264 Bulletin No. 70. 



are oblong-ovate. They are dull glossy above and much reticu- 

 lated beneath, with rather coarse obtuse serratures, and a firm, 

 thick texture. 



The Utah Hybrid Cherry, as I have grown it, appears to pos- 

 sess no immediate value, because of the poorness of its fruit ; 

 but the tree is hardy and productive, and it indicates that there 

 may be combinations 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. 



Fortunately, we seem to have direct evidence that dwarf cher- 

 ries and plums will hybridize. Mr. C. W. H. Heideman, of 

 New Ulm, Minnesota, has been at work nearly ten years in 

 endeavoring to secure crosses of Pnnuis hortulana (as the Miner) 

 upon Pnuius Besseyi, with good success. He informs me that all 

 his pollinations are made upon emasculated and protected flowers. 

 He has made some 500 distinct crosses, some of them with pollen 

 of Primus 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 will be, but I am looking for 

 something useful for the Northwest and for many of the drj^ lands 

 of New York State. 



Although these dwarf cherries are yet scarcely in actual culti- 

 vation, it is evident that they are seriou.sly attacked by fungous 

 enemies. Upon our own plants this year, both of the sand cherry 

 and the western dwarf cherry, the twig blight was common. The 

 illustration in Plate II (Fig. 4) shows a shoot, the upper portion 

 of which is wilted, and upon which the leaves were uniformly 

 brown and dead. As the cherries approached maturity, many of 

 them decayed. Both these troubles are due to one fungus known 

 as the fruit-rot fungus or Monilia frudigena. It is the same dis- 

 ease which causes the similar injuries upon the peach, as well as 

 the rotting of cherries and plums ; and it is probable that thorough 

 spraying with Bordeaux Mixture before the leaves appear and 

 during the early period of growth will keep it in check. 



The second disease, shown in Fig. 5, is the fruit-pocket {Exoas- 

 ais communis,) which occurred this year upon our sand cherries. 



