3 
species are as handsome garden plants as some of the hybrids between 
the Chinese F. sufipensa Fortunei and F. viridissima, to which the 
general name of Forsythia intermedia has been given. The best of 
these, the var. spectabi l.is, is the handsomest Forsythia which has yet 
been seen in the Arboretum. The flowers are larger and more abund- 
ant than those of either of its parents, and of a deeper color. Other dis- 
tinct and handsome forms are var. primulina and var. pallida. The 
former, which appeared as a seedling in the Arboretum a few years 
ago, has primrose colored flowers; the flowers of the latter are pale 
straw color and paler than those of other Forsythias. Forsythias are 
often badly planted; they require space in which to spread their long 
gracefully arching branches and are not suitable for small gardens. To 
be most effective they should be planted as in the Arboretum, in a great 
mass on a bank or hillside, A Forsythia should never be planted nearer 
than ten or twelve feet to a road or path, for if there is not enough 
room between path and plant for its natural growth the side branches 
must be cut away and an ugly, awkward, bare-stemmed specimen will 
be left. In suburban gardens in which the care of plants is usually left 
to the mercy of the jobbing gardener, the branches of Forsythias and 
of many other shrubs are often cut back in winter or early spring. 
This destroys the beauty of the plants, and as Forsythias produce their 
flowers on the branches of the previous year most of the flow'ers are 
sacrificed. If a Forsythia must be pruned it should be done just after 
the plant has flowered, and the oldest stems and branches should be 
entirely removed that younger ones may grow naturally. 
Asiatic Cherries. Like other plants these Cherries are flowering this 
year from three to four weeks before their normal time. The flowers 
of the earliest Cherry, Pruniis tomentosa, were fully open on the 6th of 
this month. It is a native of northern China and a shrub only five or 
six feet high, and when it has not been crowded sometimes ten or 
fifteen feet in diameter. The flowers open from pink buds as the 
leaves unfold and the bright red stalk and calyx make a handsome 
contrast with the white petals. The small fruit ripens in June and is 
scarlet, covered with short hairs and of a pleasant flavor. This Cherry 
was first raised by the Arboretum nearly forty years ago and there are 
a few large plants in the Boston parks, but in spite of its beauty and 
handsome flowers it has not yet caught the popular fancy. As a fruit 
plant it has received attention in Manitoba and the Dakotas where it 
has proved hardy and promises to be valuable. The variety from west- 
ern China (var. endotricha) flowers a few days later. 
Prunus subhirtella opened its first flowers on April 7, and unless the 
buds are injured by cold it will be in full bloom when this Bulletin 
reaches its eastern Massachusetts readers. This is the “Japanese 
Spring Cherry” which has been described by a traveller in Japan who 
has made an exhaustive study of its Cherry-trees as “the most flcrif- 
erous and perhaps the most delightful of all Japanese Cherries.” When 
its branches are covered with its pink drooping flowers no other large 
shrub or small tree which can be growm in northern gardens is more 
beautiful; and the flowering of the “Japanese Spring Cherry” is one 
of the great events of the Arboretum year; and this spring the trees 
