1877.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



i85 



it into and through all the tissues of the fruit; 

 and if vindfiit enough to kill or expel eater- 

 pilliirs, that it would have the same effect 

 upon cuiculios and codlings, and also upon 

 any vertebrates (including man) that partook 

 of the fruit "i" We do not believe that sulphur 

 can arbitrarily have such au eftect upon tlie 

 sap, leaves, and fruit of trees, any more than 

 we do that I'aris green arbitrarily affects the 

 quality of the jjotato tuber. There are appli- 

 cations of sulphur, however, which are ob- 

 noxious to insect-life and health, but they are 

 also obnoxious to plant-life and health — con- 

 fined fumigations, for instance — and we have 

 heard of insects being expelled by applications 

 of the dry powder to the leaves. The exhala- 

 tions of sulpluu- in a hot sun cannot be very 

 agreeable to insects, any more than it is to 

 human beings. 



When sulphur is administered to animals or 

 to man, it is for the eradication of some in- 

 fection, and to produce a healthful condition 

 of the physical body, whether applied inter- 

 nally or externally ; and, in the latter ease, 

 before it can have that etlect, there must be 

 a deconii)osition and assimilation, and this is 

 facilitated l)y the heat and digestive fluids of 

 the stomach, and its beueficial effects will be 

 in proportion to such assimilation. But to 

 introduce the dry flower of sulphur into a hole 

 in a tree, and then [ilug it up, such assimila- 

 tion does not take place, or if so, in an almost 

 imperceptible degree. One instance, at least, 

 came to our knowledge, in which the sulphur 

 had been examined eighteen months after it 

 had been introduced, and it was found that it 

 had not yet luidergone any change, but was as 

 dry as when first applied to the tree, and con- 

 sequeiitly could have been of very little benefit 

 or injury, if any. In conclusion, we do not 

 wish an "American paper" to be considered 

 as a reflex of American opinion on the sub- 

 ject of " omnivorous caterpillars" and the 

 means of their destruction — especially in its 

 resuscitation of obsolete theories. We blunder 

 enough already, in grasping after shadows, 

 without permitting this "straw" to be laid 

 upon our sufliciently heavy burdens, except 

 under protest. — if. 



^ 



THE CHERRY. 



Something of its History, Cultivation, and 

 Most Profitable and Best Varieties. 



In my pomological studies the clierry lias 

 been one of my favorites among fruits, and 

 during the past year, reading so much of its 

 not being a fruit suited to general culture, I 

 conclude that a little more may be said, and 

 perhai)s be of interest to many young readers 

 of the journal devoted to rural life pursuits, 

 and also induce thoughts to be written and 

 published by others. 



The history of the cherry makes it one of 

 an eaily period, it having been cultivated be- 

 fore the date of our present record of time. 

 In a communication to the London Horticul- 

 tural Society, some thirty odd years ago, the 

 cherry is said to have been brought to Eng- 

 land from Asia Minor, where then grew two 

 varieties, one having black fruit, the other of 

 an amber color. The trees there attain a 

 height of ninety feet, the stems or bodies 

 measuring five feet in circumference. When 

 Pliny wrote — about the time of the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era — the cherry 

 numbered something over a dozen varieties 

 known as distinct ; at this present time there 

 are something over two hundred and thirty 

 distinct varieties, to wliich are attached near 

 three hundred synonyms. Writers vary in 

 their statements as to the size of the first 

 known cherries, and also as to its introduction 

 into England, as well as the point from which 

 it was brought. One author says it was taken 

 to Britain "in the year 69 B. C, and from 

 Cerasus, a city of Pontus, whence its Latin 

 name. Botanically it belongs to the order 

 Bosacciv. There is a variety in a wild state, 

 native of the states, but the cultivated varie- 

 ties can not be engrafted, or budded, and 

 healthily grown upon it. It is, however, in 

 all its varieties easily propagated upon any of 



the different classes— as Muzzard, from which 

 come our sweet cherries ; Morello, to which 

 all our sour and half-way sweet varieties may 

 be said to at lea.st jMirtially belong. 



They arc readily grown from seed and when 

 taken from isolated trees arc liable to produce 

 varieties similar to the parent ; but when sev- 

 eral different varieties arc planted near each 

 other, and the .seed taken from them, there is 

 no dependence upon what they may bear of 

 fruit in future. The seed should not be per- 

 mitted to get dry, Init as soon as gathered, 

 cleaned of pulp, mixed half and half with 

 clean sand or tine charcoal, placed in Iwxes 

 about four inches dee)) having holes in the 

 bottom for drainage, and then set in the open 

 air, but where they can receive no direct sun- 

 light. Ground for growing them should Ixj 

 prepared in autumn, and as soon a.s the frost 

 is out in the si)ring the seed .should 1* sown 

 in drills— distant as you plea.se, but the seeds 

 about four inches apart, and covered with 

 one inch of light soil ; over that, a little leaf 

 mold, or fine hay, cut straw, etc. 



Pieces of roots of any of the cultivated 

 varieties can be grown, when cut into pieces 

 about four to six inches long and planted in 

 the ground, covering the upper end about one 

 inch deep with light soil. This course is often 

 practiced where by chance a man has only a 

 Mazzard cherry on his place, and desires to 

 grow trees for his own planting from cuttings 

 or buds given him by a friend. Saddle graft- 

 ing is best, next to budding, and done upon 

 roots early in spring has been successful. 



The origin of many of the l)est varieties of 

 cherries now known can be attributed to Pro- 

 fessor Jared Potter Kirtland, of Cleveland, 

 Ohio, who first grew numbers from seeds se- 

 lected and personally gathered from trees of 

 different varieties growing near each other. 

 Varieties originated by Professor Kirtland 

 rank to-day, not only in this country but 

 abroad, as among the leading best varieties 

 from the earlier to the latest in ripening. As 

 I have heretofore said, the cherry has been 

 one of my favorite fruits, and as long as I 

 live I shall look back upon the many pleasant 

 hours I had when visiting and noting the 

 Kirtland seedling cherry trees, year after 

 year. It caused me many a reminder of my 

 boyhood gatherings of cherries on my father's 

 farm in New England, and of the old 

 "Black Hearts" and "American Hearts" on 

 Branford (Conn.) hills, that I looked over 

 after fifty-edd years and found as productive 

 as when I was a boy. 



The cherry in many sections and soils is 

 well fitted to border avenues and for street 

 shades, had we laws giving protection to our 

 property without guards, as we have now our 

 road lines without fences. Then, as in Ger- 

 many, the traveler, by a simple request, 

 could obtain a cherry, apple or pear as he 

 passed along, for all have varieties of habit 

 of growth suited to shade and beautifying 

 public roadways. 



Transplanting 

 from the seed bed to the nursery row— or 

 from the nursery row to the permanent place 

 for growth— if done in the autumn should 

 be done early, and only on soils dry of surface 

 and base in winter. By "dry" here we mean 

 where the water will not remain stagnant. 

 The moving in spring should also be early, as 

 the cherry is one of the first of fruits to swell 

 its buds. 



Pruning at the Time of Transplanting. 

 This is about tlie only time that the knife 

 should ever be used on the cherry, then all the 

 ends of the roots should be smoothly cut slop- 

 ing from the under side ; small crossing 

 shoots cut away smoothly at the main stem or 

 branch from which they start, and one-half of 

 the last season's growth of strong shoots 

 should be cut back, leaving the last bud 

 pointing the way the coming shoot .should 

 grow, to help form an open, round, regular 

 head. 



Standard Trees 



for orcharding should have their heads below 

 rather than ahove three feet from the ground : 



and, south and on the western ))rairie8 and 



bottom lands, they should not be over two feet. 



Dwarfs. 



Those grown upon Mahaleb or Morello 

 stocks should branch as near the ground as 

 possible, and be so tiimnied by sumnier 

 piiiching of ends of twigs and rubbing out of 

 imds that the lower limbs would always lie 

 the strongest. 



Soil and Situation. 



The soil Ijest suited to the best varieties of 

 the cherry may be said to be such as the 

 chestnut and inagnoliH delight in, viz. : A 

 rich light loam, on a gravelly sul)-soll; neitlicr 

 stagnant water nor limestone base will grow 

 the cherry succes.sfully. The rich alluvial <le- 

 l)osits often to be found upon creek and river 

 ix)ttom» and prairies, while they may not hold 

 water or c(iiit;iiii a base of crude limestone, 

 yet have not the food in them that makes 

 lieallh to the cherry, no matter what variety. 

 The Mazzard and all of the cla.s» of sweet 

 chenies are more open and spongy in root and 

 wood than the Morello or Duke. Again, 

 wild cherries do not want lime in huge (luanli- 

 ties, neither will any variety bear a .suridus of 

 water. Place them on level, loamy soil 

 underdrained by a natural gravel, or, if of 

 hard brickmaking clay and well drained Ijoth 

 from surface and underground, they will suc- 

 ceed. Again, if the ground is a wet clay, 

 plow it into beds of tweh'c feet wide, raising 

 the centre of the strip, line-bed, or border, 

 three feet above the base of the dead furrow 

 or ditch Ijetween, and trees planted on lliat 

 centre will succeed. .So much for soil. If 

 situation can be commanded, have it where 

 the sun will have no influence after 'i o'clock 

 p. m. If this cannot be obtained when plant- 

 ing the cherry, then at the siime tinie i>lant 

 upon the western boundary of the orchard a 

 belt forty feet wide of evergreens mingled 

 with deciduous trees — not so thick as to stop 

 the current of air through them, but so that 

 they will break the afternoon sunshine and 

 severely cold winds. .Situations sloping south, 

 open to the mid-day and afternoon suns, will 

 be liable to injury from two causes — I. e., 

 creating too rapid circulation of saji, and 

 keeping it rapid until the cold of night affects 

 it, as cold chills the blood in the animal frame; 

 it also induces the early starting of the bud, 

 often bringing it into bloom and rendering it 

 liable to injury from late vernal frosts. Xorth- 

 eru exposures are recoinmended, and where 

 they can be protected from western sun and 

 wind they often do well ; but an eiistern one I 

 regard as best. The forenoon sun may excite 

 circulation, but not as rapidly as mid-day, or 

 from 1 to 3 o'clock p. ni. ; while there is, 

 also, more or less of moisture in a morning 

 atmosphere, and none in the aRernoon, the 

 tree has a chance to have its circulation gra- 

 dually checked ere the cold of night, which it 

 has not when planted on ground sloping south, 

 west or north. When planting on either of 

 the Inst exposures, or on level land, let your 

 tree slope to the southwest, as the sun has less 

 effect upon it in that position. — F. J{. EUiolt. 



WHAT SHALL WE TEACH OUR GIRLS? 



Teach them self-reliance. 



Tejich them to make bread. 



Teach them to make shirts. 



Teach them not to wear false hair- 

 Teach them not to paint and jiowder. 



Teach them to wear thick warm shoes. 



Teach them how to wash and iron clutliRs. 



Teach them how to do marketing for the 

 family. 



Teach them how to make theirnwn dresses. 



Teach them how to cook a good meal of 

 victuals. 



Teach them that a dollar is only a hundred 

 cents. 



Teach them every day, dry, hard, practical 

 common sense. 



(iive them a good, substantial common 

 school education. 



Teach them to wear calico dresses and to do 

 it like a queen. 



Teach them to regard the morals— not the 

 money— of Ijeaux. 



/ 



