THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 77 



summer heat and wind blast the crop if the orchard site be not well selected 

 as regards local weather. 



The Sweet Cherry, on the other hand, must be coddled in every tvim 

 of the season, in climatic requirements being particularly sensitive to 

 heat and cold. This cherry stands with the peach in not being able to 

 survive temperatures much below zero and in suffering greatly from spring 

 frosts because of early blooming. It is even more susceptible to heat than 

 the peach, and especially cannot endure long-continued heat, both fruit and 

 foliage suffering. The Sweet Cherry is at its best in a warm, sunny, genial, 

 equable climate. The Duke cherries, hybrids between the Sweet and the 

 Sour species, in the matter of hardiness are midway between the hardy Sours 

 and the tender Sweets though this is but a very general statement applying 

 to the group as a whole and not to individual varieties. Some of these 

 withstand cold and heat well while others are tender in either extreme. 



Cherries are more at the mercy of moisture than of temperatiu'e con- 

 ditions. Continued rain at blossoming time will almost surely prevent 

 a proper setting of fruit; and the cherries crack, and brown-rot becomes 

 exceedingly aggressive if there is wet weather in harvest time. Late 

 summer rainfall to supply moisture to the trees is a matter of small concern to 

 the cherry-grower, for growth begins early and the crop is off the trees before 

 summer droughts usually begin. Where irrigation is practiced water for 

 the cherry is safely supplied at most seasons of the year except when har- 

 vest is in swing at which time the cherries will swell and crack if there be 

 too much water. 



As with all fruits the direction, temperature and humidity of winds 

 are factors which decree whether or not cherries can be grown profitably 

 either in a locality or a region. A pocket in the hills filled with dead air 

 or a wind-swept highland would be unsatisfactory extremes; for, in the 

 first case, fungi, especially the dreaded brown-rot, would take too great 

 toll, and, in the second, blossoms would be blasted or foliage frazzled and 

 the fruit whipped. The harsh, drying winds of winter, too, would be 

 disastrous to Sweet Cherry culture and if extreme, as on the Great Plains, 

 wood and buds of Sour Cherries would suffer. Artificial wind-breaks have 

 not been found profitable in the hilly and wooded East, entailing too many 

 disadvantages, but if cherries be planted at all in the prairies of the Middle 

 West, some protection from the winds must usually be provided. 



The two species from which cultivated cherries come grow with proper 

 vigor in quite different soils. The Sour Cherry and most of its hybrid 



