STATE POMOLOQICAL SOCIETY. 69 



them with an equal quantity of clean, moist sand. The seeds 

 should be planted either in autumn or spring, in places entirely 

 free from all danger of becoming flooded or water soaked. Spring 

 is said to be the best time for planting, if done as soon as the frost 

 is out of the ground, as the seeds commence to germinate on the 

 first approach of warm weather. The distance should be the same 

 as for the apple, and about the same rules are applicable to their 

 management in the nursery rows." — Thomas. 



" Budding upon thrifty, one-year old seedlings after transplant- 

 ing from the seed-bed to nursery row, is the common practice. 

 This should be done about the time or a little after the most vig- 

 orous stage of growth, or just as the terminal buds on the shoots 

 commence forming. This period commences usually about mid- 

 summer, and continues under various influences of season and soil 

 for two or three weeks; sometimes more than a month." — Thomas. 



We read in various treatises on projiagation of nursery trees 

 that grafting the cherry is a difficult operation, and if done at all, 

 should be done in early spring before the slightest swelling of the 

 buds, and before the frost has disappeared from the ground. Mr. 

 Thomas admits that in propagating the slower growing or sour 

 fruited varieties, good trees are often soonest obtained by grafting 

 or budding them at standard height on large, straight stocks. 



I have tried several times to propagate the Heart and Bigarreau 

 cherries by grafting in stocks of the common Kentish, but have 

 failed of success in nearly every instance. But with the Mayduke 

 and Morellol have had gratifying success, and have some nice 

 trees grafted in May last which made a good growth, and I intend 

 to repeat the experiment this year. I have succeeded in grafting 

 small stocks, after the first of June, with scions of the Mayduke 

 which had been cut early in spring and well preserved. 



While the apple, pear, and some other standard fruits generally 

 require a high degree of richness and careful preparation of the 

 soil, and much attention to pruning and giving direction to their 

 growth, the cherry, it is declared, " requires but little cultivation 

 further than occasionally supplying old trees with a little dressing 

 to keep up their vigor, pruning out a dead or crossing branch and 

 washing the stem with soft soap, should it become hard and bark- 

 bound." I am satisfied, from my own experience for several years 

 past, that plowing or any deep cultivation near cherry trees should 

 be carefully avoided. As we are warned against much pruning of 

 the branches or twigs, we should be equally carefnl about bruising 



