Stone Fruits: Cherries 131 



limacina), Cherry Bug (Tropicoris rufipes), Cuckoo Spit (Philcenus 

 spumarius). [F. v. T.] 



Birds. Under this heading of Cherry Diseases and Pests, the birds 

 that prey upon the ripe fruit must be included. The worst offenders in 

 this respect are Blackbirds, Missel Thrushes, Song Thrushes, and Star- 

 lings. As soon as the cherries begin to colour, and long before they are 

 fit to gather, these birds begin to eat the fruit, and keep- coming during 

 all the hours of daylight. 



The only effective means of keeping the birds away is to have a bird 

 minder constantly in the orchard with a gun. In this way one man can 

 usually keep the birds from an orchard from 8 to 10 ac. in extent. 



PEACHES AND NECTARINES 



i. GENERAL 



The Peach and Nectarine are both forms of Prunus or Amygdalus 

 Persica, or Persica vulc/aris, the wild form of which is supposed to be of 

 Asiatic origin. The chief dif- 

 ference between the Peach and 

 Nectarine is that the former 

 has a downy skin to its fruit, 

 while the latter has a smooth 

 one. That they are intimately 

 related is clearly shown by 

 the fact that sometimes fruits, 

 part Peach and part Nectarine 

 (fig. 369) will be borne on the 

 same plant. Instances are also 

 recorded of a Peach arising 

 from the seed of a Nectarine 

 and vice versa. 



Peaches and Nectarines are 

 easily raised from seed, but 

 established varieties are nearly 

 always propagated by bud- 

 ding, although sometimes by grafting, on seedling stocks, or on stocks 

 of Cherries, Almonds, or Plums. Varieties of the latter known as the 

 " Mussel " and the " Brompton " are the stocks most generally used by 

 British growers. 



The leaves of Peaches and Nectarines are long and lance-shaped, the 

 margins being either serrately or crenately toothed. Leaves with serrate 

 edges are sometimes destitute of those mysterious glands on the leaf stalk, 

 while those with crenate margins usually have roundish or kidney-shaped 

 glands. 



Fig. 369. Fruit, part Peach, part Nectarine 



