7fi 



CHERRY CULTURE. 



Essay by James E. Gedney, Mesa Grande. San Diego County. 



Being requested by a member of the State Board of Horticulture to give 

 my views on cherry culture at Mesa Grande, this being about the only sec- 

 tion of this county (San Diego) where cherries grow to perfection,- 1 cheer- 

 fully submit the following hasty description, only regretting that pressure 

 of business will not allow of my going more exhaustively into the subject. 

 For better handling the subject I have arranged the headings in the follow- 

 ing general order, each of which I will treat separately, viz.: "Climatic 

 Conditions and Rainfall," "Soil," "Location and Exposure," "Varieties," 

 " Time of Setting Out Trees," " Time of Flowering and Ripening of Fruit," 

 etc. 



CLIMATE. 



During January, February, March, and April we experience heavy rain- 

 falls, averaging, for the four months, twenty-three inches, with light falls of 

 snow during February and March. Our May and June are warm, with light 

 showers, averaging two inches for the two months. The months of July, 

 August, September, and October are warm and dry, with the exception of 

 occasional light thunder showers from the middle of July to the middle of 

 August. The weather of November and December is changeable, with fine 

 falls of rain, averaging, for the two months, five inches; making an average 

 yearly rainfall of thirty inches. This has been my experience during the 

 past seventeen years, all of which time I have resided in this locality. Mesa 

 Grande lies fifty miles from the ocean, and has an average altitude of three 

 thousand three hundred feet. 



SOIL. 



The soils of this section are of many classes, but that which claims our 

 attention is that best adapted to the production of the cherry. I have 

 experimented with the soil of the lowlands, second bench, and hillside or 

 slopes, and find the hillsides or slopes best adapted to the cherry, especially 

 those having a northern or western exposure. These hillsides are rocky, 

 no outcropping of ledges, but loose rocks from the size of a walnut up to 

 quite large bowlders abound. The soil, when wet, is of a dark iron color, 

 and when dry, a dark gray color, and consists largely of mica, iron, and 

 decomposed granite, with an underlayer of a reddish clay; is very easily 

 worked, and not inclined to bake. 



varieties. 



Among the most satisfactory varieties of cherries produced by me are the — 



Governor Wood .Flowers April first and fruit ripens last of May. 



ftockport Flowers April first and fruit ripens June first. 



Black Tartarian Flowers April sixth and fruit ripens June twentieth. 



Napoleon Bigarreau Flowers April sixth and fruit ripens July first. 



Centennial Flowers April first and fruit ripens June fifteenth. 



Late Duke Flowers May first and fruit ripens August first. 



I plant my trees about the middle of February and find the best results 

 by planting at this time. One reason for setting out the trees at this time is 

 that the rains after this are not so dashing and heavy as to fill the newly 



