DISCUSSION, PLANT BREEDING AS rRACTICAL PURSUIT. 355 



You may get an idea of what he is doing when I tell you he has 

 250,000 seedlings and 40,000 sand cherries. The professor is still 

 a young man, and you are going to hear from him. I have been 

 meeting him since he was associated with Prof. Budd, and I am 

 very glad to meet him here. I want to predict that you will yet 

 hear great things from Prof. Hansen and that he will become 

 the Downing of the northwest. 



Capt. Reed : I would like to learn a little more about the sand 

 cherry. It appears to be recommended to graft upon. I would 

 like to hear from Prof. Hansen upon that point. 



Prof. Hansen : The sand cherry is a child of the sun, "Minne- 

 opa," the Indians call it. It is a native of the plains. If you kill 

 it I will give you a chromo. It is a bush. I am not recommend- 

 ing the sand cherry for Minnesota conditions. It does best on 

 soil where the humidity i^ not so great, I find. I have grown 

 some sand cherries seven-eighths of an inch in diameter. It is 

 not really a sand cherry, it is a sun cherry. It is a type by itself. I 

 do not recommend it to any one ; it is simply in a state of evolution 

 at present. 



Mr. Martin Penning: Don't they rot badly in wet seasons? 



Prof. Hansen: They may in Minnesota, but not as you go 

 west. It is a plant that changes very readily by selection, and 

 the third generation of plants averages much better than the first 

 generation. It is a plant that can easily be mixed with other 

 plants. I look for it to produce a race of bush fruits that will 

 be of great profit in the farmer's garden. 



Capt. Reed : At what age will it bear ? 



Prof. Hansen : Three years from seed. 



Mr. Ferris (Iowa) : Is it not true that the crop is very easily 

 injured by a late frost? 



Prof. Hansen: I have not noticed that. I am not talking 

 of the sand cherry that goes from the east to the far west; I am 

 talking about the Sioux Indian type. 



Mr. Older: Just a moment in regard to that sand cherry 

 Prof. Hansen is working with. It is a product of the west, where 

 it is subject to very cold weather, and it is absolutely worthless 

 in this part of the state. Prof. Hansen has been growing some 

 from seed produced from selection and something very nice. He 

 sent me some of them this last year, a product of some of those 

 from which he saved the seed, and some of them were as nice 

 almost as the Early Richmond for eating purposes, I think in 

 the near future we will have a bush cherry that will be very desir- 

 able in every respect. 



