Special Report 17 



" Windsor," has matured fruit and that only one crop, and Mr. Gulley 

 states, he would not think of planting them for profit. 



Prof. John Craig, Horticulturist, Ithaca, New York, states that there are 

 very few orchards in the state of purely Mazzard varieties, but that trees of 

 this kind can be found on nearly every homestead in the peach growing sec- 

 tions of the state, and are more largely planted in the Hudson River regions 

 and along the Niagara River. The comparatively large orchards on Long 

 Island have fallen by the way. He estimates that the proportion acreage 

 for State as ten per cent sweet. 



Propagation 



The Sweet Cherry is propagated almost exclusively by budding on the 

 yearling stocks of its hardy ancestral type, the " Mazzard stock," and by 

 budding upon the Mahaleb stock, a hardy type, of the sour cherry which is 

 used exclusively for budding the sour kinds. The Mazzard stock is used 

 to propagate the sweet cherry almost exclusively in the Pacific Coast 

 region, while the Mahaleb stock is used more and more by eastern nursery- 

 men. 



Under date of Nov. 28th, the following letter was received from Mr. 

 H. L. Bird, Sec. West Michigan Nurseries, Benton Harbor, Mich. 

 " Regarding the propagation of the sweet cherries, we would say that we 

 always bud both our sweet and sour kinds on Mahaleb stock. Our reason 

 for doing this is, we get much better stands on Mahaleb stock than we do 

 on the Mazzard stock. We really think the Mazzard stock is better for 

 the sweet kinds, on this kind of stock, were it not for the fact that it is sub- 

 ject to the rust, and it is hard to get our buds to take in it successfully. It is 

 largely for the reason that it is possible to get so much better stand of buds 

 that the Mahaleb stock is used. We nearly always get a better stand of 

 sour then we do of the sweet varieties." 



The above statements clearly define the reason and extent to which 

 the different stocks are used in the propagation of the Cherry. 



Location and Soil 

 Under the above heading my observations on the cherry industry in 

 Michigan would bear me out in stating, that location is by far the most 

 important. In a measure we can make the soil, but location we cannot, 

 and it is best to first look to location, and study and add to the require- 

 ments of the soil afterwards. There is no other kind of hardy fruit grown, 

 that is so sensitive to injury by frost and cold rains, while in bloom as is 

 the Cherry, and especially the sweet kinds, therefore the ideal location 

 would be a high elevation rolling enough for natural drainage, with a deep 

 gravelly sandy loam soil, and if the subsoil be clay it should be of a porous 

 nature, not hard and solid. 



