32 THE KANSAS CHERRY. 



in the city of Stanberry, Mo. For years it has yielded its full crops 

 of large cherries, pleasing to the eye and good to the taste, milder yet 

 than Early Richmond and more than twice as large, with smaller pit. 

 It stood last winter without damage and bore a full crop this year. 



PRUNING, PLANTING, CULTIVATING, GATHERING AND 

 MARKETING THE CHERRY. 



By W. H. Skinnee, Bethany, Mo. 



I shall briefly outline the work on the cherry tree, from the time it 

 reaches the premises of the orchardist until its matured fruit is placed 

 in the hands of the consumer, and in the beginning will saj^^ that my 

 experience in planting cherries has not been as satisfactory as in plant- 

 ing other kinds of trees, for my losses in planting my cherry orchard 

 of 450 trees has been more than double what I have lost in x)lanting 

 over 2000 other orchard trees. But this I attribute largely to the 

 condition of the trees when received. I believe that if I could get 

 cherry trees that were dug, and immediately shipped, instead of being 

 cellared over winter, there would be less failure to grow, as cherry 

 trees of my own propagation dug and immediately planted have had 

 no loss. 



Cherries should be planted in this part of the country only in the 

 spring, as our cold, dry winter winds have a tendency to extract the 

 moisture from the tree, and the roots being short, with but little sur- 

 face to absorb moisture, the tree is very liable to die back partly, if 

 not entirely, during the winter. They should be planted in the spring, 

 as early as the ground is fit to plow, and if possible before the buds 

 begin to swell. They may be planted even after the buds begin to 

 burst, but I have noticed that the earlier planted trees are more liable 

 to live and make the better growth. 



The cherry will grow on almost any kind of soil except a very wet 

 one, but does best in a good sandy clay loam with gravelly subsoil. 

 This seems to furnish the necessary drainage and sustenance to pro- 

 duce the hardiest tree and best fruit. Before planting the ground 

 should be deeply and thoroughly plowed and pulverized. The roots 

 of the trees where cut or broken in digging should be smoothly cut, 

 and the hole in which the trees are planted should be large enough 

 to admit the roots without bending; if it were possible to plow that 

 deej), the hole should not be deeper than the ground is plowed, 

 although I believe that cherries should be planted deeper than apples 

 or pears. The roots should be puddled in soft mud before setting 

 the tree in its place ; the tree should be planted so deeply that the 

 bud or graft is at least two inches below the surface when the hole is 



