700 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



it thrives best when unmixed with other trees ; that it bears pruning, and 

 suffers the grass to grow under it. (Bot. Arrangem., vol. ii. p. 456.) 



Propagation and Culture. The common wild cherry (C7. sylvestris), when 

 grown for stocks for grafting on, or for planting out with a view to the pro- 

 duction of timber, is almost always raised from seed ; but, as the roots throw 

 up suckers in great abundance, these suckers might be used as plants ; or 

 cuttings of the roots might be employed for the same purpose ; or stools might 

 be formed, and treated like those of the plum. (See p. 690.) When plants 

 are to be raised from seed, the cherries should be gathered when ripe, and 

 either sown immediately with the flesh on, incurring the risk of their being 

 eaten by birds or vermin, especially mice, during the autumn and winter; or, 

 what is preferable, they may be mixed with four times their bulk of sand, and 

 kept in a shed or cellar, being turned over frequently, till the January or Fe- 

 bruary following. They may then be sown in beds, and covered with about 

 half an inch or an inch of light mould. Great care must be taken that the 

 seeds do not sprout while in the heap ; because, unlike the horsechestnut, 

 the acorn, and some other fruits, the cherry expands its cotyledons at the 

 same time that it protrudes its radicle; and when both are developed before 

 sowing, the probability is, that the germinated seeds will not live ; because 

 the cotyledons, in sowing, are unavoidably covered with soil, whereas nature 

 intended them to be exposed to the light. The strongest plants, at the end 

 of the first season, will be 18 in. or more in height, and may be drawn out 

 from among the others, and transplanted into nursery lines ; and, after they 

 have stood there a year, they may be grafted or budded. 



Pruning the Cherry Tree, whether in a young or old state, ought always to 

 be performed in the month of August or beginning of September, and at no 

 other season ; because it has been found by experience, more especially by 

 Mr. Sang, who appears to have been the first to record the fact, that, when 

 pruned in the summer season, the trees are not liable to gum. When pruned 

 in the winter season, or when a large branch is cut off any tree, or when the 

 bark is injured, a flow of gum is almost the certain consequence, and this is 

 almost as certainly the commencement of the decay of the tree. 



Accidents and Diseases. The cherry is not particularly liable to have its 

 branches broken by high winds or snow storms ; but, as a fruit tree, its 

 branches are frequently broken by carelessness in those who gather the fruit. 

 The principal disease is the flowing of the gum, which, when once it has com- 

 menced, whether naturally, or from an accidental wound, generally continues 

 till the tree dies : this it does by degrees, one branch or limb at a time, its 

 decay being more or less rapid, according to the vigour of the tree. The 

 thrush and the blackbird, it is well known, feed on cherries ; and the wood- 

 pecker (Picus viridis L.) is said to be particularly fond of picking holes in 

 the cherry tree, in search of the larvae of insects. These holes, by admitting 

 water, accelerate the decay of the heart- wood of the tree; but it is a mistake to 

 suppose, as many do, that the decay originates with the woodpecker, who 

 gets the credit of making the holes out of sheer mischief, or for amusement ; 

 the truth being, that decay has commenced, and that he is only in search of 

 his food, which consists of the larvae which have already begun to eat the 

 wood of the tree. 



Statistics. The largest specimen of Cerasus sylvestris that we have heard of in the neighbourhood 



f London is in Surrey, at Claremont, where it is 60 ft. high. In Gloucestershire, on the northern ex- 



emity of the Cotswold Hills, on an estate of the Earl of Harrowby, 85ft. high, and the trunk upwards 



of 3ft. in diameter. In Suffolk, at Withermarsh Green, " the great cherry tree " is 46ft. high ; the 



girt of the trunk, at 12 ft. from the ground, is 9ft ; and the diameter of the head, from north to 

 south, is 74ft., and from east to west, 62ft. In Scotland, at Hopeton House, 70ft., the diameter of 

 the trunk 3ft. 6 in., and of thehcad 4()ft., in black sand on gravel. In Stirlingshire, at Airthry Castle, 

 45ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 2ft., and of the head 56ft.; at Sanchie, 59ft. high; at 

 West Plean, 30ft. high; and in Bannockburn Wood, 40ft. high. In Clackmannanshire, at the 

 Dollar Institution, 12 years planted, it is 22ft. high. In Perthshire, at Taymouth, 22 years planted, 

 it is 35 ft. high. C. sylve'stris fibre pie" no, in Radnorshire, at Maeslaugh Castle, is 25 ft. high, with a 

 trunk 15 in. in diameter, and a head the diameter of w hich is 33 ft. In Staffordshire, at Tedde.sloy 

 Park, this variety, 14 years planted, is 17ft high In Scotland, in Angusshire, at Kinnaird Castle, a 

 double-flowering cherry, 120 years old, is 20ft. high; the diameter of the trunk is 1G in., and of the 

 head 30 ft. 



