THE CHERRY. 247 



ti'osts, it is, however, well to plant it on tlie north sides of hills, in 

 order to retard it in the spring. 



Propagation. The finer sorts are nearly always propagated 

 by budding on seedlings of the common black mazzard, which 

 is a very common kind, producing a great abundance of fruit, 

 and very healthy, free growing stocks. To raise these stocks, 

 the cherries should be gathered when fully ripe, and allowed to 

 lie two or three days together, so that they may be partially or 

 wholly freed from the pulp by washing them in water. They 

 should then be planted immediately in drills in the seed plot, 

 covering them about an inch deep. Tliey will then vegetate in 

 the following spring, and in good soil will be fit for planting out 

 in the nursery rows in the autumn or following spring at a 

 distance of ten or twelve inches apart in the row. Many per- 

 sons preserve their cherry stones in sand, either in the cellar or 

 in the open air until spring, but we have found this a more pre- 

 carious mode ; the cherry being one of the most delicate of 

 seeds when it commences to vegetate, and its vitality is fre- 

 quently destroyed by leaving it in the sand twenty-four hours 

 too long, or after it has commenced sprouting. 



After planting in the nursery rows, the seedlings are gene- 

 rally fit for budding in the month of August following And in 

 order not to have weak stocks overpowered by vigorous ones 

 they should always be assorted before they are-planted, placing 

 those of the same size in rows together. Nearly all the cher- 

 ries are grown with us as standards. The English nurserymen 

 usually bud their standard cherries as high as they wish them 

 to form heads, but we always prefer to bud them on quite young 

 stocks, as near the ground as possible, as they then shoot up 

 clean, straight, smooth stems, showing no clumsy joint when 

 the bud and the stock are united. In good soils, the buds will 

 frequently make shoots, six or eight feet high, the first season 

 after the stock is headed back. 



When dwarf trees are required, the Morello seedlings are 

 used as stocks ; or when very dwarf trees are wished the Per- 

 fumed Cherry, (Cerasus Mahaleb,) is employed ; but as stan- 

 dards are almost universally preferred, these are seldom seen 

 here. Dwarfs in the nursery must be headed back the second 

 year, in order to form lateral shoots near the ground. 



Cultivation. The cherry, as a standard tree, may be said 

 to require little or no cultivation in the middle states, further 

 than occasionally supplying old trees with a little manure to 

 keep up their vigour, pruning out a dead or crossing branch, 

 and Avashing the stem with soft soap should it become hard and 

 bark bound. Pruning the cherry very little needs, and as it is 

 always likely to produce gum (and this decay), it should be 

 avoided, except when really required. It should then be done 

 in midsummer^ as that is the only season when the gum is not 



