248 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The sand or dwarf cherries, therefore, are three, all of which are in 

 cultivation; Prunus pumila, the true sand cherry grown for fruit and 

 ornament; Prunus cuneata, grown for ornament; the sand cherry of the 

 plains and the Rocky " mountains, grown locally in Nebraska and now 

 introduced from Colorado as the Improved Dwarf Rocky mountain cherry. 

 Finally, it may be said that the sand plum is a form of the Chickasaw plum 

 as we have already found. 



2. "Utah Hybrid Cherry."— Under this name there has come into 

 cultivation an anomalous fruit, the history and botanical characters of 

 which I am unable to trace. It is usually referred by the nurserymen to 

 Prunus pumila, but the specimens which I have seen do not belong to 

 that species. In fact, as grown by Mr. Kerr, it is a plum, with a stone 

 very like that of the Marianna, and the catalogue cut of the fruit shows a 

 short-stemmed and sutured plum. There are two varieties in cultivation, 

 the black and red. These are described as follows by the Heikes nur- 

 series of Dayton, Ohio, which was one of the first to grow them: 



" Utah Hybrid Cherry, black.— This is an improved variety of the 

 Dwarf or Mountain cherry of Utah. The fruit is about one inch in 

 diameter, nearly round; color dark purple, with a delicate bloom, juicy, 

 pleasant, and sweet; slightly astringent if the skin is pressed too closely. 

 The bush is very dwarfish, but vigorous and prolific. This fruit has the 

 merit of being something entirely distinct from anything cultivated in the 

 way of fruits heretofore. The fruit is exceedingly beautiful; the tree is 

 hardy enough to withstand the severest winters, and begins to bear the 

 first year after planting. 



" Utah Hybrid Cherry, red. — This is a dwarf variety, evidently belong- 

 ing to the Chickasaw class, and while it has some merit as a novelty, it is 

 not nearly equal to the above." 



Samuel Miller of Bluffton, Mo., informs me that he obtained the Utah 

 Hybrid cherry over ten years ago from Nebraska. The Phoenix nursery 

 company of Bloomington, 111., "have been propagating it for many years," 

 to supply the spontaneous demand for it, but the company writes me that 

 it "can not recommend it," and that "the fruit is rather small, of dark 

 purplish red color, and is merely a skin drawn over a pit." The plant sold 

 by the Phoenix company is a slender under-shrub with elliptic-lanceolate 

 prominently nerved and pointed leaves which are sharply serrate through- 

 out, and which can not be referred to any form of Prunus pumila with 

 which I am acquainted. The tree grown by Mr. Kerr has the half- weep- 

 ing habit of a Morello cherry, and the leaves are also very like those of 

 the Morello. The flowers are borne in short-stalked umbels upon wand- 

 like twigs, and they suggest, as do also the leaves, an approach to Primus 

 maritima, the beach plum. The original Utah Hybrid which Mr. Kerr 

 planted, he tells me, had fruit about the size of Bassett's American, but 

 which ripened earlier than that plum. The present tree, described above, 

 is a seedling of it, but this seedling has larger fruit — as big as a large 

 Napoleon cherry — which is later than the Bassett, and the tree is less 

 dwarf. He considers the Utah hybrid an inferior fruit. 



3. Prunus serotina, the Wild Black or Rum cherry. This well-known 

 cherry, the wood of which is often used for cabinet work and house finish- 

 ings, is planted for forestry purposes, as an ornamental tree, and sparingly 

 for its fruit. Infusions of the bark are used for medicinal purposes and 

 the fruit is often used in the manufacture of cherry brandy or as a flavor 

 to rum. Occasional trees bear fruit of unusual size and attractiveness. 



