316 FRUIT-GROWING 



Napoleon 



Alongside the Montmorency, Napoleon takes 

 its place as the leading variety of sweet cher- 

 ries. It is a fruit of almost indescribable 

 beauty, and, contrary to the old adage, this 

 beauty is more than skin deep for the Napoleon 

 is almost the standard of quality among cher- 

 ries. It is an old sort, two hundred years old 

 at least, and was long grown in Europe. In 

 our own country it is at its best in the North- 

 west, although on favorable soils it succeeds 

 well in the East. It is not adaptable to a wide 

 range of soils, however, and except where con- 

 ditions are to its liking it often refuses to 

 strike root and dies almost as soon as it is 

 planted. It also has a reputation for sterility 

 when planted in certain sections. This is true 

 in my own district. A neighbor had a very 

 large old tree of this sort that had never pro- 

 duced any fruit although it bloomed abundantly 

 every year. We sprayed the tree for him one 

 year and as a result he picked sixty gallons of 

 fruit that season. It was sterile because the 

 infection of brown rot had become so bad that 

 every cherry fell off before it had a chance 

 to ripen. The variety is rather subject to rot, 

 however, but this has not the terrors for the 

 careful orchardist that it once had. 



The fruit is a favorite on the markets and 

 is probably more extensively canned, commer- 



