222 Grafting the Cherry. 
been a vastly increased demand for white cherries. The Royal 
Ann (a local name for Napoleon Bigarreau) has been the fa- 
vorite. Other white sorts are also used for canning. This rise 
in favor of the white cherries has vastly increased their propor- 
tionate production as compared with the choice black and red 
varieties, which are still popular as table fruit. 
It is the experience of growers that the cherry is grafted 
over as easily as the pear or apple, if the tree is healthy. In 
large trees as many as fifty or one hundred grafts may be set, 
choosing the smaller limbs, even if you have to go pretty high 
in the tree. J. W. Cassidy, of Petaluma, advises grafting be- 
fore the sap begins to fiow in the winter, or if not done then, 
wait until the buds are well advanced or the tree in bloom. He 
has trees which were over thirty years old before they were re- 
headed, and they now have fine tops of new and healthy wood, 
and produce abundantly. 
PESTS AND DISEASES OF THE CHERRY. 
The disease of the cherry which is most heard of is the 
“gum,” or overflow and condensation of sap, which, if left to 
itself, often induces decay of adjacent bark and wood. Without 
attempting to explain the cause or causes of the unhealthy exu- 
dation, it may be said that prompt treatment of certain mani- 
festations is desirable, and in others the tree should be cleansed 
from the flow. Where the gum exudes on the side of trunk or 
limb, the thin outer bark should be pared away with a sharp 
knife, the accumulation of gum and sap removed, and the 
wound painted with lead and oil paint. Mr. Geiger used for 
this purpose a mixture of two parts of resin and one of shellac 
melted together, adding a small piece of tallow to the melted 
mass. Gum in the crotch should be cleanly brushed out when 
softened by the winter rains. If allowed to remain, it becomes 
sour and offensive and may injure the tree. In places where 
two or three limbs come out close together a kind of cup is 
formed, which will hold the gum from one year's end to another, 
and, in its soft state, leaves, sticks, cherry pits, dust, and dirt will 
stick and hang, and sometimes the mass becomes so foul that 
the stench can hardly be endured. By this collection, also, a 
nest is made for all manner of insects, bugs, and worms. An- 
other evil in letting the gum stay on is, if rain does not wash 
it off clean, it runs down the trunk of the tree and makes the 
bark look bad, and if it is very thick on the bark when it dries, 
it will contract and crack the bark crosswise, and is very injuri- 
ous to the tree. 
Gumming in the crotch can be largely avoided by starting 
the young cherry as advocated in the chapter on pruning. 
Branches which emerge from the trunk at separate points and 
