7 
say, of all Japanese Cherries, is thickly covered with fast opening flower- 
buds and has not before given greater promise of beauty. It is a large 
shrub which is not known in Japan as a wild plant. Although cultivated 
somewhat in the gardens of western Japan it is uncommon in those of 
Tokyo and therefore has failed to attract the general attention of the 
visitors to the Flowery Kingdom who stick to beaten tracks. The rather 
small drooping flowers are pink when they first open but gradually turn 
white, and those of no other Cherry-tree in the collection remain in good 
condition for so many days. This plant is still rare in American and 
European gardens; it can be increased by grafting, and soft wood cut- 
tings in the hands of a skilful propagator can be made to grow. Seeds, 
which the Arboretum plants produce in great quantities, do not repro- 
duce the parent plant, however, and the seedlings generally grow into 
the tall slender trees which botanists know as Prunus subhirtella var. 
ascendens, and which are common in the forests of central Hondo. 
This tree has generally beep overlooked or neglected as a garden plant, 
but is now flowering in the Arboretum. Much better known is 
the form of P. subhirtella (var. pendula) with pendulous branches 
which, long a favorite garden plant in Japan, was sent many years 
ago to Europe and then to the United States. This beautiful plant, 
which is perfectly hardy in Massachusetts has often grown badly here 
and died long before its time because European Cherry stocks have 
been used for multiplying it. The proper stocks for the Weep- 
ing Cherry are the seedling plants of Prunus subhirtella (var. ascend- 
ens) or seedlings raised from the seeds of that variety which probably 
have not yet been produced in this country. Seeds of the pendulous 
form sometimes produce plants with pendulous branches, and such 
plants are occasionally found among the seedlings of Prunus subhir- 
tella. There are few flower-buds this spring on the weeping Japanese 
Cherry-trees in the Arboretum and these will open much later. The 
flower-buds of Peaches, including those of the wild Peach-tree of north- 
ern China {Prunus Davidiaria), and of several Apricots have been killed 
in the Arboretum by the severe winter but Plums large and small are 
generally well covered with buds. 
The Canada Plum so-called {Prunus nigra) is the first species to flower 
and the buds are already opening. This is a northern tree ranging 
in Canada from New Brunswick westward through the valley of the 
St. Lawrence River and along the northern shore of Lake Superior 
to Winnipeg; it occurs rather sparingly in northern New England, 
western New York and westward to Minnesota. It is a handsome little 
tree v/ith dark close bark, a round-topped head of spreading branches, 
wide coarsely toothed glandular leaves, and large flowers, which unlike 
those of other American Plums turn pink as they begin to fade. Sev- 
eral forms selected for the excellence of their fruit are cultivated and 
valued by pomologists. A form of the Canada Plum found growing in 
Seneca Park, Rochester, New York, near the gorge of the Genesee 
River and believed to be a native plant in that region is when in flower 
one of the most beautiful Plum-trees in the Arboretum collection and 
well worth propagating as a garden ornament. Prunus salicina, better 
