150 LUTHER BURBAjXTK 



of Nebraska, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. What 

 has just been said suggests that the fruit is not 

 truly a cherry, yet the botanists seem to feel that 

 it occupies an intermediate station, and is more 

 closely related to the cherry than any other fruit. 



Such being the case, it should be possible to 

 hybridize this dwarf hardy species with the 

 cherry. The tree has the further valuable prop- 

 erty of being able to grow on dry, barren sands. 

 A hybrid cherry having this characteristic from 

 one of its ancestors might be expected to consti- 

 tute a fruit that would grow in regions too arid 

 for the existing cherry as well as in regions that 

 are too cold. And this is but one of the several 

 lines of possible development that invite the plant 

 experimenter who will give attention to this type 

 of cherry. 



To suggest one other line of improvement, it 

 is sufficient to call attention to the familiar fact 

 that the cherry has a very brief season. The 

 Bur bank cherry fruits a week or two earlier than 

 most others, as we have learned in another chap- 

 ter. But even so, the total period during which 

 cherries of different varieties are in fruit is very 

 limited. One hears reports of an exceptional 

 cherry tree that fruits a second time in the au- 

 tumn. By the usual process of raising numerous 

 seedlings, or by crossing and selection, a variety 



