THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
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('oiii'lyai'ds and t(Mn|)l(‘ grounds in coidral and nortlieru 
Japan. Tin' larg('st tree soon l)y Wilson was sixty-five 
tall with a head as broad as the height of the tree. 
Th('i(' is a form of P. subhiiiella (var. (lutumnalis) with 
sc'inidouhle llowei's whieh hlooins in both spring and 
autiiinn. This is a shrub often cultivated in Tokyo gar¬ 
dens, and in the Arboretum first flowered in May, 1915. 
Prunus yedoensis. This is the Cherry-tree which has 
Jx'en most generally planted in Tokyo. It is a small tree 
with smooth jiale gray bark, wide-spreading branches, 
and lai'ge jiale pink or wdiitc flow^ers which usually open 
Itcfore the leaves unfold. No old trees are known in 
Japan, and the origin of this Cherry is uncertain. It 
has not been found growing wild in Japan, and Wilson 
after studying it in Tokyo was inclined to believe that it 
w as a hybrid. But, whatever its origin, it is a hardy tree 
w Inch produces beautiful flowers and should be better 
known in this country and in Europe. Last year the 
flower-huds were killed by the winter cold; now the Ar¬ 
boretum tree is covered with them. 
Prunes serrulata^ var. sachalinensis. This tree, 
which wws called Primus Sargentii until it was discov¬ 
ered that it had an older name, is believed to be the hand¬ 
somest of the large Cherry-trees of eastern Asia. In the 
forests of northern Japan and Saghalin it is a tree often 
seventy-five feet high, with a trunk four feet in diameter; 
it has large pale pink or rose-colored single flowers, large 
dark green leaves w Inch are deep bronze color as they un¬ 
fold with the opening flower-buds and small globose 
fruits which are bright red at first when fully growm and 
become black and lustrous when ripe. In western coun¬ 
tries this tree was first raised in the Arboretum in 1890 
from seeds sent here by Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow, of 
Boston, and of the trees introduced by the Arboretum 
there is none of greater beauty. It has been found that 
the seedlings of this tree are the best stock on which to 
graft most of the double-flow^ered Cherries which are so 
highly prized by Japanese gardeners, and that the reason 
w^hy these plants have never been successfully growm in 
the United States or Europe is due to the fact that Japan¬ 
ese gardeners do not use a suitable stock for them. 
Some seventy-five named varieties of these Cherries with 
double or otherwdse abnormal flowers, cultivated in 
Japan, are now in the Arboretum where they are being 
propagated. Among them are fifteen named varieties of 
the Sargent Cherry, and among these are some of the 
most beautiful of all flowering trees hardy in this climate 
and evidently destined, although still little knowm. to be¬ 
come important features in American gardens. Two of 
the handsomest of these double-flow^ered varieties of the 
Sargent Cherry are the forms alho-rosea and Fugenzo; 
the former has large rose-colored flowers changing to 
white as they open, and the other rose-pink flowers; this 
is well known in English gardens under the name of 
James H. Veitch. These two Cherries differ from the 
other Japanese double-flowTred forms in the presence of 
tw o leafly carpels in the eentre of the flow'^ers. 
European and North American Cherries bloom a few 
days later than those from eastern Asia. 
Shad Bushes. The Arboretum wnll be gay wdth the 
white flow’^ers of these plants soon after this Bulletin 
reaches its Boston readers. Shad Bushes have been 
largely used in the plantations along many of the drives. 
and the general collection of all species is in the border 
betw^een the Meadow Road and the parallel walk on tloi 
left-hand side entering from the Jamaica Plain gateway. 
Two of the species are native plants in the Arhoretum, 
Amelanchier laevis and A. oblongifoUa. The first is a 
tree of considerable size, and an inhabitant of rich uj)- 
land woods and dry banks. A. oblongifoUa is a large 
shrub rather than a tree, although tree-like specimens 
sometimes occur. It is easily distinguished from .1. 
laevis by the silver color of the young leaves w Inch at this 
season of the year are thickly covered with silky hairs. 
The earliest of all these plants to flower, A. canadensis, is 
a tree sometimes growing to a height of fifty feet and 
from A. laevis easily distinguished by the covering of pale 
hairs on the lower surface of the leaves. This handsome 
tree is distributed from western New York to Louisiana 
and is the common Amelanchier of the southern states. 
SUN SCALD OF FRUIT TREES 
The winter injury to fruit trees commonly knowui as 
sun scald, in which the sun-exposed side of the trunk is 
affected. Twm other types of injury somcwdiat related to 
sun scald are crotch injury and crowm injury, or crowui 
rot. In the author’s experiments, artificial freezing and 
thawing at various temperatures were resorted to, their 
effect on the cambium being noted. 
Sun scald injury is considered due to direct freezing to 
death of tissues through an increased tenderness of the 
tissue on the sunny side of the trunk in late wdntcr or 
through a rapid temperature fall wdiich causes the killing 
of the tissues on the sunny side of the tree at a higher 
temperature. Both of these factors may be concerned in 
the injury. Sun scald is considered to be a late winter 
injury, as distinguished from crown rot, which is per¬ 
haps an early winter injury. Sun scald is, therefore, 
not induced by late growth or an unripened condition of 
the tree in the fall, while crown rot is undoubtedly due to 
this condition. 
As a result of experiments, the author claims that a 
practical method of controlling sun scald is to spray or 
paint the trunks of the trees with whitewash in the fall 
or early winter. This method is considered more feas¬ 
ible than shading with boards or otherwdse.-^A. J. Mix, 
N. Y. Cornell Station. 
HUMUS 
To be up-to-date one must believe in humus because 
the scientists tell us it contains plant foods, in spite of 
the old gardeners’ opinion that it w^as “hungry stuff” and 
only fit for growing ferns, ericaceous plants, because 
they need a porus soil and one that was retentative of 
moisture, and even for these plants you must add some 
good loam to it, if you wanted good, solid growth. 
It is nice and clean to handle, has undoubtedly a good 
mechanical action on stiff soils, and is fine for milady’s 
flower bed. 
For the nurseryman it is questionable if the mechan¬ 
ical action to the soil cannot be secured cheaper by 
proper working, and fertilizer procured in a cheaper 
foiTu than by the application of humus. 
