Vol. LXX. No. 4090. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 18, 1911. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
THE BEST STOCK FOR CHERRIES. 
Shall it be Mazzard or Mahaleb? 
A very lively discussion has been going on in this local¬ 
ity for a year concerning the relative merits of Mazzard 
and Mahaleb stock for sweet cherry trees. As the conflict¬ 
ing statements are not readily judged by the average fruit 
grower, and I am unable to find any authoritative matter 
on the subject, I write to you, hoping that a full state¬ 
ment of the subject can be secured from Frof. Van Deman 
or some other undoubted authority. It is asserted on the 
one hand that for sweet cherries the use of Mahaleb stock 
has been prevalent in this country because it is cheaper, 
because it pushes the young trees along faster, making a 
better showing, and because even the nurserymen do not 
realize its final shortcomings. The fault is said to be that 
the stock is capable of making only a certain growth, 
which is less in many cases than the size which the 
stock budded onto it is capable of making. The result is 
in the mature tree that the budded stock attains a greater 
diameter than the root just below the bud. In other 
-words it is claimed that eventually the tree so budded on 
Mahaleb comes to have a restricted or “corseted’’ section 
just below the bud. The top makes a growth in excess of 
the capacity of this restricted portion to pass sap upwards, 
so in time the top begins 
to suffer. The owner be¬ 
lieves that his tree is suf¬ 
fering from old age, and 
when it blows down in 
time, due to weakness of 
the trunk at the ground, 
where strength is most 
needed, the owner attri¬ 
butes his loss to old age. 
The claim is also made 
that the Mazzard root, be¬ 
ing capable, if not budded, 
of attaining the maximum 
size for sweet cherries, can 
support any top that is 
budded to it. and will not 
die from old age in 50 or 
60 years, or possibly 80 or 
100 years. If these claims 
are correct, it is of tremen¬ 
dous importance that our 
people should know it, and 
should know from whom 
genuine Mazzard stock can 
be obtained. Success in 
cherry growing in this oart 
of Michigan has been such 
that many are now plant- 
ng cherry orchards, and the 
conflicting claims leave 
some of them much unset¬ 
tled in mind, as well as 
proving perplexing to those 
who intend to plant. The 
Mahaleb' has its champions 
too, who pooh-pooh the 
Mazzard charges, pointing 
to trees on Mahaleb stock 
15 years old. which are of 
considerable size and bear 
grandly. t. i„ 
Manistee, Mich. 
The question of cherry stocks is one which may well 
interest thoughtful fruit growers and especially those 
who live in the region where the sweet varieties 
flourish. The past Summer was spent by me on a 
farm in Benzie County, Michigan, not many miles 
north of the line of Manistee County, where the in¬ 
quiry comes from. On the next farm is a very large 
bearing cherry orchard of some 3,000 trees belonging 
to Mr. Paul Rose. In this orchard, which is mostly 
made up of the sweet class, are about all of the lead¬ 
ing varieties and on both Mazzard and Mahaleb 
stocks. There are also a few trees purchased from a 
local nurseryman at Frankfort that are worked on 
the wild native “pin” cherry that are fast failing from 
uncongeniality of stock. The roots do not develop 
properly and the trees become sickly or fall over 
from lack of support at the roots. 
THE MAHALEB STOCK.—When Mr. Rose 
bought the trees to use in planting his cherry orchard 
he was told that the Mahaleb was the proper stock 
for all kinds of cherries and he got many trees on it. 
The Mahaleb is a wild cherry natural to southern 
Europe that is healthy and vigorous and bears a very 
small, black and bitter tasted fruit. All varieties of 
the cherry, of both the sweet and sour classes, will 
grow if budded on it, and it is claimed by some that 
they do equally well. This is denied by others and 
we shall see for what reasons. 
THE MAZZARD STOCK.—The Mazzard is the 
most thrifty of all the cherry family. It is a native 
of Europe, and the parent of all those types that we 
call Hearts, Bigarreaus and a part of the Kentish 
class. The trees grow with an upright habit and 
sometimes attain a height of over 50 feet and with 
trunks two feet and more in diameter. Where the 
trees have come up as seedlings in various places, es¬ 
pecially in Pennsylvania and southward and have 
practically reverted to the wild form, such trees are 
often found. It is on the seedlings of this type that 
the most vigorous and longest lived trees of the sweet 
cherries are found. 
anywhere. Last September I took photographs of 
some of the trees that were characteristic and showed 
their real condition and they are reproduced here that 
they may tell their own tale in part. None of -them 
were of the sour varieties, however, as nearly all, 
or all of these were, I think, on Mahaleb stocks and 
doing far better than those of the sweet class on the 
same kind of stocks. The wood of the sour class 
seems to be quite similar to that of the Mahaleb, and 
the two make a good union. But not so with the rest. 
The two are not congenial, and unite only because 
they must, and that with serious results to the or- 
chardist in very many cases. In the nursery they start 
off well and appear to be very suitable to each other 
and for some years the same is often true in the or¬ 
chard, but as time goes on and the bearing age is 
reached the true test comes. Cherry trees, like all 
fruit trees, are intended to live for many years and 
bear, and they should be able to endure this test and 
not that of the nursery alone. In Fig. 114, which 
shows part of a row of Tartarian, the different con¬ 
ditions may be seen. The 
SWEET CHERRY TREES IN A MICHIGAN ORCHARD. Fig. 114. 
First tree on Mazzard roots, second and third trees on Mahaleb stocks, fourth tree a replant on Mazzard stock 
where an old one on Mahaleb had died. 
During more than 40 years past I have been watch¬ 
ing the behavior of cherry trees on various stocks 
and on their own roots as well in many cases. They 
have been seen from the Atlantic to the Pacific and 
from Canada to the southern limit of cherry culture. 
The sum and substance of all these observations is, 
that each class succeeds best on its own roots, so far 
as the growth and vigor of the tree is concerned. And 
it is quite natural that it should be so. Trees that 
grew up from seed and those reared from root 
sprouts and never budded or grafted seem to be 
the most substantial. In cases where varieties had 
been budded or grafted onto stocks of the same type 
there was little or no ill results from the operation. 
It was like upon like. But wherever this law of con¬ 
geniality has been violated trouble is seen in some 
degree. In the Paul Rose orchard, which I have been 
familiar with for several years, are some of the most 
striking examples of the congeniality and uncon¬ 
geniality of stock and bud that is likely to be seen 
first tree, on Mahaleb 
root originally formed a 
root system of its own 
by sending down roots 
from above the place of 
union, and is vigorous 
and healthy. The second 
one is entirely on Maha¬ 
leb roots, and is gradu¬ 
ally failing. The third 
one is about dead. Next 
comes a space where a 
tree died. Beyond is a 
replanted Lambert tree 
on Mazzard roots and it 
is flourishing. And so 
the row and others like 
it stands a living and 
dying witness to the suc¬ 
cess and failure of the 
congeniality and uncon¬ 
geniality of the roots 
and tops. In Fig. 115 is 
shown the bodies of trees 
that were all on Mahaleb 
roots originally. The one 
in the left corner has 
formed a large welt or 
crown by the effort of 
the Mazzard wood try¬ 
ing to overgrew the 
Mahaleb stock." On the 
right is one that was 
budded lower and forced 
out roots at the point where the soil touches the bud¬ 
ded part and is now growing lustily on its own roots, 
principally. In the farther row are shown two more 
trees that have sent down roots of their own, because 
a little clay soil was banked up about them on a sandy 
knoll to prevent the wind from laying the roots bare. 
They all are among the best trees in the orchard. In 
Big. 115 can be seen a single tree struggling for its 
life against the .Mahaleb stock upon which it was 
budded. The peculiar “corseted” appearance is very 
plain. 
Now the Paul Rose orchard is not the only one in 
which I have noticed the trouble and success with 
cherry stocks. In a large orchard in northern Indiana 
I noticed much the same state of things last Sum¬ 
mer. In the many orchards in Oregon and Washing¬ 
ton, which is a region that I have named “Cherry 
Heaven,” .there are thousands of examples of success 
and failure with trees on the various stocks, the 
Mazzard being the one preferred. There are nurseries 
