Common Practise with the Cherry. ers 
THE USUAL METHOD OF PRUNING THE CHERRY. 
As we have said, all cherry growers agree on low heading 
and on the advantage of pinching the lowest shoots as soon 
as they make a bunch of leaves. In forming the head, and in 
after treatment, the usual method is quite different from that we 
have described. It follows the vase or goblet form, which has 
been discussed at length in the chapter on pruning. Of the ap- 
plication of this method to the cherry, W. W. Smith, in an ad- 
dress before the State Horticuitural Society, said:— 
The cherry may be pruned the same as any other deciduous fruit trees 
until it is about five years old; after that the less pruning the better, except 
when necessary to cut out a dead or crossing branch. Pruning the cherry 
is more or less likely to produce gum (and this, decay), and should be 
avoided as much as possible. Cherry trees, however, should be trained 
with low heads not to exceed eighteen inches from the ground to the first 
branches; fifteen inches is better. From three to five branches are enough 
to form the head of the tree; all others should be removed early. Three 
are better than five; two makes a forked tree, which is likely to split down 
in after years. 
At the end of the first season we have a neat little tree with three to 
five branches. During the following winter these branches should be cut 
back from six to eight inches. Thenext season these should be allowed to 
produce two branches each (no more); then, at the end of the second 
season from planting out, we have a tree with from six to ten branches. 
The following winter the new growth should be cut back again to from 
twelve to eighteen inches—according to the amount of growth the tree 
makes—the less the growth the more you cut. The same process should be 
repeated the following winter, treating each branch as an individual tree, 
until the tree is about five years old; it takes at least five years to get the 
head of a cherry well established. After this, as some varieties will persist 
in throwing out branches near the ground, they should be removed during 
the summer. At this age the tree, ifwell grown, will have top enough to 
shade its body from the sun, and there is no further need of branches on the 
main trunk. 
If necessary to remove large branches it should then be done in mid- 
summer, as that is the only season when the gum is not more or less exuded. 
We make it a rule to go over and dress up and prune our cherry orchard 
immediately after the crop is gathered—which in our part of the State is the 
last of May. All wounds made then by the removal of branches or other- 
wise will heal over the same season. All large wounds made at any time, 
however, should be coated over with paint. 
The method thus described by Mr. Smith is that by which 
probably nine-tenths of the cherry trees of this State are shaped. 
In the cherry there should be the same observation as to 
cutting inside and outside buds as with other trees; in fact, 
the outside bud is the rule, because so many varieties make a 
directly upright growth. In removing limbs, cutting to the 
collar or swelling at the base of the limb is especially important, 
also the covering of the wound to prevent checking of the wood. 
GRAFTING OVER THE CHERRY. 
Since canning of cherries began on a large scale, there has 
