94 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
PRACTICAL NURSERY WORK . 
Conditions to be Met by the Prairie Nurserymen—Continuation 
of Professor Hansen’s Observations on the Growth of 
Stocks-Difficulties Surrounding Propagation of 
Cherries, Peaches and Grapes in the Sec¬ 
tion Named —Plant Breeding — 
Evergreens. 
The continuation of the paper by Professor N. E. Hansen, 
Brookings, South Dakota, on “Some New Lines for Prairie 
Nurserymen,’’ read at the Chicago convention is as follows : 
In cherries we are somewhat at a loss at present, although 
there is a silver lining to the cloud. Mazzard & Mahaleb are 
both tender in severe winters over a large area of the North¬ 
west. 
The Wild Red or Pigeon cherry, Prunus Pennsylvanica, is 
still in the experimental stage as a stock. The Minnesota 
State Horticultural Society has not as yet put any cherries on 
their fruit list. Near Moscow, Russia, and the Vladimir 
province east of Moscow, the Vladimir race or type of cherry 
is grown in immense quantities. This cherry comes practically 
true to seed, and is of good size and excellent quality. While 
in Moscow in 1894 and 1897 I bought a large lot of these 
cherries, but the pits heated enroute to America. Pits were 
imported in 1896 and 1898 with the same result. In 1897, 
when sent to Russia and Central Asia after seeds and plants 
by Secretary Wilson for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
I secured a few sprouts of the true Vladimir cherry, and they 
proved hardy at Brookings in the winter of 1898-99, with a 
minimum temperature of forty degrees below zero with the 
ground bare. This race of cherry is probably the hardi st 
known. It is of dwarf habit, and is propagated only from 
seeds and sprouts. In Russia it is sometimes used as a stock 
for other cherries in sections where other cherries can be 
grown. It is not a success on the Mahaleb or Mazzard. Some 
of the Vladimir race were imported by Prof. Budd ; if you 
have any of them in bearing, be sure to save the pits. We 
hope ere long to get the sprouts introduced in quantity. 
PEACHES. 
In peaches, I have nothing new to suggest at present. Try 
budding a few, especially Bokhara No. 3, on sand cherry. 
It makes a nice dwarf tree that is easy to lay down for winter 
protection. There is an interesting field for experiments here. 
Trees grown in this way do well in boxes, but out doors at 
Brookings we find it difficult to save all tops, even with rather 
heavy mulching. 
GRAPES. 
Grapes, in the northern half of South Dakota, have not 
proven satisfactory owing to the dry freezing of the roots 
during the winter ; even manure over the earth covering has 
not proven at all times sufficient. A few experiments here and 
there by people familiar with grape-grafting in Europe indicate 
the hardiness and productiveness of our best hardy varieties, 
such as the Concord and its progeny, by grafting upon the 
wild grape of the Northwest. In time, however, the work of 
Bull will be repeated, and from the wild grape of the North¬ 
west will come a fruit of good size and quality, that will be 
hardy without winter protection. 
Of our cultivated strawberries, those of eastern origin are, 
as a rule, less satisfactory in the West than those originated in 
the western states. In parts of the Dakotas, the dry fall 
makes even the latter lack in hardiness. At Brookings we 
have begun on a new line viz.: the improvement of the wild 
species of Manitoba, and of North and South Dakota. Last 
winter we grew in the greenhouse about three hundred and 
fifty pots of the wild strawberries from the regions named, and 
some of the choicest cultivated sorts, including some of the 
new everbearing ones, sent out from France last year. Over 
eight hundred hand crosses were made during the past winter, 
the wild species being one of the parents in each case. Many 
berries were obtained, the seeds sown at once, and hundreds 
of seedlings are now appearing. We hope to combine the 
perfect hardiness of the wild sorts with the size of fruit of the 
cultivated varieties. To insure perfect hardiness, I am also 
trying to improve the wild strawberries simply by cultivation, 
selection and elimination. 
SMALL FRLITS. 
In raspberries and blackberries the standard varieties are 
not satisfactory over a part of the Northwest, as all must be 
laid down and covered with earth for winter protection to 
insure a crop. The average amateur planter will not do this, 
hence failure results. At Brookings in 1898, we crossed the 
wild raspberry of South Dakota with several tame varieties ; 
the resulting seedlings made a good growth the past year, and 
appear promising. We hope to find among them a good 
raspberry that will not need winter protection. 
In case of the Sand cherry, Prunus Besseyi, a native of the 
Northwest, we have fruited over five thousand seedlings 
under cultivation, and have many thousand more coming on 
oi the second generation. Simply by selection, in the first 
generation, the wild astringency has been nearly eliminated, 
and but little more remains to make it a good table fruit. For 
Western Nebraska and the Dakotas at least, it is very 
promising. 
Similar work is under way with other native fruits, such as 
the grape, black currant, Missouri currant, gooseberry, and 
buffaloberry. All such work is slow but sure. This is a good 
line of work for experiment stations, but commercial nursery¬ 
men will scarcely have time for much of this work, if any. 
The fact is quite plain, however, that the prairie West, and 
especially the Northwest, should develop its own pomology. 
EVERGREENS. 
One of the chief lines of our work should be the replacing 
of European evergreens with American species. The conifer 
experts of Europe say that we have the finest spruce in the 
world, namely, the Silver or Blue spruce of Colorado, Picea 
pungens. They also say we have one of the most beautiful 
firs in the world in the Concolor fir of Colorado and the Rocky 
Mountain region. Why should we not grow more and more 
of these ? The Western White spruce, which is best repre¬ 
sented by the Black Hills spruce, is far hardier, more beauti¬ 
ful, and drought-resisting, than the Norway spruce. The Jack 
pine of North-western Minnesota is far hardier, and of more 
rapid growth, than the Scotch pine from Western Europe. It 
is true that seed of our choicer American evergreens is much 
more expensive than that picked up in the moist climate of * 
Western Europe by cheap labor, but we must overlook the 
first item of cost. Customers will be better satisfied even at a 
higher price, and the nurseryman will be better off in the long 
urn In American evergreens we must avoid planting those 
species that demand moist soil and a sheltered situation, on 
