552 THE CHERRY. 



year, and occasionally from the older branches ; and as the new spurs 

 continue being produced from recently formed wood, bearing branches 

 are never shortened back where there is room for their extension. The 

 cherry is not very prolific in wood, and the shoots do not often cross 

 one another ; therefore very little pruning is required for standards. 

 Against walls, or espaliers, some modification of the fan or half-fan 

 mode is the best. In summer- pruning strong-growing cherries, most 

 of the laterals should be stopped when a few inches in length ; but 

 in the case of the Morello, a regular supply of young wood should be 

 left all along the branches, as exhibited in Mr. Seymour's mode of 

 fan-training, p. 330, to succeed the fruit-bearing shoots. The Morello 

 produces a few fruit on spurs formed on two-year old wood, but 

 scarcely ever on wood of the third year ; therefore the only mode of 

 managing this tree, to ensure a crop of fruit, is to have a regular suc- 

 cession of laterals, the growth of the last year, all along the shoots. In 

 many gardens these laterals are not laid in ; and though the tree by 

 this mode does not assume such a neat appearance, yet the crop of fruit 

 we believe is greater. After the fruit is thoroughly set, it should be care- 

 fully thinned in proportion to the strength and size of the tree, otherwise 

 the trees will probably revenge themselves by throwing off a large por- 

 tion of the fruit at the stoning period. Old or diseased cherry-trees 

 may sometimes be renovated by cutting in or heading down, but in 

 general the wounds necessarily made exude so much gum as to prevent 

 their ever being entirely covered with bark, in consequence of which 

 the sterns and roots rot in the interior. To prevent this evil as much 

 as possible the soil should always be renewed at the time of amputating. 



Gathering and Keeping. The fruit can only be gathered by hand, 

 and care should be taken not to pull out with the foot-stalks of the 

 fruit any of the buds which are to produce the blossoms of the suc- 

 ceeding year ; unless, indeed, these buds should be so abundant, that the 

 lessening their number will be advantageous rather than otherwise. 

 Where no buds can be spared, the stalks may be cut with scissors. 

 For the dessert the cherry is never kept longer than a day or two. 



Diseases, Insects, Casualties, &c. The gum is almost the only disease 

 to which cherry-trees are liable ; the exudation when it has once com- 

 menced is not easily checked, but if the tree is healthy in other respects, 

 and in a suitable soil and situation, the gum will not do much injury ; 

 in an unfavourable soil it commonly brings on canker. Against a 

 wall the cherry is liable to the attacks of the red spider, aphides, and 

 some other insects, which may be destroyed or kept under by the 

 usual means. Syringing the trees with tobacco- water and soft-soap, 

 before the blossoms have expanded, will destroy every insect to which 

 the cherry is liable, and they may be washed with clear lime-water 

 from the time the fruit is set till it has begun to colour. The greatest 

 enemies to ripe cherries are birds, from which they are to be protected 

 by netting, in the case of walls and espaliers, and by the use of the gun 

 in the case of standards. Cats may also be employed to guard the 

 crop and protect the trees from birds. 



A Dutch Cherry Garden. In Holland and other parts of the Continent 



