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 is sour and astrin- 



[97J 



