114 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETT. 



Select a piece of rolling ground for your orchard ; if flat and wet they soon 

 die, as they cannot withstand much water. This, perhaps, accounts for the fact 

 that so many complain of the cherry being such a short-lived tree. We have some 

 trees that have been bearing for fourteen years, and have produced full crops about 

 three out of every four years. Give the ground a good deep plowing in the fall, 

 and in the winter if possible cover it with a heavy coat of stable manure ; harrow 

 it well as soon as the soil will pulverize well in the spring. Buy your trees direct 

 from a reliable nurseryman, selecting only smooth, thrifty and bright-looking two- 

 year-old trees. Plant as you would an apple tree, taking care to tramp the soil 

 firmly about the roots and trim to a switch. Allow the tree to commence heading 

 at three and one-half feet. Our orchard is planted 15X1''^ feet, which, unless a 

 liberal application of fertilizer is made, will be found a little close ; I think perhaps 

 twenty feet would be better. Now, the orchard is planted ; next comes the care 

 and cultivation of it until it comes into bearing. Don't stick the trees into the 

 ground and expect to simply wait a few years and reap a rich harvest. True, 

 everything comes to him that waits, but something else besides waiting must be 

 done ; they need cultivation, and pruning and watching. Don't be strangers to them ; 

 be well ucquainted with each one. We plant strawberries and raspberries in the 

 orchard and give them thorough and clean cultivation, thereby giving them the cul- 

 tivation they need without much extra labor. In a part of the orchard where we had 

 strawberries we covered them last winter with about two inches of strawy manure 

 and turned under and sowed to buckwheat just after the strawberries were picked ; 

 as soon as the buckwheat was in bloom it was also turned under, and the ground 

 harrowed and sowed to rye. The rye is now about six inches high, and it will also 

 be turned under in the spring in time to have the ground planted to Gregg rasp- 

 berries. Treated in this manner our young orchard has made an unusually large 

 and quick growth, and from their size might easily be taken for trees twice their 

 age. We prune the trees once a year, taking out all surplus branches and allowing 

 only one main stem. 



The curculio has bothered us some in the cherry as well as the plum, but I 

 think that can be remedied by judicious spraying. Intended to spray the trees last 

 spring, but owing to the excessive rainfall almost every day through the season 

 did not do it. Next is the vital question of marketing the fruit. The cherries are 

 picked with the stems on in quart boxes, and sold the same as raspberries and 

 blackberries, bringing in our local market last year $2 per 24-quart case. 



When my father, Chas. Patterson, with whom many of you were well ac- 

 quainted, first spoke of planting our nine-acTe orchard, we asked him in surprise 

 what would be done with all the cherries ? He replied ; "Let us first get the cher- 

 ries, then if we haven't a market we'll hunt one." The orchard has not yet come 

 into full bearing, having been planted about five years. Our own town will con- 

 sume a great many, and the small towns in each direction will consume a great 

 many more. I have had better success shipping to the small towns within a radius 

 of fifty miles than to the larger cities, and as far as possible will let some one else 

 ship to the cities. We have also a large evaporator near by, having a capacity of 

 500 bushels of apples per day, that could be resorted to in case of necessity. Would 

 like the experience of some one who has tried evaporating cherries; 1 see they are 

 quoted high in the markets. Perhaps in a few years, as soon as our orchard comes 

 into full bearing, I may be able to give you some interesting figures in regard to 

 the cherry business. Arthur Patterson. 



Kirksville, Mo. 



