ON THE CHERRY 
tory. Of course the fruit of this tree is astringent 
and almost as bitter as a green persimmon. But 
the little beach plum from which one of my finest 
plums was developed, was scarcely of better 
quality. 
Perhaps it is not unreasonable to hope that it 
may be possible to make some such improvement 
in the cherry, through combination with the choke 
cherry, as I produced by hybridizing the beach 
plum with the Japanese plum. 
In that event, we shall in all probability have 
a cherry surpassing any existing one in size (be- 
cause of the virility that the cross with the wild 
species has given it), retaining the good qualities 
of the present Burbank cherries, and in addition 
being so hardy that it would thrive in any soil and 
in almost any climate. 
If the choke cherry should fail to prove a sat- 
isfactory parent, there are numerous other wild 
species from which to choose. The black cherry 
of the eastern United States (Prunus serotina), is 
a tree that grows from Nova Scotia to Florida and 
westward to Dakota and Texas. It is of large 
size, and bears a fruit resembling that of a choke 
cherry in color and appearance, but of less astrin- 
gent flavor. Then there is a small red cherry, 
commonly called the bird cherry (Prunus Penn- 
sylvanica), the fruit of which 1s sour and astrin- 
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