Winter Meetinci. 209 



'V 



ought anything but a willow be planted in such a j)lace. My bejit 

 growing and bearing trees are on the north side of the top of a small 

 elevation, hardly to be called a hill, though trees are doing well on the 

 south side of the same. Trees set near an artificial pond so that the 

 high water mark is on a level with the roots of trees, are dead or stunted ; 

 while plum trees in the same situation show very little if any damage. 

 The largest and finest specimens of cherry trees the writer ever saw 

 were planted along the upper sides of cuts in roadways and along 

 terraces on mountain and hillsides in Switzerland — trees over two feet 

 in diameter that looked as though they might be a century old. 



Varieties. — I approach this part of my subject with some degree 

 of hesitation. Differences of soil, climate and even the markets may 

 modify the choice of varieties. One of my earliest recollections is a 

 large cherry tree that stood near the homestead in the old "fatherland." 

 How well I remember watching the first burst of bloom in the spring, 

 the development of the fruit, even the counting of the specimens that 

 soine day I might reach, the seemingly slow growth, and then, one 

 morning the red tinge on a few of them — how slowly they ripened. 

 Yes, I will confess to putting some of them into my mouth without 

 picking them from the tree — -I believe I can taste them yet, and when 

 they did get ripe, great big, lusciously sweet, they were such as I never 

 expect to see again, for they will not grow in this climate. When I 

 tasted my first cherries this side the Atlantic I thought, oh ! how is it 

 possible to like such sour things ? 



When in Kansas City a few years ago, I bought a box of Cali- 

 fornia sweets ( ?) ; small affairs they were, but I took them in haste to 

 get once more a realization of my youthful memory. I tried one, two ; 

 in surprise I looked at the rest. They all looked alike. Tried another ; 

 found that all three tasted alike and in disgiist I consigned the whole 

 lot to the gutter. 



But let no one understand that I don't like cherries, even such as 

 we grow in abundance in northwest Missouri. In getting my allegiance 

 Americanized I have also got my cherry taste adjusted and to-day I 

 vote the American cherry a grand success. Fully ripe, they are good to 



H— 14 



