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Cherry orcharding, properly conducted, is one of the most profitable branches of fruit-growing on a large scale 



CHERRIES 



Cherries are generally thought of as a sort of "good-to-eat" home-crop that is useful only a little while 

 in midsummer or for canning for winter. There are a good many commercial Cherry orchards, but the great 

 majority of people do not know that Cherry growing on a commercial scale is possible. In the small towns 

 farmers will peddle a few Cherries during the ripening season, sometimes finding a market and sometimes 

 not — hence comes the popular notion that Cherry-growing is not capable ot yielding regular, dependable 

 profits. 



The first thing to do as a remedy for this notion and for this condition is to get rid of the peddling idea 

 and custom. That is no way for a producer to dispose of anything. Give your Cherry trees the right kind 

 of attention so that they will produce flawless fruit; then pick and pack this fruit right and ship it to the 

 big markets. If your local markets are wide-awake enough to see the benefit of using fruit handled in this 

 way and will pay the right prices, sell it to them; but do not depend on them at all. You can market 

 Cherries by the carload better than in less quantity, and sixty trees, or maybe thirty, will produce a carload. 

 Do not hesitate to plant the trees because you fear there will be no market — the market is waiting and 

 will be very willing as soon as you have the Cherries. 



Another trouble to be overcome is the planting of poorly adapted varieties. The people who are used 

 to the little, half-inch fruit never stop looking when they first see the Cherries of improved kinds — an inch 

 thick, highly flavored and in colors to suit all tastes. Proper cultivation has a good bit to do with making 

 the trees produce the finest fruit. Some growers thin their Cherries, but this is not needed always. Cherry 

 worms and Cherry tree enemies readily yield to spraying, but Cherry trees require less spraying than any 

 other fruit trees. 



On account of the time of ripening, and of the small size of fruit. Cherries escape damage from wind- 

 storms and hail that sometimes destroys crops of the larger fruits; and though not more hardy, the blossoms 

 are not frozen so quickly as are apple or peach blossoms. We have repeatedly made the statement that 

 Cherry orchards will pay more than orchards of any other fruit. It is hard to give any definite figures, 

 because conditions of growing and marketing differ so much; but the average good Cherry tree in an orchard 

 should yield 400 pounds of fruit a year. Some may go as low as 200, while we have trees that yield 900. 

 Nearly all canneries cf Cherries, of which there are many in every Cherry-growing section, pay at least 

 33^ cents a pound for the fruit; most of the time the price realized is fully double this. If your tree yields 

 even an average of 200 pounds and you get no more than S/^ cents, the crop will bring in $7, and the 

 amount likely will run double this. As there are forty to sixty trees to the acre, your acre yield will be 

 worth from $280 to $420. 



Two-year trees are the best to plant, if you can get them. Unlike other fruits, Cherries should be 

 pruned just as little as possible after the first cutting back at planting time. A few crossing limbs, or branches 

 starting wrong, may be removed, but let the tree form its own head as much as possible. The distance apart 

 to plant varies with the conditions more than with any other fruit. Sweet Cherry trees get as large as the 

 largest apple trees in the rich soils of southeastern Pennsylvania, while in many other localities they are 

 much smaller. Sour Cherry trees are only half as large as Sweet Cherry trees, and may be planted much 

 closer. It is well to plant the orchard as close as 16 feet, on a good diagonal plan, then cut out trees as they 

 crowd, till you have them from 25 to 40 feet apart when they are twenty years old. 



Cherry trees begin bearing when four or five years old. At that time the crops will be valuable com- 

 mercially. At six or seven years, a Cherry orchard will yield $200 worth of fruit per acre, with proper care; 

 and at ten years it can be said to be in full bearing. However, Cherry trees are so long-lived, and grow 

 so large, that yields will be heavier each year for a generation. 



Each 



5 to 7 ft |o 35 



5 to 6 ft 30 



4 to 5 ft 25 



10 100 1,000 



$S 00 I25 00 $225 GO 



2 50 20 GO 175 GO 



2 00 15 00 125 00 



PRICES OF CHERRIES 



Each 10 100 1,000 



3 to 4 ft ^G 20 |i 5G $12 00 $100 GO 



2 to 3 ft 15 125 1000 75 00 



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