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ig thefe trees will be fit 



to remove V but if your ground is not ready to re- 

 ceive them, they may remain two years before they 

 are trahfplanted *, in doing which, yoii muftx)bferve 

 not to head them, as is by many praclifed, for this 

 very often is immediate death to them , but if they 

 furvive it, they feldom recover this amputation in five 

 or fix years. 



If thele trees are intended for a wall, I would advife 

 the planting dwarfs between the ftandards ; fo that 

 while the dwarfs are ' filling the bottom of the walls, 

 the {cahdardS will cover the tops, and will produce 

 a great deal of fruit: but thefe, as the dwarfs arife 

 to fill the walls, hiuft be cut away to make room for 

 them 5 and when the dwarf trees cover the walls, the 

 ftandards fliould be entirely taken away. But I would 

 adviic, never to plant ftandard Cherries over other 

 fruits, for there is no other fort of fruit that will prof 

 per well under the drip of Cherries. 

 When thefe trees are taken up from the nurfery, 

 their roots' muft be fliortened, and all the bruifed parts 

 'cutoff^ and alfo all the fmall fibres,' which would 

 dry, grow mouldy, and be a great prejudice to the 

 new fibres in their coming forth ; you muft alfo cut 

 off" the dead part of the fbock which was left above 

 the bud, clofe down to the back part of it, that the 

 ftock may be covered by the bud. If thefe trees are 

 defigned for a wall, obferve to "place the bud dii-ectly 

 from the wall, that the back part of the ftock that 

 was cut may be hid from fight: The foil that Cher- 

 ries thrive beft in, is a frelh h^zel loam ; but if the 

 •foil is a dry gravel, they will not live many years, and 

 will be perpetually blighted in the fpring. 

 Tlie forts commonly planted againft walls, are the 

 Early May, and May Duke, which ftiould have a 

 fouth afpefted wall. The Hearts and common Duke 

 will thrive on a* weft wall j and in order to continue 

 this fort later in the feafon, they are frequently planted 

 againft north and north-weft afpecled walls, where 

 they fucceed very well ; and the Morello on a north 

 wall, which laft is chiefly planted for preferving. 

 The Hearts are all of them ill bearers, for which rea- 

 fon they are feldom planted againft walls : tut t'am 

 apt to believe, if they v;ere grafted upon the Bird 

 Cherry, and m>anaged properly, that defeft might be 

 remedied ^ for this ftock (as I am informed) will ren- 

 der Cherries very fruitful; and'having the fame'ef- 

 fed on Cherries, as the Paradife ftock hath on Appk's, 

 they may be kept in lefs compafs, which is an expe- 

 riment well worth the trial. . ,; . 



Your trees, if planted againft a wall, ftiould be 

 placed at leaft twenty or twenty-four feet afunder, 

 with a ftandard tree between each dwarf : this will 

 be found a reafonable diftance, when we confider, that 

 'Cherry-trees will extend themfelves full as far as Apri- 

 cots, and many other forts of fruit. . 

 In pruning thefe iorts of fruit, you ftiould never 

 ftiorten their ftioots; for the" moft part of them pro- 

 duce their fruit buds at the extremities, v/hich, when 

 ftiortened, are cut off, and this often occafions the 

 'death of the (hoot, at leaft a good part of its length : 

 their branches ft.ould be therefore trained in at full 

 length horizontally, obfcrving in May, where there is a 

 vacancy in the wall, to ftop fome ftrong adjoining 

 branches, which will occafion their putting out two or 

 more ftioots ; by which means, at that feafon of the 

 year, you may always get a fupply of wood for covering 

 the wall •, and at the fame time, ftiould all foreright 

 ftioots be dil'placcd by the hind y for if they are fuffered 

 to grow till winter, they will not only deprive the bear- 

 ing branchcsof their proper fupply of nourifhmeht, but 

 when they are cut out, it occafions the tree t6 gum in 

 that part (for Cherries bear the knife the worft of any 

 lort of fruit trees-,} but be careful not to rut) off thefides 

 orfpurs, wj)ich are produced upon the two and three 

 years oldwgod; for it is upon thefe that thegreateftpart 

 of the fruit arc produced, which fides will continue 

 fruitful for fevcral years. And it is for want' of duly 

 obfervir.g this cautio/i', that Cherry-trees are often feen 

 fo unfruuful, efpecially the Morello. which the mo. e 



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it is cut the weaker it ftioots; and,- at laft, br fr«- 



quent pruning, I have known a whole wall of dicra 

 deftroyed; which, if they had been fuffered to grow 

 without any pruning, might probably have lived many 

 years, and produced large quantities of fruit. 

 Cherry-trees are alfo planted for orchards in maiiy 

 parts of England, pardcularly in Kent, where there 

 are large- plantations of thefe trees. The ufual dil- 

 tance allowed for their ftanding is forty feet fquare, 

 at which fpace they are lefs fubjed to blight than 

 when they are clofer planted ; and the ground may be 

 tilled between them almoft as well as if it were entire- 

 ly clear, efpecially while the trees are young ; and 

 often ftirring the ground, provided you do not dit 

 turb their roots, will greatly help the trees ; but 

 when they are grown fo big as to over-ftiadow the 

 ground, the drip of their leaves will fuffer very few 

 things to thrive under them. Thefe ftandard trees 

 ftiould be planted in a fituation defended as much as 

 poffible from the ftrong wefterly winds, which are 

 very apt to break their tender branches ; this occafi- 

 ons their gumming, and is very prejudicial to them. 

 The forts beft approved for an orchard, are the com- 

 mon Red, or Kentifti Cherry, the Duke, and Luke- 

 ward J all which are plentiful bearers. But orchards 

 of thefe trees are now fcarcely worth planting, except 

 where land is very cheap •, for the uncertainty of their 

 bearing, with the trouble m gathering the fruit, to- 

 gether with the fmall price it commonly yields, hath 

 occafioned the deftroying many orchards of this fruit 

 in Kent within a few .years paft. , / 



This fruit was brought out of Pontus, at the time 

 of the Mithridatic viftory, by Lucullus, in the year 

 of the city 6So, and were brought into Britain about 

 I20 years afterward, which was An, Dom. c^c, ; and 

 were foon after fpread through moft parts of Europe, 

 it being generally efteemed for its earlinefs, as being 

 one of the firft of the tree fruit that appears to weU 

 come in the approaching fruit feafon.^^/j^.: 

 This fort of fruit hath been Sy rnany people grafted 

 upon the Laurel, to which it is a congener j but the 

 effeft it hath in the growth of the tree, as alfo in its 

 fruit, will not recommend it to praftice, the trees 

 being of fiiort duration, and feldom produce much 

 fruit i though this pradice is as old as Pliny, who 

 fays it gives the fruit a pleafant bitternefs : but there 

 is little to be depended upon in the writings of the 

 .ancients, with refpefl: to the feveral forts of trees be- 

 . 5"g grafted u^on each other ^ very few of thofe which 

 we find mentioned by them to have been frequently 

 praftifed, will not fucceed with us. . Nor is it owing 

 to the. difference of climate, as fome have fuppofcd, 

 who are inclinable to believe whatever they find re- 

 lated in thofe books, elpecially in the bufinefs of huf- 

 bandry and gardening ; whereas rriany of the rules for 

 the practical part of huft>andry, are not founded on 

 experiments, but are mere theory j for from many 

 repeated trials which have been made with the utmoft 

 care, by pcrfons of the beft fkill, it appears, that no 

 two forts of trees, which are of different claffes, will 

 take upon each other. However, the Laurel and 

 the Cherry being of the fame genus, or fo near of 

 kin to be ranked together by moft botanifts, will 

 take upon each other by grafting. But I hc^ve not 

 yet feen any of the trees fo grafted, which have lived 

 . to be of any confiderable fize \ though I have feen 

 "many trees fo grafted, which have lived a few years, 

 but have made very poor progrefs-, nor do I remenv 

 ber' to' have ittx\ any fruit upor; the Cherry-trees 

 which were grafted on the Laurels, jtherefore cannot 



determine what effect this has pn the flavour of the 

 rruit. 



There are fome perfons who graft the Duke, and 

 other forts of Cherries, upon the Morello Cherry, 

 which is but a weak {hooter, in order to check the 

 luxuriant growth of "tHeir trees, which will fucceed 

 for three or four years : but they are not of long du- 

 ration, nor have I ever feen one tree fo grafted, which 

 had made fhoots above fix or eight inches long, but 

 the^ were clgfely covered wjth blofibms,^ fo may pro- 



" ^ ' ' . duce 



