6o 



The Journal ot Heredity 



Coast, the Southwest in general, and 

 the Gulf States. Throughout this 

 area the tree ought to succeed, so far 

 as resistance to cold is concerned; 

 whether or not good fruit will be 

 produced is another question. In tropi- 

 cal America the capulin seems to be at 

 its best in a relatively dry climate. 

 The highlands of Ecuador and the 

 plateaus of Mexico, for example, re- 

 semble southern Calfornia much more 

 closely, in respect to climatic condi- 

 tions, than they do the Gulf States or 

 the Pacific Northwest. True, there are 

 many capulins in the vicinity of Bogota, 

 Colombia, where rainfall is much more 

 abundant and is distributed through- 

 out a large part of the year. We can 

 only suggest, therefore, that the tree is 

 likely to find conditions the most con- 

 genial in the semiarid Southwest, but 

 that it may succeed, also, in the Gulf 

 States generally, and perhaps even 

 farther north. 



As to soil, the capulin does not seem 

 at all exacting, though it grows best, 

 so far as we have observed, on sandy 

 alluvial loam. We have seen it on 

 heavy clay soils, and also on dry, rocky 

 hillsides, as well as on the loose, 

 volcanic sands which abound in the 

 Ecuadorean highlands. It is safe to 

 infer, therefore, that it can be grown 

 successfully on any reasonably good 

 soil. We have had no means of 

 ascertaining whether or not it is alkali- 

 resistant to a high degree. 



Very little can be said concerning the 

 cultural requirements of the tree, 

 since it has not been subjected to 

 systematic cultivation in Latin Amer- 

 ica. Data are, therefore, altogether 

 lacking. If the trees are to be planted 

 in orchard form, we would not recom- 

 mend that they be set closer than 25 

 feet apart. Thirty-five feet would be 

 better, particularly if the soil is of good 

 quality so that large trees will result. 

 If grown in a region of little rainfall, 

 the capulin should be watered fre- 

 quently, — at least every fortnight dur- 

 ing the first few years after planting, 

 and later about once a month. 



Little i)runing will be re(|uired, aside 

 from that necessary to lorm a shapely 



crown and to eliminate dead or un- 

 healthy wood. Since the fruit racemes 

 develop from the leaf axils of the 

 young branchlets, pruning which re- 

 moves many of these latter should be 

 avoided as much as possible. The 

 capulin, which belongs to the group of 

 cherries that bears its fruits in racemes, 

 is much more productive than the 

 cultivated cherries of northern coun- 

 tries, all of which belong to the group 

 in which the fruits are produced in 

 small clusters or cymes. A single 

 raceme of the capulin often carries 

 from six to ten fruits, and these racemes 

 are produced in the utmost abundance 

 from the leaf axils of the young 

 branchlets. 



PROPAGATION AND VARIETIES 



As has already been mentioned, the 

 capulin has been propagated in Latin 

 America almost exclusively by means 

 of seed. In recent years, one of the 

 present writers has shown that graft- 

 ing and budding can be employed 

 successfully — as would be expected, 

 a priori, since the genus Prunus lends 

 itself to these methods of propaga- 

 tion throughout the world, in many 

 distinct species. 



We are in possession, therefore, of 

 exceedingly simple and practical means 

 of reproducing an\' chance seedling 

 which produces fruit of superior qual- 

 ity and is otherwise desirable. The 

 next thing to be done is to search out 

 these choice seedlings, secure them for 

 propagation, and then disseminate 

 thein as horticultural varieties through- 

 out those regions of the world in which 

 they will succeed. We can see no 

 logical reason why the capulin, in its 

 finer horticultural varieties, should not 

 become an important and popular 

 fruit in many parts of Latin America 

 where it is now grown solely in its 

 inferior seedling forms; also in certain 

 portions of the United States, in 

 southern Europe, and generally along 

 the shores of the Mediterranean, in 

 many parts of Asia Minor, perhaps 

 in South Africa and Australia, and 

 very likely in northern India and the 

 surrounding regions. 



