PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUMMER MEETING. . 125 



A TALK ON CHERRIES. 

 BY MR. STEPHEN COOK OF BENTON HARBOR. 



I don't wish it to be understood that I know all about cherry culture 

 or all about the varieties. It is true I know some things about it, but I 

 am not so egotistical ^s to suppose I know all. Perhaps I may throw out 

 a few ideas, from my observation and experience in my own locality. It 

 is true that a certain cherry might do well in my locality and not in 

 another part of the state. So what I have to say will relate mostly to our 

 lake shore country. 



The first thing is in regard to location. Now, there are some places 

 where I would not plant cherries. I would not plant them in a hollow nor 

 on wet ground — always avoid low ground. I do not say it is necessary to 

 have a dry, sandy soil, although they will do well there; a good, sub- 

 stantial soil, if it is not wet, if it will produce good crops of corn and 

 wheat, is a good location for the cherry orchard. It is a fact that a 

 cherry tree will be killed by wet where a pear tree would flourish, or even 

 a peach tree. I think the Mahaleb stock will stand wet better than the 

 Mazzard, but I wouldn't advise any one to put a cherry tree on wet soil. 

 On a dry clay soil, or where there is a slope, there v.'ill not be much 

 danger. I have some trees situated like that, and they do well. At 

 the same time, you can plant cherries on any elevated piece of ground and 

 they will do well. 



There is another difficulty, where you have a sandy knoll, for instance, 

 where the sand is liable to be blown off. There is danger of the frost 

 getting down so deep that the roots may be injured. I have seen cherry 

 trees killed in that way. I have never had a cherry tree injured at the 

 top, but there is danger that the roots may be injured. But by using 

 Mahaleb stock that will be avoided. That has a very strong, tough root. 

 In a locality like that, if a man is setting a cherry orchard on high, 

 elevated ground, and it is sandy, and the sand is liable to be blown awyy, 

 I should mulch the trees, mulch in the fall. 



What varieties should be raised for market? Here will come a differ- 

 ence of opinion. For my locality, as some of the leading varieties, I 

 should take May Duke first. That is between a sweet and a very acid 

 cherry, of which Richmond is a type. May Duke is sufficiently acid 

 for any purpose, and still, when it is thoroughly ripe, it is daik r"d ajid 

 very tine eating. It fills the bill better than any one variety 1 know, for 

 family use and as a fine market cherry, and I think when it is better 

 known in Chicago it will sell as one of the best, though I find that the 

 large black cherry will bring the most money in the Chicago market. 

 The reason is simply this, that our cherries come into competition with 

 cherries from California, and of course we know that those are large 

 cherries. Now, if we are going to compete with cherries from California, 

 the larger the cherry and the blacker, the better sale there is for it in 

 Chicago market. A black cherry always sells better than a red 

 and a red better than a light cherry, things being equal as to size, etc. 



