202 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Japanese Flowering Cherries and Other Plants at the Arnold Arboretum 
Japanese Cherries. The publication by the Arbore¬ 
tum of an illustrated book on Japanese Cherries by E. H. 
Wilson greatly increases our knowledge of these plants 
and will lead, it is believed, to their more general cultiva¬ 
tion in this country. Mr. Wilson lias recently passed a 
year in Japan where lie was sent by the Arboretum to 
solve many problems which have long perplexed students 
of the Japanese flora, and especially to study the char¬ 
acter and distribution of the Japanese Cherry-trees and 
the origin and peculiarities of the numerous forms which 
are cultivated by the Japanese and which have made 
Japanese gardens famous. Mr. Wilson succeeded in 
seeing the ten Japanese species in their native forests and 
all the principal collections of the garden forms. The 
introduction into the Arboretum of plants of all the 
species and of seventy different named garden varieties 
is one of the results of this journey. Mr. Wilson states 
in his introduction that, although American and European 
gardeners have been importing Japanese flowering 
Cherries for half a century, scarcely one good-sized 
healthy tree can be found in this country or in Europe. 
These varieties art; double-flowered or otherwise abnor¬ 
mal and therefore can only be propagated by grafting, 
and a choice of the right stock on which to graft them 
is important. The plants imported from Japan are all 
grafted on the variety Mazakura of Primus Lannesiana 
which is a poor short-lived tree particularly subject to 
the attacks of scale and boring insects. It is used as 
stock by the Japanese because it can be quickly and 
cheaply raised from cuttings. In Europe and the 
United States one of the European Cherries has been used 
as stock for the Japanese varieties and on this they have 
succeeded no better than on the ordinary Japanese stock; 
and the conclusion which Wilson has reached after a 
careful study of the subject is that these garden varieties 
of the Japanese Cherry can only succeed and make large 
and permanent plants when they are grafted on seedlings 
of the largest, hardiest and longest lived of the Japanese 
species. This is the northern tree which has been 
called Primus Sargentii but now is known to be the 
northern form of Primus scrrulata and is to be called var, 
sachalinensis. During the last year seedlings of this 
northern tree raised from seeds ripened in the Arboretum 
have been used here as stock on which the varieties 
brought home by Wilson from Japan are being grafted, 
and there is no reason to doubt that the plants produced 
in this way w ill grow here to a large size and become as 
beautiful features in the parks and gardens of America 
as they are in those of Japan. Five Japanese species 
produce double-flowering forms. Those derived from 
the Sargent Cherry, the Yama-sakura or Mountain 
Cherry of the Japanese, will probably prove most val¬ 
uable in this climate where they may be expected to grow 
to a larger size and last longer than the garden varieties 
of the other species. 
In the Arboretum many of the flower-buds of Cherries 
have been killed during the winter. On 
Prunus yeroensis the buds have all been killed. This 
is a white-and pink-flowered tree and one of the hand¬ 
somest of the Japanese species. It is this Cherry which 
has been so largely planted in the streets, parks and 
cemeteries of Tokyo that when it blooms a general bob- 
day is proclaimed by the Emperor that the public may 
enjoy its flowers. This Cherry is perfectly hardy in the 
Arboretum where it has flowered for several years and 
produced crops of fruit. 
Prunus subhirtella. This is the Higan-zakura or 
Spring Cherry of the Japanese. It is a shrubby plant 
from ten to fifteen feet high and broad, and is not known 
as a wild plant, although it is much cultivated in western 
Japan. Mr. Wilson considers it “the most floriferous 
and perhaps the most delightful of all Japanese 
Cherries.” This plant was raised in the Arbortum 
many years ago and from the Arboretum it has been 
widely distributed in the United States and Europe. For 
years it has flowered here regularly and has attracted as 
much attention perhaps as any plant in the Arboretum. 
The small pink flowers now completely cover Hie upper 
branches; those on the lower branches have all been 
killed no doubt by a lower temperature near the ground 
than a few feet above it. 
Prunus subhirtella, var. pendula has lost, too, many 
of its flower-buds and the trees in the Arboretum promise 
to be less beautiful Ibis spring than usual, although in 
some gardens near Boston this Cherry is now covered 
with its drooping pink or rose-colored flowers. This 
weeping Cherry, which has been largely planted in parks, 
temple grounds and cemeteries in Japan, is nowhere 
known as a wild tree. It was introduced into Europe 
and the United States many years ago, and it is now 
fairly common in the gardens of the northern states. In 
propagating this tree American and European nursery¬ 
men have used as stock one of the European Cherries 
which are not suitable for the purpose, and such plants 
are short-lived and generally unsatisfactory. The wild 
type of this weeping tree and of Primus subhirtella is 
Prunus subhirtella var. ascendens, of which there is 
an excellent picture in Mr. Wilson’s book. It is a tall 
tree with erect spreading branches, and grows in forests 
in Japan in Shinano Province, and in central China. It 
has escaped the attention of American and European gar¬ 
deners. and there are only small seedling plants in the 
United States. One of these can now be seen with the 
other forms of Primus subhirtella on the right-hand side 
of the Forest Hills entrance. 
Prunus serrulata var. sachalinensis. The Sargent 
Cherry for the first time since it began to flower here 
some years ago has lost some of its flower-buds, es¬ 
pecially those on the lower branches. This is the larg¬ 
est and the handsomest of the Cherry trees of eastern 
Asia, sometimes attaining in northern Japan the height 
of seventy-five feet and a trunk diameter of four feet. It 
is one of the trees planted in 1735 in the three mile-long 
avenue of Cherry-trees at Ivoganei. near Tokyo, which in 
early spring is still one of the great sights in Japan. 
Hybrid Forsythias. By the path in the rear of the 
group of Forsythias on the slope at the foot of the Bussey 
Hill Road are several specimens of forms of the hybrid 
between Forsythia siispensa and F. viridissima. The 
general name of these hybrids is Forsythia intermedia , 
