246 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



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 — 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 tirst 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 Poudre river. There are not 2,000 of these cherries 

 of mine 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 responsible 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." 



Thus far, all appears to be simple enough ; but if we begin to inquire 

 /into the species of these cherries we find great difficulty, for it is plain 

 that two and perhaps even three species are passing as Primus pvmila. 

 Propagators have long recognized two well marked types of sand or dwarf 

 cherry. The commonest species is the one shown, natural size, in Fig. 13. 

 It grows along rivers and sandy or rocky coasts, from northern Maine (and 

 probably from Newfoundland ) to Washington, and perhaps even further 

 south, and ranges westward to the great lakes and Manitoba. I do not know 

 if it grows on the sea shore, but aside from a specimen from Aroostook 

 county, Maine, I have not seen it from New England. It is a iwosiraie 

 or decumbent shrub, the roughish dark branches ascending in a straggling 

 manner three or four feet, or sometimes twice that height. The flowers 

 are rather small, with narrow petals. The leaves are long and pointed 

 (nearly linear at flowering time), varying from oblanceolate to nearly 

 obovate-lanceolate, or sometimes lanceolate, rather thick and firm and 

 prominently veined, especially beneath, terminating usually in a sharp 

 point and bearing on the upper half short but sharp teeth which, however, 

 are usually smaller than shown in Fig. 13. This species is very variable. 

 The form upon lake Michigan is characterized by very long and willow- 

 like leaves, and broad-leaved forms occur in other places. Nurserymen take 

 advantage of its straggling habit by grafting it upon standard stocks for 

 the purpose of making a weeping tree. It is sometimes sold as Cerasiis 

 pumila. A variety variegata of this weeping tree is catalogued, but I 

 have not seen it. The sand cherry is the plant which Linnajus meant to 

 deeignate hy h\s Pru7ius 2ynmil((- It is the plant, apparently, which the 

 experiment stations of South Dakota and Minnesota have described, and it 

 is the one which has been advised as a dwarf stock for cherries. 



Another and much rarer cherry is the one shown in Fig. 14, and for 

 which I have used Rafinesque's name Prunus cuneata. It grows near 

 lakes and about bogs, mostly in wet or stifP soil, and is often found on 

 hills and low mountains. I have seen it from New Hampshire, Massa- 

 chusetts, Ehode Island, New York (Ithaca), New Jersey. Pennsylvania, 

 North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It is an erect or even strict 

 shrub with smooth, light-colored branches, growing from two to four feet 

 high. The flowers are large with broad petals, and usually stand out 

 squarely upon somewhat curved stems. The leaves are slwrl and usually 

 blunt, obovate, spatulate or when full grown sometimes elliptic-ovate and 

 becoming more or less pointed, thin and inconspicuously veined, the teeth 

 few and the points appressed, This cherry is in cultivation as an orna- 



