436

ARNOLD ARBORETUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY,
DIRECTOR'S OFFICE.

Brookline, Mass., September 4, 1891.

Dictated.

My dear Professor Bessey:

I have your note of the 31st and I write to say that I hope
by all means you will write out your paper on Prunus pumila for Garden
and Forest. It is high time that we should endeavor to cast some
light on this puzzling genus as it is represented in America.

Why can't you send me some fresh fruit and foliage of Pru-
nus Americana as it grows with you and from as many different trees
as possible? I don't believe that we can find any stable characters
in the stones which vary enormously in Prunus always, but I should
very much like to see fruit and foliage of the trees as they grow in
your section.

Yours faithfully,
signature

Prof. Chas. E. Bessey,
Lincoln, Neb.