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The Cornell Reading-Courses 



spring planting is preferable. One-year-old trees do not mature, as 

 a rule, until late in autumn, and should therefore be planted in spring. 

 Well-ripened two-years-old trees may safely be planted in fall if climatic 

 conditions are favorable and the soil can be properly prepared. 



The distance apart for planting trees depends both on the type of the 

 cherries to be grown and on the character of the soil. If the soil is natu- 

 rally rich, tree growth will be more vigorous and the trees must therefore be 

 planted farther apart than on poorer soils. The Morello group of cherries 



should be planted not 

 closer than sixteen by 

 sixteen feet, while the 

 Amarelles should be 

 at least twenty feet 

 apart in each direc- 

 tion. Sweet cherries 

 develop very large 

 trees and should sel- 

 dom be planted closer 

 than thirty by thirty 

 feet ; they generally 

 require more space 

 than this. It is well 

 to plant trees at a 

 considerably greater 

 depth than they were 

 planted in the nurs- 

 ery, since this will 

 give them an oppor- 

 tunity to become es- 

 tablished on their 

 own roots. 



The age of trees for planting requires some consideration. As a rule, 

 two-years-old trees are planted in this State. In the case of sour cherries, 

 two-years-old trees are satisfactory provided they are not overgrown 

 and are not headed too high. Sweet-cherry trees, on the other hand, 

 make a much more vigorous growth than do sour-cherry trees, and for 

 this reason are difficult to transplant. One-year-old sweet-cherry trees 

 may therefore be transplanted much more successfully than older trees 

 and should usually be selected for planting. 



One-year-old trees should be planted in spring and headed back to 

 about three feet; all side branches should be removed. This will cause 

 a large number of side branches to grow along the trunk. Four to six 

 of these branches should be selected to form the main scaffold limbs and 



Fig. 125. — Richmond cherry tree. The head is rather high 

 and the pruning is somewhat severe 



