CHERRY 



CHERRY 



739 



906. 



Tall erect growth of 

 sweet cherry. 



Sweet cherries can be grown with commercial success 

 in but few and comparatively limited regions, although 

 the localities adapted to sweet varieties are rather 

 widely distributed. 



The cherry is probably the most popular of temper- 

 ate climate fruits for the home yard, being planted 

 more commonly than any other 

 tree-fruit, in the many regions in 

 which it is grown, in the dooryard, 

 garden and along the roadside. The 

 characters, other than those already 

 named, that commend it for home 

 plantations, are, early bearing after 

 planting, early ripening in the sea- 

 son, regularity in bearing, great 

 fruitfulness and ease of culture. It 

 is more than a home fruit, however, 

 and is largely grown for the mar- 

 kets, for canning and for preserving. 

 In America, the consumption of 

 cherries is being greatly increased 

 by the fashion of adding them pre- 

 served to many ices and drinks. The 

 demand for canned cherries has also 

 increased enormously in this coun- 

 try during the last few years. In 

 Europe, wine is made from cherries, 

 "kirschwasser," a spirit, is distilled 

 from the fermented fruit pulp, and 

 in the Austrian province of Dalmatia 

 a cordial called maraschino is made 

 by a secret process of fermentation 

 and distillation. This liquor is im- 

 ported to America in considerable 

 quantities to flavor preserved cherries which become 

 the well-known "maraschino cherries" of confection and 

 delicatessen shops. 



Other species. 



Several species of cherries other than the two named 

 have more or less horticultural value. Prunus Padus 

 and Prunus Mahaleb of the Old World furnish fruits 

 sometimes used for culinary purposes but much more 

 cultivated, in their various forms, as ornamentals; the 

 latter furnishes a stock upon which orchard varieties 

 are now most commonly budded. Prunus Besseyi, 

 Prunus pumila and Prunus pennsylvanica are species 

 from North America, the first two having varieties 

 cultivated for their fruits and all three being used as 

 ornamentals and for stocks. Prunus Pseudo-Cerasus 

 and Prunus tomentosa 

 from Asia are much grown 

 in China and Japan as 

 ornamentals, for their 

 fruits and as stocks, and 

 should find favor in Eu- 

 rope and America for these 

 purposes. In recent years 

 many new species of cher- 

 ries have been discovered 

 in Asia. E. Koehne, one 

 of the best authorities on 

 the genus Prunus, places 

 120 species, nearly all 

 from Asia, in the sub- 

 genus Cerasus to which 

 belong the orchard cher- 

 ries (Mitt. Deut. Dendrol. 

 Gesell., 1912:168-183), A 

 few of these have already 

 been introduced in Am- 

 erica by the United States 

 Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and from them one 

 is sure to find valuable 

 horticultural species to be 



used for their fruits, as ornamentals, as stocks, and 

 for hybridization with species already domesticated. 



Propagation. 



Both orchard and ornamental cherries are commonly 

 propagated in Europe and America by budding on 

 Mazzard or Mahaleb 

 stocks and in Japan, where 

 cherries are much grown, 

 on Prunus Pseudo-Cera- 

 sus. When exceptional 

 hardiness is required, seed- 

 lings of the Russian sour 

 cherries may be used or 

 those of Prunus Besseyi 

 or Prunus pennsylvanica. 

 Undoubtedly the Mazzard 

 is the best stock for re- 

 gions in which cherries can 

 be grown commercially. 

 Upon the Mazzard, varie- 

 ties of either sweet or 

 sour cherries make larger, 907. Low-headed and spreading 

 thriftier, longer-lived and growth of sour cherry, 



more productive trees. 



The Mahaleb, on the other hand, is the best stock 

 from the nurseryman's point of view. It is more easily 

 budded, hardier, freer from insects and fungi as it 

 stands in the nursery before budding, and the buds 

 more quickly develop into salable trees. But the advan- 

 tages of the Mazzard are so much greater for the fruit- 

 grower that he should accept only trees on this stock 

 unless hardiness be a prime requisite. Cherries are 

 set in the orchard at two years from the bud. 



The cultivation and handling. 



Sweet cherries are most profitably grown on high, 

 comparatively light, sandy, gravelly or even stony 

 loams, while sour cherries do best on somewhat heavier 

 soils. The former are set 22 to 24 feet apart; the latter 

 16 to 20 feet. Both respond to care in cultivation which, 

 in brief is: early spring plowing, frequent cultivation 

 until the first of August with a cover-crop sown just 

 before the last cultivation. Cover-crops are various 

 a favorite one in New York and Michigan is a half 

 bushel of oats or barley, and twelve pounds of clover 

 or twenty pounds of winter vetch. In Delaware and 

 New Jersey the cowpea is much liked as a cover-crop. 

 Cherry trees are usually headed 2 or 3 feet from the 

 ground with a tendency to head them lower half the 

 above distances; in the 

 lower-headed orchards 

 there seems to be no in- 

 convenience in tilling with 

 modern implements. 

 Nearly all commercial 

 growers form the head 

 with five to seven main 

 branches about a central 

 trunk, but some prefer to 

 remove the central stem, 

 especially in sweet varie- 

 ties, leaving a vase-formed 

 head. After the head is 

 formed, the subsequent 

 pruning is exceedingly 

 simple, consisting of 

 cutting out an oc- 

 casional injured or 

 crossed branch and 

 now and then head- 

 ing-in a long whip- 

 like growth. 



In soils well 

 adapted to cherry- 

 growing, commer- 



908. Old sweet cherry tree, on the Chesapeake peninsula. 



