276 THE NURSERY-MANUAL 



must be stratified and kept very cool to prevent germination, and 

 they should be sown at the earliest possible moment. They do 

 not need to be cracked by hand. Care must be taken that cherry 

 pits do not become hard and dry. This precaution is more im- 

 portant with cherries than with peaches and plums. At the close 

 of the first season, the seedlings will be a foot or foot and a half 

 high, large enough to transplant into nursery rows, after the manner 

 of apples, where they are budded the following season (second 

 season from the seed). In warm climates the pits are sometimes 

 cracked as soon as they are gathered, and the " meats " planted 

 immediately. They will then make stocks fit for grafting the 

 ensuing winter, or for transplanting and budding the following 

 summer. 



Cherries, in common with other stone fruits, grow readily from 

 root-cuttings, in the same way as blackberries. They do better if 

 started over a gentle heat. 



The mazzard cherry is the stock on which cherries are recom- 

 mended to be worked. It is a hardy and vigorous variety, with 

 inferior fruit, of the common sweet cherry (Prunus atrium). Seeds 

 of this are readily procured in this country. As a matter of fact, 

 however, nearly all sour cherries are worked on the mahaleb in this 

 country, as they take better on it, and the stocks are cheap. Sweet 

 cherries are often budded on the mahaleb, but it is a question 

 whether such practice is best. The mazzard is such a strong 

 grower that the bud is often " drowned out " by the flow of sap. 

 To avoid this exuberance, nurserymen often pinch in the tips of 

 the stocks a few days before they are to be worked. The mazzard 

 is also liable to leaf -blight, and to serious injury from the black 

 aphis, so that the bark often sets before the operator has had time 

 to finish his plantation. Mazzards usually have a shorter budding 

 season than mahalebs, and are less uniform in behavior ; and for 

 these reasons, mahalebs are widely used. 



Mahaleb is a distinct species, Prunus Mahaleb, from southern 

 Europe. The seeds or stocks of it are imported. Mahaleb stocks 

 are recommended in the books for dwarfing the cherry, but the 

 dwarfing depends more on pruning than on the mahaleb root. 

 The mahaleb is naturally a smaller tree than the mazzard, how- 

 ever. It is said that the mahaleb is better adapted to heavy clay 

 soils than the mazzard, but in practice it is used indiscriminately 

 for all soils and nearly all varieties. 



Morello (Prunus Cerasus) stocks will no doubt prove to be 



