1.84 THE CHERKY* 



ner and dryer soils than most other fruit trees, but to obtain the 

 finest fruit a deep and mellow soil, of good quality, is desirable* 

 When it is forced to grow in wet places, or where the roots are 

 constantly damp, it soon decays, and is very short lived. And. 

 we have seen this tree when forced into too luxuriant a growth 

 in our over-rich western soils, become so gross in its wood as to 

 bear little or no fruit, and split open in its trunk, and soon, 

 perish. It is a very hardy tree, and will bear a great variety 

 of exposures without injury. In deep warm valleys, liable to 

 spring frosts, it is, however, well to plant it on the north sides of 

 hills, in order to retard it in the spring. 



PROPAGATION. The finer sorts are nearly, always propagated 

 by budding on seedlings of the common black mazzard, which 

 is a very common kind, producing a great abundance of fruity 

 and very healthy, free growing stocks. To raise these stocks, 

 the cherries should be gathered when fully ripe, and allowed to 

 He two or three days together, so that they may bo partially or 

 wholly freed from the pulp by washing them in water. They 

 should then be planted immediately in drills in the seed plot, 

 covering them about an inch deep. They will then vegetate in. 

 the following spring, and in good soil will be fit for planting out 

 in the nursery rows in the autumn or following spring, at a 

 distance of ten or twelve inches apart in the rows. Many per- 

 sons preserve their cherry stones iu sand, either in the cellar or 

 in the open air until spring, but we have found this a more pre- 

 carious mode ; the cherry being one of the most delicate of 

 seeds when it commences to vegetate, and its vitality is fre- 

 quently destroyed by leaving it in the sand twenty-four hours 

 too long, or after it has commenced sprouting. 



After planting in the nursery rows, the seedlings are gene* 

 rally fit for budding in the month of August following. And in. 

 order not to have weak stocks overpowered by vigorous ones f 

 they should alwa)^s be assorted before they are planted, placing 

 those of the same size in rows together. Nearly a,ll the cher- 

 ries are grown with us as standards. The English nurserymen 

 usually bud their standard cherries as high as they wish them 

 to form heads, but we always prefer to bud them on quite young 

 stocks, as near the ground as possible, as they then shoot up 

 clean, straight, smooth stems, showing no clumsy joint when 

 the bud and the stock are united* In good soils, the buds will 

 frequently make shoots, six or eight feet high, the first season 

 after the stock is headed back. 



When dwarf trees are required, the Morello seedlings are 

 used as stocks ; or when very dwarf trees are wished the Per- 

 fumed Cherry, (Cerasus Mahaleb,) is employed ; but as stan- 

 dards are almost universally preferred, these are seldom seen 

 here. Dwarfs in the nursery must be headed back the second 

 year, in order to form lateral shoots near the ground. 



