THE KANSAS CHERRY. 69 



in short order. Of course they will return, but you must give them 

 another ring, and keep it up frequently till the cherries are ripe, be- 

 ginning when the birds begin on the cherries. We have succeeded 

 numerous times in this way, even when the trees are more than twenty 

 rods from the house. Try this plan. Do not shoot your good friends, 

 the birds. 



THE CHERRY A NOBLE FRUIT. 



This noble fruit has for a long time been kept in the background 

 for the growing of the apple, peach, etc., on account, I suppose, of the 

 inability to market the crop to good advantage ; the main reason for 

 which, no doubt, is in not selecting varieties which ripen in succession. 

 The question of growing the cherry into a tree is far less important 

 to the orchardist than the ijroper selection of varieties, and the care 

 and management of it after it is planted where it is to remain. Within 

 the past few years a number of new varieties have been brought before 

 the public, but most of them have proved to be wanting in hardiness 

 or quality, and were discarded. The Montmorency is perhaps an ex- 

 ception, the tree being hardy and the fruit somewhat better than the 

 Early Richmond; yet we consider the Early Richmond the best all- 

 round cherry, with Montmorency a close second, and have therefore 

 divided our orchard between these two, in order to have a succession 

 of ripening, thus affording greater ease in disposing of the crop. 

 Have tried May Duke, Ostheim, Wragg and Dyehouse without suc- 

 cess. 



GRAFTING THE CHERRY. 



By Peof. N. E. Hansen, Amos, Iowa, in Nebraska Horticultural Society report. 



Root-grafting of the cherry in the house during winter is consid- 

 ered difficult by many, but it has been practiced at the Iowa Agricul- 

 tural College, at Ames, every winter for many years, with good 

 success. For plums, one-year seedlings of our native northern plum, 

 Prunus aniericana, are used, which are grown from pits of the best 

 cultivated varieties of the same species, such as Wyant, De Soto, and 

 Wolf. Seedlings should not be grown from seeds gathered indis- 

 criminately in the woods, but only from trees growing good-sized 

 fruit. It has been found such seedlings are better and more uniform, 

 and there is less liability to injurious influence of stock on scion. In 

 the last two or three winters we have also used Marianna stocks, grown 

 from cuttings, for root-grafting, and secured a good stand. For cher- 

 ries, imported Mazzard stocks are used. Both j^lum and cherry stocks 

 are packed away in thin layers, with earth between the layers, in a 



