PART I 



BIGARREAU AND DUKE VARIETIES : PRUNUS AVIUM 



Culture, Varieties and Marketing 



GENERAL NOTES 



The Bigarreau and Duke Cherries, like a large percentage of the 

 choicest in quality of all kinds of fruit, lack hardiness and are usually more 

 subject to the ravages of insects, pests and disease, but it is chiefly on 

 account of lack of hardiness that the sweet cherry is not planted more 

 commercially than it is at present in Central and Eastern United States 

 and Canada ; California and the Pacific Coast States leading in the produc- 

 tion of the sweet cherry. The very strong tendency of the birds to appro- 

 priate their share and, " sometimes a little more," of this product, is also 

 given as a reason for not planting more largely for home use as well as 

 market. 



The sour cherry is considered the most profitable by most of the Mich- 

 igan growers, there being only an occasional year, when the sweet proves 

 an exception to this rule. 



Sixty-five per cent of all the Cherries grown in Michigan are in the 

 counties bordering on Lake Michigan, the estimate as to acreage being one 

 of sweet, to ten of sour. 



Prof. E. J. Wickson, Horticulturist, Berkley, Cal., reports that the 

 Duke Cherries are practically absent from California fruit growing, that 

 there are a few trees scattered here and there but are of no commercial 

 value, and are never seen on their markets, the sweet cherry being used 

 exclusively for table use, as well as cooking purposes. " The same is prac- 

 tically true of Western Oregon." In the interior east of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada mountains, the Dukes are more widely planted than the Bigarreau, 

 because they are more hardy and less injured by the alternation of heat 

 and cold during the winter season. 



Prof. H. N. Starnes, Horticulturist Experiment, Georgia, reports the 

 Bigarreau and the Dukes succeed only in Northwest Georgia, and in the 

 mountains of North and Northeast Georgia, and that the plantings are 

 of no commercial importance. 



Prof. E. E. Little, Ames, Iowa, states that the growing of the sweet 

 cherry in Iowa is considered of little value, that possibly in the Southeast 

 part of the state one or two of the more hardy varieties might succeed. 



Prof. A. G. Gulley, Storrs, Conn. : There are very few sweet cherry 

 trees planted here now. The older trees scattered around do well, but 

 young trees fail. Out of a dozen varieties planted ten years ago, one, 



