CORNELL UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 249 



As an ornamental plant the wild black cherry possesses decided merits in 

 its attractive habit, clean, shining foliage, striking white racemes, and 

 handsome fruit. There are several cultivated varieties: pendiila, a weep- 

 ing form, worked standard high; variegata, with the leaves more or less 

 discolored with yellow; Golden-Leaf, found wild by Jackson Dawson of 

 the Arnold Arboretum, and somewhat disseminated, and probably essen- 

 tially the same as variegaia; carthagena, with small short-elliptic or 

 ovate-elliptic leaves. Primus serofina ranges through the eastern and 

 southern states as far west as Kansas. 



Peunus Pennsylvanica, the Bird, Wild Eed, Pigeon, or Pin cherry, is 

 occasionally cultivated for ornament, although it is not so well known as 

 its merits deserve. It sprouts badly, a feature which no doubt discourages 

 its dissemination. The species has been lately 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 orchard cherries, 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. Peunus Virginiana, the Choke cherry, is cultivated for ornament. It 

 is scarcely inferior for that purpose to its Old World congener, the true 

 Bird Cherry {Prunus 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 symmetrical development can be secured, 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 con- 

 founded with the Wild Black cherry, but it is readily distinguished by 

 the very sharp small teeth of the leaves. The fruit of the Choke cherry 

 is commonly red, but amber-fruited plants are occasionally found. This 

 cherry has been mentioned as worthy of attention as a fruit plant, but the 

 fact that none of the racemose cherries (those bearing their flowers in 

 long clusters), have given marked results in this direction, indicates that 

 efforts toward amelioration of the fruit are likely to meet with discourge- 

 ment. The Choke cherry is generally distributed east of the Rocky 

 mountains. 



6. Prunus demissa, the Western Choke cherry, was introduced in 1881 

 as an ornamental plant by Edward Gillett, Southwick, Mass. Its 

 merits as a cultivated plant are not yet well known. It is much like the 

 Choke cherry, but more variable in stature and apparently in botanical 

 characters. It occurs from Nebraska to the Pacific coast, extending the 

 length of Calfornia and Oregon. 



7. Prunus ilicifolia, the " Islay " of southern California and western 

 Arizona, was introduced to cultivation last year by C. R. Oroutt of San 

 Diego, California. It is a pleasing ornamental plant with holly-like ever- 

 green leaves (whence the name ilicifolia), and a small astringent reddish 

 fruit. In its wild state it reaches a height of 10 or 15 feet. Its merits 

 for cultivation in eastern lawns are yet to be determined. 



8. Prunus Caroliniana, the Cherry Laurel, Wild Orange, Mock 

 Orange, or wild peach of the southern states, is in cultivation in the south 

 as a small ornamental tree, and as a hedge plant. The leaves are long, 



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