700 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
it thrives best when unmixed with other trees; that it bears pruning, and 
suffers the grass to grow under it. (Bot. Arrangem., vol. ii. p. 456.) 
Propagation and Culture. The common wild cherry (C. sylvéstris), when 
grown for stocks for grafting on, or for planting out with a view to the pro- 
duction of timber, is almost always raised from seed; but, as the roots throw 
up suckers in great abundance, these suckers might be used as plants; or 
cuttings of the roots might be employed for the same purpose; or stools might 
be formed, and treated like those of the plum. (See p. 690.) When plants 
are to be raised from seed, the cherries should be gathered when ripe, and 
either sown immediately with the flesh on, incurring the risk of their being 
eaten by birds or vermin, especially mice, during the autumn and winter; or, 
what is preferable, they may be mixed with four times their bulk of sand, and 
kept in a shed or cellar, being turned over frequently, till the January or Fe- 
bruary following. They may then be sown in beds, and covered with ahout 
half an inch or an inch of light mould, Great care must be taken that the 
seeds do not sprout while in the heap; because, unlike the horsechestnut, 
the acorn, and some other fruits, the cherry expands its cotyledons at the 
same time that it protrudes its radicle; and when both are developed before 
sowing, the probability is, that the germinated seeds will not live; because 
the cotyledons, in sowing, are unavoidably covered with soil, whereas nature 
intended them to be exposed to the light. The strongest plants, at the end 
of the first season, will be 18 in. or more in height, and may be drawn out 
from among the others, and transplanted into nursery lines; and, after they 
have stood there a year, they may be grafted or budded. 
Pruning the Cherry Tree, whether in a young or old state, ought always to 
be performed in the month of August or beginning of September, and at no 
other season; because it has been found by experience, more especially by 
Mr. Sang, who appears to have been the first to record the fact, that, when 
pruned in the summer season, the trees are not liable to gum. When pruned 
in the winter season, or when a large branch is ‘cut off any tree, or when the 
bark is injured, a flow of gum is almost the certain consequence, and this is 
almost as certainly the commencement of the decay of the tree. 
Accidents and Diseases. The cherry is not particularly liable to have its 
branches broken by high winds or snow storms; but, as a fruit tree, its 
branches are frequently broken by carelessness in those who gather the fruit. 
The principal disease is the flowing of the gum, which, when once it has com- 
menced, whether naturally, or from an accidental wound, generally continues 
till the tree dies: this it does by degrees, one branch or limb at a time, its 
decay being more or less rapid, according to the vigour of the tree. The 
thrush and the blackbird, it is well known, feed on cherries; and the wood- 
pecker (Picus viridis L.) is said to be particularly fond of picking holes in 
the cherry tree, in search of the larvze of insects. These holes, by admitting 
water, accelerate the decay of the heart-wood of the tree; but itis a mistake to 
suppose, as many do, that the decay originates with the woodpecker, who 
gets the credit of making the holes out of sheer mischief, or for amusement ; 
the truth being, that decay has commenced, and that he is only in search of 
his food, which consists of the larvee which have already begun to eat the 
wood of the tree. 
Statistics. The largest specimen of Cérasus sylvéstris that we have heard of in the neighbourhood 
of London is in Surrey, at Claremont, where it is 60 ft. high. In Gloucestershire, on the northern ex- 
tremity of the Cotswold Hills, on an estate of the Earl of Harrowby, 85 ft. high, and the trunk upwards 
of 3ft.in diameter. In Suffolk, at Withermarsh Green, “ the great cherry tree ” is 46ft. high; the 
girt of the trunk, at 12 ft. from the ground, is 9ft.; and the diameter of the head, from north to 
south, is 74ft., and from east to west, 62 ft. In Scotland, at Hopeton House, 70ft., the diameter of 
the trunk 3ft. 6in., and of the head 40ft., in black sand on gravel. In Stirlingshire, at Airthry Castle, 
45ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 2ft.,and of the head 56 ft.; at Sanchie, 59 ft. high; at 
West Plean, 30ft. high; and in Bannockburn Wood, 40ft. high. In Clackmannanshire, at the 
Dollar Institution, 12 years planted, it is 22 ft. high. In Perthshire, at Taymouth, 22 years planted, 
it is 35 ft. high. — C. sylvéstris fldre pléno, in Radnorshire, at Maeslaugh Castle, is 25 ft. high, with a 
trunk 15in. in diameter, and a head the diameter of which is 33 ft. In Staffordshire, at Teddesley 
Park, this variety, 14 years planted, is 17ft. high In Scotland, in Angusshire, at Kinnaird Castle, a 
Gauble Howenng cherry, 120 years old, is 20 ft, high; the diameter of the trunk is 16 in., and of the 
head 30 ft. 
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