THE KANSAS CHERRY. 57 



A PROMISING NEW FRUIT FROM THE PLAINS. 



By Charles E. Bessey, Lincoln, Neb. 



Upon the plains of Nebraska, one of the small native shrubs wliich 

 has attracted attention on account of its promising fruits is what has 

 been known as the Sand cherry. Scientifically, it is the Prunus jpu- 

 iiiila of the botanists, and a member of the natural order Rosacese, 

 and of the family Amygdaleae. Its affinities are with the cherries 

 and the plums, native of this country and Europe. 



In Nebraska it occurs upon sandy soils north of the Platte river, 

 beginning at about 75 or 100 miles from the Missouri river, and ex- 

 tending thence westward and southwestward to the Colorado line. It 

 appears to jDrefer the sandier soils ; hence its popular name ; and over 

 the greater area I have outlined, wherever the soil is sufficiently sandy 

 it occurs in abundance. In these portions of the country the inhab- 

 itants have for a long time been in the habit of collecting and using 

 the fruit, and in some cases attempts have been made to bring the 

 shrubs under cultivation. 



The fruits are true cherries, occurring usually in pairs or threes 

 (rarely singly) on the last year's wood. The cherries are about one- 

 half inch in diameter, and when ripe are of a deep purple-black color. 

 In shape they vary from flattened spherical (oblate spherical) to 

 spherical, and even bluntly conical. At the base they are slightly 

 indented, and the ajpex is usually marked by a slight indentation also. 

 The stalk is .slender, and from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in 

 length. The stone or pit is slightly elongated, but little compressed, 

 rounded on one margin, and bluntly angled on the other. 



The fruits have a colored flesh which possesses in many cases a 

 considerable astringency, but in nearly every clump of bushes one 

 may always find some which have but little if any astringency. I have 

 frequently eaten the fresh clierries while rambling over the plains, and 

 have often found specimens which were fully as palatable as many of 

 the cultivated cherries. 



The shrub grows to a height of from one to two feet, or rarely more. 

 Its leaves are of firm texture, oblanceolate in shape, with slightly ser- 

 rated margins. Their under surfaces are whitish, and they are borne 

 upon short petioles, and stand alternately upon the stems. Under 

 cultivation, the shrubs are much thriftier and the leaves are larger. 



From the fact that in a wild state these cherries are so large, and 

 in many cases so jjalatable, I am led to hope that by cultivation they 

 may be made to yield us a new fruit for our gardens in some portions 

 of the Northern states, especially in sandy soils. I am, moreover, 



