SOIL AND CULTURAL METHODS 



315 



and less injury from fungous diseases will result if the 

 orchard is kept in a clean, cultivated condition. 



Cherries. The commercial production of cherries is 

 more restricted than that of most other fruits. This is 

 especially true of the 

 sweet cherries, there 

 being but few sections 

 east of the Rocky 

 Mountains where 

 the soil and climatic 

 conditions are favor- 

 able . The production 

 of sour cherries has 

 become one of the 

 leading industries in 

 the humid regions of 

 the Middle West. 



Soil and Cultural Methods. Sweet cherries thrive best 

 on an elevated, light, dry, loamy soil, while the sour kinds 

 will endure more moist climatic conditions and a heavier 

 soil. 



Spring planting of trees is usually practiced. The sweet 

 varieties are set thirty to forty feet apart each way, while 

 the sour kinds are set from sixteen to twenty feet. In 

 pruning, three to five main branches about three feet from 

 the ground are allowed to remain to form the framework 

 of the tree. As the sweet cherries have a very upright 

 habit of growth, it is important to prune the lateral branches 

 back to outside buds for a few years to induce a spreading 

 rather than an upright form. The framework branches of 

 the sour cherry are formed like those of the peach tree. 

 Cherries are very subject to gummosis, a disease which is 



Fig. 168. A well-formed Windsor cherry tree. 



