CHAPTER VII. 



THE CHERRY. 



PROPAGATION. The cultivated varieties of the cherry consist of 

 two distinct classes of sorts ; the first comprising the Mazzards, 

 Hearts, and Bigarreaus, is characterized usually by the tall, upright 

 growth and pyramidal form of the tree, by the large, vigorous, and 

 straight young branches, and by a sweet or bitter, but not a sour 

 taste. The second class, or round-fruited, including the Dukes, 

 Morelloes, and the common pie cherry, has small, irregular, and 

 thickly growing branches, and a decidedly acid fruit. Observation 

 will soon enable any one to distinguish these two classes, even 

 where the trees are not more than a foot in height. It is the former 

 only that are commonly used as stocks for grafting and budding, on 

 account of their straight and rapid growth.* 



The stones, as soon as they are taken from the fruit, should be 

 dried only enough to prevent mouldiness, and then mixed with an 

 equal quantity of clean moist sand. This will preserve a proper 

 degree of moisture, and allow the easy separation of the stones in 

 planting. The best way to keep them till spring, is to bury them in 

 shallow pits on a dry spot of ground, covering them with flat stones 

 and a few inches of earth. 



The seed may be planted in autumn or spring. If in autumn, the 

 ground should be dry, and entirely free from all danger of becoming 

 flooded or water-soaked. Unless the soil is quite light, the surface 



* Attempts are not unfrequently made to propagate the common cherry on the wild 

 Black Cherry (Cerasus virginiana), or on the Choke Cherry (C. serotina). Such attempts 

 prove to be failures, the sorts being too dissimilar in their natures to favor union. These 

 two species, it will be observed, have racemose inflorescence, while in the cultivated cherry 

 the flowers are simply in fascicles or umbels. Some of the wild species (as the Sand Cherry, 

 C. pubescens), having the latter kind of inflorescence, have been successfully used as stocks, 

 and their adoption might possibly prove useful at the South and West, where the Heart 

 cherries fail. 



