198 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



All are entrancingly beautiful. Cherry trees grow 

 wild in the woods and thickets throughout the length 

 and breadth of Japan and they are everywhere 

 planted in vast numbers in temple and castle 

 , grounds, in park and garden, in the streets of the 

 cities and alongside the highways, by pond and by 

 river-side. At Koganei, a village some ten miles from 

 Tokyo, there is a three-mile avenue of Cherry trees, 

 planted in 1735 by command of the Shogun Yoshi- 

 mune. Many of the trees are from sixty to seventy- 

 five feet tall, with trunks from ten to twelve feet in 

 girth, and crowns from fifty to sixty feet through, and 

 when in full flower the scene presented is a never-to- 

 be-forgotten one. 



As one result of its recent expedition to Japan the 

 Arnold Arboretum has now growing a collection of 

 more than seventy varieties of these Cherries and in a 

 few years the American public will have an opportun- 

 ity of appreciating the attractive charms of these 

 plants. Meanwhile, the following kinds of proven 

 merit should be grown by all who love a hardy plant. 



The first of these Cherries to open its blossoms is 

 Prunus subhirtella, the Higan-sakura or Spring Cherry 

 of the Japanese. This is a low bushy tree, rarely 

 more than from eighteen to twenty feet tall, with thin, 

 ascending-spreading branches and a dense mass of 



