INSECTS AND DISEASES. USES. 187 



The Dukes and Morellos need somewhat more pruning than the 

 Heart varieties, but all are impatient of the knife ; yet, if to be done, 

 let it be in July, or when the terminal buds are forming. 



Dwarfs are trained to please the fancy of growers, and mostly by 

 the " pinching-in " process. And as they grow with extreme vigor 

 on the Mahaleb, for three or four years, they require, not only to 

 have their tops pruned, but also, to be root-pruned annually. 



If possible to be avoided, large branches should never be cut 

 from a sweet cherry tree. We have examined the results of many 

 cases, when large branches were lopped in spring, for the purpose 

 of changing the tree to a different variety, by grafting ; the result 

 has almost invariaby been death after two summers. When 

 necessary to be done, the wound should be covered with grafting 

 composition, or gum-shellac, to exclude the air, and the body wrap- 

 ped in straw or matting. Encasing the body during the winter and 

 spring months, with straw, cloth, or moss, will often prevent injury ; 

 for the cause of bursting of bark is in winter, not summer months, 

 although it does not always exhibit itself until July or August. 

 The atmospheric blight, injuring young shoots, acts, at once, in sum- 

 mer. 



Insects and Diseases. The aphis, slug, caterpillar, and curculio, 

 are more or less destructive to the cherry, but as they are described 

 in other chapters we must refer the reader thereto. The diseases, 

 according to writers, are, in the West, numerous ; but, as they all 

 centre in the bursting of bark and exudation of gum, we shall only 

 note on that. Under the head of Soil, we have given what we term 

 the primary cause of this disease, and, if added to what we have said 

 under heads of Cultivation and Pruning, we believe will have effect 

 to check, in great measure, the evil. That it will render the tree 

 entirely free of the disease, we are not prepared to say; but, if to it 

 be added selections of buds from healthy trees, and growth in nur- 

 sery on ground well drained, and not over stimulated by barn-yard 

 manures, we believe a change for the better will be the result. 



Uses. The wood of the wild or Virginia Cherry is used by cabi- 

 net makers, being susceptible of a fine polish. The fruit of the 

 Sweet Cherries is universally esteemed for the dessert, and that of the 

 tender-fleshed, like Belle de Choisy, is regarded as wholesome. 

 The Sour Cherries, either dried or fresh from the tree, are much 

 esteemed for culinary use, while the Hazard and wild Virginian 

 Cherries are used in flavoring liquors. " The celebrated German, 

 Kirschwasser^ is made by distilling the liquor of the common black 

 Mazard ; (in which the stones are ground and broken and ferment- 

 ed with the pulp;) and the delicious Ratifiia cordial of Grenoble, is 

 also made from this fruit. Mareschino, the most celebrated liquor 

 of Italy, is distilled from a small Mazard, with which, in ferment- 



