THE NATIVE DWARF CHERRIES. 



Two years ago, in Bulletin 38, I published an account of the 

 native dwarf or bush cherries which are grown or recommended 

 for fruit. The information collected at that time was necessarilj' 

 indefinite and imperfect. In the meantime, I have been able to 

 make a more thorough study of the subject, both from fruiting 

 plants upon our own grounds and through the aid of various per- 

 sons who are interested in these novel fruits. It may be said at 

 the outset that a fruit of the type of the bush cherry is not des- 

 tined to fill a large place in the general fruit-growing of the East 

 for many years to come, if, indeed, it ever does ; but for special 

 purposes, particularly for very light and arid soils and other try- 

 ing situations, and for cultivation as a bush fruit between larger 

 trees, the type, when further developed, certainly has many points 

 of merit. It is this prospective value of these plants, as well as 

 the answering of many inquiries awakened by the advertisements 

 of them, which may give some service to the present paper. 



It is first necessary to correct some errors in my former account. 

 It was there said that weeping and variegated-leaved forms of our 

 common dwarf or sand cherry {Pnuuis pumila) are in cultivation 

 for ornament. The plants so named by nurserymen, however, 

 are forms of the ground or dwarf cherry of Europe and Northern 

 Asia, Primus Chamcecerasus, which is the Old World representa- 

 tive of our sand cherry. The cherry sold by nurserymen as 

 Primus Japonica pendula — and so figured by myself in American 

 Garden for July, 1891, page 404, figure 7 — is the same European 

 species. I believe that I made an error, also, in saying that the 

 woodland or mountain dwarf cherry of the East {Prunus ciineata 

 of Rafinesque) is in cultivation foi ornament. I have not yet 

 been able to find cultivated plants which I could certainl\ refer to 

 that species. 



I. The Sand Cherry. — The dwarf fruit-bearing cherries now 

 grown or recommended in this country, belong to three species 



