238 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



compact and bushy plant than the sand cherry, and 

 it has a denser and better foliage. The cherries are 

 frequently as large as those of the Early Richmond, 

 and are often very palatable. The fruits are variable 

 in shape, from nearly globular to oblong -pointed. It 

 is from this species that the best results are to be 

 expected in a horticultural way; and from the fact 

 that it grows over such a great area of the interior 

 plains, I expect. that it will be found to adapt itself 

 to most trying soils and situations. 



This dwarf cherry is not mentioned in the Rocky 

 Mountain botanies, although there can be no doubt 

 that it is wild in Colorado and Utah. Dr. C. C. 

 Parry collected it in eastern Colorado in 1867, and 

 apparently the same was found somewhere in the 

 Rocky Mountains, presumably in Colorado, in 1888, 

 by S. M. Tracy. It was collected even so long ago 

 as 1839 by Geyer, in Nicollet's famous expedition, 

 being found on "arid sandy hillsides of the upper 

 Missouri." I remember with great distinctness, that 

 a "Rocky Mountain cherry" grew in my father's yard 

 from my earliest boyhood. Pits were brought by a 

 friend from Pike's Peak in an early day. As the 

 western botanies do not mention any dwarf cherry, I 

 had always been puzzled over this friend of my 

 earlier years. 



The horticultural history of the plant seems to 

 begin with A. S. Fuller's "Small Fruit Culturist," 

 1867. Mr. Fuller mentions having collected the sand 

 cherry (the true Primus pumila) upon Hat Island, in 

 Lake Huron, in 1846. But he also had this western 

 species. "A few years ago," he writes, "through the 

 kindness of Professor George Thurber, I received some 



