AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
179 
by tree, and shrub growers. A shade tree devel- 
opes half its beauty, and growth, by good prun¬ 
ing. Forest trees, where it is any object to do 
so, are all the better for it; and every fruit-grower 
knows, or ought to know, that he can get no per¬ 
fect fruit, nor full crops, without special attention 
to its practice ; while every florist will tell you 
that to obtain the finest flowers, and the highest 
perfection of bloom, the nicest attention should 
be given to pruning out and properly adjusting the 
spray of the plant. 
- r » < '■ ■an Q g— '-- 
The Orchard. V. 
CHERRY. 
This is a common fruit all over the country— 
of-one-sort-or-another. Yet, choice varieties are 
not always cultivated; and although they are 
much more abundant of late years than formerly, 
they are not nearly so much attended to as they 
should be. The cherry, as a tree in itself, for 
shade only, is exceedingly ornamental. It is hardy 
—particularly in its seedling, as a mazard, or un¬ 
worked condition. Its shape is graceful and sym¬ 
metrical, its foliage full, its flower fragrant and 
beautiful; and fruit, if worth little for eating, 
is grateful to the eye. But when the value of a 
really good cherry for edible purposes is con¬ 
sidered, it is among the choicest list, and most 
economical of the smaller stone fruits. There¬ 
fore, where the soil and climate suits it, the 
cherry should always be cultivated as a farm and 
garden production—for household purposes, if 
not for market. 
SOIL AND CLIMATE. 
A dry, naturally drained—that is, a soil, with a 
porous, sandy, or gravelly under-stratum, letting 
off the water below, is what best suits the cherry, 
although it will grow and do well in a heavy sur¬ 
face-soil, with arificial or under drainage ; or on 
a bank where the water-accummulations of the 
soil will flow rapidly off. But the true, natural 
soil for the cherry, of any kind, is a free, sandy 
loam, of good quality. In that, it grows, bears 
and luxuriates in perfection, and in such only 
would we recommend the plantation of cherry 
orchards, for market purposes. A few trees for 
family use may be put in almost any good soil— 
even a clay, made dry by under-drainage, if neces¬ 
sary. 
There are some soils too “ fat,” as they are 
sometimes termed, to grow the cherry success¬ 
fully, such as river-bottoms, unctuous prairie soils, 
and others, rich in the decomposition of vegetable 
humus. The trees here make a prodigious an¬ 
nual growth, and when arriving at full bearing 
age, are apt to burst the bark of their trunks, 
crack in the limbs, and shortly die. Extreme de¬ 
grees of Winter cold in such soils are particularly 
fatal to them. The lighter soils are of medium 
quality in fertility, and are therefore most avail¬ 
able, giving them a moderate growth, which the 
season fully ripens, and prepares to withstand the 
rigors of the succeding Winter. 
The climate of our Central and Northern States 
best suits them, although, in proper exposures 
elevated at the South, and sheltered at the ex¬ 
treme North, they frequently thrive, and do 
well. Indeed, they are so general in cultivation, 
that the localities favoring them are almost every¬ 
where understood, by residents of only a few 
years, who have paid any attention to fruit cul¬ 
ture. They should be tried everywhere, and if they 
succeed, the planter will be well paid for his pains 
and expense ; if they do not succeed, the experi¬ 
ment with a few trees will noj; be costly. At all 
events, the fact of ascertaining whether they will 
gr nr not, is wor‘ a the trial. 
USES OP THE CHERRY. 
Every good housewife understands the value of 
the cherry, in the various cooking purposes to 
which it is adapted ; and when of good quality it 
is palatable, in its ripe and grateful flavor, to al¬ 
most every lover of fruit in its season. Not only 
for the table, as a dessert fruit, is it valuable, but 
for pies, puddings, tarts, preserves, both fresh and 
dried, it is most convenient and desirable, taking 
the place of other more costly, and foreign fruits 
of less excellence. Then, as a market fruit, it is 
always saleable, and in demandat good prices—two 
to four dollars a bushel, in our cities, towns, and 
villages. When properly selected, the fruit bears 
transportation to a great distance, and keeps in 
good condition much longer than the peach or 
the plum. It immediately succeeds the currant, 
and if a succession of varieties is planted, may be 
in season for a number of weeks—in many in¬ 
stances quite two months, although the usual 
cherry season comprises in the same locality, but 
about four weeks. It is scarcely needful to add, 
that a liberal use of the fruit, either in its natural 
state, or cooked in the many ways to which it 
is adapted, is both healthful and nutritious. There¬ 
fore, it is a desirable, useful, profitable fruit, and 
should be cultivated by every one having the op¬ 
portunity, and to such extent as his own family 
wants, or the market demand may render profit¬ 
able. 
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION. 
Eighteen to thirty feet apart, according to the 
variety of the fruit, and quality of the soil, are 
the proper distances at which the cherry tree 
should stand in the orchard ; and the general di¬ 
rections applied to the trees already treated of by 
us, equally well apply to them. Of pruning, cher¬ 
ry trees usually require little, and that chiefly to 
cut out cross limbs, chafing each other, or strag¬ 
gling out of place and deforming the head of the 
tree. The great drawback to the cherry orchard 
after coming into bearing, is breaking the limbs by 
careless picking, which should be guarded against 
by having proper step-ladders, hooks and baskets, 
and using care in detaching the fruit, which should 
always be taken with the stem upon it, thus pre¬ 
serving it from bruising, and enabling its carriage 
to a distance without crushing by its own pres¬ 
sure. 
varieties. 
Were we to have but one variety of cherry, that 
should be the Kentish, or common pie cherry, so 
universally grown all over the country. Although 
called a sour cherry, and not so palatable to the 
taste as the better varieties of the “ English,” so 
called, yet for all uses, taken together, it is the 
most valuable for cooking, preserving and drying. 
It is the hardiest of all, and although not so ra¬ 
pid a grower, is a constant and prolific bearer, and 
withstands almost any amount of hard usage 
with impunity. Yet it equally well pays for good 
treatment and cultivation, and were we to culti¬ 
vate cherries largely, although it brings a less 
price in the market, we would not be without a 
fair proportion of these. They ripen seasonably, 
and hang longer on the tree than any other va¬ 
riety. We have had them in eating, picking them 
daily from the same trees for six weeks in succes¬ 
sion, which none of the choicer varieties will do. 
After this, we name the May, and late Dukes, 
Black-tartarian, Yellow-Spanish, the old Black- 
heart and Elkhorn, as standard varieties, long 
proved, and furnishing the cherry season through¬ 
out in reliable excellence of flavor and quality, 
from the earliest to the latest. There are many 
other varieties in circulation, some of them new, 
which have obtained either a local or general ce¬ 
lebrity, and are worthy of attention to the cherry 
orchardist. But as our object is chiefly to recom¬ 
mend those well established, reliable varieties for 
family use, and a general and profitable market, 
we confine our names to a limited number of 
such ; the books and nursery catalogues will give 
the rest. The cherry tree is a beautiful object in 
itself, and an interesting fruit to the amateur; and 
when time and opportunity permit, he may well 
indulge in a wide selection of the large number of 
new and choice varieties, many of which will 
amply repay the care he bestows upon them. 
DISEASES. 
These, happily, are yet but few with us, and 
tne worst that we have seen are those which 
originate in an unpropitious soil, already noticed. 
Insects sometimes trouble the fruit, and the leaves, 
as birds do the fruit always. But the treatment 
of these not coming within the range of our dis¬ 
cussion, we hand our readers over to the books, 
where, as well as the different varieties which 
may be inquired after, their various descriptions, 
and remedies may be found, and thoroughly 
studied. 
-■«»—«- - 
The Pear and Cherry Slug- 
BY A. O. MOOre, N. Y. 
The insect which we familiarly call the Pear 
Slug (Selandria Cerasi), see fig. 1, next page, is, at 
the period of life when generally noticed by the 
cultivator, a greenish black, club-shaped worm, 
with a thick, rounded anterior extremity, and ta¬ 
pering toward the posterior. It is covered with a 
semi-transparent coat of slime, which exudes 
from its bodv, and, in the hottest sunshine, does 
not become hard or dry. There is not the slightest 
indication, as it rests on the leaf, that it possesses 
either head or legs, but under the club-shaped tho¬ 
rax it has a head like a caterpillar, and by rubbing 
off its slimy coat, or by turning the insect upon its 
back, it will be found to possess three pair of true 
legs,those which are nearest to the head, and seven 
pair of false or prolegs, the latter being more flat 
in shape than the former. While resting undis¬ 
turbed upon the leaf, the tail or last segment of 
the body is slightly raised. At its greatest size, 
the worm is about half an inch in length ; it is 
very sluggish in its habits, being rarely seen to 
move, not even attempting to escape when touch¬ 
ed or otherwise disturbed, nor does it seek refuge 
from the most intense heat of the sun, or from 
the pelting rain, being always found fully exposed 
on the upper surface of the leaf. 
It does not eat durng the day, but about sunset 
commences to feed. The injury consists in its 
eating the upper skin of the leaf, while the lower 
skin and veins are untouched; the leaves imme 
diately assume a brown unsightly appearance, 
while the proper function of the leaf, the elabora- 
ton of the sap, is almost entirely obstructed. 
Young trees are sometimes irreparably injured, 
and I have seen many acres in a single nursery, 
the trees of which were, from this cause, rendered 
permanently unsalable, and comparatively worth¬ 
less. Older trees are often much injured by 
checking the formation of young wood and fruit 
spurs, which has a serious effect upon their growth 
and fruitfulness. As early as the year 1797, this 
insect attracted the attention of cultivators in 
Massachusetts, and elsewhere, by causing great 
injury to the cherry, pear, plum and quince trees ; 
and it has, with little intermission, continued its 
depredations every year, until this time. 
We have thus far considered the insect in only 
one form of its existence It may not be unin¬ 
teresting to investigate its origin and its subse¬ 
quent condition. Like all other insects, its exist- 
