1364 Rural School Leaflet 



the cherry 



The cultivated cherry is not a native of this country; it came from 

 southeastern Europe, where many fniits originated. There are many 

 species of the cherry growing wild in the United States. A few of these 

 give promise of being useful and valuable some day, but as yet they do 

 not compare with those from the Old World. 



This frtiit is steadily growing in importance. There are already a 

 large mmiber of cherry orchards in western New York and in other sections 

 of the United States. The fmit is used chiefly for canning, and is very 

 delicious for this purpose. 



Cherries may be divided into two groui)S — the sweet and the sour. 

 The trees differ greatly in appearance and in habits of growth. The sweet 

 cherries are large, vigorous, upright-growing trees with reddish brown 

 bark, which separates in rings. The flowers appear at the same time as 

 the leaves. The sour chen-ies are low-growing trees with spreading, bushy 

 heads, much resembling in size and shape the head of the peach tree. 

 The flowers appear before the leaves. It is the sour cherry that is 

 chiefly grown on a commercial scale, although the sweet cherry is 

 gaining in favor for this purpose. 



Both sweet and sour cherries are divided into groups, and these groups 

 in turn are made up of different varieties. There are four distinct groups 

 of sweet cherries : the Mazzards, which grow wild in eastern United States, 

 not desirable in themselves but furnishing good stocks for other groups; 

 the Hearts, large soft, heart-shaped cherries, either light or dark in color, 

 represented by Tartarian and Wood; the Bigarreaus, also heart-shaped, 

 but very firm and meaty, Napoleon being a common variety; and finally, 

 the Dukes, light-colored, not so sweet as the other groups, and represented 

 by May Duke. These classes have been mixed by crossing, until now 

 it is very difficult in many cases to tell in which group a variety belongs. 



The sour cherries are separated into the Amarellcs and the Morellos. 

 The Amarellcs are light red cherries with uncolored juice, Richmond and 

 Montmorency being well-known varieties. The Morellos are dark red, 

 more acid than the Amarellcs, and have a colored juice. The Morello, 

 grown for so many years, belongs to this last-named group. 



The cherry is propagated by budding, in the same way as are the apple 

 and the pear. The stocks used are the Mazzard, which has been men- 

 tioned, and the Mahaleb, a European species. Of the two stocks the 

 Mazzard is the better, because it makes a larger, more vigorous tree. 

 The nurseryman prefers to use the Mahaleb, however, as it effects a union 

 with the scion more readily and does better in the nursery row. Cherry 

 trees are usually set out at two years from the bud, although one-year-old 

 trees may be used. Sour cherries are set from sixteen to eighteen feet 



