BOOK I. CHERRY. 727 



4578. Selection of sorts. Forsyth recommends, for a small garden 



The may-duke I The arch-duke I The Harrison's heart I The Turkey heart 



The morello I 1 he black heart | The graHion I The Remington duke cherry. 



4579. Those in the Dalkeith garden are 



I The black heart I The amber heart 



| The white heart | The morello ; a!l against walls. 



4580. Miller says, the best sorts for an orchard are the common red or Kentish, the 

 duke, and the lukeward ; all of which are plentiful bearers. 



4581. Propagation. Varieties rjf the cherry arc continued by grafting or budding on stocks of the black 

 or wild red cherries, which arc strong shooters, and of a longer duration than any of the garden kinds. 

 The hearts, which are all ill bearers, are sometimes grafted on bird-cherry stocks, which are said to have 

 the same effect on the cherry, that the paradise-stock has on the apple, that of dwarfing the tree and 

 rendering it more prolific. Some graft on the morello for the same purpose, but. the most effectual dwarf- 

 iiig stock is the mahaleb. Dubreuil of Rouen recommends the wild cherry for clayey and light soils, and 

 the mahaleb for soils of a light, sandy, or chalky nature. The stones of the cultivated cherry arc commonly, 

 but improperly, substituted for those of the wild sort, as being more easily procured. New varieties are 

 procured by propagating from seed, and some valuable fruits will be found in the table, so raised by 

 Knight. ""The cherry," this gentleman observes (Hort. Trans, ii. 138.), " sports more extensively in 

 variety, when propagated from seeds, than any other fruit which I have hitherto subjected to experiment : 

 and this species of fruit is therefore probably capable of acquiring a higher state of perfection than it has 

 ever yet attained. New varieties are also much wanted ; for the trees of the best old kinds arc every 

 where in a state of decay in the cherry orchards; and I am quite confident, that neither healthy nor pro- 

 ductive trees will ever be obtained from grafts or buds of the old and expended varieties of this or any 

 other species of fruit-tree." Cherry-stones, whether for stocks or new varieties, are sown in light sandy 

 earth in autumn ; or are preserved" in sand till spring, and then sowed. They will come up the same 

 season, and should not be removed till the second autumn after sowing. They may then be planted out 

 in rows three feet apart, and the plants one foot asunder in the row. The succeeding summer they will 

 be fit to bud, if intended for dwarfs ; but if for standards, they will require to stand one or more seasons, 

 generally till four years old. They should be budded or grafted near six feet from the ground ; the usual 

 way is to bud in summer, and graft those which do not succeed the following spring. 



4582. Soil. The cherry delights in a dry sandy soil and elevated situation ; but some sorts, as the may- 

 duke, will thrive in all soils and aspects, and all the varieties may be planted in any common mellow 

 garden or orchard ground. In Kent, the tree prospers in a deep loam incumbent on rock. Miller says, the 

 soil which cherries thrive best in, is a fresh hazel loam; if it be a dry gravel, they will not live many 

 years, and will be perpetually blighted in the spring. 



4583. Site. To obtain fruit early, some sorts, as the may-duke, are planted against walls ; but all (be 

 varieties will do well as dwarfs or espaliers in general situations, and most of them as standards. The 

 may-duke, Nicol observes, does well as a standard ; but against a south wall the fruit becomes considerably 

 larger, and contrary to what happens in other fruits, it seems to acquire a higher flavor. The morello is 

 much improved in flavor when planted against a wall of good aspect. Abercrombie says, " Allot to the 

 finest of the early kinds south walls for fruit in May and June ; train others against west and east walls, 

 for supplies in succession ; and some on north walls for the latest ripeners, particularly the morello, which, 

 so situated, will continue in perfection till September and October : but it is also proper to plant some 

 trees of this sort on south walls, to have the fruit ripen earlier, with improved flavor." 



4584. Final planting. " Plant full standards from twenty to thirty feet apart ; small standards, fifteen, 

 eighteen, or twenty feet. The proper season for planting is from the middle or end of October, or any 

 time in November or December, if open weather, till February or March." Miller says, never plant 

 standard or rider cherry-trees over other fruits ; for there is no sort of fruit that will prosper well under 

 the drip of cherries. He allows forty feet square for standards in orchards for the same reason. 



4585. Mode of bearing. " Cherry-trees in general produce the fruit upon small 

 spurs or studs, from half an inch to two inches in length, which proceed from the sides 

 and ends of the two-year, three-year, and older branches ; and as new spurs continue 

 shooting from the extreme parts, it is a maxim in pruning both standards and wall-trees, 

 not to shorten the bearing branches where there is room for their regular extension. 

 The morello is in some degree an exception." 



4586. Mode of training. Forsyth and Harrison train in the horizontal manner, and prac- 

 tise shortening the leading shoots as in the plum, apple, &c. For the morello Harrison 

 adopts the horizontal or .half-fan method, " the horizontal method when the tree grows 

 very vigorous, and the half-fan method when weaker." (Tr. on Fr. Tr. ch. xxiii.) 



4587. Pruning cherry-trees in general. Standards. Give only occasional pruning, to reform or 

 remove any casual irregularity from cross-placed or very crowded branches ; and take away all cankery 

 and decayed wood 



4588. Wall-trees. " A summer pruning, to commence in May or June, is necessary to regulate the 

 shoots of the same year. Disbud the superfluous and fore-right shoots ; or if they have been suffered to 

 spring, pinch or cut them off, with such as are disorderly. Retain a competent supply of some of the best 

 well-placed side and terminal shoots, to remain for selection at the winter pruning. Nail or lay in the 

 reserve close to the wall, at their full length, and so train them all summer. The winter pruning may be 

 performed at the fall of the leaf, or at any time in moderate weather till February or March. It comprises 

 a regulation both of the old and young wood. Carefully preserve the sound productive branches and 

 bearers in tneir full expansion ; and reduce or remove such only as are irregular in growth, too crowded, 

 unfruitful, decayed, -or cankery. Any branches extending out of bounds, prune in to some good lateral 

 shoot or fruit-bud. According to the time the bearers have already lasted, look to some promising shoots, 

 for successors to those which may first wear out. To fill immediate vacancies, retain select shoots of last 

 year, and the year before, with uniformly a leader to the advancing branch where there is room, and 

 with lateral shoots in any open or unproductive space near the origin of the branch, to be trained as 

 bearers between the main branches. Some cut superfluous fruit-shoots clean away; others leave a 

 sprinkling of short stubs, cut very short if fore-right. The new laterals and terminals are to be trained m 

 at full length, as far as room will permit. They will come into bearing the first and second year. In 

 pruning cherry-trees in general, be careful to preserve the small clustering fruit-spurs, except where in 

 wall-trees any old spurs project considerably, and assume a rugged disorderly appearance; cut such clean 



C \5SQPruning the morello. " The morello cherry bears principally on the shoots of last year, the fruit 

 proceeding immediately from the eyes of the shoots ; and bears but casually, and in a small degree on close 

 spurs formed on the two-year-old wood, and scarcely ever on wood of the third year. Therefore, both in 

 the summer and winter pruning, leave a supply of last year's shoots, on all the branches, from the origin 



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