Chapter I · CULTIVATED CHERRIES (continued 2)

But it is in its hybrids that this western cherry has proved most valuable in horticulture. There are now hybrids under cultivation between this species and the Sand plum (Prunus augustifolia watsoni), the Hortulana plum (Prunus hortulana), the Simonii plum (Prunus simonii), the Japanese plum (Prunus triflora), the American plum (Prunus americana), the Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera), the Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium), the peach (Prunus persica), the apricots (Prunus armeniaca and Prunus mume), and the common plum (Prunus domestica). It would almost seem that this species is the "go-between" of the many and varied types of the genus Prunus. It is true that few of these hybrids yet shine as orchard plants but, given time, it seems certain that some will prove valuable in general horticulture and that many will be grown in the special horticulture of the northern Mississippi Valley and the adjoining plains to the west. Credit must be given to Professor N. E. Hansen of the South Dakota Experiment Station for most of our present knowledge of hybridism between this and other species.10

In his work with this species Hansen has also found that Prunus besseyi makes a very good stock for peaches, apricots, Japanese and native plums and that, while it does not so readily consort with the true cherries, yet it can be used as a stock for them. On the other hand larger fruits of the Sand Cherry can be grown when it is budded on stocks of the Americana.

MINOR SPECIES

Besides these well-recognized species of cultivated cherries there are several others that play a much less conspicuous part in horticulture. Prunus fruticosa Pallas, the Dwarf Cherry of Europe, is much cultivated, more especially its botanical variety pendula, as an ornamental and somewhat for its fruit. According to Wilson,11 Prunus involucrata Koehne is grown for its fruit in the gardens of China; the fruits, he says, are "small and lacking in flavour." The fruits of Prunus emarginata Walpers are eaten by the Indians on the Pacific Coast and the early settlers used the species as a stock for orchard cherries. Prunus jacquemontii Hooker, the Dwarf Cherry of Afghanistan and Tibet, is occasionally in culture for its fruit and as a park plant; so also is another dwarf cherry from southwestern Asia, Prunus incana Steven. Prunus pseudocerasus Lindley, the Flowering Cherry of Japan, is a well-known ornamental the world over and in Japan is used as a stock for orchard cherries for which purpose, as we have suggested in the discussion of stocks, it ought to be tried in America.