28 THE KANSAS CHERRY. 



food faster than the tree can digest it. The result is dyspepsia of the- 

 tree, and they will soon show the disease in what is called foot-rot. 

 This disease starts in the stalk at the top of the ground and goes up 

 and down. It is most prevalent during warm, wet weather in late 

 spring and early summer. While most fruit-trees are more or less 

 liable to this disease it is the worst with the cherry. But if the cherry 

 is planted on clay land with good drainage, and the tree is not crowded 

 faster than the growth will nicely ripen, there will be but little trouble 

 with foot-rot. The black-knot is troublesome in certain localities, but 

 if care is used in not buying young trees already diseased, there is 

 little fear of this trouble. The cherry is considered by some growers 

 to be short-lived. Even if this be so, there are good profits in grow- 

 ing the cherry if it does not live over ten years. I know cherry orchards 

 that have been in regular bearing ten to fifteen years, and still bid fair 

 to produce many good crops yet. 



As to varieties for profit, this depends upon the locality, but for the 

 extreme east and west* of area given, the Duke and Morello, or the 

 family of sour cherries, can only be successfully grown. Sweet cher- 

 ries are more adapted to favorable localities in the mountain regions 

 and further south. Horticulturists would be truly glad if sweet cher- 

 ries could be successfully grown and fruited everywhere. Fruit-grow- 

 ers should encourage planting more of the cherry. 



NOTES ON CHERRY CULTURE. 



By S. H. LixTON, Marceline, Mo. 



The cherry fills a gap in the fruit supply that no other fruit can 

 well take, in .season or the culinary, the mild subacid flavor, toned 

 with a i3eculiar agreeableness to the appetite, with a tonic so much 

 desired to cool burning thirst during the hot summer days. 



Cherries are divided into two families or groups, the Heart and 

 Bigarreau, or the family of the sweet cherry. This includes all the 

 white, yellow and some of the red and black varieties ; all are very 

 rich and high flavored. The Duke and Morello families include the 

 more acid varieties. 



There are few more useful trees than the cherry. It may be 

 planted as an ornamental tree, lining streets or avenues, giving touch 

 to the beautiful in early spring, with its banks of snow white bloom, 

 after which the tree soon changes to red, like the "fiery bush" of old, 

 enticing all to come and partake of its bountiful supply of luscious 

 fruit. 



♦"Extreme east and west of area given" means on either coast, where sweet cherries grow 

 in abundance. — Sec. 



