62 



The Journal of Heredity 



The numerous attempts which we 

 have made to send seeds from Ecuador 

 and Guatemala to the United States 

 have shown that they are not easy to 

 transport. Though packed carefully 

 and in material calculated to keep them 

 in good condition for at least one 

 month, they have failed to reach 

 the United States alive. We probably 

 have not hit upon the right method of 

 handling them, though we believe it 

 will yet be possible to do this, for 

 seeds of many other species of Prunus 

 can be shipped without difficulty. 



In the United States there should be 

 no need of bothering with seeds of the 

 capulin, since we can doubtless utilize 

 those of our native form of Primus 

 serotina to produce stock-plants on 

 which to bud or graft the finest 

 capulins from the Andean region. 



When grown from seed the capulin, 

 like nearly all other tree fruits, tends to 

 degenerate; and among a hundred 

 seedlings of a choice horticultural 

 variety, probably not more than one or 

 two will be equal to the parent in size 

 and quality of fruit. Vegetative prop- 

 agation must, therefore, be depended 

 upon if the occasional superior varieties 

 which originate as chance seedlings are 

 to be reproduced on an extensive scale. 



Experiments at Ambato, Ecuador, 

 have shown that budding and grafting 

 are both highly successful when prop- 

 erly performed. Grafting is prac- 

 ticed between the middle of July and 

 the first of September, at which time 

 the trees are semi-dormant; budding, 

 on the other hand, is most successful 

 if performed later than this, i. e., in 

 that season which corresponds to the 

 northern spring if the bud is of the 

 type known in Spanish as ojo despierto 

 (pushing bud) and earlier than grafting, 

 if of the type known as ojo dormido 

 (dormant bud). The common shield 

 bud is used, or, in the case of grafting, 

 a cleft or crown graft. 



The grafts "take" (unite with the 

 stock) within a few weeks' time, and 

 it is common for them to flower by 

 the end of the first year and to bear 



fruit the second. The only stock- 

 plant so far employed is the seedling 

 capulin, but it would be worth while 

 to test several others, such as the sour 

 cherry. 



In such a region as that of Ambato, 

 Ecuador, where climate and soil are 

 both favorable and where the capulin 

 has received a certain measure of 

 cultural attention, no two seedling 

 trees produce fruits exactly alike. 

 There are, in short, almost as many 

 varieties as there are trees. Only a few 

 are worthy of propagation, and there 

 are usually one or two trees which 

 acquire a local reputation for superi- 

 ority — such as that held at the present 

 day by the famous old Gonzales tree 

 at Catiglata in the suburbs of Ambato. 



Early writers frequently refer to the 

 varieties of the capulin, but usually 

 do not go further than to say that 

 they are two in number, the red and 

 the white, or the red and the yellow; 

 this is an allusion to the variation 

 in color which exists, the fruit of 

 certain trees being lighter colored than 

 the normal form, which bears cherries 

 of a deep purplish maroon. 



It is not true that there are well- 

 defined white or straw-colored varie- 

 ties; there are all gradations in color 

 between dark maroon-purple and light 

 yellowish red, but the great majority 

 of trees produce fruits of the normal 

 purple-maroon, and it is indeed rare 

 to find one of any other shade. 



Much more important, from the 

 horticultural viewpoint, are the dif- 

 ferences in flavor which can be noted 

 among the fruits from different trees 

 in any region such as that of Ambato. 

 Those of many trees are so bitter as to 

 be disagreeable, while an occasional 

 variety will be found to be sweet, 

 pleasant, and altogether delicious. It 

 is these latter which must be sought 

 out and propagated if the possibilities 

 of the capulin are to be fully realized, 

 and if it is to become eventually, as 

 we confidently believe it will, a popular 

 fruit throughout the subtropical re- 

 gions of the entire world. 



