106 Agkicultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. T. 



found wild by Jackson Dawson, of tlie Arnold Arboretum, and 

 somewhat disseoninated, and probably essentially the same as 

 variegata; cai'thagena, with small short-elliptic or ovate-elliptic 

 leaves. Prunus serotina ranges through the eastern and southern 

 States as far west as Kansas. 



4. Prunus Pennsylvanica, the Bird, Wild Red, Pigeon or Pin 

 Chen'y, is occasionally cultivated for ornament, although it is 

 hot so well known as its merits deserve. It sprouts badly, a fea- 

 ture which no doubt discourages its dissemination. The species 

 has been latelj^ recommended as a stock for the common orchard 

 cherries.* Professor Budd says that " when top-worked or crown- 

 grafted with vigorous growing sorts it does not appear to have 

 any reserve material to waste in sprouts. We have trees of the 

 Early Richmond and Dyehouse in the State which have not shown 

 a sprout on this stock for twelve years." The union with the orch- 

 ard cheiTies, both sweet and sour, appears to be good as a rule, and 

 the species certainly possesses promise as a cheap and hardy 

 stock. The fruit is sometimes used in the preparation of cough 

 mixtures. It is generally distributed throughout the northern 

 half of the Union from the Atlantic to Colorado. 



5. Prunus Virginiana, the Choke Cherry, is cultivated for 

 ornament. It is scarcely inferior for that purpose to its Old 

 World congener, the true Bird Cherry (Pi-nnus 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 symmet- 

 rical development can be isecured, 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 

 witli the Wild Black Cherry, but it is readily distinguished by the 

 very sharj) small teeth of the leaves. The fniit of the Choke 

 (.'lierry is commonly red, but amber-fruited plants are occasionally 

 foinid. This cheiry has been mentioned as worthy of attention 

 as a fruit plant, but the fact that none of the racemose cheriies 

 (those bearing their flowers in long clusters) have given marked 

 results in thiis direction, indicates that efforts towards amelioration 



* Budd, Bull. 10, la. Exp. Sta., 425. Bailey, Kui-sery-book, 159. 



