LUTHER BURBANK 



feet that suggests itself is that the newly devel- 

 oped cherries, particularly the sweet ones, lack 

 something of hardiness. They grow to perfection 

 in California, but as yet they are little grown in 

 the eastern United States, and not at all in regions 

 north of Ohio and Missouri. Yet the race of cher- 

 ries, taken as a whole, constitutes a very hardy 

 stock. The wild cherries of the eastern United 

 States grow far to the north and are able to with- 

 stand the winters even in regions where the mer- 

 cury sometimes freezes. 



It should be possible, and doubtless it will 

 prove possible, to combine the best existing vari- 

 eties of cherry with some of the wild cherries, and 

 thus to develop a race of cherries that will retain 

 the present qualities and introduce additional 

 qualities of hardiness fitting them for growth 

 anywhere in the United States; in fact this is a 

 work in which I am now engaged. 



The common choke cherry (Prunus Virgini- 

 ana) is a very hardy tree, unusually productive, 

 and almost indifferent as to soil and climatic con- 

 ditions. 



I have made experiments in the cultivation of 

 this tree, raising thousands of seedlings from fruit 

 of a large, handsome specimen that grew by the 

 roadside near Westfield, Massachusetts. The ex- 

 periments as far as conducted have been satisfac- 



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