TIIE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
171 
Notes from Arnold Arboretum 
Japanese Cherry-trees. Of the numerous Asiatic 
Clierry-trees now established in the Arboretum the hand¬ 
somest with single flowers are Prmms sernilala var. 
sarJialinensis, the Sargent Cherry, P. subhirtella, and 
P. yedoensis. These three trees have flowered ami pro¬ 
duced their fruit for many years in the Arboretum, and 
have shown the ability to adapt themselves perfectly to 
the peculiar and diflicult conditions of the New England 
climate. P. serrulala var. sachalinensis is the northein 
form of a Cherry-tree which occurs in three varieties in 
Japan, Korea, and central China. It was once an impor¬ 
tant tree in the forests of northern Japan and Saghalien 
but has now been largely cut for the wood which has 
been used for printing blocks. This Cherry was first 
raised here from seeds sown in 1890, and when in flower 
is the handsomest tree introduced by the Arhoretimi into 
western gardens. The delicate pink or rose-colored 
flowers are short-lived, but the handsome foliage which 
is distinctly tinged with red as the leaves unfold turns to 
brilliant shades of orange and red in the autumn. Primus 
serrulata and its varieties have produced a number of 
forms with double flowers, and these are the hardiest 
and most valuable of the double-flowered Japanese 
Cherries which can be grown successfully in this cli¬ 
mate. There are fourteen double-flowered named varieties 
of the Sargent Cherry in the Arboretum Collection, hut 
only two or three of them are large enough to have flow¬ 
ered here. These double-flowered Cherries bloom two 
or three weeks later than the single-flowered trees, and 
from these may be expected some of the handsomest 
flowering trees which are hardy in the north. Although 
double-flowered Japanese Cherry-trees have been cul¬ 
tivated in the United States and Europe lor fully sixty 
years, they have never grown to a large size or given 
much satisfaction in western gardens. The trouble has 
been in the stock on which these double-flowered plants 
have been grafted. The proper stock tor them is nat¬ 
urally the single-flowered species of which they are var¬ 
ieties, and if such stock is used there can be little doubt 
that larger and healthier trees will he secured than have 
been obtained when oilier species have been used as stock 
in Japanese and in American and European nurseries. 
It is fortunate that the plants of the Sargent Cherry pro¬ 
duce every year good crops of seeds in the Arboretum, 
these seeds arc carefully gathered and widely distributed 
so that there is reason to ho})e that in a few years this 
tree will adorn many American parks and gardens and 
sui)i)ly stock on which the handsomest of the double- 
flowered Cherries can he successfully grafted. 
Prunes subhirtella. This is the Spring Cheriy of 
the Japanese, which one traveller has described as the 
most delightful and floriferous of all Japanese Cherries. 
It is a large shrub ratlier than a tree, and few plants can 
inoduce more flowers than the two large specimens m 
tlie Arboretum where they have been growing for twenty- 
five years. The flowers are drooping, jiale jiink becoming 
nearly white as they begin to fade. Those of no other 
single-flowered Cherry which has been grown in the 
Arboretum last so long in good condition. This Clierry is 
not known as a wild plant, hut it is a good deal cultivated 
in the gardens of western Japan although rare in those of 
Tokyo. Unfortunately it does not reproduce itself from 
seecl, for the seedlings are those of a tall slender tree 
common in the forests of central Japan to which the 
name of Prunus subhirtella var. ascendens has been 
given. This is still a rare tree in cultivation and its value 
in this climate is not yet established. A form of the var¬ 
iety ascendens of Prunus subhirlella has pendulous 
branches and is the well knowm Japanese Weeping 
Cherry-tree (var. penduhi) now common in American 
gardens. Prunus subhirtella can he slowly propagated 
by soft wood cuttings, hut the best way to increase it is 
by grafting or budding it on its own seedlings. Seeds 
are produced in quantity on the Arboretum plants and 
wdll he distributed to nurserymen anxious to obtain stock 
on which to work the true P. subhirlella. When the 
stocks are ready the Arboretum will supply a moderate 
number of grafts, and the nurseryman who will make it 
his business to produce a supply of this beautiful Cherry 
for American gardens will do a good thing for this coun¬ 
try and incidentally for himself. 
Prunus yedonsis. This is the Cherry-tree wdiich has 
been jilanted in great numbers in the siiuares, parks and 
temple grounds of Tokyo. It is a fast-growing short¬ 
lived tree rarely lifty feet high, with a short trunk not 
more than a foot in diameter and w ide-spreading or erect 
branches. The flowers are w bite and slightly fragrant, 
and are followed by abundant small black fruit. This 
Cherry reproduces itself from seed and there is therefore 
no reason w hy it should not he common in x\merican 
gardens. 
Prinsepia sinensis is again covered with clusters of 
bright yellow How ers which spring from the axils of the 
half-growui leaves. This Prinsepia is a tall broad shrub 
with long spreading and arching branches, and stems 
armed w ith many spines. It is perfectly hardy and the 
handsomest shrub Manchuria has contributed to w^estern 
gardens. There are only two specimens in the Arboretum 
and these came here from Petrograd in 1903 and 1906, 
and it has been found dillicult to iiropagate them by cut¬ 
tings. Fortunately last year one of the plants produced 
for the first time a few^ seeds and these have germinated, 
so there is reason to hope if the Arboretum plants become 
more fruitful that this species will be a common orna¬ 
ment in northern gardens. It has mucJi to recommend it 
as a hedge plant. The species from northern China, P. 
uniflora, is a spiny shrub with small white flowers, and 
although it has little beauty its value for forming impene¬ 
trable hedges may prove considerable. 
