WILD FRUITS WORTHY OF SOME ATTENTION. 289 



At this time some of the experiment stations are taking 

 up this desirable work of adapting varieties to soil varia- 

 tions and the size and quality by seedling production, and 

 in the near future it is hoped valuable results will be pub- 

 lished. 



278. The Sand Cherry. During the past fifteen years 

 the writer has given considerable attention to the sand 

 cherry, as growing wild in the Black Hills, Wyoming, 

 eastern Colorado, northern Nebraska, and in various places 

 in the Dakotas. The conclusion reached from observation 

 and testing hundreds of seedlings on the experiment- 

 station grounds at Ames, is that it is a promising fruit for 

 development by selection and probable crossing with the 

 cultivated cherries and plums. In Colorado we have 

 tested varieties fully as large as the English Morello cherry 

 and about as free from astringency. Discredit was thrown 

 on this variety by growing and distributing its seedlings. 

 If this variety and others we have tested had been grown by 

 budding and grafting, or from root-cuttings, they would 

 have become valuable, especially at the North, where cul- 

 tivated cherries are not easily grown. 



In connection with its seedling production and selection, 

 with a view to improvement, it will prove valuable as a 

 stock for dwarfing the cherry and plum (186). All varieties 

 of the plum worked upon it have made good union and 

 have been dwarfed to some extent in size of tree and have 

 borne fruit earlier and more continuously than when on 

 plum-roots. So far, our success in .using it as a stock for 

 the cherry has not been as favorable, as only a small per 

 cent of the buds inserted lived. But the few that suc- 

 ceeded seemed to make a good union and have made 

 durable dwarfed trees. Perhaps we have yet to learn the 

 proper season for performing the work. 



