486 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Fertilizers. — The cherry probably requires as little fertilizers as 

 any fruit grown. An occasional crop of crimson clover turned in 

 will generally furnish sufficient nitrogen and improve the soil in 

 other ways. Potash can be furnislied in wood ashes or in a high 

 grade muriate of potash, using 250 pounds per acre of a 50 per cent, 

 muriate. This should be applied in the spring and harrowed in. 

 Phosphoric acid may be applied in the same proportions in the form 

 of bone compounds or in South Carolina or Florida Rock. In good, 

 soil, it is seldom that the cherry orchard needs heavy fertilizing if 

 clean culture is practiced ; the close observer can tell when to apply 

 plant food by the action of the trees themselves. 



Limits to the profitable age. — The cherry will live to a great age 

 and bear fruit, there being records of such trees over a hundred 

 years old. As the cherry industry is so small, and no great number 

 of trees have been treated as an orchard for a long time, it is diffi- 

 cult to say just how long an orchard will continue to be profitable. 

 This will depend largely on the variety. In general, I should say 

 that thirty years is the limit to the most profitable age. After that 

 time the trees become so large that the expense of picking the fruit 

 and caring for the trees increases rapidly. 



Handling the crop. — Before one goes into the sweet cherry in- 

 dustry as a business, it should be clearly understood that the cherry 

 is a delicate fruit and more susceptible to injury from handling and 

 from changes in the weather than the strawberry, and the in- 

 dustry should not be taken up unless plenty of good pickers can 

 be obtained on short notice and unless desirable markets are 

 within reach in eight or ten hours after the fruit is picked. 

 It is one thing to raise a crop of fruit, but an entirely different 

 thing to handle and market it successfully. These remarks apply 

 with particular emphasis to the sweet cherry, because the crop has 

 to be sold immediately when ripe and the delay of a day may mean 

 the loss of the entire crop, as the commission men "slaughter" the 

 sales when the fruit begins to go down. It is strongly recommended 

 that the markets be thoroughly looked up and studied before one 

 goes into the cherry business. 



The first essential in handling a crop of cherries is to have the 

 fruit picked with great care, the stem being left on each cherry, 

 and only the stem touched with the fingers. The most desirable 

 method of picking is in 8-lb. baskets, as in a larger package the 

 bottom fruits are pressed too heavily. I saw delicate Tartarian and 



