence. This fact has led to a misunderstand-
ing of the species. The garden forms have this character of
foliage; in fact, the Topsy, when growing vigorously, almost
loses the white color of the leaves, and there is little external
appearance to indicate that it belongs to B. cuneifolius. This
fact led me to question the origin of the Topsy blackberry from
this species, but a study of the plant in its natural haunts, both in
the North and the South, has convinced me that it is a direct
cultivated offshoot of the sand blackberry.

BBB. Plant diffuse and mostly tall, thorny, the leaves and in-
florescence distinctly glandular - pubescent ; fruit normally
black (running into whitish forms).

8. RUBUS NIGROBACCUS. B. villosus, authors, not Aiton. Common
High-bush Blackberry, Long-cluster Blackberry (Figs.
59, 60).

Distinguished by very tall and usually somewhat recurved
furrowed stems, strong hooked prickles, three to five large
ovate or lance-ovate, very distinctly pointed leaflets, which are on
distinct stalks, the middle one being long- stalked and sometimes
distinctly heart-shaped; the lower surface of the leaves, as well
as the framework of the flower- clusters, are hairy and glandular;
the flower-cluster elongated, with the large and showy flowers
on pedicels an inch or two long, which stand out at right
angles to the main axis; fruits rather firm, long, seedy, mostly
sweet or aromatic. This is the prevailing high-bush blackberry
of woods and fence rows of the North, and extends as far south
as the mountains of North Carolina and west to Iowa, Kansas
and Missouri. It is perfectly represented in Fig. 59. In cultiva-
tion, it has given the class known as the long-cluster black-
berries, of which the Taylor and the Ancient Briton are examples.
The reason for the giving of a new name to the common black-
berry is explained on pages 366 to 368.

Var. SATIVCS. B. villosus var. sativus Bailey, Am. Gard.

xi. 719 (18901. Short-cluster Blackberry (Figs. 61, 62, 63).

Usually somewhat lower in growth, the leaflets mostly broader

and less distinctly long-pointed, and the flower clusters distinctly

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

shorter, 'raits rounded and looser, with larger drupelets. This
is the nondescript blackberry of open fields, and is the parent
of the larger part of the short-cluster or garden blackberries, of
which the Snyder and the Kittatinny are the leading examples.

Fig. 90.
Kubus argutus, from Florida.

Var. ALBINUS. X. viUosus var. alblnus Bailey, Am. Gard

xi. 720 (1890). White Blackberry.

An occasional form characterized by a light green or olive

color of the bark and amber-colored fruits. It is probably an

Ibinous form of the blackberry, but the plants which I have seen

VARIOUS BLACKBERRIES 381

growing wild have the long clusters of R. nigrobaccus rather than
the short ones of the var. sativus.

The race of hybrids between the blackberry and dewberry
(R. nigrobaccus X -B- villosus) has already been mentioned (Figs.
66-69) . These hybrids are frequent in many parts of the northern
states, and are usually readily distinguished from either the
blackberry or the dewberry by the half-erect habit, the broad and
jagged leaflets, the forking, small flower-clusters, and the small,
loose-grained fruits. In gardens, offsprings of this cross are the
Wilson, Wilson Jr., and Eathbun. These berries are valuable
for certain purposes, but ordinarily demand special care and treat-
ment, and are, therefore, not adapted to wide ranges of conditions.

9. RUBUS ALLEGHENIENSIS Porter, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, xxiii.

153 (1896). R. villosus var. montanus Porter, I.e. xvii.

15 (1890). R. montanus Porter, 1. c. xxi. 120 (1894) not

Wirtg. Mountain Blackberry.

Plant smaller than the preceding species, and rather more
slender and less prickly; the branches and leaf -stalks commonly
reddish, and all the recent parts very prominently glandular;
leaves much as in R. nigrobaccus, with small teeth and distinctly
long-pointed, prominently pubescent below; fruit small, long and
narrow, tapering towards the top ; drupelets numerous and small,
forming a dry fruit with spicy flavor. This species occurs on
mountains from New York to North Carolina. In its typical
forms, it is very well marked, and seems to be worthy specific
rank; but in intermediate stations, it seems to grade into the
species (p. 370). It has given no horticultural forms.

BBBB. Plant diffuse or strict, mostly tall, thorny or unarmed,
with no (or very little) glandular pubescence; fruits black.

10. KUBCS ARGUTUS Link, Enum. Hort. Berol. ii. 60 (1822).

R. frondosus Bigel., PI. Bost. ed. 2, 199 (1824). R. villosus
var. frondosus Torr., PI. U. S. i. 487 (1824). R. suberectus
Hook., PI. Bor.-Am. i. 179 (1833). Leafy-cluster Black-
berry (Figs. 64, 65, 90).

A plant of comparatively stiff and straight growth, usually
distinctly dwarfer than R. nigrobaccus, with shorter pointed, often
narrower and usually more rigid leaflets; stems strong and

Rubus argutus var. floridus. Prom Trattinnick's
type of Rubus floridus, in Vienna.

VARIOUS BLACKBERRIES

383

prickly, und the whole plant glabrous or only slightly villous»
except in some of the very young parts or rarely in the flo-
rescence; flower-clusters short and leafy. Of wider range than
R. nigrobaccus, extending from Lake Superior and New Brunswick
to Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma and Mississippi. It is less common

384 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Fig. 93. Thornle

in the North than R. nigrobaccus, but in the South takes the place
of that species. From the Carolinas southward, the plant seems to
have a habit somewhat different from the northern plant, and
it may be that the southern type is worthy of specific rank. The

VARIOUS BLACKBERRIES 385

plant is apparently common in Illinois and southward in the
Mississippi region. The canes usually lack the recurved and
willowy habit of R. nigrobaccus, and the absence of the villous
pubescence is marked. The leaflets are often canescent below,
and usually a little more coarsely toothed than in R. nigrobaccus.
In cultivation, the plant has given us Early Harvest, Brunton
Early, Earliest of All, and perhaps Bangor; and the plant which
is cultivated as the Dorchester belongs to this species, but I do
not know if it is the plant which was originally introduced
under that name.

Var. FLORIDUS. R. floridus Tratt. Eos. Monogr. iii. 73 (1823).
A form with very short and large-flowered clusters, the floral
leaves wedge-obovate and rounded at the top. Trattinnick says
that Enslen collected this in North America. What its range may
be I do not know. I have seen specimens only from Alabama and
Mississippi. It has given no cultivated varieties, so far as I
know. (Fig. 91.)

Var. RANDII. R. villosus var. Randii Bailey, Band & Red-
field, PI. Mt. Desert, 94 (1894.) (Fig. 82.)

Low and diffuse, l°-2/£° high, the canes bearing very few and
weak prickles, or often entirely unarmed, very slender and soft,
sometimes appearing as if nearly herbaceous ; leaves very thin,
and nearly or quite smooth beneath and on the petioles, the teeth
rather coarse and unequal; cluster stout, with one or two simple
leaves in its base, not villous, and very slightly, if at all, pu-
bescent ; flowers half or less the size of those of R. nigrobaccus ;
fruit small, dry and seedy. Woods, Mt. Desert, Maine, New
Brunswick, and Keweenaw peninsula, Lake Superior.

11. RUBUS CANADENSIS Linn, Sp. PI. 494 (1753). R. Millspauglni
Britton, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club xviii. 366 (1891). Thorn-
less Blackberry. (Figs. 92, 93.) See pp. 322, 367.
This plant has the general habit of R. nigrobaccus, but is dis-
tinguished by its long and slender petioles, mostly narrow and
long acuminate leaves, long stipules, and especially by its lack of
pubescence and the general absence of thorns. It is apparently a
well-marked species, growing throughout the country in the
higher elevations from North Carolina northward.

VII

VARIOUS TYPES OF BERRY -LIKE FRUITS

ALTHOUGH we have now discussed those groups of
native fruits in which the greatest progress has been
made, there still remain several types of considerable
importance; and one of these, — the gooseberries, — is in
interest second only to the raspberries and blackberries,
among improved native berries. In all these groups,
however, the history has been less eventful than in
those already discussed ; and since it is our primary
purpose to record only what has been done and not
what may be done, these remaining plants may be
given brief running sketches at a single sitting.

In reveiwing these various plants, one is tempted to
call attention again to the great native pomological
wealth of North America. The species which are con-
sidered in this book are but a small fraction of the
whole number of promising indigenous species. An-
other century will see types of fruits of which we
know little or nothing, but it is impossible to prophesy
from what native sources these types will spring. We
have seen how this wealth of native fruits impressed
the explorers and colonists. We could glean abundant
references to this native wealth from the early records.
Thus, William Wood, in 1634, speaks of the berries in
the wilds of Massachusetts Bay, as follows: "There
is likewise Strawberries in abundance, verie large ones,
some being two inches about ; one may gather halfe a
(386)

ARCTIC BERRIES 387

bushell in a forenooue : In other seasons there bee
Gooseberries, Bilberries, Resberries, Treackleberries,
Hurtleberries, Currants ; which being dryed in the
sunne are little inferiour to those that our Grocers
sell in England."

But even the high north has its treasures of native
fruit. In fact, it is one of the marvels of travelers
that berries are so plentiful and so good in those regions.
Even under the snow they preserve their character,
and are an indispensable succor when the snow disap-
pears in the spring. It is literally true that in many
parts of the cold north, beyond the bounds of civili-
zation, fruits are in plentiful supply the year round.

A recent note in " Outing " speaks as- follows of the
native fruits of Labrador: "In spite of latitude and
Arctic current, Labrador is the home of much that is
delicious in the berry world, Three varieties of blue-
berries, huckleberries, wild red currants, having a pun-
gent, aromatic flavor, unequaled by the cultivated
varieties, marshberries, raspberries, tiny white capillaire
tea-berries, with a flavor like some rare perfume, and
having just a faint suggestion of wintergreen ; squash-
berries, pear- berries and curlew-berries, the latter not
so grateful as the others, but a prime favorite with
the Esquimaux, who prefer it to almost any other;
and lastly, the typical Labrador fruit, which, excepting
a few scattering plants in Canada and Newfoundland,
is found nowhere outside of the peninsula — the gor-
geous bake -apple [Rultus Cliamwmorus]. These cover
the entire coast, from the St. Lawrence to Ungava.
Their beautiful geranium -like leaves struggle with the
reindeer moss upon the islands, carpet alike the low
valleys and the highest hilltops, and even peep from

388 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

banks of everlasting snow. Only one berry grows
upon each plant, but this one makes a most delicious
mouthful. It is the size and form of a large dewberry,
but the color is a bright crimson, half -ripe, and a
golden yellow at maturity. Its taste is sweetly acid, it
is exceedingly juicy, and so delicate that it might be
thought impossible to preserve it."

In a recent report to Congress on the agricultural
possibilities of Alaska,* Walter H. Evans writes as
follows of the wild fruits : "Alaska is preeminently a
land of small fruits and berries. But little attention
has been given to their cultivation. What few attempts
have been made seem to promise well. Hardly any
berries are cultivated except strawberries, currants and
raspberries. Of these, both wild and cultivated forms
were seen growing, and the adaptability of the wild
plants to domestication was very evident. The wild
strawberry was seen under cultivation at Wrangell, and
specimens of Bubus steUatns, known as dewberry,
'morong,' and 'knesheneka,' are growing in a garden
at Sitka with apparently considerable success, and it
seems probable that more could be done in this line.
The flavor of most of the Alaskan berries was found to
be excellent, and some of them might be worthy of
introduction into portions of the states.

"Of the berries which have the widest distribution,
may be mentioned the salmon berries (Bubus spectabi-
lis); two kinds of cranberries, the high -bush ( Vibur-
num pauciflorum) and the small cranberry ( Vacrinium
Vitis-Idcea) ; red and black currants (Bibes rubrum
and B. laxiflorum) ; crowberries (Empetrum nigrum) ;
huckleberries (Vaccinium uliginosum and its variety,

*Bull. 48, Office of Exp. Stations, Dept. of Agric.

ALASKAN BERRIES 389

; blueberries (Vaccinium parviflorum and
F. ovali foli tun) ; bunehberries (Cornus Canadensis and
C. Suecica); raspberries (Rubus strigosus) ; elderberries
(SambucHS racemosa) ; and the 'molka' berry (Rubus
Chamifmonis) . Of less general distribution are straw-
berries (Frngaria Chiloensis) , dewberries (Rubus stel-
latus), thimbleberries (JR. parviflorus), salal berries
(Gaultheria Shallon), bog cranberries (Vaccinium
Oxycoccus}, wine or bear berries (Aretostapkylos
alpina)i etc.

"Many of these berries are utilized in various ways
by the native and white population. In addition to the
consumption of fresh berries, there are considerable
quantities stored up in various ways for winter use.
The white population can, preserve, and make jelly of
the different kinds, while among the natives the prin-
cipal method of preserving them is in the almost uni-
versal seal oil, a vessel filled with berries preserved in
this way forming with many of the natives a ' potlatch '
by no means to be despised. Some of the berries are
utilized to a considerable extent in making wine, the
wineberry of Kadiak being largely used in that way."

The Gooseberry

Of native gooseberries there are many kinds, inhab-
iting almost every part of our great territory.* The
gooseberry of history- is a native of the Old World, and
in some parts of Europe, particularly in England, it is
very popular, and has reached a high degree of perfec-
tion. This European gooseberry was early brought to

•Descriptions of all these species, with pictures of many of them, are to be
found in Card's "Bush-Fruits."

390 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

this country, but its success is vicarious at the best,
owing to the attacks of a native fungus or mildew.
Wild berries, therefore, were forced upon the attention
of experimenters. Kenrick (1833), who is always
strong on the native fruits, mentions no named varie-
ties of American origin, even in the eighth edition of
his "New American Orchardist," 1848; but he speaks
of a report of excellent wild gooseberries growing in
the valley of the Columbia river. Goodrich, however,
remarks in his "Northern Fruit -Culturist" (Burlington,
Vt.), 1849, that "we have it from good authority that
native sorts have been discovered both in New Hamp-
shire and Vermont, well adapted to garden culture."

Apparently the first native gooseberry to receive a
name was one originated by Abel Houghton, of Lynn,
Mass., and which now bears his name- How Hough-
ton came by this gooseberry seems not to be known.
The earliest record I know of it is in 1847, when it
was shown before the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society. The entry in Manning's history of the
society is the following: "The Houghton's Seedling
gooseberry, the first of those native varieties which
have proved so valuable for their exemption from mil-
dew, was exhibited by Josiah Lovett on the 7th of
August." In Downing's "Horticulturist" for 1848,*
appears the first full description :

"HOUGHTON'S GOOSEBERRY.— I have been expecting
a private opportunity to forward you, ere this, a box
of gooseberries, of the best variety I have ever seen.
It is so desirable a sort, that I could not well refrain
from forwarding a sample, as I now do, by express.

THE HOUGHTON GOOSEBERRY 391

I regret that the specimens are only the gleanings of
four bushes, my whole stock of this kind. This
gooseberry is a seedling, called here Houghton's. It,
I have no doubt, was raised from seed from our
native gooseberry. Its leaf, as you will perceive by
the enclosed shoot, bears evidence of this origin.
This is the only gooseberry cultivated that does not
mildew under any circumstances. The cultivators in
Lynn, Mass., where this fruit originated, have grown
it for three or four years, and their testimony accords
with my assertion. The growth is exceedingly thrifty,
making long pendent shoots, similar to an English
variety called 'Crown Bob.' I have nineteen table
varieties, received four years since from Cunningham
& Sons, Liverpool, and for my taste, Houghton's Seed-
ling surpasses them all, notwithstanding the fruit is
not so large as the European varieties. Most of the
fruits I now send you, were taken from shoots grown
within one inch of the soil. I have picked at least
ten quarts of fruit from four bushes, which were
layers two years since. I think that the Houghton's
Seedling will supplant almost every foreign variety
from our soil. The long shoots which spring from
the bottom of the stock often take root themselves.
It will be a fine variety for training, as it makes long
shoots, and fruits prodigiously, even to the extreme
end of the previous year's growth.

"Yours very truly, in haste,

"JOHN M. IVES.

"SALEM, August 15, 1847."

"(If this is a seedling from an indigenous goose-
berry, as it appears to be, and one which, being
entirely adapted to our climate, never mildews, it

392 THE EVOLUTION OF OUE NATIVE FRUITS

deserves attention. We regret the berries were heated
before they reached us, so that we could not judge of
their flavor.— ED.)"

The Houghton is again mentioned in the ''Horti-
culturist" in vol. iii. page 119, and in the volume for
1854, page 104. Cole has it in his "American Fruit
Book" in 1849, using an illustration from the "Horti-

Fig. 94. Leaves of Biles Grossularia. Fig. 95. Leaves of R. oxyacanthoides.

culturist." Thomas inserted it, but no other native
gooseberry, in the fourth edition of "American Fruit
Culturist," 1850. Downing first mentions it in "Fruits
and Fruit Trees" in the revision of 1860, and Barry
described it in "Fruit Garden" the same year.

Hoping to gain some knowledge of Houghton, I
applied to Walter B. Allen, president of the Houghton
Horticultural Society of Lynn, who replies as follows,
under date of March, 1896: "The Houghton goose-
berry was first produced, some sixty years ago, by
one Abel Houghton of this city (then town) of Lynn.
Mr. Houghton, we are told, took great interest in hor-

AHEL HOnJHTOX

ticulture, and many are now living who recollect his
In -a ut if ul flower garden, almost the only one of note
in Lynn in those early days. Mr. Hough ton was not a
native of Lynn, as we understand it, and there are no
descendants of his that we know of. He was called
Abel Houghton, Jr., so we infer that his father's
name was Abel. Mr. Houghton died many years ago,
but when our society was organized, about twenty
years ago, many of the chief promoters of the move-
ment, recalling the lovely flower garden of Abel
Houghton, Jr., decided to pass his name down by
having it placed in Article I. of our Constitution."

The second development in the evolution of Amer-
ican gooseberries was the production of a seedling
of the Houghton by Downing, at Newburgh, N. Y.
The earliest account of it I know is by "Rusticus," in
the "Horticulturist" for 1853,* as
follows: "Downing's Seedling Goose-
berry, the largest yet known, being
about twice the size of Houghton's
Seedling, its parent. Pale or light
green, without any blush, and smooth.
The skin is very thin, and the fruit
as delicate and tender as any European
gooseberry in its native soil. The
flavor and aroma are perfect; sweet,
with plenty of vinous subacid. The
first describer says: 'I experienced
the same satisfaction as I did in tast-
ing the Delaware and Rebecca grapes. It comes up to the
best English varieties in our very different climate.' "

This berry, now known as the Downing, is the

*Vol. viii. 313.

Fig. 96. Crown Bob,
an English goose-
berry.

394

THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

standard of excellence in American gooseberries, and
is probably grown more extensively than all other
varieties combined ; and yet it is only two removes
from the wild species.

A third native gooseberry was described in the
"Horticulturist," in I860,* as the Mountain Seedling.
This variety was the subject of an editorial note in
"Gardener's Monthly," for February, 1863, t at which

a ig. 97. Wild Ribes oxyacanthoides. Natural size.

place an inaccurate figure is also given. This variety
is little grown at present, but it is interesting as being
the only domestic named variety of another species.

What, now, are these species of gooseberries ! The
English type is Ribes Grossularia, characterized by a
low, stiff habit, firm and thickish leaves with revolute
margins (Fig. 94), a downy ovary, and more or less
pubescent or bristly fruit (Fig. 96). The Houghton is
a form of the native Ribes oxyacantkoides, a species of

•Vol. xv. 403. tVol. v. 56.

Fig 98. Houghtou, first remove from the wild species. Natural size.

Fig. 99. Downing, second remove from the wild species. Two-thirds iiaturul size.

396 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

more slender, graceful habit than the other, thinner
and plane-edged leaves (Fig. 95), and smooth ovary
and fruit (Figs. 97-99). This wild gooseberry is na-
tive in swales and low woods in the northern states,
and westward to Colorado. Pale Red, a variety which is
popular in many places, is also Ribes oxyacanthoides ;
and so, too, I am convinced, is the Downing. Beach* has
recently suggested that the Downing is a hybrid of
Ribes oxyacantlioides and R. Grossularia, giving, among
other reasons for such belief, the fact that its seedlings
vary towards both species. But even if the two species
were distinct enough to allow young plants to be re-
ferred definitely to one or the other, I should still doubt
the hybrid origin of the Downing. The evolution of
these gooseberries is graphically shown in Figs. 97 to 99.

The commonest wild gooseberry east of the Plains
is the spiny -fruited, thick-skinned and long -clustered
species, Ribes Cynosbati, Fig. 100. It is to this species
that the Mountain belongs (page 394) . Beach considers
this variety to be a hybrid between Ribes Cynosbati
and the European gooseberry. Although the fruit
of Ribes Cynosbati is normally hairy or spiny, smooth-
fruited forms often occur. Several persons have made
promising efforts to ameliorate the species. t

Judged by European standards, the American goose-
berry is yet far short of perfection. The English
gooseberry fanciers have kept records of the heaviest
berries at the shows for two generations, much as a
horse fancier keeps records of fast stock. The fol-
lowing records from the "Gooseberry Growers' Reg-
ister" for 1880 may interest the reader:

*Bull. 114, N. Y. State Exp. Sta.

tSee, for example, B. A. Mathews, in Kept. Iowa Hort. Soc. 1893.

THE BIG ENGLISH GOOSEBERRIES

397

HEAVIEST GOOSEBERRY GROWN EACH YEAR FROM 1809 TO 1880

Year

Name

Weight

Tear

Name

Weight

dwt

s. grs.

iwts.

I//-.V.

1809

Sportsman

18

22X

1845

London

36

L6

1810

Crown Bob

21

7

1846

London

27

21

1811

Crown Bob

23

18%

1847

London

28

0

1812 Seed.

Overall

19

10

1848

London

31

19

1813

Crown Bob

'I'l

21

1849

London

27

1<»

1814

Viper

25

22

1850

London

27

10

1815

Crown Bob

25

2

1851

London

27

12

1816

Huntsman

26

0

1852

London

37

7

1817

Highwayman

26

17

1853

London

31

4

1818

Yaxley Hero

24

14

1854

London

31

16

1819

Top Sawyer

26

17

1855

Paris

31

17

1820

Huntsman

25

18

1856

Seedling

29

0

1821

Huntsman

25

6

1857

London

29

11

1822

Rough Robin

26

1

1858

London

34

7

1823

Foxhunter

25

2

1 859

Antagonist

27

4

1824

Lion

28

5

1860

London

33

0

1825

Lion

31

16

1861

London

29

22

182G

Huntsman

24

6

1862

Antagonist

31

22

1827

Lion

27

7

1863

Antagonist

34

2]

1828

Lion

29

0

1864

London

36

4

1829

Lion

25

0

1865

London

33

12

1830

Teazer

32

13

1866

London

26

20

1831

Lion

27

6

1867 Seed.

Rover

30

18

1832 Seed.

Bumper

30

18

1868

London

29

13

1833

Wonderful

27

17

1869

London

27

19

1834

Wonderful

27

8

1870

Ringer

32

21

1835

Wonderful

24

0

1871

London

31

20

1836

Companion

*JS

0

1872

Garibaldi

27

9

1837

Companion

23

12

1873

Garibaldi

32

17

1838

Wonderful

30

16

1874

Macaroni

35

ID

1839

London

29

0

1875

Bobby

34

90

1840

London

32

0

1876

Ringer

26

10

1841

Wonderful

32

16

1877

Bobby

28

9

1842

London

31

13

1878

Rover

31

19

1843

London

32

0

1879

London

27

18

1844

London

35

12

1880

Garibaldi

31

17

398

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The extent to which the American gooseberries
have supplanted the English types in this country
may be gleaned from the fact that in 1830 a mention
is made of a display of gooseberries before the Massa-

L

Fig. 100. Wild Kibes Cynosbati. Nearly full si

chusetts Horticultural Society, in which "several fine
specimens of English varieties were shown, the pre-
mium being awarded to Nathaniel Seaver for the
Jolly Angler, the largest of which measured four and
a quarter inches in circumference;" whereas, in 1872,

CURRANT HISTORY 399

it is recorded that "the prizes for gooseberries were
awarded to the Downing, Smith's Improved, and
Houghton's Seedling, in the order named. No foreign
gooseberries were shown."

In recent years, however, the English gooseberries
and their American seedlings have come into new
prominence, because fungicides have been devised
which keep the mildew in check ; yet the Downing
is still the standard variety in America, and it gives
every promise of holding that position until it is
supplanted by other varieties coming from American
species or from hybrids with the European species.

Native Currants

Of many species of wild currants in North America,
only three seem to have given varieties cultivated for
fruit, and of these none are important. The common
red and white currants are offspring of Ribes rubrmn
of the Old World ; and the common black currants
are Ribes nigrum, also of the Old World. The former
species, Ribes rnbrum, or a plant very closely like it,
is native in cold swamps along the northern borders
of the United States and northwards ; and if the
plant had not already been improved from the Euro-
pean stock, this native plant might have been pressed
into service before this. Fig. 101 is an excellent
illustration of this wild currant (on the left), as com-
pared with the Victoria, a common variety in gardens.
This wild currant usually bears its fruits near the top
of the cane, whereas the garden currants are dis-
tributed over the greater length of the cane.

The three native currants of which cultivated fruit-

Fig. 101. Wild currant and the cultivated Victoria. Natural

THE CRANDALL CURRANT 401

varieties are known are Ribes aureum, R. Americanum
(or R.floridum), R. sanguinewn.

Of these varieties, only the Crandall is generally
known, and even this has little commercial or even
domestic value. This is
Ribes auretim, the species
generally known as the buf-
falo or Missouri currant.
There are a few other
named fruit-bearing varie-
ties of this species,
but they are mostly
confined to the dry
regions of the West.
The species has also
been long cultivated
as the flowering cur-
rant (Fig. 102). It
grows wild from Missouri
and Arkansas westward.

The Crandall currant was
named for R. W. Cran-
dall, of Newton, Kansas,
who found it growing wild.
It was introduced in the Fig. 102. Flowers of buffalo
spring of 1888, by Frank
Ford & Son, Ravenna, Ohio.*
This type or species of currant undoubtedly has
great promise as the parent of a new and valuable
race of small fruit. The Crandall, however, is too
variable to be reliable. Comparatively few plants pro-

*S<-e Amer. Qard. x. 300 (1889); Bulls. 15 and 51 Cornell Exp. Sta.; Annals
of Horticulture for 1891, 52; Beach, Bull. 95, N. Y. State Exp. Sta.

402 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

duce abundantly of large fruits, while many of them
bear fruits little larger than occasional plants of the
common flowering currant, to which species the Cran-
dall belongs. When the crop of 1892, at Cornell, was
at its height, I made a record of the size of fruit upon
each plant, classifying it into three categories — poor,
fairly good, and good. The poor fruit was such as
appeared to be little larger than the fruit of the flow-
ering currant, or such as is shown — five -eighths nat-
ural size — in the lower spray in Fig. 103. The good
fruit is represented in the upper spray in the engraving,
and it ran from five-eighths to three-fourths inch in
diameter. The fairly good fruits were those of in-
termediate size.

Only a dozen plants out of fifty, or less than a
fourth of the whole number, could be called profitable.
There is every reason to expect that if cuttings were
taken from good plants alone, the Grandall currant
would soon rise in popular estimation. At its best,
the Crandall has decided merits. The fruits are large
and handsome, firm, of good culinary quality, and the
plant is thrifty, hardy and productive. The fruits are
borne in very short and open clusters, to be sure, but
they are not picked by the cluster, like the red and
white currants, but singly, like the gooseberries. To
some people the flavor of the fruit is disagreeable, and
it has been said to have a medicinal flavor; but there
are others — the writer included — who are fond of them,
even to eat from the hand. In pies and jellies we
have found them to be useful. It is not to be ex-
pected, of course, that these fruits will find a ready
market, because consumers are not acquainted with
them; but if the stock were more uniform, I think

BUFFALO CURRANT

403

that the Crandall could be recommended as a good
fruit for home consumption. Since there are undoubt-
edly possibilities before this type of currant, the
introduction of the Crandall has been fortunate. The
plant grows readily from seeds, and there should be

Fig. 103. Good and poor types of the Crandall currant.

no difficulty ill rapidly securing new varieties ; but
the seeds should be carefully selected.

In the dry Plains regions, the Missouri currant
type has greater promise, not only because it thrives
there, but because common currants do not ; but the
varieties will need to be much improved by careful
selection.

404 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The Juneberry

The juneberry grows in many forms over a wide
range of North America, particularly in the northern
parts, and several varieties have been brought into
cultivation from the wild. All these varieties belong
to dwarf species. They closely resemble large huckle-
berries.

Only one of these juneberries has gained popu-
larity. This is the Success (Fig. 104), the history of
which, by H. E. Van Deman, the introducer, is thus
told in Annals of Horticulture for 1891: "In Decem-
ber, 1873, I was traveling on horseback from my home
in Kansas to the annual meeting of the State Horti-
cultural Society, and learned by accident of the where-
abouts of a fruit, growing in a man's garden, that was
called huckleberry. On my way home I hunted up
the place, and found the bushes. I was told that this
so-called huckleberry bore abundantly every year,
and that it had been brought from Illinois to that
neighborhood. I afterwards learned that an old man
had brought seeds of the dwarf juneberry from the
mountains of Pennsylvania to Illinois, and from them
grew this variety. When he and his children went to
Kansas, about 1868, they took along a stock of the
plants, and part of them were set at the place where
I found them. I had no trouble in securing a few of
the plants, which I immediately took home and set
out, and the next year, when the bloom appeared on
them, I learned by consulting the botany that it was
Amelanchier. The plants grew so well that I went
back the next year and got several hundred more, and
planted them at my home. All of them grew, and I

JUNEBERRY

405

Fig. 104. Success jnneberry. Two-third

soon had a large plantation. About this time I found
other varieties of the dwarf juneberry in cultivation
in different parts of Kansas, and got plants which
bore, and on comparing the fruit with the one 1 first

406 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

got, I thought the first one the best ; and as some
people discouraged the cultivation of some of the
varieties because of their rather inferior fruit, I named
my variety 'Success.' About 1878 I began to sell the
plants under the name Success, and until I sold the
larger part of my stock, some three years ago, to
J. T. Lovett, of New Jersey, I had sold more than
ten thousand plants of this variety."

This variety Success is of the species Amelancliier
Botryapium of DeCaudolle (1825), also known as
A. oblongi folia of Roemer (1847). The natural dis-
tribution of the species is from New Brunswick to
Missouri, although, like the sand cherry and Ameri-
cana plum, it appears to give its best fruits in its
western ranges. The western dwarf juneberry (A. «1-
tiifolia), which extends eastward as far as Lake Supe-
rior, has also given rise to varieties which have been
named and sparingly introduced to cultivation. The
fruits of the Success juneberry are attractive and
toothsome, and the plants are exceedingly hardy and
productive. Did not the birds appreciate the merits
of the fruits, they might soon become popular in
gardens.

The Buffalo -berry

The buffalo -berry of the Plains (Shepherdia ar-
gentea) has long been known as bearing profusely of
excellent and variable acid berries. It was not intro-
duced to the horticultural trades as a fruit -bearing
plant, however, until the fall of 1890, when G. J. and
L. E. R. Lambrigger, of Big Horn City, Wyoming,
offered plants to the general market. Since that time
much has been written, in a fragmentary way, on the

BUFFALO -BERRY 407

Buffalo -berry, particularly in the West. It is probable
that it will never become popular in the East, where
the currant, gooseberry, and other acid small fruits
thrive. A Dakotan writes as follows: "Deer, ante-
lope and elk live on buffalo -berries through the winter,
but the fruit is excellent for human beings. I do not
understand why farmers in the Dakotas and Minnesota
do not grow more of these berries. A tree is of more
benefit than an apple tree, and is a sure grower. The
time will come when people will say: 'Why did we
not sooner know about the buff alo- berry ?' The trees
make good hedges, and live when all other vegetation
dies." Although introduced to cultivation, the buffalo-
berry has not yet given any distinct named varieties.
The buffalo -berry is dkscious — that is, the sexes
are on different plants. This means that the two
sexes should be known and be planted close together
to insure fruitfulness. Yet, the writer has a pistillate
bush of buffalo -berry which is two hundred feet
from a staminate plant, with a large building
between the two, and it bears well. Professor Corbett
makes the following remarks on the sex characters of
the buffalo -berry:*

With the introduction of new fruits come new difficulties
to be overcome by both propagator and cultivator. In the brief
history of the buffalo-berry we find no exception to the rule,
but, on the contrary, added natural causes, which augment these
difficulties. The dioecious nature of the plant is not known to
the majority of cultivators, and, what is the more important,
the dealers furnishing them the stock are equally as ignorant.
I know of no dealer in nursery stock in the Northwest, even if
he is familiar with the fact that they are dioecious, who claims

'American Gardening, xvi. 45 (Feb. 9. 1895). The pictures (Pl««. 105, 106)
are my own.

408

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

to be able to distinguish between the two sexes, except at the
fruiting season. It is not unusual to find persons with a stock
of the young plants upon the market who are not aware that
there are sterile and fertile plants, and that either is worthless
without the other. Only last spring a case of this kind came

Fig. 105. Spray of pistillate buffalo-berry.

under my observation. I do not exaggerate the true condition
of affairs when I make the statement that 90 per cent of
all the buffalo -berry stock placed upon the market is gathered
from the native thickets, regardless of sex, by just such men.

Such being the case, what -is to be expected in return?
Surely nothing more than we have — denunciation by the unfor-

CORBETT ON BUFFALO -BERRY 409

tunate who have drawn blanks, and praise from the prize win-
ners. This condition of affairs should not exist, for with but
little care and time the plants could be marked at blooming
season or while in fruit, and in this way the two sexes separated
and both obtained. This would, however, necessitate two visits
to the native source of supply during the season, and thus add
materially to the cost of obtaining a stock of the plants.

There is, however, another and easier way of distinguishing
the staminate from the pistillate plants — i. e., by bud characters
while in a dormant condition. With care and experience one
can readily separate the two. The accompanying illustrations,
taken from typical specimens of the two forms, may serve as a

basis for the distinction.

Fig. 105 is from a pistillate I

plant, and in general ap- j j/SfflL

pearance it is more slender

and less densely clothed

with buds. The buds are

arranged in smaller and

less compact clusters, and

Fig. l(Xi. Spray of staminate buffalo-berry.

the buds themselves are more slender, longer in proportion to
their diameter than are the buds on Fig. 106, which is from a
staminate plant. Upon this the dense groups or clusters of the
round -ended buds will be noticed. A study of the plants in the
field will enable one to readily distinguish between them.

By observing these simple, yet apparent, characteristics in

410 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the packing-house or in the field at planting time, all the objec-
tions urged against the unproductiveness of the buffalo-berry
under cultivation would be overcome. It is a plant worthy
of attention for its ornamental nature, and yet more for its
valuable jelly-producing fruits. At present we have it only in
its native state, unimproved by cultivation, yet we find a red
and a yellow-fruited variety well enough marked in this one
character to deserve the title of a botanical variety. Nature
has here begun what the horticulturist only needs to assist,
— variation.

The Elderberry

The common elderberry is almost certain to become
the parent of a race of domestic fruit -bearing plants.
Something has already been done towards its improve-
ment, by introducing good variations from the wild.
Professor Budd writes as follows in "Rural Life,"
March 15, 1894: "An Improved Elderberry.— When
R. P. Speer was director of the Iowa Experiment
Station he planted out an improved variety of the
elderberry found near Cedar Falls. When loaded
with fruit last summer, a visitor from Sioux county
remarked, in passing the bushes :

' 'I never saw such sized berries and clusters of
elderberry. Where did it come from ? Why don't you
send it out ? On the northern prairies it will be valu-
able for pie making ! '

"This variety really shows that the elderberry is
capable of improvement by selection. It differs in
leaf, habit, capacity for annual loading with fruit, and
in the size of the berries and bunches. Last summer,
too, we came to the conclusion that it made better
pies than the common sort. To those who make fun
of the idea of eating elderberry pie, I will merely say:

ELDERBERRY

411

Pig. 107. Ford elderberry, very nearly natural size.

'Try it before condemning it. With a trace of cider
vinegar or lemon juice it is fully equal to the famous
huckleberry pie of our early days in the eastern
states.' "

"The elderberry (8fnnbnrus Canadensis) was intro-
duced independently in 1890 by Frank Ford & Son

412 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

(Fig. 107), and D. Brandt, Bremen, Ohio. The stock
introduced by the Fords was not named. Mr. Ford
writes that he 'did not . propagate it for sale, but dug
the roots from clumps that produced large fruit. We
sold very few plants, and shall not catalogue it again
until we can propagate stock from a few plants which
I know, and which produce berries nearly one-fourth
inch in diameter.' The stock introduced by Brandt
was called the Brain ard. It was first discovered
in a thicket, in Fairfield county, Ohio, by G. W.
Brainard."*

High -bush Cranberry (Viburnum Opulus)

The plant which, in the Old World, has given rise
to the garden snowball, also produces very acceptable
acid red berries. The plant is native to this country,
also, and in northern New England and other parts of
the northern states and Canada, the fruits are much
esteemed for sauces. The plant has been introduced to
the trade as a fruit-plant, but no varieties have re-
ceived names. Fig. 108 is a picture of a cluster of
fruit from a plant bought from a nurseryman as high-
bush cranberry.

The high -bush cranberry is variable in a wild state,
and it is also so unlike the European plant that bota-
nists have long been divided as to whether it should
not receive a separate name. For myself, I believe
that the plants of the two continents should be re-
garded as distinct species ; and in that case Philip
Miller's Viburnum Americanum (1768) should be the
name of the American plant. Michaux (1803) threw

*Annals Hort. 1891, 52.

HIGH -BUSH CRANBERRY

413

Fig. U

Viburnum Ojiulus. Nearly full size.

Viburnum Opulus into three groups or varieties, — V.
Opulus var. Europceanum, var. Pimina, and var. edule,
the two last being North American. Pursh (in 1814)
raised Michaux's variety Phnina into a species under
the name of \r. Oxycoccos, and liis variety edulc to
V. ediile. Of V. Oxycoccos he says: "Berries red, of
an agreeable acid, resembling that of Cranberries, Vac-

414 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

cinium tnacrocarpon , for which they are a very good
substitute." The plant grows on mountains of New
York and New Jersey. Viburnum edule grows along
the banks of rivers from "Canada to New York." He
describes it as "a smaller and more upright shrub than
the preceding species ; berries the same colour and size,
but, when completely ripe, more agreeable .to eat."

The Cranberry

The cranberry, the most unique of American horti-
cultural products, was first cultivated, or rescued from
mere wild bogs, about 1810. Its cultivation began to
attract attention about 1840, although the difficulties
connected with the growing of any new crop did not
begin to clear away until about 1850. Cape Cod was
the first cranberry- growing region, which was soon
followed by New Jersey, and later by Wisconsin and
other regions. The varieties now known are over a
hundred, all having been picked up in bogs, and the
annual product from tame bogs in the United States is
more than eight hundred thousand bushels.

The cranberry industry is so interesting that I
transcribe an article which I wrote on "Cape Cod
Cranberries," a few years since :*

The cranberry -growing sections of the country are few and
scattered. The Cape Cod district is the pioneer ground of cran-
berry culture, and it still undoubtedly holds first rank in general

*" American Garden," October, 1890. This paper called out an article on
cranberry growing in New Jersey, by John B. Smith, "Garden and Forest,"
November 5, 1890. The books specially devoted to the cranberry are : J. J.
White, "Cranberry Culture," 1st ed., 1870, 2nd ed., 1885 ; James Webb, "Cape
Cod Cranberries," 1886 ; B. Eastwood, "Complete Manual for the Cultivation of
the Cranberry," 1856 ; A. H. Richards, "The Cranberry and its Culture," 1870.

CAPE COD 415

reputation. The country in which these Cape Cod berries are
produced is a most peculiar and interesting one. In fact, it is a
surprise to anyone not intimately acquainted with it.

Let the reader lay before him a map of Massachusetts, and
locate Plymouth and Barnstable counties upon its eastern ex-
tremity. Upon the south, Buzzard's Bay thrusts itself between
the two counties, and all but cuts off the long and low hook which
stretches eastward and northward to Cape Cod. In provincial
parlance, the Cape Cod region includes all the peninsular part of
the state, beginning with the lower and eastward projection of
Plymouth county. The cranberry region extends from this
eastern part of Plymouth county eastward to the elbow of the
peninsula, or, perhaps, even farther.

Upon one of the upper arms of Buzzard's Bay the reader
may locate the old and quaint town of Wareham. Here the tides
flow over long marshes bordering the inlet, and rise along the
little river which flows lazily in from the Plymouth woods. Here
the sea-coast vegetation meets the thickets of alder and bay-
berry and sweet fern, with their dashes of wild roses and vibur-
nums. And in sheltered ponds the sweet water-lily grows with
rushes and pond-weeds in the most delightful abandon. In the
warm and sandy glades two kinds of dwarf oak grow in profusion,
bearing their multitude of acorns upon bushes scarcely as high
as one's head. The dwarf chestnut oak is often laden with its
pretty fruits when only two or three feet high, and it is one of
the prettiest shrubs in our eastern flora.

We drive northward over the winding and sandy roads into
the town of Carver, where the largest cranberry plantations are
located. We are now headed towards Plymouth, and our journey
lies in the "Plymouth woods." And here the surprises begin !
Do you look for fields of corn and grass, and snug New England
gardens, and quaint old houses whose genealogies run into centu-
ries? Yes, you are picturing an old and overworn country, from
which the impetuous youths have long ago fled to the new lands
of the West. But while we are busy with our expectations, we
are plunging into a wilderness!— not a second growth, half-
civilized forest, but a primitive waste of sand and pitch-pine and
oaks I The country has never been cleared, and it is not yet
settled! And in its wilder parts deer are still hunted, and

416 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

lesser game is frequent! And only fifty miles away is the bus-
tling hub of the universe!

This Cape Cod region is but a part of the sandy waste which
stretches southward and westward through Nantucket, along the
north shore of the Sound and throughout a large part of Long
Island ; and essentially the same formation is continued along the
Jersey seaboard. Similarities of soil and topography are always
well illustrated by the plants they produce. The 'pine barren'
flora of New Jersey reaches northward into the Cape country,
only losing some of its more southern types because of the
shorter and severer seasons. But more diligent herborizing will
no doubt reveal closer relationship between New Jersey and Cape
Cod than we now know. An instance in my own experience
illustrates this. The striped sedge (Carex striata var. brevis) is
recorded as a rare plant, growing in pine barrens from New Jer-
sey southward, and yet in these Plymouth woods, in the half
sandy marshes, I found it growing in profusion. Even eastern
Massachusetts is in need of botanical exploration! So the floras
run along this coast ; and it is not strange that Cape Cod and New
Jersey are both great cranberry-producing regions.

The country comprises an alternation of low, sandy eleva-
tions and small swamps in which the cassandra, or leather-leaf,
and other heath-like plants thrive. The pitch-pine makes open
and scattered forests, or in some parts oaks and birches and other
trees cover the better reaches. Fire has overrun the country in
many places, leaving wide and open stretches carpeted with bear-
berry (Arctostaphylos) and dwarf blueberries. There are no
fences, no improvements, except such improvised structures as
may be seen now and then about some isolated cranberry bog.
At one place we came suddenly upon a school house of perhaps
twelve by twenty, standing lonely and bare in the midst of a
scrub-oak wilderness, with not a house in sight. Clear and hand-
some little lakes are found in some parts of the wilderness, and
upon the banks of one we found a hermitage where a half-dozen
Boston men shut themselves off from the world in the summer
months. Everywhere one finds clear and winding brooks, abound-
ing in trout. And over all the open glades, the great-flowered
aster ( Aster spectabilis) is brilliant in the autumn sun.

It is in the occasional swamps in this sandy region that the

BLUEBERRIES AND CRANBERRIES 417

cranberry plantations, or "bogs," as they are called in Massa-
chusetts, are made. In their wild state these bogs look unprom-
ising enough, being choked with bushes and brakes. It has
required considerable courage to attack and subdue them. I am
filled with a constant wonder that the sandy plains are not also
utilized for the cultivation of blueberries. These fruits now
grow in abundance over large areas, and they are gathered for
market. It would only be necessary to enclose the areas, protect
them from fire, and remove the miscellaneous vegetation, to have
a civilized blueberry farm. Certainly cranberry and blueberry
farms should make an interesting and profitable combination.
The expense of growing the blueberries would be exceedingly
slight, and the crop would be off before cranberry picking
begins. With greater attention given to the crop, we should no
doubt soon find out why it is that the berries fail in certain years,
and it is possible that some control could be exercised. I have
often predicted that large areas of the great pine plains of
Michigan - which look much like the Massachusetts barrens —
will eventually be used for the growing of blueberries. To be
sure, wild berries are yet common, but they would not interfere
with the sale of better and cleaner berries which should come
from civilized plantations. Wild cranberries are still abundant
over thousands of acres, and the production of cultivated berries
is rapidly increasing ; yet the price has advanced from 50 cents
and $1 per bushel, with an uncertain market, 50 years ago, to
15 and 20 cents a quart. Wild blackberries are still abundant,
yet they do not interfere with the sale of cultivated sorts.

The largest cultivated bog in existence lies about six miles
north of Wareham, and is under the management of A. D. Make-
peace, one of the oldest and most experienced cranberry - growers
in the country. This bog is 160 acres in extent. Other bogs in
the vicinity belong to the same management. These bogs are all
as clean as the tidiest garden. The long and level stretches, like
a carpet strewn with white and crimson. beads, are a most pleasing
and novel sight. Here in early September a thousand pickers
camp about the swamps, some in temporary board cabins, but
most of them in tents. The manager furnishes the provisions,
which the campers cook for themselves, and he rents them the
tents. One hundred and twenty pickers constitute a "company,"

A A

418 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

which is placed in charge of an overseer, and each company has a
book-keeper. Each picker is assigned a strip about three feet
wide across the bog, and he is obliged to pick it clean as he goes.*
The pickers are paid by the measure, which is a broad six-
quart pail with ridges marking the quarts. Ten cents is paid
for a measure. There is wide variation in the quantity which a
picker will gather in a day, ranging all the way from ten measures
for a slow picker, to forty and even fifty for a rapid one ; and in
extra good picking, seventy -five measures have been secured.

Various devices have been contrived for facilitating cran-
berry picking. The Cape Cod growers like the Lumbert picker
best.f This is essentially a mouse-trap-like box with a front lid
raising by a spiral spring. The operator thrusts the picker for-
ward into the vines, closes the lid by bearing down with his
thumb, and then draws the implement backwards so as to pull off
the berries. Perhaps a fourth of the pickers use the implement.
Children are not strong enough to handle it continuously, and
where the crop is thin it possesses little advantage. Baking off the
berries is rarely practiced in the Cape Cod region. It is a rough
operation, and it tears the vfties badly. Late in fall, if picking has
been delayed and frost is expected or pickers are scarce, the rake
is sometimes used. An ordinary steel garden rake is employed.
The berries are raked off the vines, and the bog may then be flooded
and the berries are carried to the flume, where they are secured.

This picking time is a sort of a long and happy picnic— all
the happier for being a busy one. The pickers look forward to it
from year to year. They are invigorated by the change and the
novelty, and they must come near to nature in the sweet and
mellow October days. Those of our readers who have cast their
lot with hop-pickers, or who have camped in the clearings in
blackberry time, or who have joined the excursions to huckleberry
swamps, can know something of the cranberry picker's experi-
ences. Yet I fancy that one must actually pick the cran-
berries in the drowsy Indian summer to know fully what
cranberry -picking is like.

The berries must now be sorted or "screened." If there are
no unsound berries, the fruit can be fairly well cleaned by

*Fig. 90, tFig. 83(9), "Principles of Fruit-Growing."

CRANBERRY

419

running it through a fanning mill ; and some growers find it an
advantage to put all the berries through the mill before they go to
the hand screeners. A screen is a slatted tray about six feet long
and three and a - half wide at one end and tapering to about ten
inches at the other, with a side or border five or six inches high.*
The spaces in the bottom between the slats are about one -fourth
inch wide. The screen is set upon
saw-horses, and three women stand
upon a side and handle over the
berries, removing the poor ones and
the leaves and sticks, and worki
the good ones towards the
small and open end, where

Fig. 109.
Early Black.

they fall into a re-
ceptacle. The berries
are barreled directly if
they are not moist, but
if wet they are first
spread upon sheets of
canvas — old sails being
favorites — and allowed
to remain until thor-
oughly dry.

The cultivated cranberry is a native
of our northern states. It was first cul-
tivated about 1810, but its culture had
not become general until forty or fifty
years later. The berries naturally vary in size and shape and
color, and three general types, named in reference to their
forms, were early distinguished— the Bell, the Bugle and the
Cherry. These types are represented in Figs. 109 to 111, respec-
tively. As late as 1856 there appears to be no record of any partic-
ular named varieties aside from these general types. But there

*Shown in Fig. 105, « Principles of Fruit-Growing."

420 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

are many named sorts in cultivation now. These have been
multiplied from some superior or distinct plant which some-
one has observed and marked. Mr. Makepeace showed me seven
varieties in his largest bog.
The common favorite is
the Early Black, shown nat-
ural size in Fig. 109. This

is valuable because of its
earliness, as it comes in
three weeks ahead of the
medium sorts. Picking be-
gins upon this variety about
the first of September in the
Cape Cod bogs. When fully
ripe, the berries are purple-
black, and for this reason they are favorites with consumers,
for it is a common though erroneous notion that pale berries
are unripe. In late fall, the foliage of the Early Black assumes
a purplish tinge, which readily distinguishes it from most other
varieties.

The Dennis, a bugle berry (Fig. 110), is also a favorite
because of its good size, productiveness and bright scarlet color.
The fruit is picked late in September and early in October. The
foliage is darker than that of the Early Ked.

The McFarlin, an oval, dark red berry, is probably the
largest late berry grown.

The Gould (named for Dr. Gould, of Cape Cod) is a produc-
tive pear berry, of medium season, with a bright purple fruit and
light colored foliage.

Lewis is probably the most brilliantly colored of the cran-
berries. It is a very bright, glossy scarlet, medium in season,
and pear-like in shape.

Franklin is a comparatively new pear sort, as late as Dennis,

KINDS OP CRANBERRY

421

purple-red, with a high habit of growth. It appears to have
little to recommend it above older sorts.

A new berry which Mr. Makepeace showed me appears to
combine more merits than any berry which I have ever seen.
Some twelve years ago he observed the original plants in a
neighbor's bog, occupying a space about six feet square, and he
procured a few cuttings. The small bog which he now has of it
is well worth a journey to see. The berries are unusually large,
cherry -shaped, a little later than Early Black, and a bright rose-

Fig. 111. Makepeace.

purple. It is probably the largest early berry. It is shown
natural size in Fig. 111. I take pleasure in calling it the
Makepeace.

It is an arduous labor to subdue a wild bog. The bushes
and trees must be removed, roots and all, and it is usually nee-

422 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

essary to remove the upper foot or so of the surface in order to
get rid of the roots, bushes and undecayed accumulations. This
process is termed "turfing." The turf is commonly cut into
-small squares and hauled off. It is necessary to leave the surface
level and even, in order that all the plants may have an equal
chance and thereby make an even and continuous bed, and to
avoid inequalities in flooding. Although the cranberry thrives in
swamps and endures flooding at certain seasons, it nevertheless
demands comparative dryness during the growing and fruiting
season. The swamp must, therefore, be drained. Open ditches
are cut at intervals of four or five rods, about two feet deep, and
these lead into the main or flooding ditch. It is also often neces-
sary to run a ditch around the outside of the bog to catch the
wash from the banks. The areas enclosed within the intersections
of the ditches are called sections, and each section is commonly
planted to a single variety. The main ditch is usually a straight-
ened creek, or it carries the overflow from a reservoir which may
be built for the purpose of affording water to flood the bog.
Growers always divert a creek through the bog if possible. In
the Cape Cod districts these creeks are often clear trout brooks.
The main ditch is strongly dammed to allow of flooding.

Before planting is done, the bog is sanded. This operation
consists in covering the whole surface with about four inches of
clean and coarse sand, free from roots and weeds. The chief
object of sanding is to prevent too rapid growth and consequent
unproductiveness of vines. In wild bogs, the cranberry rarely
roots deeply in the muck, but subsists rather in the loose sphag-
num moss. Vines that grow in pure muck rarely produce well.

The sand also serves as a mulch to the muck, mitigating
extremes of drought and moisture. It also prevents the heaving
of the vines in winter, and it aids in subduing weeds. Every
four or five years after the bog begins to bear it is necessary to
re-sand it, in order to maintain productiveness. These subsequent
applications are light, however, seldom more than a half inch in
depth. The Cape Cod bogs are fortunate in their proximity to
the sand.

It was once the practice to plant cranberry vines in "sods,"
or clumps, just as they are dug from the swamps. There are
several vital objections to this operation, and it is now given

CRANBERRY CULTIVATION 423

up. It is expensive, the vines are apt to be old and stunted, an
even "stand" can rarely be secured, and many pernicious weeds
and bushes are introduced. Cuttings are now used exclusively.
These are made from vigorous runners, and are six or eight,
inches in length. They are thrust obliquely through the sand,
about an inch and a half or two inches of the tip being allowed
to project. They are set in early spring, about fourteen inches
apart each way. In two or three weeks they begin to grow, and
in three or four years a full crop is obtained. The subsequent
cultivation consists in keeping the bog clean. A small force is
employed during the summer months in pulling weeds. Under
ordinary conditions it costs from $300 to $500 per acre to fit and
plant a bog.

Opinions vary as to the best times and frequency of flood-
ing. There are those who contend that flooding is not necessary,
and it is a fact that there are some "dry bogs" which are suc-
cessful. It is no doubt true that the value of flooding varies
with conditions. It appears to be generally held that bogs are
longer lived and more productive if judiciously flooded, and it
is certainly true that flooding is often the very best remedy for
insect attacks. The reasons for flooding, so far as I know, are
five : ( 1 ) To protect the plants from heaving in the winter ;
(2) to avoid late spring and early fall frosts ; (3) to drown out
insects ; (4) to protect from drought ; (5) to guard against fire,
which sometimes works sad havoc in the muck. Mr. Makepeace
prefers to flood but once a year, unless insects appear in serious
numbers. He lets on the water in December and draws it off
in April or early in May. Just enough water is used to com-
pletely cover the vines in all parts of the bog.

There are many hindrances to cranberry-growing. The
chief are spring and fall frosts, hail, numerous insects and some
fungous diseases. During the summer season the bogs are not
flooded, and insects must be kept in check by insecticides.
Tobacco water is commonly used. The liquid is applied with
hand-pumps from the middle of May to late in June. It is
supposed that it has some value as a fertilizer also.

Fifty barrels per acre is a good crop of cranberries, yet 200
barrels have been produced. The grower usually gets from $5
to $10 per barrel of 100 quarts. It does not appear to be known

424 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

how long a well-handled bog will continue to be profitable, but
Mr. Makepeace assures me that he knows a bog thirty years
old which is still in good condition.

This cultivated cranberry is Vaccinium macrocarpon.
There are other edible species, but they are not culti-
vated. The cowberry, or mountain cranberry, Vaccin-
ium Vitis-Idcea, is gathered in great quantities in
Canada, where it is used for sauces (page 388). It is
also native to Europe, where it is also much prized as
a culinary fruit.

The Strawberry

Wild strawberries are among the commonest and
most esteemed of American fruits. They run into
many forms, into so many, in fact, that botanists
cannot agree as to what are varieties and what are
species. From the earliest times, the native straw-
berries have been transferred to gardens, and at one
time considerable progress had been made in their
amelioration. Of some of this early history in New
England, Stone writes as follows:*

It is well known that this fruit has been cultivated for cen-
turies in the Old World, but some misconception seems to exist
in regard to the date of the cultivation of the strawberry in New
England, as well as to its abundance in early times. In the last
report of the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, page 66, a
member stated that he could not find that the strawberry was
cultivated here in gardens previous to 1824. Dr. Timothy
Dwight, in his delightful volumes of "Travels in New England,"
published in 1821, though written earlier than 1817, gives a list
of five different varieties of strawberries, four of which he had
under cultivation in his garden. He mentions the following

*ti. E. Stone, "The Strawberry in New England," Garden and Forest, Feb.
26, 1896.

WILD STRAWBERRIES 425

varieties: The Red Meadow, White Meadow, Field, Hudson and
Hautboy. Dr. Dwight says: "The Meadow strawberry of this
country is the best fruit of the kind which I have seen. It is
rather larger than the Chili Sweet, and more prolific. It also
improves greatly by culture. I have seen several which were
four and a half inches in circumference, many which were four,
and bushels which were between three and four." And he futher
states: "I have cultivated the Wild Meadow strawberry more
than twenty years, and during that time it has increased to
twice its original size."

In regard to the Field strawberry, he says that it "is
sweeter, ten days earlier, but much smaller than the Meadow
strawberry, and has not increased in size by a cultivation of
eight years in my garden. The plants become immediately much
larger, but the fruit has not been changed at all." He also
mentions the Hautboy and Hudson varieties as having been in
cultivation for many years in his garden. The former variety is
a well-known European form; the latter is a form I am not
familiar with, although I suspect it to be an old cultivated
variety common in these days. These statements of Dr. Dwight,
who died in 1817, show that the strawberry was in cultivation in
New England before the beginning of this century.

He, moreover, states that the Hautboy strawberrry, Fragaria
elatior, has been found growing spontaneously in two distinct
and remote localities in Connecticut. This statement, if true,
would undoubtedly indicate that they were introduced through
the agency of birds.*

The White Meadow strawberry which he calls attention to
is a mere sport or variety of the ordinary Ked strawberry. It is
also mentioned by Dr. Dewey, in his "Plants of Massachusetts,"
1840, page 59, as occurring plentifully in the Berkshire Hills.

In regard to the abundance of the strawberry in early times,
there appears to be some misconception also. Every one is
aware that there are few places in Massachusetts where it would
be possible now for one to gather more than a few pints of
strawberries in a whole day. In early times, however, when
there was more virgin soil than there is to-day in New England,

*The native wild Fragaria vesea Cor F. Americana) was probably confounded
with the European Hautbois.— !„. II. I'..

426 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

the wild strawberry was very abundant, and frequently grew to
a much larger size than at present; and even within the recol-
lection of men now living, this fruit was by no means rare in
this state, neither is it in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
to-day. William Wood, an early visitor and accurate observer,
states in his "New England Prospect," published in 1635, that
"there is, likewise, growing all manner of Hearbes for meate
and medicin, and that not onely in planted Gardens, but in the
woods, without either the art or helpe of man. * * * There
is, likewise, Strawberies in abundance, verie large ones, some
being two inches about; one may gather halfe a bushell in afore-
noone " [p .386]. And in 1643 Eoger Williams wrote : " This berry
[Strawberry] is the wonder of all the fruits growing naturally
in those parts; it is of itself excellent, so that one of the
cheiftest doctors of England was wont to say that God could
have made, but never did, a better berry. * * * In some
parts, where the natives have planted, I have many times seen
as many as would fill a good ship within a few miles' compasse.
The Indians bruise them in a mottar and mixe them with meale
and make Strawberry bread." Strawberry bread appears to have
been in common use among the Indians, as we find it mentioned
by other writers, notably Gorkin, who was a co-worker with Eev.
John Eliot among the Nipmucks and other Massachusetts tribes.
These statements, with many others which could be cited, show
conclusively that the wild strawberry was once very abundant
here in New England, and undoubtedly the principal reason for
the decline of this wild fruit is the exhausted conditions of our
soil. In early times the clearing of an old wood gave rise to
abundance of these berries, and they were noted as being
abundant in our meadows. The strawberry, however, is not
the only natural crop that has changed. Many of our meadows,
which now produce a crop of grass hardly worth cutting, once
supported a luxuriant growth of the fowl meadow grass, "thick
and long, as high as a man's middle, some as high as the
shoulders, so that a good mower might cut three load a day."
To-day, however, hardly less should be expected, since for
generations crops have been removed from the soil without the
return of any plant-food, whereas in olden time, before the
advent of the white man, everything was allowed to decay

STRAWBERRY TYPES

427

where it fell, which meant a considerable yearly increase of
organic matter to the soil.

The advent of the Chilian strawberry in European
and American gardens, and its phenomenally rapid

Fig. 112. Common wild or Virginian strawberry.

amelioration, obscured the native species, however,
and the latter are now practically out of cultivation.
Now and then some evidence of native blood can be
seen in an early variety, but the influence of our

428 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

field strawberry in the improvement of the garden
varieties has evidently been very small.

A full discussion of this strawberry evolution is
made in Essay XXV., "Survival of the Unlike," and it
is, therefore, unnecessary to pursue the subject here.

/•

Fig. 113. Plant of the common wild strawberry, showing how
the runners form before the fruit is matured.

It may be said, however, that there are three leading
groups or types of strawberries native to North Amer-
ica,— the Scarlet or Virginian group, the Vesca or Old

VIRGINIAN OR SCARLET STRAWBERRY 429

World group, and the Chilian or Pacific group. All
these groups are perplexiugly variable.

The Virginian strawberry is the common field and
meadow strawberry of the eastern states. It has
received many names from botanists,
the oldest being Fragaria Virgin iana
of Duchesne (1766). Its features are
clearly depicted in Figs. 112, 113 and
114,— the bluntish- toothed, thickish
leaflets overtopping the flowers, the
small drooping -rayed fruit truss, and
the globular -pitted berry. On moun- Fig. 114. Fruit of
tains and along our northern borders ^^TJ^'
and in Canada, the plant becomes
squat, and this form was called Fragaria Canadensis
by Michaux. I have seen Michaux's specimens in his
herbarium at Paris (from Lake Mistassinica) , and they
look distinct enough from the field strawberry of lower
latitudes and altitudes ; but it is doubtful if it is worth
while to keep them apart as distinct species. William
R. Prince, the Long Island nurseryman, proposed two
large prairie forms of the strawberry as distinct spe-
cies in 1862 (Proc. Amer. Pom. Soc. viii. 206), naming
them Fragaria lowensis and F. Illinoensis. The latter
name has since been used for the larger-growing forms
of the species, as Frayaria Virghnatia var. lU'ni<n')txix.

The native strawberry of Europe is characterized by
thin, light green, and sharp-toothed leaflets, which are
overtopped by the flowers, by 'a small and weak truss,
and a more or less elongated berry with the seeds not
imbedded in the flesh. This type of strawberry is also
common in the northernmost states and Canada, and
throughout our mountain systems. There is some

430 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

doubt as to whether the American plant is closely
enough like the European to warrant one in calling it
the same species. Until very recent years it has been
known by the name of the European plant, Fragaria

Fig. 115. Fruit of
Fragaria America
Natural size.

Fig. 11C.
Fragaria Americana.

vesca, but Professor Porter now proposes to call it
Fragaria Americana. The Cordilleran form of it has
been known as Fragaria Mexicana. The characters of
the plant are well shown in Figs. 115 and 116. There
are white-fruited forms. Fragaria Americana has never
been ameliorated by the plant -breeder, and it has less

THE STRAWBERRIES

Fig. 117. Fragaria Chiloensis from Oregon, after having been grown one
year in New York. The runners form mostly after the fruit is gone.

promise than the other types of native strawberries.*

The Chilian strawberry (Fragaria Chiloensis), from
which the garden berries have come, is also native to
the Pacific coast region of North America ; and outly-

*Fragaria bracteata is a New Mexican species described by A. Heller since
this book went to press (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, xxv. 194). It is also reported
from Idaho. It is allied to F. Americana.

432 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

Fig. 118. Truss of Fragaria Chiloensis.

ing forms of this type are known as Fragaria Callfor-
nica and F. ylauca. Figs. 117 and 118 show some of
its characteristics,— the thick, blunt-toothed leaflets,
low fruit -clusters with sprawling -rayed trusses, and
conical -pitted berries. It is possible that useful
varieties may be obtained from this North American
Chiloensis group, although the garden progeny of its
South American branch is already so good that there is
little reason for returning to the wild for a new start.

VIII

VARIOUS TYPES OF TREE FRUITS

THERE are great numbers of trees in North America,
small and large, which produce edible fruit, some of
which must come to be 'the parents of important fruit-
bearing races. Of a few of these, something has
already been done towards domestication ; and the
most important of these may be mentioned.

The, Persimmon

We have already seen (page 172) that the wild
persimmons attracted the attention of the explorers
and colonists, by many of whom they were called
plums. Over a hundred years ago, experiments were
detailed for the utilization of this fruit in the making
of wine,* and the fruit is still employed in parts of
the South in the manufacture of domestic liquors.
Perhaps there is no native fruit which is more varia-
ble than the persimmon. It is not improbable that
more than one species is passing under the name of
Diositijros Viryiniana. This at once argues that the
persimmon is capable of rapid amelioration. Several
extra good forms have been transferred to cultiv.-it.'.l
grounds and have received names. Troop and Had-
ley's bulletin,! which is the best literature yet made

* Isaac Bartram, "A memoir on the distillation of persimmons." in Trans.
Amer. Phil. Soc. i. 301 (1789).

t "Tli.- American Persimmon," Bull. 60, Indiana Exp. Sta. (Apr. l«Mi).

BB (433)

434 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

on the subject, describes eight of these varieties,—
Shoto, Early Bearing, Golden Gem, Daniel Boone,
Hicks, Kansas, Sraeech, Early Golden. These writers
speak as follows of the prospective merits of the
species :

The native persimmon, or date plum, is one of our neglected
wild fruits which has heretofore received but little attention
from the fruit-growers of this country, although it possesses
many desirable qualities which, when brought to a higher state
of perfection by selection and cross-fertilization, will certainly
cause it to be more highly appreciated by all lovers of good
fruit. But little literature is to be found on the subject, and so
the general public is quite ignorant concerning its real merits.
The fruit is scarcely known except by those who live in sections
of the country where it grows wild, and even in these localities,
but little attention has been given to its cultivation.

From recent personal investigations, we have found the per-
simmon growing wild in many portions of the southern half of
this state, and producing, in some instances, a fruit of excellent
quality and in great abundance ; and yet so little attention is
given to it by the farmers in these localities that hundreds of
bushels of fruit are annually allowed to waste on the ground.
There are various reasons why this fruit has been hitherto
neglected. One is the exceedingly astringent or puckery prin-
ciple which the green fruit contains, and which remains with
most wild varieties until thoroughly ripe, some never losing it
entirely. Again, in most instances, where cultivation has been
attempted, suckers or seedlings have been used for planting,
and these generally die, or if they live, produce inferior fruit,
or prove to be sterile. Another discouraging feature was that it
required a long time for the trees to come into bearing. But a
new condition of things is being brought about, so that these
difficulties will soon be largely removed. New methods of propa-
gation and cultivation are being introduced in its culture, so
that now trees frequently begin bearing at from three to five
years from the bud or graft, and we believe that this fruit is
capable of being improved to such an extent as to make it
equal to that of some of the Japanese varieties.

THE PERSIMMON 435

Until recently there were no well defined varieties under
cultivation. We have found, however, many well-marked varie-
ties growing wild. They differ in quality as much as our culti-
vated apples. Some are very astringent, others are insipid and
worthless, while still others are sweet and delicious. Almost
every tree is a variety of itself, as the persimmon, like the
apple, does not reproduce itself from seed with certainty. In
the wild state it is sometimes found growing in clusters of ten
or a dozen trees, and all apparently of the same variety,
but these probably came from the roots of the original or parent
tree. The fruit differs in size from that of a small wild plum
to that of the large cultivated kinds, an inch and a -half to two
inches in diameter. They also vary greatly in form : some are
globular, others either conical or oblong, those of the globular
form predominating.

The persimmon is readily propagated from seeds, whicli
should be procured in the fall or early winter, and planted in
the same manner as peach pits. The young seedlings will often
attain a height of over two feet the first season. These seed-
lings, especially from cultivated varieties, cannot be depended
upon to reproduce themselves. In fact, this fruit varies greatly
in the wild state. Twenty trees raised from the seeds of one
parent tree may produce twenty distinct varieties ; we must
therefore resort to budding or grafting the young stocks with
buds or cions from the variety which we desire to propagate.
A desirable seedling variety may be multiplied by breaking up
the roots of the parent tree, thus causing it to throw up sprouts
or suckers. These, however, are difficult to transplant success-
fully, owing to a deficiency of root development.

The following extracts from a letter from Eli H.
Chandler, Marietta, Ga., show how variable the
persimmon is :

In northern Delaware some thirty years :igo were two trees
(the only ones in the neighborhood) whose fruit myself ami
brothers highly esteemed. Six miles from there was a grove of
persimmon trees equally desirable from a fruit standpoint, and I
knew of a very few isolated trees in Chester and Delaware
counties, Pennsylvania. On none of these trees was the fruit

436 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

ripe until after very heavy frosts, and we usually gathered it
after the first snow storm. The trees bore biennially, and were
at least eight to ten years old before they came into bearing.

In eastern Kansas ( Wyandotte and Bourbon counties, par-
ticularly), and generally in western Missouri, I have gathered an
abundance of good persimmons, always after heavy frosts. The
trees in that section bore at an earlier age than in the East, but
otherwise I could see no difference between the fruits of those
and the eastern trees, except that the eastern trees were on
uplands, and those in the West mostly on low lands.

Here, in Georgia, the conditions are different. The trees grow
everywhere, bear immense crops biennially, and ripen from Sep-
tember 1 to February 1 ; that is, we have trees whose fruits ripen
early, and others that are not fit to eat until after frost ; some not
good at all. I ate my first persimmons this season September 1,
and three weeks afterwards the fruit on that tree was all gone.
I had very fair persimmons January 15, from trees whose fruits
were unfit to eat December 15. I know of three small trees (in
a clump) some fifty miles from here, whose earliest fruits ripen
in October, and the latest can be kept until December 20. The
fruits are as large as a small Mandarin orange, three to five seeds,
sweet, melting and juicy, no pungency whatever, and comparable
in lusciousness with a ripe Seckel pear. I have hunted over hun-
dreds of square miles and examined thousands of persimmon
trees, but have never found the equal of these fruits for size, early
and continuous ripening and lusciousness, nor have I seen
anything anywhere to compare with them in size, and only one
tree whose fruits are as fine-flavored. I esteem them more
highly than the Japanese persimmon as it is produced here.
They are superior in every way except in size.

What' we call (in the family) the " premium tree" is growing
about three miles from here, and we have been making weekly
visits to it from early in October until late in December. The
fruit from this tree is about the size of a small black walnut,
deep yellow with a blush on the sunny side, a down or bloom
similar to some plums; sweet, juicy, rich, melting, with no pun-
gency, and mostly only three seeds.

Some trees here bear fruits no larger than a good -sized
cherry. On some the outer skin turns black when the fruit is

PERSIMMON AND KAKI

437

ripe; these are the last to ripen. Some are dry and sugary

when ripe, and many are always puckery. Saplings three feet

high are loaded with fruit, and the largest trees reach thirty feet.

The natives seem to care little for them ; even the negroes

Fig. 119. Shiino-Shiradzu, a kaki. Natural size.

scarcely eat them, but do make them into " 'simmon beer." I
have come in contact with natives in the mountains who did not
know they were fit to eat. I believe that a plantation of carefully
selected trees, properly cared for and marketed in the best
season, would be a paying investment.

The Japanese persimmon, or kaki, has been brought

438 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

to a high degree of perfection, the fruit being eaten
from the hand, in various culinary preparations, and
as a dried fig-like conserve. The kaki has been intro-
duced to this country, and is already establishing a
reputation in the better markets. This noble fruit has
called attention anew to the native persimmon, and
particularly so since the foreigner will not thrive
north of Washington, whereas the native will often
fruit as far north as Massachusetts. It is very prob-
able that the two species will hybridize, and that the
amalgamation will give something of distinct value.
But even if hybrids are not obtained, the native
species is capable of great direct improvement. Figs.
119 and 120 (from Georgeson, in "American Garden")
show two average varieties of the kaki ; and when
Figs. 121 and 122 are compared with them, it will be
seen that the chance for improvement is great.

The following sketch of the effect of cultivation
on the persimmon was contributed to "American
Garden" in 1892, by J. W. B., Queens county, N. Y.:

The native persimmon varies much in its habit of growth
and in its general characteristics, according to locality, nutrition
or exposure. In New Jersey and the north of Pennsylvania and
Ohio it is scarcely more than a tree -like shrub, while in the
bottom-lands of Virginia and the Carolinas it frequently rises to
a shapely tree forty feet high, covered with fruit which is dear
to the heart of every southern boy in spite of its intense astrin-
gency, which, in its green state, is like concentrated tannic acid.
This is gradually lost as the fruit ripens, giving place to a mild,
rich sweetness of pulp, which to some persons is very agreeable.
Still, the persimmon, in its wild state, is not a general favorite.
It is eaten in the South chiefly by the omnivorous small boy and
by the 'coon and 'possum. Sometimes, also, it is mashed into a
cake with cornmeal, and dried for the brewing of what is known
among the "crackers" of Carolina as "'simmon beer."

it

si

M

II

— 5

\

440 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

The capacity for improvement, however, of the American
persimmon by cultivation is beyond question. Fifteen years ago
I had some correspondence with the poet Bryant (whose zeal as
a cultivator, and whose interest in fruit-growing were almost as
great as his poetic enthusiasm) on the subject of the improve-
ment of our native fruits by high cultivation. Mr. Bryant often
insisted that the time would come when this would become one
of the popular and marketable fruits of the middle states. He
gathered specimens and varieties of the Diospyros Virginiana
from all parts of the South and West, and cultivated them most
carefully, and his pleasant old home at Roslyn will doubtless

Fig. 121. A wild persimmon. Natural size.

show to-day some relics of his ingenious care in the laying out
and arrangement of his experimental plantations.

Mr. Bryant decided, after many years of experiment with the
persimmon, that the finest and most vigorous varieties were those
grown in the alluvial meadows of southern Indiana; and he sent
me some specimens, from one of which, by high fertilization and
root -pruning, I have from year to year gathered fruit of greatly
improved size and flavor. I enclose a rude sketch (Fig. 122) of
one specimen of this year's fruit from one of the trees received
from Mr. Bryant. The smaller drawing (Fig. 121) shows the wild
fruit, which has received no special care, gathered from another
tree.

As I have already said, the astringency of the fruit is much
diminished by cultivation, while the flavor is improved; and, as

PERSIMMON.— ANON A 441

in the Japanese persimmon kaki, the pulp becomes more abun-
dant, and the seeds are reduced in number from five in the wild
state to two or even one, and often quite disappear, and the
fruit becomes absolutely seedless.

The persimmon is an ornamental tree, shapely and sym-

Fig. 122. Native persimmon, cultivated. Natural size.

metrical in form; its bark and leaves are distinctive, and its
wood is dense and heavy. It grows readily but slowly from
seeds, is a gross feeder, and with good cultivation and care, will
produce fruit in its sixth year. It is perfectly hardy as far
north as Hartford, Conn., and will bear fruit on Long Island
from year to year without interruption.

The Custard -Apple Tribe

In the tropics, the various custard -apples (anonas
and their kin) are much esteemed, and some of them
are grown in extreme southern Florida. We have
only one native species. This is the pond-apple of

442 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

southern Florida, known to botanists as Anona glabra
(or A. laurifo lia) . It is a small tree, sometimes
reaching the height of thirty or forty feet. It is a

Fig. 123. The Pond apple. Anona glabra.

striking tree as it grows about the borders of the
everglades, its roots lying under the water. A fruit is
shown natural size, in section, in Fig. 123. It is

PAWPAW . —THORN - APPLES 443

oblong -conical, three to five inches long and two or
three inches broad, light yellow and becoming brown-
blotched, with many large, transverse seeds. The
fruit is esteemed by the Indians, and it has been men-
tioned as worth}' of domestication, but although
aromatic it is insipid, and is not likely to attract
consumers. The fruit ripens in November.

Of the asiminas, or so-called pawpaws, — which
are also anonaceous plants, — there are several species
in the United States. One of these, the northern
pawpaw (AsimiiM triloba) bears large and comestible
fruits, although most people do not relish the flavor.
Typical fruits are shown in Fig. 124. One or two
named varieties have been offered for sale. The plant
is eminently worthy of cultivation for its ornamental
qualities, but it is doubtful if we are to expect much
interest to be awakened in its fruit.

The Thorn -Apples

The genus crataegus is very closely allied to the
apples and pears, and it is rich in American species.
Several of these thorn-apples produce fruit of great
beauty, and some of the fruits are pulpy and edible,
and are esteemed in various localities. As long ago
as 1838, the Downings wrote of one of these thorns
as follows:* "Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati, one of
the most distinguished horticulturists of the West,
writes us, in a recent communication, that he dis-
covered, in the interior of Ohio twenty -five years
ago, a variety of haw, with fruit the size of a crab-
apple, having a delicious flavor. He has lately re-

*Hovey'» Mag. Hort. 1838. 46.

NATIVE NUTS 445

discovered it, and has kindly promised to forward us
some grafts. Should it prove as fine as he anticipates,
it will be quite an addition to our fruits, as it is
probably very beautiful in appearance."

None of these native thorns has been widely ad-
vertised or sold except Cratcegus cordata, the Wash-
ington thorn (Fig. 125), and this is known for hedges
and ornament rather than for fruit. It is native in
Kentucky and southern Illinois and southward, but
is hardy in central New York. It has long been
known in Europe. It is a beautiful tree, sometimes
reaching a height of thirty feet, and bearing freely of
bright red apple -like and pleasant -tasted fruits.

The Nut -Fruits

North America is peculiarly rich in its nuts. The
reader will recall the chestnuts, many kinds of hicko-
ries, walnuts, butternut, hazels, beechnut, nut pines,
and sweet acorns. Of all these types, only one species
has yet reached great commercial importance. This is
the pecan, which is a sepcies of hickory. The second
place in the progress of ameliorated native nuts is
taken by the chestnut. Beyond these, there are
no species which have attained to general importance
in cultivation, although there are several named varie-
ties of the shellbark hickories and the black .walnut.
The interest in this class of fruits is great, however ;
in fact, it is probably givatcr than the commercial
importance of the subject warrants, for nuts are very
secondary articles of commerce and, not being per-
ishable, they can be dripped jmy distance, or even
kept from year to year. The excellent special litera-

LITERATURE ON NUTS 447

ture on the subject obviates any necessity of discuss-
ing the subject in detail in this place. The reader
should consult Fuller's "Nut Culturist," and the ex-
haustive quarto report .by the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture on "Nut Culture in the United
States." For chestnuts, the reader may also consult
Buckhout, "Chestnut Culture for Profit," Bull. 36,
Pennsylvania Experiment Station ; and, for a sketch
of the botan}7 of the subject, Sargent's great "Silva"
(which discusses the other nut trees also), and Bailey
in "American Garden," May, 1891.

IX .

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE IMPROVEMENT
OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS*

HAVING thus seen what has actually been accom-
plished in the amelioration of fruits which are native
to this country, we may now take a general survey of
the status of the subject and of the means by which
the evolution has been accomplished.

The chief reason for supposing that the native
fruits should be domesticated seems to be the most
obvious fact that they have merit in themselves ; and
yet, paradoxical as it may seem, I imagine that this
is not sufficient reason to recommend their ameliora-
tion. It is not the thing which is intrinsically the
best which necessarily deserves the most attention,
but the thing which is most needed. We shall find
our most helpful suggestions from a reflection on what
has been accomplished and how it has been done,
rather than from a mere objective study of the kinds
of our wild fruits. I propose, therefore, to divide this
essay into two parts,— what has been done, and
what probably should be done.

What Has Been Done

The most obvious truth which strikes one when he
attempts to make a reflective or historical study of

* Reprint, with minor modifications, of a paper contributed by the author
to the Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture for 1896.

(448)

WHAT FRUITS ARE AMELIORATED 449

the improvement of our native fruits, is the fact that
in nearly every case the amelioration has come from
the force of circumstances and not from the choice or
design of men. Let me be specific. The colonists —
in common with other good people — knew and loved
wine. The beverage has been a hand to hand — or
more truthfully a hand to mouth — companion of the
human family from the first. The attempt was there-
fore early and heroically made to grow the European
or wine grape in eastern America ; but the attempt
failed. In sheer distress of failure, the grape -grower
was driven to the use of the native grape. How
literally true this was the reader may learn by read-
ing the history of the grape colony of the Dufours in
Kentucky and then in Indiana late in the last century
and early in this, and noting the fact that the exist-
ence of the colony, as such, depended upon the success
of the wine. The salvation of the colony was the Alex-
ander or Cape grape, which, in a most surreptitious
way, had transferred itself from the wild into planta-
tions which were at first designed to grow the Euro-
pean varieties ; and later on, John Adi urn's famous
Catawba, a product of the Carolina highlands, added
the crowning glory and success to the experiment,
and thence spread itself along the Ohio and over
the Union. And yet, while the Alexander and the
Catawba were driving out the Old World types, the
grape -growers were at the very time making a most
determined opposition to native grapes. The fact is
that the native grapes — the types which we now culti-
vate— came into domestication in spite of us.

The native plums— of which two hundred or moro
horticultural varieties are now described — came into

cc

450 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

domestication because the Old World plums, with which
we are chiefly familiar in the northeastern states, will
not thrive in the prairie states and the South. The
cultivated native plums had been widely disseminated
'before horticultural annalists discovered the fact; and
there is no evidence that the early introducers of them
had any suspicion that they were making history when
they planted them. These plums were, no doubt,
looked upon as a makeshift in a new country, — as a
fruit which was better than none when good ones
could not be had.

The reason why the native raspberries came into
cultivation was because the European species is tender
in our climate, and demands too much care and pet-
ting. The native types of gooseberries drove out the
foreign ones because the latter are injuriously infested
with the mildew. The native crabs are now demand-
ing attention where the climate is so severe that the
cultivated apple cannot thrive. The wild red mul-
berry has been improved because the Old World black
mulberry is tender, and we have been so ignorant of
the fact that we have all along supposed that these
natives are forms of the Old World species. The
Chilian strawberry—the foundation stock of our
commercial varieties— brought itself into domestication
while men were bent upon impressing the Virginian
berry into service ; and most of our writers still insist
upon calling the common garden strawberries descend-
ants of the latter species, so ignorant are they of
the true course of the evolution.

The obverse of this picture is likewise instructive
in showing how difficult it is to introduce and to
improve fruits which are not forced upon us. For a

WHY SOME FRUITS ARE IMPROVED 451

century and more, the native nuts have attracted the
attention of economic writers. Their merits for food
have been praised without stint for years. Two excel-
lent books have been written about them. Yet they
have made very little progress towards amelioration.
The simple reason is that we have not been pressed
by any necessity to grow them. No nuts are" staple
articles of food among the peoples who have chiefly
settled the United States. They are essentially sub-
sidiary and incidental features in our lives. So,
while we all like hickory nuts and walnuts and the
like, we are nevertheless not impelled by any over-
mastering necessity to gather the trees into the garden
or the orchard. We associate them more with the
woods and the landscape and the outings, than we do
with the kitchen and the larder. They have no con-
spicuous places in our heritage of customs and asso-
ciations, as the apples and grapes and berries have.

Much the same observation can be made respect-
ing the native huckleberries, fruits which have been
recommended time and again as proper subjects for
amelioration, and yet practically nothing has been
done towards their improvement. The chief reason
of this neglect is, it seems to me, that the imperative
needs which the huckleberries may be supposed to
satisfy, are already supplied in large measure by other
berry -like fruits.

There are apparent exceptions to all this in the
cranberry and blackberry, for neither of these fruits
had ever been an important food for the human race.
Yet the very abundance of these fruits, and their
adaptability to the common needs of life, forced them
upon the attention of the settlers and colonists, who

452 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

were often pressed for food. It was but natural that,
as the wild areas of the fruits became restricted, at-
tempts should have been made to grow the plants.

The minor small fruits which have recently come
into notice from the West have been impressed into
domestication chiefly because of the comparative
scarcity of domestic fruits in the regions from whence
they come. Some of these are the buffalo -berry, the
dwarf juneberry, the Crandall currant type, and the
dwarf cherries and dwarf plums.

Whereas the fact has been that the reigning types
of improved native fruits have come into cultivation
largely as a result of the force of conditions rather
than as a direct or designed choice on the part of
men, it nevertheless does not follow that intelligent
choice of species has not played an important part in
the evolution, and that it may not count for much
more in the years to come. Yet the student should
bear in mind the fact that all the most needful types
of native fruits have now been impressed into cultiva-
tion, and that those which yet remain in an almost
wholly untutored condition, — as many of the nuts,
the elderberries, the asimina, and others — will come
into cultivation, if at all, only through the expendi-
ture of great effort to make their merits and possi-
bilities known. From now on, the attempt to intro-
duce new types of native fruits must be, broadly
speaking, a forced effort. But if this is true, it does
not follow that our efforts at amelioration should
cease, but rather that the most promising and the
most useful expenditure of energy is to be found in
still further improving the species which are already
thoroughly established in cultivation, for none of

HOW THE VARIETIES HAVE COME 453

these types are yet — and, in fact, never will be —
brought to that condition when they may be said to
be good enough. This conclusion, while apparently
the only logical one, does not seem to have been
reached by writers on the improvement of our na-
tive fruits. The tendency of writers has always
been, unfortunately, to press the importance of un-
developed species, forgetting that the really impor-
tant things are the ones which we already have, and
all of which are far from perfect. The whole ques-
tion, then, is simply that of the best methods of im-
proving fruits, without respect to their nativities.

Having now seen that new types of plants are
impressed into cultivation largely because they are
needed, and in an undesigned or almost fortuitous
way, let us ask how these particular domestic fruits
which are native to North America have been ame-
liorated. The process has been a most simple one:
attractive varieties, or forms, have been found and
men have transferred them to the garden. This, in
essence, has been the method of the amelioration of
most domestic plants. It is first a discovery of a good
form, and then the perpetuation of it. What has
been called plant -breeding is mostly discovery; or, in
other words, so far as the cultivator is concerned, it is
accident.* In one place, an attractive wild blackberry

* These remarks concerning the accidental origin of varieties call out the
following significant comment from Frank T. Swett, Contra Costa couuty,
California : " While chance seedlings spring up in fence corners and similar
places in countries where there are summer rains, it is H rare occurrence in
arid regions. This was brought to my notice forcibly this spring. In May
and June our vineyard was filled with tens of thousands of little grape seed-
lings, an inch or two high. They never grew much higher, and by July they
had all perished. It is the same in our orchards. The five months of drought
are too much for any seedling fruit, unless it is irrigated. As similar condi-
tions of summer drought are prevalent over Arizona, New Mexico, and parti
of Texas, it is hardly probable that many chance seedling varieties will origi-
nate within those limits."

454 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

is found. The bush is taken to the garden and it is
called — after the name of the town — the Dorchester.
In another place, another form is discovered, and this,
when transplanted, becomes known as the Lawton or
New Rochelle. Another form is found on a prairie,
and is called Western Triumph. Now and then one
comes up about an old plantation, and is similarly
cared for ; and rarely a man sows seeds and picks out
a good variety from the seedlings ; and very rarely a
man keeps a record of the parentage of the seed he
sows ; and very, very rarely one makes crosses and
sows the seeds therefrom.

But while the new varieties are mostly discoveries,
it does not follow that there is no skill represented in
these novelties. The skill is shown in the recognition
of a good thing, in giving the plants the very best of
care when once they have been transferred to the
garden ; and the force of this domestication is likely
to express itself in better or more tractable offspring
in each generation. The tendency towards better-
ment is constantly augmented by the habitual selec-
tion of the best new forms. The tendency could be
much more rapidly hastened if, in addition to select-
ing the best seedlings which chance to appear, the
operator should also select the seeds from the best
plants with which to raise the seedlings.

The reader may now want a specific account of
just how a few prominent varieties of native fruits
have originated. The old Cape or Alexander grape,
which first introduced a successful viticulture into
eastern America, was found wild in the woods in
Pennsylvania, as we have seen. The Catawba, which
is still a popular commercial variety, was found in

ORIGIN OP GRAPES 455

the woods in South Carolina in 1802. There are, no
doubt, as good forms of the native fox -grape in the
woods now as there were then, but we have now ob-
tained a start in grape -growing, and we are no longer
looking to the wild for our varieties. The fox -grape
is known to be widely variable in its wild state, and I
have this year obtained no less than half a dozen types
of large and handsome wild fruits of it, varying from
deep purple to amber -red. The Concord was a
chance seedling in a Massachusetts garden, and it is
supposed to have sprung from the wild fox -grape of
the neighborhood. The Worden was raised from a
seed of the Concord. The Delaware was found in the
garden of a Frenchman in New Jersey, about fifty
years ago, but its genesis is wholly unknown. It is
probably a product of an accidental cross between the
European grape — which the Frenchman cultivated —
and some variety of native grape. The Brighton is
the product of a hand cross between the Concord
and the Diana-Hamburg (the latter itself a hybrid)
by Jacob Moore, then of Brighton, N. Y. The Diana,
which was a prominent variety for many years,
was grown from a Catawba seed in Milton, Mass.
Moore's Early was grown from a seed of the Concord.
The Clinton came up where a handful of grape seed
was sown at Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., and
the old vine, now about seventy-five years old, is still
growing on College Hill. The Norton's Virginia was
found wild in 1835, near Richmond, Va. The Isabella
was brought into the North early in the century. Its
origin is wholly unknown, and has been the subject of
much speculation. The botanical evidence shows that
it is probably a native form of the fox -grape. All

456 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS

these specific illustrations of the origins of varieties
are fairly typical for all native fruits. Most of the
forms are random or chance discoveries, and they show
that the natural tendency towards progressive variation
in the indigenous fruit -species must be great, else the
domesticated forms could not have reached their present
state. If so much has been done by mere chance, — so
far as the horticulturist is concerned, — there is certainly
reason for believing that the rewards of plant -breeding
must some day be great.

What Probably Should be Done

What has been done need not be done over again.
That is, the best results at the amelioration of any
species are to be expected by working with the highly
improved forms rather than with the original wild
stock. The quickest response to the plant -breeder is
to be expected in those species which are already most
ameliorated, and it is in these species, also, that the
greatest efforts are needed, because they are the species
which have the most useful qualities for man. One
cannot specify how the native fruits may be improved
without going into the whole subject of the ameliora-
tion of plants (a discussion of which I have already
made in my « Plant- Breeding" ); but it may be use-
ful to designate some of the things which seem to
need to be done.

In the first place, we need more varieties of every
native fruit now cultivated— of grapes, raspberries,
plums, cranberries, and the others. This is because
new needs are always arising and the fruits are being
grown in new regions, and new varieties are needed

WHAT WE NEED 457

to adapt the species to these new wants. Those per-
sons who are looking for the coming of the perfect,
all -round variety, are behind the time, and are con-
stantly getting farther behind, for it is more and
more impossible to combine all the varied and contra-
dictory specific desires of men into one plant form.
There must be a best variety for every particular use
and locality and soil. The cosmopolitan variety must
become more and more restricted in range and useful-
ness as time goes on, and as more refined and specific
needs arise. People are always saying that we already
have too many varieties and the effort is always mak-
ing to reduce the number. Even the experimenters
in the stations usually conceive it to be a part of
their duty to endeavor to reduce the number of varie-
ties, but what they are really doing — or might be
doing — is determining the merits of varieties for
specific uses. If a given variety does not satisfy
the ideal of the experimenter, that fact is no proof
that it may not satisfy the ideal of some one else,
or that it may not be a positive acquisition in some
other place or for some other purpose. We shall
always need to test varieties, to be sure, and the
testing must be more exact and personal the more
critical we become in our demands. It is out of the
many new varieties that we shall find the particular
ones which we ourselves desire.

In the second place, we need a greater range of
variation, — more divergent and widely unlike varieties.
These can be had by selecting out of the annually
recurring batches of new varieties those which are
widest unlike the existing types, providing, of course,
they are worthy to be perpetuated. But they can be

458 THE EVOLUTION OP OUE NATIVE FRUITS

most surely obtained by raising seedlings from the
most unlike types, and by the crossing of various
types.

In the third place, we need to secure more inci-
dental or minor strains of the most popular and
cosmopolitan varieties. The Concord grape, for ex-
ample, is a most virile and useful type, and minor
varieties of it — even if they were still called Concord —
might adapt the variety more completely to some par-
ticular purpose or locality. In many districts, for
example, a Concord a week earlier or a week later
than the standard variety, might be more useful than
a variety wholly new in kind. I introduce this class
of facts to show that, while we need more varied types
in our native fruits, we also need to increase the use-
fulness of regnant types by inducing secondary vari-
ations in them. There are two means of securing
these minor variations. The surest means is to take
cuttings or buds from those particular plants in our
plantation which most nearly fit our purposes. In
almost every large Concord vineyard, for example,
there are some vines which are earlier or later, more
or less productive, or otherwise different from the
type. In many cases, the cuttings will perpetuate
these differences . The second means of securing these
incidental forms is by crossing between plants of the
same variety. I am convinced that this type of plant-
breeding is, in general, quite as useful as that of
crossing unlike varieties ; and after a wide range of
variation has been secured and when men's ideals
have become critical through education and business
competition, it will be the more promising field.

In the fourth place, it should be said that the

ELEMENTS OF A WISE CHOICE 459

greatest effort should be made to preserve or to
intensify those desirable attributes which are charac-
teristics of the wild species. Such attributes are
likely to be more virile and permanent than similar
ones which originate under domestication, because they
have been impressed upon the species for a longer
period of time. The intending plant -breeder can save
himself much time and strength by throwing his
efforts into line with the direction of evolution of
the species rather than against it. He cannot afford
even to be indifferent to the natural capabilities of
the type. For example, other things being equal, the
domesticator will generally have better results in breed-
ing plants for a dry region by selecting those types
which naturally grow in such regions. The adapting
of the grape to limestone soils can no doubt be
quicker accomplished by endeavoring to breed up
acceptable varieties from Vitis Berlandieri, which
thrives in these lands, than by attempting to over-
come the pronounced antipathies of the Vitis Labrusca
types to such soils. The first attempt, in impressing
new fruit -species into cultivation, should be to secure
a type which will thrive in the given region ; the pro-
duction of ameliorated varieties is a secondary and
usually much simpler matter. The first consideration
in breeding plums for the dry plains regions, for
example, is to secure a type which will endure the
climate, — the long droughts, the severe winters, the
hot summers. This fundamental desideratum may be
expected to be found in the indigenous plums, rather
than in the domesticated types. This is saying that
one of the most promising lines of effort in the im-
provement of the native fruits is to work with the

460 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS

species which are indigenous to the locality, if they
possess coveted features and if they are naturally
variable.

All this means, what I have already said, that
there should be a general improvement all along the
line in our native fruits, the same as there should be
in any other fruits ; and the greatest improvement
is needed in those very types which are already most
improved. In other words, we need more to augment
the amelioration of types already domesticated, than
we do to introduce wholly new types, although this
latter enterprise is also of great importance. The
new types may be expected to come into use as the
demand for them arises, and they will come in
gradually, and obscurely at first, as the other types
have come.

The grape, in my estimation, needs the first and
the greatest attention. The types which we grow are
yet much inferior to the Old World types. Our com-
mercial varieties — as the Concord, Worden, Catawba,
Niagara, Norton's Virginia — are generalized types,
and the market is now overrun with general -purpose
grapes. We shall soon be driven into specializations
in grapes, as people have been in older countries, and
special varieties will then be needed. Aside from
the further improvement of the domesticated native
species, we are now being driven— by the settlement
of the South and West— to the improvement of other
species, like Vitis Linsecomii, Vitis Champini, and the
like. The second greatest need is in the development
of our native plum flora ; the third is in the further
evolution of the brambles, as the raspberries, black-
berries and dewberries; the fourth is in the amalga-

SUMMARY 461

mation of the western crabs with the domestic apples,
for the plains and the northwest. Beyond these four
emphatic needs, I think that there are none which
stand out clearly and unmistakably above all others,
although there are a score of native fruit -types which
are crying for attention. Among them may be men-
tioned the chestnuts, pecans, gooseberries, currants,
cranberries, huckleberries, juneberries, cherries, mul-
berries, elderberries, and all the tribes of hickory nuts
and walnuts.

The stimulus, or raison d'etre, of the improvement
of native fruits will be the increasing demands made
by a complex civilization ; and the actual work of
improvement will be done by a few patient souls
whose love of the work far outruns desire for
applause and for pecuniary reward.

INDEX

PAGE

Acorns 445

Adams, B. F 337, 338

— H.C 337

— Prest 60

Adlum, John.... 43, 49, 50,57, 61, 96, 449

- book by 118 j

Adlumia 51

Affleck, Thos 65 |

Alton, on prunus 184, 185 |

— on rubiis 366, 367

Alaska, berries in 388

Albaugh, B. F 332, 334

Albertson & Hobbs 177

Alexander, Mr 43

Allen, John Fisk 70

-J.F.,bookby 118

-L.F 286

— Walter B 392

Amatis, Mr 138

Ainelanchier alnifolia 406

— Botryapium 406

— oblongifolia 406

Americana plums 182

Ammen, Father 96

Andrae, E. H., book by 118

Anona glabra 442

- laurifolia 442

Anonas 441

Antill, Edward 16

Apples, native 249, 450, 461

Arctostaphylos alpina 389

Asimina triloba 443,444

Aster spectabilis 416

Aughinbaugh dewberry 354

Austin, C. F 288

_ J. W 345

— dewberry 344

Bailey. L. H., books by 118

quoted 203.221,222.447

— & Hanford.... ....350

PAGE
Bake-apple berry ............... 365, 387

Balch, D.M ......................... 50

Barber, Mrs. C ...................... 60

Barry, quoted ....................... 392

Bartel, Dr .................. 335,339,350

- dewberry .................... 335, 346

Bartles, T. C .................... 336, 339

Bartram, Isaac ...................... 433

— Moses, on silk worm ............. 141

— William ....................... 5,8,46

Bassett, Wm. F ..................... 214

Bassler, Thomas .................... 207

Batt, quoted ........................ 7

Bauer's nursery .................... 352

Beach, Solomon ..................... 56

-S.A .............................. 396

— plums ............................ 214

Bear berries ........................ 389

Beardslee, Mr ....................... 323

Bechtel's crab ...................... 261

Beck, Professor ..................... 367

Beech nut ........................... 445

Berckmans, P. J ................ 165, 213

Berkeley, William .................. 134

Berries, various ..................... 386

Bessey, quoted ......... 226, 235, 239, 242

Beverley, Robert, qnoted..5, 6, 11, 12, 134
Bigelow, on rubus .................. 360

Bilberries ........................... 387

Blackberries, synopsis of ........... 377

Blackberry history ................. 298

— mentioned ............... 451, 453, 461

Blackcap ............................ 289

Blackman, Dr ....................... 202

Black-rot ...................... 88,90.95

Blueberries ................. 387.389,416

Bogen, Mr ........................... 65

Bolzius, John Martin ............... 137

Bonoeil, silk-raising ................. 128

Books on grapes .................... 1J8

(463)

464

INDEX

PAGE

Books on mulberries 155

Bordeaux mixture 96

Bostwick, Wm 68

Bradford, mentioned 170

Brainard, G. W 412

Brandt. D 412

Bright, William, book by 118

Brighton grape 71, 455

Brinckle.Wm. D 283,284

Britton, quoted 103, 323, 352, 367

Brockett, quoted 141, 149

Brown, Robert 250

Broyles, M. W 348

Bryant, William Cullen 440

Buchanan, Rob't 47. C3, 65, 86, 96

book by 119

Buckhout on Chestnuts 447

Budd, Professor 241, 264, 410

Buffalo-berry 406,452

— currant 401

Buist, Robert 283,284

Bull, E.W 72,73

-grape 98

Bullace grape 98

Bullit grape 98

Bunch berries 389

Bundy, Jos 179

Burbank, Luther 216, 217

Bush & Son & Meissner 92

book by 119

Busby, Jas.. book by 119

Butternuts 445

California, grapes in 87, 89

Cape Cod cranberries 414

Cape grape 40, 42, 61

Card, F. W 228,230,283,

291, 294, 298, 326, 346, 351, 371, 389

Carat striata 416

Carman, E. S 326

Carolina, silk in 134

Carroll, of Carrollton 23

Cartier, Jacques 170

Catawba 50,455

Cerasus borealis 193

Chamisso & Schlechtendal 352

Chandler, E. H 435

Charlton, Wm., books by 119, 120

Cherries, dwarf 233

— mentioned 171, 174, 452, 461

PAGE

Cherries, native 226

Chestnuts discussed 445

-mentioned 170,445,461

Chickasaw plums 191

Childs, John Lewis 326

Chilian strawberry 427

China, mulberries in 128

Choke cherry 227, 228, 230

Churchill, J. R 323

Cider from crabs 259

Cincinnati, horticulture in. . . .63, 65, 86

Cist, quoted 63, 95

Clapp, Aaron, book by 155

Clark, Mrs. Charity 202

Clarke, John, bpok by 155

Cliniate on plums 199

Clinton grape 77, 102, 455

Cloudberry 364,387

Clusius, quoted 210, 211

Cobb, Jonathan H 143, 144, 149

book by 155

Cole, quoted 392

Collins, John S 314

Compass cherry 244

Comstock, F. G., book by 156

Concord grape 72, 455, 457, 458

Congress on silk raising .... 142 et seq.

Connecticut, silk in 138 et seq.

Cook, Dewain 341, 343

Cope. F. J 120

Corbett, Professor 407

Corneau, J. A 65

Cornell, Wm. T 68

Cornus Cauadensis 389

— Suecica 389

Crab-apples 249, 450, 461

Craig, quoted 230

Cranberry, high-bush 412

- mentioned 70, 388, 451, 4G1

-sketch of 414

Crandall, R. W 401

— currant 401, 452

Cratsegus cordata 445, 446

Crehore, Mrs. Diana 70

Crowberries 388

Crozier, quoted 283

Curlew-berries 387

Currants in Massachusetts 13

— mentioned 170, 387, 388, 461

INDEX

465

PAGE

Currant, sketch of 399 j

Custard-apple 441

Cynthiana grape 80

Cutter. Eliz.H 120

Damsons 174

Date plum 434

Davis, Chas. A 185

Davy, General 55

Dawson, Jackson 233

Deane, Walter 323

De Berneaud, book by 120

De Caradeuc, A 212

De Hazzi 143, 157

Delauriere, Mrs 262

Delaware grape 71

De Lyon, Abraham 14

Dennis, Jonathan, book by 156

Denniston, G., book by.. 120

Dent, Mrs. H 60

Desfontaine 255

Dewberries, sketch of 330

— synopsis of 371

Dewberry, mentioned. . .70, 388, 389, 461
Dewey, Dr 425

— D. M .....349,350

— LysterH 207

Diamond grape 71

Diana grape 70, 455

Dieck, mentioned 244

Diospyros Virginiana 433, 440

Dodd, William '. 175

Doolittle, H. H 282

Dore, Andrew 16

Douglas, on pyrus 250

Douglas, on rubus 354

Downer, J. S 176, 177

Downing, Charles 168, 285, 300, 390,

392, 393, 394, 443

— mulberry 168

Downing V Fruits and Fruit Trees,"

164, 165, 175. 212, 263

Drake, quoted 130

Du Breuil, book by 120

Dufonr family 23. 440

— John James 21 et seq.. 93, 96

book by 120

Dufonr's first experiment 21

— second experiment 33

Duponcean, book by 158

PAGE

Dwarf cherries 233

D wight, Timothy 424

Eastwood, book by 414

Eckelberger, Thos 49

Ehrhart, quoted 210

Eisen, Gustav, book by 121

Elderberry, mentioned 389, 410, 461

Eley, Charles N 213

Eliot, Jared 138, 139, 140

— John 426

Elkins, Thomas 165

Elliott, F. R 65

Empetrum nigrum 388

Engelman, Dr 83

— quoted 104

Ennis & Patten 181

Evans, W. H 388

Everbearing raspberry 279

Fay, Lincoln 73

Ferrar, John 132

Fessenden, T. G., book by 156

Filberts 170

Fisher, book by 121

Fitch, Dr. Asa 91

Fitze, C. G 213

Flagg, Wm. J., book by 121

Florida, grapes in 3, 8

Ford & Son 401, 411

Fox, the name 5

Fox-grape, 98. See, also, Vitis La-

brusca.
Fragaria Americana 425. 430, 431

— braeteala 431

— California 432

— Canadensis 429

- Chiloensis 389, 431, 432

— elatior 425

-glauca 432

-lllinoensis 420

-lowensis 420

-Mexicana 4HO

-vescs 425.430

- Virginiana 420

Fugger. Mr 69

Fuller. A. S 04.238.286.287.

288, 295, 302, 314. 321, 447

book by I'Jl

-G.W 343

Gale.E 222

DD

466

INDEX

PAGE
94

232

Galloway, B. T

Gattinger, Dr

Gaultheria Shallon ................. 389

Geer dewberry ...................... 344

General Grant dewberry ............ 348

Georgeson, quoted .................. 438

Georgia, grapes in .................. 13

— silk in ..................... 134 et seq.

Geyer, mentioned ................... 238

Gibbs, Mrs. Isabella ................ 66

Gillet, Felix ......................... 167

Gipson, quoted ...................... 239

Goff, quoted ................ 226, 337, 349

Goessmann, C. A., book by ......... 121

Goodrich, quoted .................... 390

Gooseberries, mentioned. . .387, 450, 461
Gooseberry, sketch of ............... 389

Gould, Dr .......................... 420

Grant, C. W., book by .............. 121

Grapes, amelioration ....... 449. 454, 458

— species of ......................... 98

Gray's Synoptical Flora ............ 98

Green, Chas. A ...................... 348

- Professor ................ 239, 240, 243

Grein, Mr ........................... 79

Grindon, quoted ..................... 298

Hadley, on persimmon .............. 433

Hale, Edward Everett, quoted ...... 2

— Elisha ............. ............... 180

Hall, mentioned .................... 207

Haraszthy, A , book by ............. 121

Hare, Thomas ...................... 180

Harris, J. S ............ 205, 270, 341, 343

Hartley, Thos ....................... 60

Hartlib, Samuel .................... 130

Harvey, James ...................... 176

Haskell, George ..................... 70

— -book by ................... 121,122

Hastings, Wm ...................... 68

Hawkins, John ..................... 3

Haws, mentioned ................... 170

Hazelrigg, Wm ...................... 27

Hazels .............................. 445

Heideman, C. W. H ................ 244

Heikes, W. F ....................... 177

Heinrichs, Mr ....................... 78

Heller, A ............................ 431

Henry, Mrs. J. W .................. 60

Herbemont grape ................... 77

PAGE

Herbemont, Nicholas 16, 67, 78

Hermann, Mo 69, 87

Hickories 445,461

Hicks mulberry 165

Higginson, Francis, quoted . .2, 162, 170

High-bush blackberry 305, 379

Hill, E. J 117

Hoare, C., book by 122

Hofer, A. F., book by 122

Hogg, Robert 278,298

Holcomb, E. A 302

Homergue, John 146, 156

Hooper, E. J 63, 65

Horticola 122

Hortulana plums 194

(See, also, Prunus hortulana. )

Houghton, Abel 390, 392

Hovey.C. M 168

Howarth, Mr 278

Huckleberries, mentioned 170, 387,

388, 416, 451

Hudson river, grapes on 68

Huguenots 13

Hurtleberries 387

Husmann, Geo 69,78,80

books by 122

Hybrid apples 266, 272

- blackberries 315, 317, 321, 326,

377, 381

— cherry

— raspberries

Hybrids in grapes.
Indiana, grapes in .

Isabella grape

Ives, John M

Jackson, General . .
Jaeger, Hermann . .

244

70

34

66,455

301

175

... 70

Japanese persimmon 437, 438, 441

-ph

m .

James I. and silk-raising 128, 133

Jefferson 23

Jepson, W. L Ill

Jermy, G 26V

Johnson, J . E 245

-S. W.... ... 18

- mulberry 164

Jones, Hist, of Georgia. .14, 135, 136, 138

Joslyn, Leander 282

Josselyn, John 174

INDEX

467

PAGE

Julien. Stanislas, book by 157

Juneberry 404, 4.VJ, 4til

Kaki 437, 438, 441

Kalm, Peter 163, 323

Kaskaskia 3, 23

Keffer, Chas. A 239

Kehr, Mr 78

Kenrick, William 148, 157,

301. 368, 390

Kentucky, .grapes in 22 et seq.

Kern.G.M 65

Kerr, J. W 202, 213, 215, 222

Keuka Lake 67

Kirtland, Professor 164

Klein & Co 237

Knesheneka 388

Kniffin, Wm 68

Knudson, H .....231, 244

Knudsen, Mr 95

Kofoid, Chas. A 323, 324

Kunth, quoted 166

Labrador, berries in 387

Leestadia Bidwellii 88

Lambrigger, Messrs 406

Lampasas mulberry 166

Langendoerfer, Mr 79

Lardner, Dionysius, book by 157

Laspeyre, Bernard 66

Legauz, Peter 19, 25, 42, 44, 48

Leif . son of Eric 2

Lemmon, J. G 216

Lemosq, F. A 78

Lilly, A. T 153

Lindheimer 207

Lindley. N. H 169

Link, herbarium of 367

Linnams, on nibus 323, 366, 367

Lodeman, on grape fungi 90

Logan, J.H 358

Logan-berry 357

Loiseleur-Deslongchamps 210

Lombe, Sir Thomas 136

London Company 10, 11, 127, 133

Longworth, N. . .20, 47, 54, 61, 62, 65, 67,
78, 79, 96. 276, 278, 279, 286, 295. 443

book by 123

Lord, O. M 179, 180

Loubat, Alphonse 20, 94. 96

book by 123

PAGE

Lovett, Josiah 299,380

-J.T 328,406

Lucretia dewberry 332, 346, 373

Lucretia's Sister dewberry 344

Lukens, General 60

Lyon, T. T 349

Maclay, Wm 60

Macoun. J. M 364

Maine, grapes in 13

Makepeace, A. D 417, 420, 421, 423

Malus angustifolia 256

— coronaria 256

— sempervirens 255

Mammoth dewberry 348

Mann, herbarium of 267

Manning, quoted 390

Marianna plum 208

Markley.E 181

Marmalade 174

Marshall, Humphrey.. 182, 185, 191. 195

Marsh berries 387

Mason, S. C 221

Massachusetts Company 12

Mathews, B. A 270,396

Maurick, Samuel 49. 50

Mayes dewberry 344

-John 344

Maynard dewberry 346, 347

McMahon 25.42,274

McMinn.J. M 123

McMurtrie, Wm., book by 123

McQuery, George 31

Mead, P. B., book by 123

Mererod family 27, 38

Michaux, on prunus 193

— quoted 28, 159, 102.

256, 284, 367, 412, 4»

Mifflin, Governor 61

Mildew 88, 90

Millardet 90, 96

Miller, Anthony 95

-Phillip 412

Millspaugh, C. F 822

Miner.Mr 142

— on dewberries :ctt

— on plums 175

Missouri currant 401

— grapes In 69, 87

Mitzky, book by 123

468

INDEX

PAGE

Mohr, F., book by 123

Molka berry .389

Mouilia fructigena .'223

Moore, Jacob 70,71,455

Morin, M., book by 157

Morong berry 388

Morton, Thomas, quoted 2, 170

Morus alba 161, 167, 168. 169

— celtidifolia 166

- Japonica 169

- multicaulis 148, 149, 150, 153, 168

-nigra ...161,167

-rubra 160,161,164

— Tatarica 161

— tomentosa 166

Mosher, S 65

Mottier, Mr 65

Mueneh, F., book by 123

Mulberries, history of 127 et seq.

— mentioned 450,461

Mulberry trees mentioned 4, 170

— varieties of 164, 165, 166, 168, 169

Multicaulis craze 141 et seq.

Munson, T. V 70, 71, 81, 83, 85, 114,

117, 166, 206, 207

book by 123

Muscadine grape 83,98

Myrobalan plum 209

Nantes, edict of 13

Never Fail dewberry 348

New England, grapes in 2

New Jersey, grapes in 16

New York, grapes in 16, 67, 87

Nicholls, Governor 16

Nicholson, Professor 60

Nicollet's expedition 238

Northmen 3

Norton, D. N 78

Norton's Virginia 69, 78, 455

Noyes, Professor 77

Nut-fruits 445,451

Nut-pine 445

Nuttall's herbarium 43

Oglethorpe and silk 136

Ohio, grapes 24

Onderdonk, George 177

Oregon crab 249

Oregon Everbearing blackberry.... 360
Otis Ashmore 135

PAGE

Pale, Tenis 5

Parker, E. and C 124

Parmentier, Mr 94

Parry, C. C 238

— William 301, 314

Pascalis, Felix 150, 157

Patten, C. G 272

Pawpaw 443,444

Pear-berries ..387

Pecan 445,461

Peck, C. H 288,295,360

Peel, painting by 61

Penn, Governor 43

— William 16

Pennock, Chas. E 237,241

Pepys, quoted 6

Peronospora viticola 88

Perrottet 148

Persia, mulberries in 128

Persimmon, sketch of 433

Persimmons, mentioned 172

Persoz, book by 124

Phelps, R. H., book by 124

Philippines 129

Phin, Jno., books by 124

Phylloxera 89, 91

Pickering, Colonel 61

Picket, Heathcoat 36

Pickett, J. Q 343

— Mr 176

Pine, nut 445

Place, J. A 75

Planchon 90

— quoted 103

Plantagenet, Beauchamp 4

Plums, mentioned 170, 171, 452, 461

— sketch of 170 et seq.

Poeschfil, Mr 79

Poetry, on silk- worm 132

Pomegranates 13

Pond apple 441.442

Porter, Professor 226, 311, 370, 430

Potatoes 13

Potlatch 389

Powell, E.P 77

Prentiss, A. N., book by 124

Priestly. Dr. Jos 60

Prillieux 91

Prince, William 163,301

INDEX

469

PAGE
Prince, Wm. R. .66, 80, 274, 275, 276, 429

— book by 124

Provost, Paul H 71

Prunus Alleghaniensis 226

— Americana 173, 182, 183, 184, 185,

186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 198.
199, 204, 205, 207, 224, 225, 243, 244

— angustifolia 191, 193, 198,

201, 204, 205, 220

— australis 189

— Besseyi 221, 235, 236, 237, 241,

243, 244, 246

— cerasifera 210, 211, 213

— Chamsecerasus 235

— Chicasa 193

— demissa 231

- domestica 210, 211, 215

— glandulosa 207

— gracilis 221

— Gravesii 214

— hortulana 193, 195, 196, 197, 198,

199, 201, 203, 204, 208, 244

— injucunda 225

— maritima 193, 211, 214

— Mississippi 195

— myrobalana 210

— nigra 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189

-Padus 227,228

— Pennsylvanica 233

— Pissardi 211, 213

- pumila 234, 235. 237, 238

— rivularis 207, 208, 223

— serotina 230, 232

— sphserocarpa 193

— stenophyllus 193

— subcordata 215,216

-Texana 184,224

— umbellata 209, 224, 225

-Utahensis 244

— Virginiana 227, 228. 231

— Watsoni 218, 220. 221. 222,

223, 224, 244

Pullein, Samuel 140

Purcell.J. B 64,278

Purdy 's « Fruit Recorder " 164,

Purry, Jeun Pierre 8

Pursh, Frederick 142. 413

Pyrus baecata 272

PAOK

Pyrus angustifolia 251, 252,

255, 256. 259

— coronaria. .251, 252, 253, 254, 255 256,

257, 258, 259, 265, 266, 267, 272

— loensis 256, 258, 259, 260, 261,

266. 268, 272

— Malus 268,272

— pmnifolia 272

— rivularis 250

— Soulardi 266, 268, 269, 272

Quinces 174

Rafinesque, book by 125

— on rubus 367

— quoted 48,52,86

Ragland, A. M 344

Raleigh, Sir Walter 83

Ramsey, F. M 166

— F. T 222,223

Rand, E. L 363

-&Redfleld 363

Rand's blackberry 363. 385

Raspberries, mentioned 170, 387,

389, 450, 461

Raspberry, Everbearing 279

Raspberry history 274

Rathbuu, Alvin F 321

Raymond, H. C 180

Ravaz and Viala 90

Reasoner Bros 352

Reemelin, Chas 65

book by 125

Rehfuss, L 65

Ribes Americanum 401

— aureum.... 401

-Cynosbati 396

-Grossularia 394,396

— laxiflorum 388

— nigrum 399

— oxyacanthoides 394, 396

— rubrum 388, 399

— sanguineum 401

Ricard, Mr 90

Rice, J. B 177

Richards. Paul 16

Richards, book by 414

Ricketts, J.H 70

Rittenhouse, Benj 61

Robbins, J.W 313

Roberts, Edward P.. book by 168

470

INDEX

PAGE
Robinson, J. H 177

— Pickering 138

Rogers, E. S 70

Rommel, Jacob 69, 79

Root-house 89

Rose, Simri 165

Rubus Allegheniensis 312, 370, 381

- Americanus 275,288

— angulatus 367

— arcticus 365

- argutus 311, 367, 368, 370, 377

description of 381

- Baileyanus 331, 352, 308, 371, 375

— ciesius 368

- Canadensis 276, 323, 339, 340,

341. 342, 366, 367, 368. 370, 371, 374
description of 385

— Chamjemorus 364, 365, 387. 389

— cuneifolius 325, 326

description of 378

- Enslenii 332, 352. 353. 368, 371

description of 375, 376

— flagellaris 368,369

- floridus 368,370,382,385

-frondosus 367,370,381

-fruticosus 298,360

- heterophyllus 371

- hispidus 339, 340, 360, 362, 363

description of 377

- humifusns 332, 352, 353, 371, 375

- Idams. .274, 283, 287, 288, 293. 294, 357
-inermis 367

— invisus 346,348,371,375

description of 374

— laciniatus 360

— leucodermis 289

— macropetalus 354

- Millspaughii 323. 367, 370, 385

— nioii t mm s 38 1

- neglectus 288, 289, 291, 294, 295

- nigrobaccus 306, 370, 381. 385

description of 379

— nitidus 367

— Nutkanus 297

- occidental 287, 288, 289

— odoratus 297

— parviflorus 389

— Pennsylvanicus 276, 288

- proonmbens 368

PAGE

Rubus setosus 360, 361, 362

description of 377

— spectabilis 388

— stellatus

— strigosus 288, 289, 291,

292, 293, 294, 389

— suberectns 368, 370, 381

— trivialis 339, 340, 345, 352, 368, 373

description of 376

-ulmifolius 367

— ursinus 353,354, 359

- villosus. . . .306, 311, 312, 339, 340, 341,

342, 344. 346, 347, 348, 350, 351, 352,

363, 366, 307, 370, 371, 376, 379, 381, 385

description of 371

- vitifolius 352, 354, 355, 356, 360

Rush.Benj 60

-Richard 143,157

Salal berries 389

Salmon-berry 297, 388

Sambucus Canadensis 411

— racemosa 389

Sand blackberry 325,378

— cherry 234

— plum 218

Sargent, C. S 166, 184, 186, 199, 218-

220, 221, 224, 226, 250, 259, 447

Saunders, Wm., book by 125

Sayers, Edward 65

Scheele, quoted 207, 223, 224

Scholl, Mrs 53, 55

Scuppernong 83, 85, 99

Seacor, Lewis A 302

Seals of Georgia 135

Sharp, Elder 154

Shellbarks.... ....445

Shepherdia argentea 406

Shinn. C. H 291, 297, 354, 357

Sias, A. W 343

Siebenthal family 27

Siedhof. Chas 125

Silk-growing 127 et seq.

Silk-worms 127, 130, 141

Simmon beer 437, 438

Sisson, plum of 216

Small, John K 214,225

Small nuts, mentioned 170

Smith. Gideon B 150

-JohnB.... ....414

INDEX

471

PAGE
Smith, John, quoted. .4, 163, 172, 173, 249

-John Jay 284

Snow, Geo. C 68

Salzburgers 137

Soulard. James G 175, 201. 270

Soulard crab 261

Southampton. Earl of 10. 128

South Carolina, grapes in 8, 13, 16

Species of grapes 98

Speer, R. P 410

Spooner, A., book by 125

— quoted 26, 66, 94

Squash-berries 387

Stark Bros 177

Stebbins, Dr 151

Stephen, Peter 156

Stephens, Wm., quoted 14

Sterling, John 321

Stevens, Wm. Bacon 14, 134

Stiles, Rev 140

Stone. G. E 424

— I. N 337,338,350

Strachey, William 162, 172, 249

Strauch, Adolph 65

Strawberries, mentioned. ..386, 389, 450

(See, also, Fragaria.)

Strawberry, sketch of 424

Stroebel, P. A 137

Strong, W. C 75

— W. C., book by 125

Stubbs. JohnM 165

— mulberry 165

Swett, Frank T 453

Synopsis of vitis 98

Tawnkong plum 207, 223

Tea-berries 387

Teas, E. Y 335

Terminalia 209

Thayer, Eliphalet 300, 302

Thimble-berry 289, 389

Thorn-apples 443

mentioned 170

Thornless blackberry 322, 385

Thurber, Professor 238

Tobacco, and silk 134

T -mes, Robert, book by 125

Tori ey & Gray 211, 255, 360

— quoted 352

Tournefort, quoted 210

PAOC

Tracy, S, M 238

Trasker's grape 43

Trattinnick 368

Treackleberries 387

Treedway, J. B 344

Troop, on persimmon 433

Tryon, J. H., book by 125

Tyrker 2

Uber, C. A 352

Utah hybrid cherry 221, 244

Uvedale 4

Vaccinium macrocarpon 414, 424

— ovalif olium 389

— Oxy coccus 389

— parviflorum 389

— uliginosum 388

— Vitis-Idaea 388. 424

VanBuren. J 85

VanDeman, H. E 404

Van Dusen, Hiram 281

Vernon, Wm. H., book by 158

Vevay 34

Viala and Ravaz 90

Viburnum Americanum 412

— edule 413

— Opulus 412

— Oxycoccos 413

— paucinorum 388

Vick's Sons 021

Virginia, grapes in 4, 6, 11

— mulberries in 128. 129

-plums in 174

Vitis asstivalis 81, 82, 83, 86, 98, 112

— Arizonica 109

- Baileyana 107

— Berlandieri 101. 105. 108, 459

— bicolor... 114

Bourquiniaua 81, 83, 114

California 110, 111

campestris 8

• candicans ... 115

Caribssa 109, 1 15

Champini 105,106.460

cinerea 43, 198

• cordifolia 92, 103, 108

•coriacea H«

Doanlana 112

Girdiana Ill

Linsecomii 113, 459. 4«0

472

INDEX

PAGE

Vitis Labrusca . . .5, 6, 43, 55, 57, 66, 75,
83, 86, 98, 102, 116

— Longii 104

— monticola 101

— Munsoniana 99

— Nuevo-Mexicana 104

— palmata 105

- riparia 69, 75, 76, 92, 101, 102

— rotundifolia 83, 84, 86, 98, 99

— rupestris 100

— Simpsoni 116

— Solonis 104

— sylvestris 47

— Treleasei 103

— vinifera 9, 47, 83, 89, 90, 98

— vulpina 69, 75, 76, 86, 92, 101

— species of 98

Wait, F. E. , book by 125

Walnuts, mentioned 170, 445, 461

Warder, John A 65

book'by 126

Washington thorn 445, 446

Watson, Sereno 211, 227

Waugh, F. A. . . 189, 203, 205, 220, 226, 227

Wayland, H. B 177

Weaver, Mr 181

Webb, book by 414

Weller, Sidney 85

Werk, Mr 65

Worden grape 75,455

— Schuyler 74, 75

White, Hugh 75

PAGE

White, book by 414

Whitmarsh, Dr 151, 158

Whortleberries 170, 387, 388, 4 16

Wickson, quoted 167, 217, 23] ,

250, 291, 297, 356

Wilder, Marshall P 300

Wiedersprecker, Mr 78

Wier, D. B 175, 264

Willdenow, on pyrus 272

— on rubus 367,368

Willams, Edward 128, 129

Williams James S 314

— Roger 426

— on dewberry ... 332

Williamson, John 65

Wilson, John 314

— Samuel 352, 354

Windom dewberry 341

Wine berries 389

Winslow, Edward, quoted 2, 170, 171

Winsor, Justin, quoted 2, 128

Wintergreen 387

Winthrop, Governor 3, 12

Wolf.D.B 179

— collections of 207

Wood, A., cited 256,259

— William 171, 386, 426

Woodward, book by 126

Wright, F. L 344, 348

Wylie, Dr. Peter 85

Yeatman, T. H 65

Young, Alexander 171

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taining style, and fully illustrated, will prove wel-
come. It treats of the modification of plants under
cultivation upon the evolution theory, and its atti-
tude on this interesting subject is characterized
by the author's well-known originality and inde-
pendence of thought. Incidentally, there is stated
much that will be valuable and suggestive to the
working horticulturist, as well as to the man or
woman impelled by a love of nature to horticul-
tural pursuits. It may well be called, indeed, a
philosophy of horticulture, in which all interested
may find inspiration and instruction.

THE SURVIVAL or THE UNLIKE comprises thirty essays touching
upon The General Fact and Philosophy of Evolution (The Plant
Individual, Experimental Evolution, Corey's Army and the Russian
Thistle, Recent Progress, etc.); Expounding the Fact and Causes of
Variation (The Supposed Correlations of Quality in Fruits, Natural
History of Synonyms, Reflective Impressions, Relation of Seed-
bearing to Cultivation, Variation after Birth, Relation between
American and Eastern Asian Fruits, Horticultural Geography, Prob-
lems of Climate and Plants, American Fruits, Acclimatization, Sex
in Fruits, Novelties, Promising Varieties, etc.); ar.d Tracing the
Evolution of Particular Types of Plants (the Cultivated Strawberry,
Battle of the Plums, Grapes, Progress of the Carnation. Petunia,
Tne Garden Tomato, etc.;.

WORKS BY PROFESSOR BAILEY

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NA*
TIVE FRUITS. By L. H. BAILEY, Pro-
fessor of Horticulture in the Cornell University.

472 PACES -125 ILLUSTRATIONS— S2.OO

In this entertaining volume, the origin and de-
velopment of the fruits peculiar to North America
are inquired into, and the personality of those horti-
cultural pioneers whose almost forgotten labors
have given us our most valuable fruits is touched
upon. There has been careful research into the
history of the various fruits, including inspection
of the records of the great European botanists who
have given attention to American economic botany.
The conclusions reached, the information presented,
and the suggestions as to future developments, can-
not but be valuable to any thoughtful fruit-grower,
while the terse style of the author is at its best in
his treatment of the subject.

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS discusses The Rise of
the American Grape (North America a Natural Vineland, Attempts
to Cultivate the European Grape, The Experiments of the Dufours,
The Branch of Promise, John Adlum and the Catawba, Rise of
Commercial Viticulture, Why Did the Early Vine Experiments Fail ?
Synopsis of the American Grapes) ; The Strange History of the Mul-
berries (The Early Silk Industry, The "Multicaulis Craze,") ; Evolu-
tion of American Plums and Cherries (Native Plums in General,
The Chickasaw, Hortulana, • Marianna and Beach Plum Groups,
Pacific Coast Plum, Various Other Types of Plums, Natvve Cherries,
Dwarf Cherry Group); Native Apples (Indigenous Species, Amelio-
ration has begun); Origin of American Raspberry-growing (Early
American History, Present Types, Outlying Types) ; Evolution of
Blackberry and Dewberry Culture (The High -bush Blackberry and
Its Kin, The Dewberries, Botanical Names); Various Types of
Berry-like Fruits (The Gooseberry, Native Currants, Juneberry,
Buffalo Berry, Elderberry, High-bush Cranberry, Cranberry, Straw-
berry); Various Types of Tree Fruits (Persimmon, Custard-Apple
Tribe, Thorn-Apples, Nut -Fruits ); General Remarks on the Improve-
ment of our Native Fruits (What Has Been Done, What Probably
Should Be Done).

WORKS BY PROreSSOU BAILEY

LESSONS WITH PLANTS: Sugges-
tions for Seeing and Interpreting Some of
the Common Forms of Vegetation. By L.

H. BAILEY, Professor of Horticulture in the Cornell
University, with delineations from nature by W. S.
HOLDSWORTH, of the Agricultural College of
Michigan.

SECOND COITION- 481 PACIS-44S ILLUSTRATION*- IS MO

cLOVH -*1.10 NET

There are two ways of looking at nature. The
old way, which you have found so unsatisfactory,
was to classify everything — to consider leaves, roots,
and whole plants as formal herbarium specimens,
forgetting that each had its own story of growth
and development, struggle and success, to tell.
Nothing stifles a natural love for plants more effect-
ually than that old way.

The new way is to watch the life of every grow-
ing thing, to look upon each plant as a living
creature, whose life is a story as fascinating as the
story of any favorite hero. "Lessons with Plants"
is a book of stories, or rather, a book of plays, for
we can see each chapter acted out if we take the
trouble to look at the actors.

" I have spent some time in most delightful examination of it, and the*
longer I look, the better I like it. I find it not only full of interest, but
eminently suggestive. I know of no book which begins to do so much to
open the eyes of the student —whether pupil or teacher — to the wealth of
meaning contained in simple plant forms. Above all else, it seems to be
full of suggestions that help one to learn the language of plants, so they
may talk to him."— DAKWIN L. BABDWELL, Superintendent of School*, Sing-
hamton.

"It is an admirable book, and cannot fail both to awaken interest in
the subject, and to serve as a helpful and reliable guide to young students
of plant life. It will, I think, fill an important place in secondary schools,
and comes at an opportune time, when helps of this kind are needed and
eagerly sought."— Professor V. M. SPALDINU, Univertity of Michigan.

FIRST LESSONS WITH PLANTS

An Abridgement of the aboye. 117 pages — 116 illustra-
tions— 40 cents net

B

WORKS BY PROFESSOR BAILEY

OTANY : An Elementary Text for Schools.

By L. H. BAILEY.

355 PACCS-600 ILLUSTRATIONS-* 1. 1O NET

"This book is made for the pupil: 'Lessons With Plants'
was made to supplement the work of the teacher." This is tha
opening sentence of the preface, showing that the book is a
companion to "Lessons With Plants," which has now become a
standard teacher's book. The present book is the handsomest
elementary botanical text-book yet made. The illustration?
illustrate. They are artistic. The old formal and unnatural
Botany is being rapidly outgrown. The book disparages mere
laboratory work of the old kind: the pupil is taught to see things
as they grow and behave. The pupil who goes through this book
will understand the meaning of the plants which he sees day
by day. It is a revolt from the dry-as-dust teaching of botany
tt cares little for science for science' sake, but its point of view
is nature -study in its best sense. The book is divided into four
parts, any or all of which may be used in the school: the plnnt
itself; the plant in its environment; histology, or the minute
structure of plants; the kinds of plants (with a key, and de-
scriptions of 300 common species). The introduction contains
ndvic*- to teachers. The boot is brand new from start to
finish.

"An exceedingly attractive text-book." — Educational Rev\*v>.
"It is a school book of the modern methods." — The Dial.

olduai use "—The Outlook.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

64-86 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

WORKS BY PROFESSOR BAILEY

THE CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN
HORTICULTURE: By L. H. BAILEY, of

Cornell University, assisted by WILHELM MILLER,
and many expert cultivators and botanists.

4VOLS.-OVER 2800 ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS - CLOTH — OCTAVO
• tO. 00 NET PER SET. HALF MOROCCO, S32.OO NET PER SET

This great work comprises directions for the cul-
tivation of horticultural crops and original descrip-
tions of all the species of fruits, vegetables flowers
and ornamental plants known to be in the market in
the United States and Canada. "It has the unique
distinction of presenting for the first time, in a c«re-
fully arranged and perfectly accessible form, the best
knowledge of the best specialists in America upon
gardening, fruit-growing, vegetable culture, forestry,
and the like, as well as exact botanical information.
. . . The contributors are eminent cultivators or
specialists, and the arrangement is very systematic,
clear and convenient for ready reference."

"We have here a work which every ambitions gardener will ^rish to place
on his shelf beside his Nicholson and his London, and for such users of it a
too advanced nomenclature would have been confusing to the last degree.
With the safe names here given, there is little liability to serious perplexity.
There is a growing impatience with much of the controversy concerning
revision of names of organisms, whether of plants or animals. Those in-
vestigators who are busied with the ecolog'cal aspects of organisms, and
also those who are chiefly concerned with the application of plants to the
arts of agriculture, horticulture, and so on, care for the names of organisms
under examination only so far as these aid in recognition and identification.
To introduce unnecessary confusion is a serious blunder Professor Bailey
has avoided the risk of confusion. In short, in range, treatment and edit-
ing, the Cyclopedia appears to be emphatically useful : . . . a work worthy
of ranking by the side of the Century Dictionary." — The tiation.

This work is sold only by subscription, and terms and
further information may be had of the publishers.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

64 66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

VOLUME I -READY SHORTLY

/CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN
AGRICULTURE. Edited by PROF. L. H.

BAILEY, of Cornell University, Editor of "Cyclope-
dia of American Horticulture"; author of "Plant
Breeding," "Principles of Agriculture," etc.

WITH 100 FULL-PACE PLATES AND ABOUT 2,000 ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THE TEXT

TENTATIVE SYNOPSIS OP CONTENTS
VOLUME I

PART I— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS— Agricultural Regions— Farm Industries
— Layout of a Farm— Equipment and Capital Required— Farm Buildings
Farm Water Works— Farm Machinery— Adornment of Farm Premises—

PART II— CLIMATOLOGY— General Definition and Scope — Atmosphere — Tem-
perature—Pressure— Circulation— Atmospheric Moistuie— Storms— Pre-
cipitation—Weather— Climate.

PART III— THK SOIL— General Considerations— Origin and Formation— Kind*
and Characteristics— Properties— Germ Life in the Soil— Moisture— Til-
lage—Fertilizers— Waste and Renovation— Soil Surveys.

VOLUME II -FARM CROPS

PART I— PLANT PRODUCTION— The Plant— Environment— Plant Improvement
—Farm Management— Plant Introduction -Classifications— Industries

PART II— INDIVIDUAL FARM CROPS (suggested treatment)— General— Geo-
graphical Distribution and Extent — Propagation and Cultivation— Varie-
ties—Harvesting and Preservation— Uses and Preparation for Use — Man-
ufacture — Obstructions to Growth — Marketing — Exhibiting — Tools -
History.

TIMBER CROP (FARM WOODLOT)

Introductory— Factors of Forest Production— Methods of Forest Growing-
Systems of Forest Cropping— Improving and Caring for Crop— How to
Treat a Mismanaged Woodlot— Uses of Different Woods— Home Utiliza-
tion of the Crop— Measuring and Marketing Forest Crops.

VOLUME III -FARM STOCK

PART I-GENERAL PRiNciPLES-Introduction-Kinds of Animals-Kinds of
Animal Industry— Origin and Breeding of Domestic Animals— Physiol-
ogy— Feeding-Hygiene, Sanitation and Management.

PART II- OUTLINE FOR TREATMENT OF DIFFERENT KINDH OF ANIMALS—
General Introductory Discussion— Distribution and Extent— Classifica-
tion of Breeds and Types-!>eeding-Feeding and Feeds- Management
and Hygiene— Products— Diseases and Disabilities-Judging and Scoring
-Marketing- Exhibiting-History.

PART III— ANIMAL INDUSTRIES OR TECHNOLOGY— Dairying— Dressing and
Curing of Meats-Storage-Refrigeration-Fertilizer Manufacture.

VOLUME IV

THE FARM AND THE COMMUNITY (Economics, Social Questions, Organiza-
tions, History, Literature, etc).

Full prospectus, with sample pages, sent free on application

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

64-66 Fifth Avenue . . - NEW YORK

DATE DUE

JPK

DEMCO 38-297

SB123
BlU
1906
c.2

Bailey, Liberty Hyde

Sketch of the evolution
of our native fruits.

000693171 1

BIO-AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA 92502