FRUIT CULTURE IN FRANCE 



349 



forms, and especially as a standard. For commercial cultivation it is planted in 

 open fields, bushes at 5 metres, or standards at 8 m(^tres apart ; sometimes when 

 other plants are grown between the trees, these are at a still greater distance 

 apart. 



Propagation. — By grafting upon the wild cherry ; the Ste. Lucie cherry 

 is reserved for half-standard or other short-stemmed forms, and sometimes in dry 

 and hot soils for standards. The cherry is largely grown in Var, the delta of 



One-Year-Old Shoot of 

 Cherry 



Two-Year-Old Cherry Shoot 

 THAT WILL Beak Fruit 



the Rhone, Lyonnais, and the environs of Paris. In the east of France it is 

 much cultivated for the manufacture of " Kirsch." 



Pruning. — The cherry tree bears its fruit upon spurs and shoots of one 

 year's growth. Little pruning, stopping, or disbudding is necessary, only 

 sufficient to balance the tree. 



There are five distinct sorts of cherries : — 



BiGARREAU. — Flesh crisp, sweet ; juice almost colourless ; branches vigorous, long 

 and few, often divergent ; flowers large, half-opened. 



Cherries (properly so-called). — Flesh tender, sugary ; juice almost colourless ; 

 branches many, medium size, erect, or divergent ; flowers medium size, very open. 



GuiGNE. — Flesh soft, sweet ; juice often coloured ; branches the same as in the 

 Bigarreau ; flowers large, half opened. 



Griotte. — Flesh tender; juice clear, acid, sometimes astringent and slightly 

 bitter ; branches rather slender, numerous, and divergent. 



Cherries for Kirsch.— Special varieties for distillation. 



