364 THE CHERRY. 



good trees are often soonest obtained by grafting or budding 

 them at standard height on large straight stocks. If grafted, 

 they soon form a handsome head; if budded, care must be 

 taken by judicious pruning to prevent the young shoots from 

 growing all on one side. 



Pruning the cherry, except to form the head, is rarely 

 needed. 



SOIL. 



The cherry being a very hardy tree, will thrive in the 

 Northern States in nearly all good soils. But a dryer soil 

 than for most other species is found preferable ; a sandy or 

 gravelly loam is best. In wet places, or on water-soaked sub- 

 soils, it does not flourish, and soon perishes. 



DWARF CHERRIES. 



These are, as yet, cultivated to a limited extent in this 

 country. They are chiefly adapted to village gardens, or 

 other grounds of limited extent, as they may be set as near 

 each other as five or six feet. They may be easily covered 

 with netting, and thus protected from the birds ; and what is 

 most rare and desirable, the fruit permitted to remain until 

 fully ripe, so important to the flavor of all cherries of an acid 

 character. 



The stocks used for this purpose are the Mahaleb (Prunus 

 Mahaleb), which also possesses the advantage of flourishing 

 on heavy clay ground. The buds usually grow quite vigor- 

 ously, their branches being so pruned that seven, nine, or 

 more may come out from the centre of the plant, like a well- 

 managed gooseberry bush. These branches will put forth 

 early in summer, as in pyramidal pears, several shoots at 

 their extremities, all of which must be pinched off to within 

 two or three buds of their base, leaving the leading shoots 

 untouched till near the close of summer, when they must be 

 shortened to eight or ten buds. If trees on Mahaleb roots are 

 allowed to grow at will, they are not much dwarfed as orchard 

 trees. Systematic heading-in each year, as for dwarf pears, 

 will tend to keep them dwarf. 



