53« 



HORTICULTURE 



October 26, 1907 



describe same here, besides our trees receive an animal 

 pnming so that the two types are not growing natur- 

 ally, which makes it a difficult matter to determine 

 what are the differences besides those noted above. This 

 type would be worth jiropagating in preference to the 

 ivpe of Carolina poplar generally planted. 



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[According to DowniriK's Horticulturist there was in 

 1848 a specimen of Salisburia adiantitolia nearly 60 feet 

 high in the Hamilton place, near Philadelphia. — Ed.l 



The Ah-oon-ye-ye-pa 



1"K0FF.1--S0K UANSI'N's GliKAl WOliK WITH THE SAND 

 CIIERRT 



The good I.iord seems to have planned for the coming 

 man ages before he came upon the scene of action. In 

 almost all countries He planted fruits adapted to the 

 climate and all these are subject to great improvement. 



I was much interested in my visit to the Brandon 

 Experiment Station in ^lanitoba. All the plums moved 

 up from the South were failures. They were either 

 too tender or they would not ripen. The Wolf, Forest 

 Garder, and plums of that kind — hardy enough in 

 Minnesota- were found to be worthless. What was 

 to he done? Peojjle wanted plums. Well, out in the 

 woods a kindly Providence had planted some wild ones, 

 ju.st as good in quality and adapted to the seasons. A 

 large grove of them was growing under good cultiva- 

 tion. They were green when I was there, yet I noticed 

 they were well laden, hut the superintendent said, 

 "This is the off year, you should have seen them last 

 vear." "Are they good for anything?" I asked. 

 "Well," was the reply, "you should have been here last 

 August when they were completely loaded. I could get 

 along with my visitors till they came to this plum patch, 

 then they got stuck and could not go on but must fill 

 up with that delicious fruit. Good? Nothing can be 

 better." Here you have it then. .\way in the far 

 North, fruits arc waiting development. Even the straw- 

 berries and raspberries grow in profusion. What is 

 needed is development and selection of the best. 



There are two kinds of the Sand cherry, Prunus 

 pumila, which grows on sandy and gravelly soils in 

 Michigan, New Brunswick, and New Jersey. This type 

 is not hardy in the North but out on the sand hill and 

 on the adoiie soil of the Dakotas, in places where you 

 cannot cultivate, there you find another type of this 

 family, called Prunus Besseyi from our own honored 

 professor cf botany. 



Professor Hansen, with an old Indian guide, made 

 an extensive trip in search of the best of the wild ones. 

 On steep gumbc bluffs, in miserablv poor soil they 

 found quite a quantitv. The Indians call it Ah-oon- 

 ye-ye-pa. They gather them in large quantities with 

 native choke cherries and pound them up, stones and 

 all. mixing the mass with meat for soups. Having 

 secured the very best types of wild ones, the Professor 

 proceeds to grow them by the thousands and then select 

 (he best. 



You see what an iiiiiiiense task he liaii licfore him. 

 Native seed of the best must be gathered from different 

 places. They generallv fruit in three years, then the 

 verv choicest are selected, and the rest are destroyed 

 by the thou«and. The sr.iiK' method is carried on till 

 nrw Ih- has the tliii'<1 ovner.'ition and some of the fourth. 



Xow, this of itself is a great task, but it is not all. 

 He is not content to secure the best Sand cherries that 

 can be grown but he is using them for a base for further 

 v.ork — that of crossing with less hardy fruits — thus 

 creating hybrids of excellent fruit with constitution 

 borrowed from these hardy plants — robust enough to 

 -tand the rigors of the northern climate. 



The Compass cherry is a cross between the Sand 

 cherry and the JMiner plum and at present it is having 

 a great run in the North. In Nebraska it is worthless, 

 but it is grown extensively in Minnesota and the Da- 

 kotas. The Professor has made a fine cross between 

 the Chinese Simoni plum and the Besseyi. The fruit 

 io of good size and tlie tree is hardy. 



To me, engaged as 1 am in ornamental horticulture, 

 his greatest triumph is in securing a cross between the 

 Sand cherry and Pranus Pissardi — the blood-leaved 

 plum so much used in landscape work. Here he has 

 secured a beautiful cross. We saw over a dozen speci- 

 mens. The foliage was deep purple, much brighter 

 than that of the parent, and the cross seems perfectly 

 hardy. A\liat we need all through the West and North- 

 west is trees and shrubs of rich foliage. Kivers beech 

 and the delicate Japan maples are utterly worthless. 

 Here we have a most beautiful and hardy shrub which 

 will just fit the spot and which will be worth thou- 

 sands of dollars for our ornamental work. It can be 

 successfully budded on the wild plum or on the Sand 

 cherry and from a single bush thousands can be secured. 

 We cannot emphasize this success too strongly. It 

 seemed to me one of the horticultural triumphs of the 

 century. The fruit of the Pissardi is not of much ac- 

 count but in all probability this hybrid will be an im- 

 mense bearer, and of course, the fruit will be purple 

 like that of the parent, giving us a shrub remarkable 

 for utility and beauty. He is making several of these 

 crosses and we hope he will keep at it along this line 

 where he has won such signal success ; for, among a 

 numerous progeny he will be sure of the richest color 

 and also a prolific bearer. 



.\nother triumph is crossing the Japan Sultan plum 

 with the Sand cherry. The fruit of this tree is deep 

 purple all through. This was an off year for fruit- 

 When 1 was there in August, however, he had a few 

 of these crosses. They were of good size, the fruit 

 deep purple all through, and, as I tested them they 

 were of excellent flavor. These two successes are 

 enough to immortalize a man, but these are only the 

 beginnings. It is a pity that a man with such a record 

 and with such a tremendous task before him should be 

 hampered fnr a lack of funds. '\\''e need another Car- 

 negie at his back or the same one who backed Burbank. 

 He needs more money and more men. He should have 

 a strong out-of-door force to keep the grounds in the 

 finest cultivation. He needs experts in his greenliou.-x^ 

 v/here the work of hybridizing is done. Much as Bur- 

 bank has (lone for the Pacifie Slope he has done nothing 

 for the great Northwest if we except the Shasta daisy 

 which in its latest form is a success. In California 

 experiments can be carried on out-of-doors. In the 

 bleak NTorth all this work must be done in the green- 

 house and in winter and it is a shame to the nation that 

 a man of siich >kill and such keen intuition should be 

 hampered. Back him u]) with plenty of money and 

 he would I'aise miracles and tninsform all that bleak 

 Nerthwcht. 



Yorlc, Neh. 



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