450 



THE CHEERY. 



* meter of main trunk, while the length of the largest limb or branch is 

 forty-two feet. 



A large cherry-tree at "Walworth, N. Y., is recorded as measuring 

 fourteen feet six inches in circumference, sixty feet in height, and having 

 a spread of over four rods. It has produced forty bushels of fruit in 

 one season. 



Twenty feet apart for the strong, and eighteen feet for the slow- 

 growing kinds is the proper distance for this tree. 



Training the Cherry is very little practised in the United States. 

 The Heart and Bigarreau Cherries are usually trained in the horizontal 

 manner, explained in pages 44, 45. When the wall or espalier is once 

 filled, as there directed, with lateral branches, it is only necessary to cut 

 off, twice every season — in the month of May and July — all additional 

 shoots to within an inch or so of the branch from which they grew. As 

 the trees grow older, these fruit-spurs will advance in length, but by cut- 

 ting them out whenever they exceed four or five inches, new ones will be 

 produced, and the tree will continue to keep its proper shape and yield 

 excellent fruit. The Morello Cherries, being weaker growing sorts, are 

 trained in the fan manner (pages 42, 43). 



Gathering the Fruit. This tender and juicy fruit is best when 

 freshly gathered from the tree, and it should always be picked with the 

 stalks attached. For the dessert, the flavor of many sorts in our climate 

 is rendered more delicious by placing the fruit, for an hour or two pre- 

 vious, in an ice-house or refrigerator, and bringing them upon the table 

 cool, with dew-drops standing upon them. For market or transpor- 

 tation long distances, they should be gathered only when perfectly dry. 



Varieties. Since the first publication of this work was written, the 

 number of varieties has greatly increased, and become so hybridized that 

 no distinct line can now be drawn separating many of the Heart Cher- 

 ries (tender and half tender) from the firm-fleshed or Bigarreau varieties, 

 each class insensibly approaching and intermingling with the other. We 

 have therefore made but one class of these, whose main characteristic is 

 the large, vigorous growth of the trees. The Duke and Morello Cherries, 

 also wanting a natural division, we make to constitute another class, and 

 in these two have comprised all the cherries. 



CLASS I. 

 BIGARREAU AND HEART CHERREES. 

 Adam's Crown. 



Of English origin. 



Fruit medium, round heart-shape, pale red. Flesh tender, juicy, 

 agreeable. Middle of June. 



Amber. 



Imperial English Amber ? 



A variety described by Coxe as large, round. Skin glossy cream 

 color, faint blush. Flesh firm, luscious. Ripens late in June. Tree 

 grows large, regular, spreading. 



