March, 1915 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



61 



Cherry Grooving Practices in Quebec Province^ 



Rev. Father Leopold, L& Trappe, Que. 



NOT as many cherries are grown in 

 the province of Quebec as for- 

 merly. Why is this? Have the 

 varieties proved less hardy for our severe 

 climate? I do not think so. It is my 

 opinion rather that we have simply ne- 

 glected to replace the old cherry orchards 

 as their days of existence expired. The 

 cherry tree is, as you know, a short- 

 lived tree compared to the apple and pear 

 tree. Yet the good crops we can get 

 every second year should be a safe rea- 

 son to move us to plant more cherry 

 orchards as in the days gone by. We 

 still find cherry trees flourishing away 

 below Quebec in our most severe win- 

 ters. 



Cherries are divided into two groups : 

 The sweet and the sour cherry. Sweet 

 cherries are very popular on the markets 

 in Montreal ; but unfortunately, we can 

 not grow them in Quebec. They are 

 somewhat exacting in soil and climatic 

 conditions; in fact, the sweet cherry will 

 not stand extreme cold weather, and 

 when subjected to it, the tree often 

 cracks open and is easily winter-killed. 

 However, in our orchards at La Trappe 

 we succeed in getting a somewhat good 

 stand and fair crops from at least one 

 variety, and that is "Imperatrice Eu- 

 genie." There is no mistaking this var- 

 iety for a sour cherry, as its tall, erect 

 growth identifies it easily with the sweet 

 cherries. Another reason why we can- 

 not grow the sweet cherry in the pro- 

 vince of Quebec is because the sweet 

 cherry trees are early bloomers, and 

 therefore are very subject to early spring 

 frosts. They are thus easily damaged. 



The sweet cherry prefers a light warm 

 loam. It does not like wet feet, nor does 

 it thrive as the pear in a stiff clay loam. 

 On the other hand, we must avoid too 

 gravelly or sandy soils, as such soils 

 have a tendency to bring on an early 

 bloom in the spring. The sap is also 

 brought into activity too soon, which, 

 with our cold here, is sure to have dis- 

 astrous consequences upon the trees. 



If we can not grow the sweet cherry, 

 we can produce a good number of varie- 

 ties of the sour type with ease. I do not 

 think that even the sour cherry is grown 

 extensively in Quebec on a commercial 

 basis. But in nearly every orchard we 

 '•an find a few solitary trees that produce 

 well if they are given a little care to pre- 

 vent them from getting "gummosis" or 

 the black knot. 



With the establishment of canneries, 

 the growing of a considerable area of 

 sour cherries would be a very profitable 

 industry. There will always be a steady 

 demand for canned cherries. Besides 



this we can always depend on being able 

 to sell our cherries for remunerative 

 prices on our local markets for home 

 consumption. 



From the small number of cherry trees 

 grown in Quebec it is hard to say what 

 areas would be more especially adapted 

 to the fruit. However, we are sure of 

 this, that the sour cherry will outlive the 

 sweet cherry here, as it is much hardier. 

 It stands much more cold and frost in 

 winter and in the spring. Rainy wea- 

 ther does not seem to damage the blos- 

 soms to such a point as with the sweet 

 cherry. 



The cherry tree will thrive on the 

 lighter, well-drained loams. This fruit 

 likes an elevated, naturally light, dry, 

 loamy, retentive soil. The sour cherry 

 tree will stand a heavier soil. 



The management of a cherry orchard 

 is somewhat similar to the apple orchard. 

 I would advise clean tillage until about 

 the time the fruit is picked. In tilling 

 young trees not yet bearing, I would see 

 that ample time is left after the cultiva- 

 tion is over that the trees may mature 

 and season their growth before winter. 

 As the sour cherry tree does not make 

 a very large tree, I would advise plant- 

 ing it sixteen and one-half feet each way, 

 thus making one hundred and sixty trees 

 per acre. I would not attempt to set out 

 anything, but a strictly first-class tree, 

 as all others are too expensive. I pre- 

 fer setting out a tree with a two years' 

 growth from the bud, having the four 

 or five main branches as low as possible, 

 consistent with economical tillage and 

 handlinig of the orchard. Trees headed 

 low are grown usually in the rare or 

 open type. By heading back the trees 



now and then we prevent their, becoming 

 too high before they come into fruiting. 

 Many leading cherry growers advocate 

 pruning the cherry tree very slightly and 

 in our province subject to severe winter 

 weather, it will be well to delay the 

 pruning until spring, but before the sap 

 is moving strongly. 



Cherry trees in Quebec are mostly pro- 

 pagated by budding in August on Pnunus 

 Mahaleb or Mazzard stock. Attempts 

 made to propagate the cherry tree on the 

 Choke Cherry (Prunus serotina) prove to 

 be failures, the sorts being too dissimilar 

 in their natures to favor a union. Where- 

 ever it is possible to grow them I would 

 recommend budding on Mazzard rather 

 than on Mahaleb, though the latter is 

 more widely used by nurserymen, as it is 

 easier to bud and free from leaf blight in 

 the nursery row. The Mazzard forms a 

 belter root system, stronger union, a 

 longer lived tree, and is sufficiently 

 hardy. 



Biudding is perhaps harder to accom- 

 plish successfully than with plum, and 

 certainly harder than with apple, pear, 

 _and quince stock. After trying both me- 

 thods, I find that success will be found 

 to depend largely upon cutting out with 

 the bud a larger portion of the wood than 

 is common with budding other species of 

 fruit. Take out this wood deftly with 

 the point of the blade so as to leave as 

 large a surface of cambium layer in 

 contact with the stock as possible. In 

 this operation I have lost comparatively 

 few cherry buds. 



Cherry trees can be top-grafted suc- 

 cessfully. This sort of graft will suc- 

 ceed without any difficulty, if it is per- 

 formed early in the spring before the 

 slightest swelling of the buds, and be- 

 fore even the frost has disappeared from 



•Extract from a paper read at a meeting of 

 tine Quebec Pomoloeical Society. 



filkraylns potatoea and boys cultivating 



in the Irish Boys' Home, Hespeler, Out. 



—Photo by E«T. G. W. Tebbs. 



