Chapter III

CHERRY CULTURE

The magnitude of the cherry industry in the United States is not

generally appreciated. This is because cherries are very largely grown

in small home plantations and the product is either consumed at home and

in local markets, or is sent to canning factories and is therefore

disposed of without the display attending the production and marketing

of fruits sold in the general market. The following figures from the

last census show the importance of the industry. There were in 1909,

according to the census taken in 1910, 11,822,044 bearing cherry trees

in the United States and 5,621,660 trees not of bearing age. The bearing

trees bore 4,126,099 bushels of fruit valued at $7,231,160. When this,

the thirteenth census, was taken, the cherry ranked fifth in commercial

value among orchard fruits, being surpassed in the order named by the

apple, peach, plum and pear.

The yield of fruit was 43.6 per centum greater in 1909 than in 1899.

This high percentage of increase has been brought about in several ways.

The recent development of rapid transportation, refrigerator service and

of marketing facilities has greatly stimulated the culture of this as of

all other fruits in the United States. An increased demand for canned

and preserved cherries has sprung up so that cherries are much more used

now than formerly, the trade in preserved cherries for confections and

various drinks in particular having greatly increased. Lastly, better

care of orchards and better means of combating insects and fungi have

increased the yields during the last decade.

Cherries are grown in greater or less quantities in every state in the

Union but commercially the industry is confined to a few states having

especial advantages in climate, soil and markets. In but six states,

according to the last census, was the value of the cherry crop more than

a half-million dollars, the states being: California $951,654,

Pennsylvania $909,975, Ohio $657,406, Michigan $590,829, New York

$544,508, Indiana $508,516. In New York in particular, recent plantings

of this fruit have been so great that at this writing, July, 1914, the

figures given for this State could be increased by a quarter at the very

least, and no doubt they could be largely increased also for California

and Michigan. The great growth of the canning industry is most largely

responsible for the large plantings of cherries in recent years in

regions especially suited to this fruit.

In the several states named, the cherry industry is further localized.

Thus, in the 61 counties in New York, the cherry is grown largely in but

12, the number of trees in each of these being: Columbia 78,526, Niagara

61,786, Monroe 49,831, Ontario 36,394, Wayne 35,385, Erie 29,483,

Onondaga 25,932, Seneca 27,063, Chautauqua 24,483, Steuben 15,412,

Orleans 14,682 and Cayuga 14,319. If the figures just given, the total

number being 413,296, are compared with the number of trees in the

State, 674,000, it will be seen that the industry is quite localized,

two-thirds of the cherries being grown in 12 of the 61 counties, though

the fact is brought out in the census that cherries are grown on 59,408

farms in New York, showing that this fruit is much grown for home use.

Further figures of interest as regards New York are that the cherry crop

in 1909 amounted to 271,597 bushels which sold for $544,508. The

plantings in the State cover in the neighborhood of 9,500 acres.

A canvass of the leading cherry-growers and nurserymen in the United

States shows that, in all parts of the country excepting California,

Oregon and Washington, Sour Cherries are much more commonly grown than

Sweet Cherries. In New York at least 90 per cent of the cherry trees are

of sour varieties and this proportion will hold for the region east of

the Rockies. The leading commercial varieties of Sour Cherries, in order

named, are Montmorency, Early Richmond and English Morello. No other

variety is nearly as commonly grown as is even the least well known of

these three. No one of the Duke cherries is mentioned as of commercial

importance, but May Duke, Late Duke and Reine Hortense are frequently

grown in home plantations.

Growers of Sweet Cherries are not nearly as closely in accord as to the

best varieties as are those who grow sour sorts. The most popular Sweet

Cherries in the East seem to be Windsor, Black Tartarian, Napoleon and

Wood with a very insistent statement of the few who have tried it that

Schmidt is better than any of these for the market. On the Pacific Coast

honors go to Napoleon, which the Westerners continue to call Royal Ann

despite the fact that it has been cultivated for three centuries and had

been called Napoleon for nearly a half-century before Lewelling took it

to Oregon in 1847. Other popular sorts on the Pacific seaboard are Bing,

Lambert and Republican--all western productions.

Rather more important than the information obtained from growers of

cherry trees as to varieties was that as to the stocks on which

cherries are grown in America. This brings us to a discussion of the

whole subject of stocks for cherries.

STOCKS FOR CHERRIES

Cherries have been grown in America for over 200 years and for 50 years

the crop has been important commercially. Yet despite the extent and the

importance of the industry and the years it has been in existence,

curiously enough so fundamental a question as the best stock upon which

to grow cherries has not yet been settled; indeed, though cherries

behave markedly different on the several stocks, interest as to which is

the best seems but recently to have been aroused. Now there is a rather

warm controversy as to which is the better of the two leading stocks,

the Mazzard or the Mahaleb.

Fruit-growers on one side hold that the Mazzard is the best stock for

all orchard varieties of this fruit while nurserymen controvert this

view and say that the Mahaleb is at least a fit stock for sweet sorts

and is the best one for Sour Cherries, and, moreover, that it is now

impossible to grow cherries on Mazzard roots at prices that

fruit-growers are willing to pay. Since no systematic attempts seem to

have been made to determine the peculiarities and values of these two

and other cherry stocks both sides dispute without many facts.

Meanwhile, a fine crop of misunderstandings has grown up about the whole

matter of cherry stocks. It is worth while to attempt to clear up some

of the misunderstandings. The first step toward this end is to describe

and give the botanical and horticultural relationships of the Mazzard

and Mahaleb cherries to orchard cherries.

The Mazzard, as we have seen, is a common name, of uncertain origin, of

the wild Sweet Cherry, _Prunus avium_, from which has come all

cultivated Sweet Cherries. It is important to recall that the trees of

the Mazzard reach a height of thirty or forty feet and the trunk often

attains a diameter of eighteen or twenty inches. Other characters to be

kept in mind are that the Mazzard lacks hardiness to cold but grows

vigorously and is usually healthy, though susceptible to several fungi,

one of which, the shot-hole fungus, _Cylindrosporium padi_, makes it a

most difficult plant to grow in the nursery. Trees and fruit coming from

the Mazzard used as a stock are very uniform, a fact easy to ascertain

in New York where this stock has been largely used for nearly a century.

The Mazzard is almost always grown from seed for stocks though suckers

are occasionally used--a poor practice.

[Illustration: _PRUNUS AVIUM_ (MAZZARD)]

The Mazzard, or at least the Sweet Cherry, has probably been more or

less used as a stock since the earliest cultivation of this fruit. The

Greeks and Romans practiced budding and grafting centuries before

Christ's time and when the cherry came to them as a domesticated fruit,

at least three or four centuries before Christ, they undoubtedly made

use of budding and grafting[40] to maintain varieties and in the case of

the Sour Cherry, if they had it, and they probably did, to avoid the

suckers that spring from the roots of the trees. The literature of

fruit-growing is scant and fragmentary during the Middle Ages but

beginning with the herbals in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

there are many treatises on fruits and botany and in several of these

the use of the wild Sweet Cherry, the Mazzard, is mentioned.[41]

In America the Mazzard as a stock probably came into use soon after the

establishment of Prince's nursery at Flushing, Long Island, about 1730,

budding and grafting seeming to have been little practiced in the New

World before the founding of this nursery.[42] The use of the Mazzard as

a stock is mentioned probably for the first in Coxe's _Fruit Trees_,[43]

the second American treatise on fruits, published in 1817, and again in

Thacher's _American Orchardist_, published in 1822.[44] Both authors, as

the foot-notes show, speak of the use of this stock as if it were in

common use in American nurseries. Neither mentions the Mahaleb.

[Illustration: _PRUNUS AVIUM_ (MAZZARD)]

The Mahaleb, _Prunus mahaleb_, it will be remembered from the

description previously given, is a bush or bush-like cherry, sometimes

but not often attaining the height and port of a tree. The top is thick,

with rather slender ramifying branches bearing small, green, smooth,

glossy leaves, which resemble those of the apricot more than they do the

leaves of either species of orchard cherries. The fruits are at first

green, then yellowish, turning to red and at full maturity are shining,

black and so hard, bitter and astringent as to be scarcely edible. This

brief description of _Prunus mahaleb_ shows that it is quite distinct

from either our commonly cultivated Sweet Cherry, _Prunus avium_, or the

Sour Cherry, _Prunus cerasus_, differing from either much more than the

two edible species differ from each other. It is quite as far removed

from the Sweet or the Sour Cherry botanically as the apple is from the

pear, the quince, or the thorn and if anything more distantly related

than orchard cherries are to plums. One would expect the wood structure

of the Mahaleb to differ from that of Sweet or Sour Cherries very

materially and that even if the union proved in budding or grafting

wholly normal that there would be some difficulty in the proper passage

of nutritive solutions between stock and cion. This cherry, as we have

seen, is propagated almost entirely from seed though it may easily be

grown from layers, cuttings and suckers. The American supply of Mahaleb

stock comes from France.

The Mahaleb seems to have come into use as a stock for other cherries

in France having been first mentioned for this purpose by Duhamel du

Monceau in his _Traite des Arbres Fruitiers_ in 1768.[45]

Miller in his _Gardener's Dictionary_, 1754, describes the Mahaleb

cherry and says it was "Cultivated in 1714 by the Duchess of Beaufort."

This seems to be the first mention of its culture in England though

Gerarde in _The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes_ describes it.

Neither mentions its use as a stock. In fact, it seems not to have been

mentioned as a stock in England until 1824 when Loudon in the

_Encyclopedia of Gardening_ speaks of it as "the most effectual dwarfing

stock."[46]

It was not until after the middle of the Nineteenth Century that the

Mahaleb came into use in America, none of the horticultural writers in

the first half of the last century, as Cobbett, 1803; McMahon, 1806;

Coxe, 1817; Thacher, 1822; Prince, 1828; Kenrick, 1833; Manning, 1838;

Thomas, 1846; Floy, 1846, nor Cole, 1849, having mentioned the Mahaleb

though nearly all speak of the Mazzard as the stock upon which cherries

are budded. Downing, in 1845, makes first mention of the Mahaleb as a

stock in the New World;[47] Thomas in his second edition, 1851,

recommends it as a stock to dwarf cherries;[48] Barry, 1852, says that

Mahaleb stock is imported from Europe;[49] while Elliott, in 1854, also

speaks of it as a dwarfing stock.[50] From this date on the Mahaleb is

mentioned in all American works on pomology in which stocks for cherries

are discussed.

[Illustration: _PRUNUS MAHALEB_]

Pains have been taken to show the exact date the Mahaleb began to be

used as a stock in America. The quotations show that this was about

1850. They show, too, that at first and for a long time its only use was

as a dwarfing stock. But now the Mahaleb has almost wholly superseded

the Mazzard as a stock for all Sweet and Sour Cherries. Not many

cherries were propagated on the new stock until after 1860 when its use,

if we may judge from the accounts of fruit-growing, began to be general

and it grew so rapidly in favor that by 1880 it was more popular than

the Mazzard and in another decade had almost wholly taken the place of

the latter. Probably 95 per centum of the cherries grown in this country

are budded on the Mahaleb. Why has the Mahaleb supplanted the Mazzard?

This is the question that immediately comes to mind and to the

discussion of which we proceed.

There is no question but that it is much easier to grow cherry trees on

Mahaleb stock in the nursery than on Mazzard and that usually a better

looking tree can be delivered to the fruit-grower on the first-named

stock. Seedlings of both stocks are imported from Europe and those of

the Mahaleb are usually cheaper. These reasons are sufficient for the

exclusive use of Mahaleb by nurserymen, and, were it certain that the

Mahaleb is the best stock for the fruit-grower, all hands might

forthwith renounce the Mazzard. In what respects is it easier to grow

cherries on the Mahaleb in the nursery than on the Mazzard?

All know that the Sweet Cherry is a little difficult to grow--is

capricious as to soils, climates, cultivation and pruning, and as to

diseases and insects. The Mazzard now used for stocks has the faults of

the species to which it belongs. The Mahaleb, on the other hand, is

adapted to a greater diversity of soils; is hardier to either heat or

cold; less particular about cultivation; will stand more cutting in the

nursery if pruning be necessary; is less susceptible to aphids which in

many parts of the United States trouble cherries in the nursery row;

and, more to the point than all else, in New York at least, is not

nearly as badly infested with the shot-hole fungus, _Cylindrosporium

padi_, which often ruins plantations of Mazzard stock. Mahaleb stock,

too, is more easily "worked" than the Mazzard both in the actual work of

budding and in having a longer season for this nursery operation.

Cherries on Mahaleb ripen their wood earlier than those on Mazzard and

may thus be dug earlier in the fall.

Nurserymen and fruit-growers alike agree to this statement of the

superior merits of the Mahaleb as a nursery plant. The facts set forth

are matters of common observation--so well known that it is not

necessary to verify them experimentally. A half-century of experience in

America on many soils, in many climates and under widely varied

conditions has demonstrated that it is easier to grow cherries in the

nursery on the Mahaleb than on the Mazzard stock.

From experience in the orchard, fruit-growers have established several

facts as to the relative value of Mazzard and Mahaleb stocks from their

standpoint. These are:

1. Cherries on Mahaleb are hardier to cold than those on Mazzard stocks.

This hardiness is due, in part at least, to the fact that cherry wood on

Mahaleb ripens sooner than on Mazzard. This superior hardiness of the

Mahaleb is evident in the nursery-row as well as in the orchard and is a

matter of great importance in northern nursery regions. In this

connection it should be said that the Mahaleb is not as hardy as might

be wished and that there are, as we shall later show, still hardier

stocks.

2. There is no question but that the Mahaleb is a dwarfing stock. It

came into use and in Europe continues to serve almost the sole purpose

of dwarfing varieties worked upon it. This retarding effect is not fully

realized by American cherry-growers because for the first few years the

diminution in size is not apparent and even at the close of a decade the

difference in size is not as marked as it would be between standard and

dwarf apples or pears of the same age.

3. Cherry-growers who have tried both stocks agree that most varieties

come in bearing earlier on Mahaleb than on Mazzard stocks. From the

known effects of dwarfing on other fruit trees this would be expected.

4. The size of the cherries is the same on trees grown on the two

stocks. The claim is made that apples and pears are a little larger on

dwarf trees and that when peaches and plums are dwarfed the fruit is

smaller. No one seems to have seen or to have thought that there are

differences in the size of cherries grown on Mazzard or Mahaleb stock.

[Illustration: _PRUNUS AVIUM_ (MAZZARD)]

5. Better unions are made with Mazzard than with the Mahaleb.

This would be expected because of the close relationship of the Mazzard

to orchard cherries.

6. The Mahaleb is probably the more cosmopolitan stock--will thrive

on a greater diversity of soils than the Mazzard stock. In particular it

is somewhat better adapted to sandy, light, stony, and arid soils that are

not well adapted to growing cherries. Its root system is much nearer

the surface of the ground and it is, therefore, better adapted to shallow

soils than the Mazzard.

7. Though the evidence is somewhat conflicting on this point it is

probable that cherries on Mazzard live longer than on Mahaleb. It may be

that the frequent statements to this effect arise from the knowledge

that dwarf fruit-trees are generally shorter lived than standard trees

since there seem to be no records of actual comparisons.

8. Lastly, in climates where the cherry can be grown with reasonable

certainty and in soils to which this fruit is adapted, varieties on

Mazzard are more productive and profitable than on the Mahaleb stock.

This seems to be the concensus of opinion among growers in the great

cherry regions of California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan and New York.

Several other stocks have been more or less successfully used for

cherries and a great number have never been tried that might make good

stocks. In a country as diversified as ours and in a state as variable in

soil and climate as New York and with the manifold varieties of Sweet

and Sour Cherries, it is almost certain that under some conditions there

are stocks more desirable than either Mazzard or Mahaleb. The resources

of the cherry-grower in this direction are so great that in this account

we can but briefly outline them, describing but a few of the many stocks

that might be used.

In the colder parts of New York and of the United States, undoubtedly

seedlings of Russian cherries would make hardy and in most other

respects very desirable stocks. These Russian cherries, too, as a rule,

come nearly or quite true to seed, making very good orchard plants on

their own roots. Some of them, if not most of them, sprout rather

badly--not so serious a fault as one might think, especially in a

cultivated orchard. For budding over to other varieties only sour sorts

should be used, taking for trial such varieties as Bessarabian,

Brusseler Braune, Double Natte, George Glass, Lutovka, Early Morello,

Ostheim and Vladimir. Probably most of these would dwarf standard

varieties more or less but in no case is it to be supposed that they

would have the dwarfing effect of Mahaleb. In the North Mississippi

Valley some of these, especially of the Ostheim or Morello type, have

been very successfully used as stocks.

The small, wild, red cherry locally known as the Bird, Pin and as

the Pigeon Cherry, _Prunus pennsylvanica_, found from the Atlantic to

the eastern slopes of the Coast Range on the Pacific in northern United

States and southern Canada, is often used as a hardy stock. The writer

has seen it so used in northern Michigan but from his observation can

recommend it only for cold regions and as a makeshift since it dwarfs

standard varieties and usually suckers badly. W. T. Macoun, Ottawa,

Canada, Dominion Horticulturist, states that this stock is commonly

used in the colder parts of Canada and with good results. This cherry

is not as distantly related to orchard varieties as the Mahaleb and unites

with Sour Cherries at least as readily as does the Mahaleb.

In the West and Northwest the Sand Cherry, _Prunus pumila_, is used

very successfully in cold, dry regions as a stock for Sour Cherries. The

following is a very good account of its behavior from the pen of the late

Professor J. L. Budd, a pioneer cherry grower in the Middle West.[51]

"Those who have seen acres of the Sandy Cherry in the northwest

loaded with fruit have not been ready to believe it a good stock

for the cherry on account of its sprawling bushy habits of growth.

But those who have watched its growth when young under culture on

rich soil can comprehend the fact that it is as easy to work as

the Mahaleb. As with the Mahaleb the seedlings grown in seed bed

will be large enough to set in nursery row the next spring, and

of good size for August budding. To illustrate its rapidity and

uprightness of growth I will state that we rooted a few cuttings

in plant house last winter. When set in nursery they had made a

show of growth of from two to four inches, yet at budding time,

the middle of August, they were fully as large, stocky and upright

as the Mahalebs, and in all respects in as perfect condition for

budding.

"This hardiest of all cherries is very closely related to our

garden cherries, so nearly indeed that our botanists long ago

decided that valuable crosses on it might be made.

"As yet its use for stocks is somewhat experimental, but we

can say positively that it united well with our hardy sorts in

budding, and it does not dwarf the sorts worked upon it to a

greater extent during the first five years of growth than does the

Mahaleb."

[Illustration: _PRUNUS MAHALEB_]

There are records of the Choke Cherry, _Prunus virginiana_,[52] and of

the Rum, or wild Black Cherry, _Prunus serotina_, having been used as

stocks but these long-bunch, or racemose, cherries are so distantly

related to the short-bunch, or fascicled, orchard cherries that it would

seem that their use would be desirable only under great stress.

In Japan a horticultural variety of _Prunus pseudocerasus_ is used as a

stock. Of this cherry for this purpose, Professor Yugo Hoshino of the

Tohoku Imperial University at Sapporo, Japan, writes as follows:

"You wish to know about the cherry stocks used in this country. It

is very rare to use our common wild cherry as a stock for European

cherries. In Hokkaido (Yozo Island), we commonly use the seedlings

of European Sweet and Sour Cherries as stocks. But in the northern

part of Japan proper (Main Island), it is a common practice to

graft European cherries on a special kind of our cherry. This

cherry has particular characters which fit it for propagation;

namely, it roots very easily either from cuttings or by layering

(mound). Its botanical position is not certain, but it is probable

that it is a cultural variety of Pseudocerasus, especially bred

for stock purposes. It is grown by nurserymen only and called

Dai-Sakura. (_Dai_ means stock: _Sakura_ means cherry.) It has a

somewhat dwarfing influence on cions and hastens their fruiting

age."

This stock ought to be tried in America if, indeed, it is not already

under cultivation from introductions made by the United States

Department of Agriculture.

These are but a few of many cherries that have been or might be tried as

stocks for orchard varieties. There are many species of cherries more

closely related to the cultivated edible sorts than the Mahaleb. Many of

the cherries from Asia, not now known to growers, will eventually find

their way to America; a few have already been introduced by the United

States Department of Agriculture; some of them can undoubtedly be used

as stocks and from them we may hope to find a better stock than either

the Mazzard or Mahaleb.

Cherries are now grown almost wholly as budded trees but they can be

more or less readily root-grafted, depending upon the variety. Under

some circumstances it might be profitable to propagate them by grafting.

Usually it is necessary to use a whole root and to graft at the crown of

the stock. Budd recommends this practice for Iowa, using Mazzard stock

but with the expectation that the cion will take root and eventually the

tree will stand on its own roots.[53] We cannot believe, however, that

grafting can ever take the place of budding as a nursery practice or

that it can be profitably used except in very exceptional cases.

Buds in propagating are usually taken from nursery stock, a practice of

decades, and there is no wearing out of varieties. Old varieties have

lost none of the characters accredited to them a century, or several

centuries, ago by pomological writers. Nor does it seem to matter, in

respect to trueness to type, whether the buds be taken from a vigorous,

young stripling, a mature tree in the heyday of life or some

struggling, lichen-covered ancient--all alike reproduce the variety. The

hypothesis that fruit-trees degenerate or, on the other hand, that they

may be improved by bud-selection, finds no substantiation in this fruit.

There seems to be no limit to the number of times its varieties can be

propagated true to type from buds.

[40] Varro (B. C. 117-27), as we have seen on page 47, tells

when to graft cherries and discusses the process as if grafting

cherries were a common operation.

[41] In _The Country-Man's New Art of Planting and Grafting_,

written by Leonard Mascall, 1652, the writer says, "Sower Cherries

... will grow of stones, but better it shall be to take of the

small Cions which do come from the roots; then plant them.

"Ye must have respect unto the Healme Cherry, [a sweet cherry of

the time] which is graft on the wild Gomire [Mazzard] which is

another kind of great Cherry, and whether you do prune them or

not, it is not materiall; for they dure a long time."

R. A. Austen, in his _Treatise of Fruit Trees_, 1653, writes,

"Concerning Stocks fit for Cherry-trees, I account the black

Cherry stock (Mazzard) the best to graft any kind of Cherry upon.

Yet some say the red Cherry stock is best for May-Cherries. But

the black Cherry stocks are goodly straight Plants full of sap and

become greater trees than the red Cherry trees."

John Reid, _The Scots Gard'ner_, 1683, writes, "Dwarfe Cherries

on the Morella, or on the common Red Cherrie. Or on that Red geen

which is more Dwarffish than the black."

John Lawrence, _The Clergyman's Recreation_, 1714, declared that,

"Black Cherries (Mazzard) are the only Stocks, whereon to raise

all, the several sorts of Cherries."

[42] "The practice of grafting and inoculating in America is but

of modern date. It was introduced by Mr. _Prince_, a native of

New York, who erected a Nursery in its neighborhood about forty

years ago. But since the late American revolution, others have

been instituted in this and some other parts of the United States.

Mr. _Livingston_ has lately established one, not far from the city

of New York, which can vie with some of the most celebrated ones

in Europe. May he, and others, who have undertaken in that useful

branch of business, meet with encouragement and success. Nothing

in the extensive field of Horticulture can afford more agreeable

amusement or yield more solid satisfaction and advantage." Forsyth

on _Fruit Trees_, Albany, N. Y., =1803=:278.

[43] "The cherry is propagated by budding and ingrafting--from

its disposition to throw out gum from wounds in the vessels of

the bark, the former mode is most generally adopted. The heart

cherries do not succeed well on any but the black Mazard stocks,

but round or duke cherries do as well on Morello stocks, which are

often preferred from their being less liable to the cracks in the

bark, from frost and sun on the southwest side; this injury may

be almost effectually prevented by planting on the east side of

board fences or buildings, or by fixing an upright board on the

southwest side of each tree in open situations.

"The best stocks are raised from stones planted in the nursery.

Stocks raised from suckers of old trees, will always generate

suckers, which are injurious and very troublesome in gardens:

diseases of old or worn out varieties, are likewise perpetuated by

the use of suckers for stocks." Coxe _Fruit Trees_ =1817=:253.

[44] "The cultivated cherry, when reared from the seed, is much

disposed to deviate from the variety of the original fruit, and,

of course, they are propagated by budding or grafting on cherry

stocks: budding is most generally preferred, as the tree is less

apt to suffer from oozing of the gum than when grafted. The stocks

are obtained by planting the seeds in a nursery, and the seedlings

are afterwards transplanted. Those kinds which are called heart

cherries are said to succeed best on the black mazard stock;

but for the round kind, the Morello stocks are preferred, on

account of their being the least subject to worms, or to cracks

in the bark, from frost and heat of the sun." Thacher _American

Orchardist_ =1822=:212.

[45] "So the good species and their varieties are perpetuated and

multiplied by grafting upon the Merisier, upon the Cerisier with

round fruit, and upon the Cerisier de Sainte-Lucie [Mahaleb].

All the Cerisiers succeed well upon the Merisier and it is the

only subject which is suited to the high-headed trees. It has

the advantage of not sending forth any or very few suckers. The

Cerisier de Sainte-Lucie has the same advantage. It receives very

well the graft of all species of cherries and adapts itself to the

worst soils." Duhamel _Traite des Arbres Fruitiers_ =1=:197. 1768.

[46] "Varieties of the cherry are continued by grafting or budding

on stocks of the black or wild red cherries, which are strong

shooters, and of a longer duration than any of the garden kinds.

Some graft on the Morello for the purpose of dwarfing the tree,

and rendering it more prolific; but the most effectual dwarfing

stock is the mahaleb, which, however, will not succeed in the

generality of soils in Britain. Dubreuil of Rouen recommends the

wild cherry for clayey and light soils, and the mahaleb for soils

of a light, sandy or chalky nature. The stones of the cultivated

cherry are commonly, but improperly, substituted for those of the

wild sort, as being more easily procured." Loudon _Enc. of Gard._

=1824=:924.

[47] "When dwarf trees are required, the _Morello_ seedlings are

used as stocks; or when very dwarf trees are wished the Perfumed

Cherry, (Cerasus Mahaleb) is employed; but as standards are almost

universally preferred, these are seldom seen here. Dwarfs in the

nursery must be headed back the second year, in order to form

lateral shoots near the ground." Downing _Fruit Trees of America_

=1845=:164.

[48] "The stocks used for this purpose (to dwarf cherries) are

the "Perfumed Cherry" or _Prunus Mahaleb_, which also possesses

the advantage of flourishing on heavy clay ground. The grafts

will usually grow quite vigorously for two or three seasons, but

they soon form dwarf, prolific bushes." Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._

=1849=:351.

[49] "The principal stocks used for the cherry are the _mazzard_

for standard orchard trees, and the mahaleb for garden pyramids

and dwarfs.

"The _Mahaleb_ (Cerasus mahaleb) is a small tree with glossy, deep

green foliage. The fruit is black, about the size of a marrow-fat

pea, and quite bitter. It blossoms and bears fruit when about

three years old. It is considerably cultivated in many parts of

Europe, as an ornamental lawn tree. There are very few bearing

trees in this country yet; consequently nearly all the stocks used

are imported, or grown from imported seeds." Barry _The Fruit

Garden_ =1851=:115, 117.

[50] "_Dwarf Trees._--Are produced by propagating the Sweet or

Duke varieties on the Mahaleb, or Morello roots. They should in

all cases be worked just at the crown of the root, as it is there

a union is best formed; and also, by means of pruning, (see page

30) they should be made to form heads branching immediately from

the ground." Elliott _Fr. Book_ =1854=:185.

[51] _Iowa Sta. Bul._ =10=:425. 1890.

[52] _Prunus virginiana_ was used as a stock in Oregon in 1850 as

there were no other stocks available. The union was very good but

the stock was condemned because of suckering. Seth Lewelling _N.

W. Horticulturist_ Nov. 1887.

[53] "I will here say that one year with another we succeed as

well in grafting on Mazzard roots as we do with pear on pear

roots, and nearly as well as with apple on apple roots. In some

cases since the appearance of the graft-box fungus our success

has been more complete with the cherry than with the apple. This

success is due to careful compliance with two main guiding rules,

founded on the nature of cherry wood: (1) Keep the scions dry

until used. If given an opportunity they will absorb water enough

to start the buds and form a callus at the base. In this condition

they will fail to unite with the root. (2) After grafting, pack in

boxes with sand or moss and store in a root cave, kept uniformly

cool by opening at night and keeping closed during the day. If

the buds start prior to the time of planting in nursery they will

usually fail to grow. It may prove useful to add, that the sprouts

from deeply set trees on Mazzard root will always be true to the

varieties planted, and the surface roots can be utilized for root

cuttings, as noted on a future page." _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =10=:424.

1890.

CHERRY CLIMATES AND CHERRY SOILS

Climate and soil have been the chief determinants of location for

cherry-growing in New York. Both Sweet Cherries and Sour Cherries are

profoundly influenced by the natural environment in which they are

grown--Sweet Cherries rather more so than any other fruit, either

climate or soil dictating whether they may or may not be grown.

The Sour Cherry is at home in a great variety of climates, the vagaries

of weather affecting it but little. It is probably the hardiest to cold,

in some of its varieties at least, of all our tree fruits, thriving

almost to the Arctic Circle and from there southward, in some of its

forms, quite to the limits of the Temperate Zone. The blossoming season

is relatively late so that fruit-setting is seldom prevented by spring

frosts. Yet, even with this hardy fruit, it is necessary to take thought

of heat and cold in growing commercial crops; for spring frosts may

wither the bloom or summer heat and wind blast the crop if the orchard

site be not well selected as regards local weather.

The Sweet Cherry, on the other hand, must be coddled in every turn of

the season, in climatic requirements being particularly sensitive to

heat and cold. This cherry stands with the peach in not being able to

survive temperatures much below zero and in suffering greatly from

spring frosts because of early blooming. It is even more susceptible to

heat than the peach, and especially cannot endure long-continued heat,

both fruit and foliage suffering. The Sweet Cherry is at its best in a

warm, sunny, genial, equable climate. The Duke cherries, hybrids between

the Sweet and the Sour species, in the matter of hardiness are midway

between the hardy Sours and the tender Sweets though this is but a very

general statement applying to the group as a whole and not to individual

varieties. Some of these withstand cold and heat well while others are

tender in either extreme.

Cherries are more at the mercy of moisture than of temperature

conditions. Continued rain at blossoming time will almost surely prevent

a proper setting of fruit; and the cherries crack, and brown-rot becomes

exceedingly aggressive if there is wet weather in harvest time. Late

summer rainfall to supply moisture to the trees is a matter of small

concern to the cherry-grower, for growth begins early and the crop is

off the trees before summer droughts usually begin. Where irrigation is

practiced water for the cherry is safely supplied at most seasons of the

year except when harvest is in swing at which time the cherries will

swell and crack if there be too much water.

As with all fruits the direction, temperature and humidity of winds are

factors which decree whether or not cherries can be grown profitably

either in a locality or a region. A pocket in the hills filled with dead

air or a wind-swept highland would be unsatisfactory extremes; for, in

the first case, fungi, especially the dreaded brown-rot, would take too

great toll, and, in the second, blossoms would be blasted or foliage

frazzled and the fruit whipped. The harsh, drying winds of winter, too,

would be disastrous to Sweet Cherry culture and if extreme, as on the

Great Plains, wood and buds of Sour Cherries would suffer. Artificial

wind-breaks have not been found profitable in the hilly and wooded East,

entailing too many disadvantages, but if cherries be planted at all in

the prairies of the Middle West, some protection from the winds must

usually be provided.

The two species from which cultivated cherries come grow with proper

vigor in quite different soils. The Sour Cherry and most of its hybrid

offspring, the Dukes, may be made to grow in almost any arable soil, but

the Sweet Cherry is fastidious--to be pleased only by particular soils.

Sour Cherry orchards in New York most excel on strong, even-tempered,

loamy soils, naturally or artificially well drained yet retentive of

moisture. There is possibly a shade of difference in favor of clay loams

and some thriving plantations may be found on stiff clays having good

depth and good drainage. Wet, sticky clays underlaid with a cold, clammy

subsoil--a combination all too common in Central New York--furnish

conditions which defy the best of care and culture.

Sweet Cherry orchards are found excelling on lighter, and less fertile

soils than those we have described for the grosser feeding Sours.

Growers of Sweet Cherries conceive a perfect soil for this fruit to be a

naturally dry, warm, deep, free-working, gravelly or sandy loam. If the

soil is not naturally dry, it must be made so by artificial drainage,

for this fruit is most impatient of too much moisture or a root-run

restricted by water. In Sweet Cherry soils, as will be surmised, it is

difficult to supply humus yet this must be done either by cover crops or

by manure to make the soil sufficiently retentive of moisture. Sweet

Cherries can be grown on other soils than those under discussion but,

for a large, firm, finely finished product for the markets, only the

soils described are suitable.

The conditions of soil and climate, as we have briefly defined them,

that favor cherry culture are to be found in several parts of New York.

Briefly we may name and describe the cherry regions of the State as

follows:

The undulating, maritime plains of Long Island, covered with a thick

deposit of sand, are very well adapted to cherries where the soil is

rich enough to come under the plow. The genial climate, with its rather

heavy rainfall, is precisely that in which the cherry thrives, the

region falling short in the poorness of the soil--a fault easily

remedied, where there is good bottom, by manuring. Despite the fact that

occasional trees and plantations show that this fruit thrives on Long

Island the cherry is not much grown here, the industry needing some

leader to show the way.

The valley of the Hudson from where the river leaves the mountains on

the north to its entrance into the highlands of its lower stretch is

admirably adapted to cherry-growing, both climate and soil meeting the

requirements of this fruit. In parts of the valley the industry has been

developed, Columbia County taking first place among the counties of the

State, with its 78,526 trees in 1909. The product of this region goes

chiefly to the great city market near at hand. Unfortunately the

standard of cultivation is low in the Hudson Valley and the handling

and marketing of the crop is also on a lower level than westward in the

State. The cherry harvest is earlier here than elsewhere in New York, if

we except the small crop of Long Island, an advantage, for prices

usually fall rather than stiffen as the season advances.

The great basin in which lie the Central Lakes of New York is far famed

for its Sour Cherry industry, the product going largely to canneries.

Some Sweet Cherries are grown--more and more are being planted--about

these lakes; but the rich, heavy soils which mostly prevail hereabouts

are more fit for varieties of the Sour Cherry; though the equable

climate makes almost certain the Sweet Cherry crop on soils suited to

its culture. Here, as elsewhere in the State, the acreage at this

writing is greatly on the increase though it is doubtful if the advance

will much longer weather the present depression in prices. All through

this region, as in that to the north, the Sweet Cherry grows wild,

thriving like the Biblical bay--seemingly a sheer gift of the soil and,

like other gifts, generally neglected.

The high plain along the shore of Lake Ontario from the St. Lawrence

River to the Niagara River, extending from the lake on the north from

ten to fifteen miles inland, is the region of greatest possibilities for

the cherry in New York. The climate of this great stretch of territory

is nearly perfect for this fruit and the soils are sufficiently

diversified to furnish a suitable habitat for any of the many varieties

of either Sweet or Sour cherries. In the past there have been so many

ups and downs in the cherry industry that fruit-growers in this favored

belt have given more attention to other fruits but for the last decade,

until the recent downward turn in the cherry market, the plantings have

been greatly increased, both Sweet and Sour cherries finding favor.

Not unlike the Ontario shore in climate, but quite unlike it in its

soils, is the shore of Lake Erie, the most westward topographical

division of New York in which cherries are grown. The mainstay of this

region is the grape, but, in seeking for a more diversified agriculture,

Sour Cherry culture was introduced some twenty years ago and has become

a thriving industry with prospects of continued growth. Here, as is so

often the case in agriculture, credit must be given to some one leader

for the development of a crop and the cherry orchards that dot the

landscape for miles about the home of the late John Spencer speak

eloquently of his leadership in this region.

A necessary accompaniment to a discussion of climate is a statement of

the dates of blooming of the various sorts of cherries; for often,

through selection with reference to this life event of the plant,

injurious climatal influences may be escaped at blooming-time. In the

accompanying table averages of the blooming dates of varieties of

cherries for the years just past, 1912 to 1914, are given.

In making use of these dates, consideration must be given to the

environment of the orchards at Geneva. The latitude of the Smith

Astronomical Observatory, a quarter of a mile from the Station orchards,

is 42° 52' 46.2"; the altitude of the orchards is from five hundred to

five hundred and twenty-five feet above the sea level. The soil is a

stiff and rather cold clay; the orchards lie about a mile west of Seneca

Lake, a body of water forty miles in length and from one to three and

one-half miles in width and more than six hundred feet deep. The lake

has frozen over but a few times since the region was settled, over a

hundred years ago, and has a very beneficial influence on the adjacent

country in lessening the cold of winter and the heat of summer and in

preventing early blooming.

The dates are those of full bloom. They were taken from trees grown

under normal conditions as to pruning, distance apart, and as to all

other factors which might influence the blooming period. An inspection

of the table shows that there is a variation of several days between the

time of full bloom of the different varieties of the same species. These

differences can be utilized in selecting sorts to avoid injury from

frost.

TABLE SHOWING BLOOMING DATES AND SEASON OF RIPENING

------------------+--------------------------------------+-----------------

| Blooming date | Season of

+--------------------------------------+ ripening

| May |

+--------------------------------------+-----+------+----

| | |Mid- |

|4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18|Early|season|Late

------------------+--------------------------------------+-----+------+----

_P. avium_ | | | |

Bing | * | | * |

Black Tartarian | * | | * |

California | | | |

Advance | * | * | |

Centennial | * | | | *

Cleveland | * | | * |

Coe | * | * | |

Dikeman | * | | | *

Downer | * | | * |

Eagle | * | | * |

Early Purple |* | * | |

Elkhorn | * | | * |

Elton | * | | * |

Florence | * | * | |

_P. avium_ | | | |

Ida | * | * | |

Kirtland | * | | * |

Knight | * | * | |

Lamaurie | * | * | |

Lambert | * | | * |

Lyons | * | | * |

Mercer | * | | * |

Mezel | * | | * |

Napoleon | * | | | *

Republican | * | | | *

Rockport | * | | * |

Schmidt | * | | * |

Sparhawk | * | | * |

Stuart | * | | | *

Windsor | * | | | *

Wood | * | * | |

Yellow Spanish | * | | | *

| | | |

_P. cerasus_ | | | |

Bourgueil | * | | | *

Brusseler Braune | * | | | *

Carnation | * | | * |

Dyehouse | * | | * |

Early Morello | * | | * |

Early Richmond | * | | * |

English Morello | * | | | *

George Glass | * | | * |

Heart-Shaped | | | |

Weichsel | * | | * |

King Amarelle | * | | * |

Large Montmorency| * | | * |

Louis Philippe | * | | * |

Magnifique | *| | | *

Montmorency | * | | * |

Olivet | * | | * |

Ostheim | * | | | *

Sklanka | * | | * |

Späte Amarelle | * | | | *

Suda | * | | | *

Timme | * | | * |

Vladimir | * | | | *

| | | |

_P. avium_ × | | | |

_P. cerasus_ | | | |

Abbesse d'Oignies| * | | * |

Double Natte | * | | * |

Empress Eugenie | * | | * |

Late Duke | * | | | *

May Duke | * | | * |

Nouvelle Royale | * | | * |

Reine Hortense | * | | * |

Royal Duke | * | | * |

------------------+--------------------------------------+-----+------+----

THE POLLINATION OF CHERRIES

We cannot complain in New York of much uncertainty in the setting of the

cherry crop. Late spring frosts occasionally catch the blossoms of Sweet

varieties but seldom those of the Sour sorts. Cold weather, especially

if accompanied by wet weather, not unfrequently cuts short the cherry

crop by preventing proper setting. There is, however, no general

complaint of poor crops through self-sterility. In fact from the

behavior of perfectly isolated trees in all parts of the State it would

be premised that the cherry is most nearly self-fertile of all

tree-fruits.

Yet there may be orchards or seasons in which cross-pollination cuts a

figure, for Gardner[54], of the Oregon Station, found in experiments

carried on by him in various parts of Oregon that many varieties of

Sweet Cherries in the Pacific Coast environment are self-sterile. The

work seems to have been very carefully done and the conclusions are

worth reprinting in full, bearing in mind that they would be much

modified under New York conditions. Gardener found:

"1. All the varieties of the Sweet Cherry tested are self-sterile.

This self-sterility is in no case due to a lack of germinability

of the pollen produced. On the other hand, the pollen of each

of the varieties studied is capable of producing a set of fruit

on the variety or varieties with which it is inter-fertile. The

list includes Bing, Black Republican, Black Tartarian, Coe, Early

Purple, Elton, Knight, Lambert, Major Francis, May Duke, Napoleon,

Rockport, Waterhouse, Willamette, Windsor, Wood.

"2. Certain of these varieties--Bing, Lambert, and Napoleon are

mentioned especially--are inter-sterile. Mixed plantings of

these three varieties cannot be expected to set fruit unless the

trees are within the range of influence of some other variety or

varieties that are inter-fertile with them.

"3. Among those studied, Black Republican, Black Tartarian, and

Waterhouse seem to be the most efficient pollenizers for this

group of varieties.

"4. Other good pollenizers that may be mentioned are: Elton, Wood,

Coe, Major Francis, Early Purple. These, however, proved somewhat

variable in their pollenizing abilities.

"5. _Some_ of the seedling trees found in and about cherry

orchards are efficient pollenizers for the three varieties--Bing,

Lambert, Napoleon. Probably _many_ of these seedling trees are

efficient pollenizers, though the value of any particular seedling

can be determined only by experiment or very careful observation.

"6. At least some members of the Duke group of cherries are

capable of pollinating some of the Bigarreaus.

"7. At least some of the varieties of the Sour Cherry (P. cerasus)

are capable of pollinating some of the Bigarreaus.

"8. Inter-sterility of Sweet Cherry varieties is apparently not

correlated with their closeness of relationship.

"9. The ability of a variety of cherry to set fruit is

not entirely dependent upon the kind of pollen available.

Environmental factors are important."

It is doubtful if New York cherry-growers will need to pay much

attention to cross-pollination but, in case cherry trees are not setting

full crops, and for no other apparent reason, the fertility of the

blossoms may well receive attention. Should varieties be found

self-sterile, sorts must be chosen which come into blossom at the same

time, in which case the preceding table shows the sorts which bloom

together or nearly enough so to make cross-pollination possible.

[54] Gardner, V. R. Pollination of the Sweet Cherry, _Ore. Sta.

Bul_. =116=:36. 1913

CHERRY ORCHARDS AND THEIR CARE

It is patent to the eye of every passer-by that cherry trees are

commonly set too thickly in most of the orchards in New York. While

close planting is a universal fault, the amount of room differs greatly

in different cherry centers, depending mostly upon the custom in the

community, though, as all confess, it should depend upon the variety and

the soil. The very erroneous notion seems to have prevailed in setting

the plantations now reaching maturity that a large return could be

skimmed from a small area by close setting, Sour Cherries often being

put only twelve feet apart each way and Sweet Cherries, considering

their great size, even closer, at sixteen feet. Experienced growers now

put such dwarf kinds as the Morellos at from sixteen to eighteen, the

Montmorencies and their kind at eighteen to twenty-two; and the large

growing Sweet Cherries at from twenty-four to thirty feet.

Cherries are usually planted two years from the bud. Spring is the

season for setting, though the hardy Sour sorts might often be set

advantageously in late autumn. The losses at setting time are greater

with the cherry than with any other fruit, old hands in fruit-growing

losing trees as well as beginners. An experiment at the Station shows

that these losses are greatly mitigated by a change in the usual method

of transplanting. The custom is to shorten-in all branches of

transplanted fruit-trees but this, with the cherry in particular,

removes the largest and presumably the best nourished buds--certainly

those from which would soonest develop the leaves so necessary to

sustain the breath of life in the young plant and to give it a start. In

the experiment at this Station it was found that, if the top of the

young tree was reduced by thinning the branches instead of cutting all

back, a much larger proportion of the trees would strike root and live

through our parching summers.

Cherry trees in the past have been headed three or four feet above the

ground but in new plantations they are now usually started lower--at

half of the above distances. Two forms of top are in vogue, the

spire-shape and the vase-shape. Sour Cherries are almost universally

grown with closed centers but some growers prefer the form of the vase

for Sweet varieties, though the majority hold to trees with central

trunks and many subsidiary branches. Little pruning is done in cherry

orchards after the first two or three years, by which time the sapling

has been shaped. Subsequent pruning consists in removing dead, injured

or crowded branches and an occasional superfluous one. Heading-in finds

little favor with experienced growers. These few statements indicate

that the cherry, as now grown, is pruned but little, and that that

little must be done very carefully, the pruning knife in the hands of a

careless man being, with this fruit, "a sword in the hands of a child."

The general tuning-up in the cultivation of fruits during the past

quarter-century has had its influence on cherry culture. Commercial

orchards are no longer kept in sod and the clean, purposeful cultivation

that has taken the place of grass has doubled the output of cherries,

tree for tree, throughout the State, the difference in yield being

especially noticeable in seasons when drought lies heavy on the land.

Cultivation, as practiced by the best growers, consists of plowing the

land in the spring and then frequently stirring the soil until the first

of August, at which time a cover-crop is sown. If the soil is light, and

therefore hungry and thirsty, the plowing should be done early and the

cultivator kept constantly at work until cherry-picking. Cherry orchards

often, without apparent cause, have an indefinable air of malaise--look

dingy and unhappy--such require almost week-to-week cultivation to tide

them over their period of indisposition.

Grain, as well as grass, is discountenanced in cherry orchards, but

cultivated truck and farm crops in young plantations, or, under some

conditions, small fruits, are looked upon as permissible and often pay

for the keep of the young trees until they come into profitable

bearing. Cover-crops are in common vogue in cherry orchards in New York

and, since with this fruit they can be sown earlier in the season, are

used to better advantage than in other orchards to furnish a full supply

of humus and to provide nitrogen. Brown-rot, an annual scourge in most

cherry orchards, takes less toll from trees cultivated and

cover-cropped, these operations covering the mummied fruits and keeping

the spores they carry from coming to light and life.

Cherry growers as a rule are not now using fertilizers for their crops.

It would seem that this is not doing duty by the land; but it must be

remembered that the cherry grows vigorously and that over-feeding may

stimulate the growth too much, laying the orchard open not only to

unfruitfulness but to winter injury of bud and tree. Among those who use

fertilizers there is little accord as to what fertilizing compounds are

best or as to what the results have been. There is common agreement,

however, that Sour Cherries respond more generally to fertilizers than

the Sweet sorts. Until there are carefully carried out fertilizer

experiments with this fruit the vexatious problems of fertilization

cannot be solved. Nitrate of soda seems to be a great rejuvenator in

orchards laid down to grass. Whatever the cause, when leaves lack color

and hang limp, this fertilizer is a sovereign tonic. Heavy dressings of

stable manure are much used in grassed-over orchards, as they are, also,

in such as have had none or but scant crops.

THE COMMERCIAL STATUS OF CHERRY-GROWING IN NEW YORK

Cherry growing is a specialist's business in which, under the best of

conditions, there are more ups and downs than with other fruits. Because

of the great profits that have come to a few in the years just past many

growers have been drawn into the business in a small way or have planted

an acreage beyond their means to manage. The inevitable depression that

follows over-planting is, at this writing, at hand and spells ruin to

some and disgust and discouragement in the industry to others. Perhaps

no fruit can better be left to men of reserve capital than the cherry,

and even with men of substance cherry-growing should largely be

incidental to the culture of other fruits--an industry to fit in to keep

land, labor and machinery employed.

Cherry trees begin to bear in the climate of New York when set from

three to five years. The varieties of _Prunus cerasus_ first produce

profitable crops but, at from six to eight years from setting, both

Sweet and Sour sorts are in full swing as money-making crops. The

limits of profitable age are not set by the life of the tree but,

rather, by its size. Thus, cherry trees of either of the species

commonly cultivated are not infrequently centenarians but the profitable

age of an orchard is not often more than from thirty to forty years.

After this time the trees become large and the expense of caring for

them and of picking the fruit becomes so great as to prevent profits.

Moreover, disease, injuries and inevitable accidents will have thinned

the ranks of trees until the orchard is below profit-making.

Cherry-picking begins in New York about the first of July, following the

rush in harvesting strawberries, and lasts, if the orchard contains both

Sweet and Sour varieties, from four to six weeks. Workers may in this

way fill in a gap between small-fruits and other tree-fruits and the

crop becomes one in which the grower may often take small profits to

keep his help employed; though, in the long run, if the more or less

frequent depressions can be weathered, the cherry may prove as

profitable as other fruits.

The problem of labor is a most vexatious one under present conditions,

it being impossible to obtain casual men laborers for cherry-picking and

women and children are unsatisfactory, since the fruit must be carefully

picked or both cherries and trees suffer. The problem is solved,

unsatisfactorily in most cases, in various ways by different growers.

Most of the crop is now picked by children in the teens under the eyes

of men or women supervisors. In picking for the market the stem is left

on and only the stem is touched by the fingers. Cherries for canning

factories are less laboriously picked. The picking package is usually an

eight-pound basket. The rate paid is one cent per pound. Pickers earn

$1.50 to $2.00 per day in good seasons. Close watch is kept on pickers

to prevent the breaking off of fruit-spurs, thereby destroying the

succeeding year's crop, varieties fruiting in clusters suffering

especially from carelessness in this respect. Cherries are picked a few

days before full ripeness.

Cherries are sent to canneries in various packages but chiefly in

half-bushel baskets or paper-lined bushel crates, the container being

often supplied by the cannery. The six- and eight-pound baskets are the

favored receptacles for Sour Cherries in city markets but the Sweet

sorts are rather oftener sent in four-pound baskets and still more

frequently in quart boxes. In the larger packages not much effort is

made to make the fruit attractive but in the smaller ones, stemless and

bruised cherries are thrown out and the package filled, stem down, with

the best fruits. In fancy grades all of the fruit in the box is layered.

The demands of the market, of course, determine the package and the

manner of packing. Cherries are seldom stored longer than a few days at

most in common storage and a week or two weeks in cold storage.

There is a marked difference in the shipping and keeping qualities of

varieties of cherries, the sorts that keep longest and ship best, quite

at the expense of quality, having the call of the markets. Undoubtedly

this must remain so, though it is to be desired that local markets, at

least, be supplied with the best, irrespective of handling qualities. A

further factor that prevents the placing of choicely good cherries in

distant markets at all times is brown-rot, to be discussed later, which

more often attacks the juicy and usually the best-flavored varieties,

oftentimes ruining the pack on the way to market--one of the most

discouraging events incidental to cherry-growing.

Marketing machinery for cherries is at present very costly, inadequate

and frequently sadly out of gear. The fruit passes first from the grower

to a local buyer who ships to a center of consumption, transportation

companies taking heavy toll on the way. Jobbers or commission companies,

who in some cases receive the fruit direct from the grower, then

distribute the crop to retailers in the consuming centers. Lastly, the

retailer parcels out the quantities and the qualities demanded by the

housewife. The whole business of selling the crop is speculative and the

grower is fortunate to receive half of what the consumer pays and not

infrequently has all of his pains for nothing or may even be forced to

dip into his pocket for transportation. The perishableness of the

product and the present defects of distribution go far to make the crop

the hazardous one it is but all look forward to better times coming

under an improved system of marketing.

Up to the present, it must be said, but little effort has been made in

New York to ship far and to develop a trade in cherries other than at

the canneries. The canners have until the last year or two taken the

cream of the crop but with recent greatly increased plantings are now

over-supplied. The average grower, possessing a mixture of mental

inertia and business caution, has not sought other sources for the

surplus fruit. Bolder and more energetic spirits are now developing new

markets and opening up those to which other tree-fruits more generally

go so that the present over-production may prove a blessing in disguise.

The greatly increased demand, for Sour Cherries in particular, brought

about by the development of markets in 1913-14, are most hopeful signs

for the future of the cherry industry.

CHERRY DISEASES

Cherries, without preventive or remedial intervention, are at the mercy

of two or three fungus diseases and sometimes several others are

virulent, depending upon locality, season, weather and variety. One of

these diseases, brown-rot, in spite of the great advances in plant

pathology of recent years, is almost beyond the control of preventive or

remedial measures. Happily, all the others yield better to treatment.

Brown-rot[55] (_Sclerotinia fructigena_ (Persoon) Schroeter), sometimes

known as fruit-mold or ripe-rot, very frequently attacks flowers and

shoots but is most conspicuous on the ripe or ripening cherries where

its presence is quickly detected by a dark discoloration of the skin

which is afterwards partly or wholly covered with pustule-like

aggregations of gray spores. The decayed fruits usually fall to the

ground but sometimes hang to the tree, becoming shriveled mummies, each

mummy being a storehouse of fungus threads and spores from which

infestation spreads to the next crop. The disease, in some seasons, like

a withering blight, attacks twigs, flowers and leaves early in the

spring doing great damage to the young growth and often wholly

preventing the setting of fruit. The rot spreads with surprising

rapidity on the fruits in warm, damp weather either before the fruit is

picked or in baskets while being shipped or stored. Preventive remedies

have so far met with but indifferent success; probably the best method

of control is to destroy the mummy-like fruits and all other sources of

infection either by picking them from the trees, or much better by

plowing them under deeply. Varieties of cherries show various degrees of

susceptibility to brown-rot. All Sweet Cherries are more subject to the

disease than the Sour sorts. But with either of the two species there

are great variations in the susceptibility of the varietal hosts--a

matter specially noted in a later chapter in the discussion of

varieties.

Another serious disease of the cherry, and probably the most striking

one in appearance, is the black-knot[56] (_Plowrightia morbosa_

(Schweinitz) Saccardo), characterized by wart-like excrescences on

shoots and branches. Black-knot looks more like the work of an insect

than a fungus and was long supposed to be such even by those who were

studying the trouble. The knots begin to form early in the summer and

are of characteristic color and texture--dark green, soft and velvety,

but in the fall, as the fungus ripens, the color changes to coal-black

and the knots become hard and more or less brittle. The excrescences

usually form on one side of a twig or branch so that death seldom

follows quickly. The disease attacks both wild and cultivated plants in

every part of this continent where cherries are grown but is epidemic

only in the East, the cherry regions of the West being practically free

from the disease. Up to the present time the fungus has not been found

elsewhere than in America. Happily, black-knot may be controlled by

cutting out the diseased wood. To completely eradicate the fungus, if it

is especially virulent, however, the orchard must be gone over several

times during a season. In New York the removal of black-knot is ordered

by law, the results showing that when the law is obeyed, especially if

there be hearty co-operation among growers, eradication is usually

possible. Sweet Cherries are much less attacked by black-knot than the

Sour sorts but the differences in immunity between varieties in either

of the two species are not very marked--at least such is the case on the

grounds of this Station where the disease is always present and is often

very prevalent.

_Exoascus cerasi_ Fuckel[57] is the cause of a very striking deformity

of the cherry in Europe, both _Prunus avium_ and _Prunus cerasus_ being

attacked. The disease has been reported in America but has not yet

become virulent. The fungus attacks the branches, causing a clustering

of the twigs in the form of a broom, giving it the name witches' broom.

The leaves on the diseased twigs usually take on a crinkled shape and a

reddish color. The malady may be readily prevented by the destruction of

affected branches.

In common with other species of Prunus the foliage of cherries

is attacked by several fungi which produce diseased spots on

the leaves, the dead areas usually dropping out leaving holes as

if punctured by shot. Thus we have "shot-hole fungus," "leaf-spot"

and "leaf-blight" as effects of these diseases. Three fungi are in the

main responsible for these leaf troubles; these are _Cylindrosporium

padi_ Karsten,[58] _Mycosphærella cerasella_ Aderhold[59] and

_Cercospora circumscissa_[60] Saccardo. The ravages of these fungi are

prevented by the proper use of bordeaux mixture and lime and sulphur,

remedies which, however, must be used with some care to avoid spray

injury. With these, as with other fungi, cultivation has a salutary

effect as it destroys diseased leaves which harbor the fungi during

their resting period.

Cherry leaves are often covered with a grayish powder which in severe

cases causes them to curl and crinkle and sometimes to drop. This

powdery substance consists of the spore-bearing organs of a mildew[61]

(_Podosphæra oxyacanthæ_ De Bary). Powdery mildew is much more common on

nursery stock than on fruiting trees and in New York is a serious pest

on young cherry trees. In the nursery, injury may be prevented by the

use of copper sprays or lime and sulphur, either of which is also an

efficient preventive in the orchard but the mildew is seldom prevalent

enough on orchard plants to require treatment.

Wherever cherries are grown in either the nursery or orchard, crown

gall[62] (_Bacterium tumefaciens_ Smith and Townsend) has obtained a

footing. In the North at least, it seldom greatly injures old trees, but

if the galls girdle a nursery plant serious injury results. Therefore,

badly infected young trees showing galls should not be planted. However,

but little harm is liable to result under most conditions. When infected

plants have been planted it has been found that galls vary greatly in

duration, sometimes disappearing within a year or two and at other times

persisting indefinitely. The tumor-like structures are usually at the

collar of the plant and vary from the size of a pea to that of a man's

fist, forming at maturity rough, knotty, dark-colored masses. Neither

prevention nor cure has been discovered, though it is known that soils

may be inoculated with the disease from infected stock and that,

therefore, diseased trees should not be planted in soils virgin to the

galls. It is probable that there are differences in the susceptibility

of Sweet and Sour cherries to the fungus and that the varieties of the

two species vary in their resistance but as yet no one seems to have

reported on the differences in susceptibility of cherries to the

disease.

The leaf-rust[63] (_Puccinia pruni-spinosæ_ Persoon) of stone-fruits,

occurring rarely on the fruit, sometimes attacks cultivated cherries and

is a rather common disease of the wild _Prunus serotina_. This rust is

troublesome only, however, in warm, moist climates. It is most apparent

in the fall and is easily recognized through its numerous rust-colored

sori on the underside of the leaves. Defoliation takes place in severe

infestations. Either bordeaux mixture or lime and sulphur may be used as

a preventive.

Old cherry trees are often attacked by a fleshy fungus or

"toadstool"[64] (_Polyporus sulphureus_ (Bulliard) Fries). This fungus

is said to be world-wide in its distribution and to occur upon a large

variety of trees. It is very striking in appearance, the clusters

appearing during late summer or early autumn in large, shelving

branches, the sporophores fleshy and of cheese-like consistency when

young but becoming hard and woody with age. At first the "toadstools"

are all yellow but later only the under surfaces are yellow while the

upper surface is orange-red. The plants are more or less odoriferous,

the odor increasing with age. Happily, the fungus is not very virulent

but is often the cause of decay in the tree-trunk--the brown-rot of the

wood of this and other orchard and forest plants. In localities where

the fungus thrives it may usually be controlled by covering all wounds

with tar or other antiseptic materials.

At least two other fleshy fungi have been found injuring cherries. These

are _Clitocybe parasitica_ Wilcox[65] and _Armillaria mellea_ Vahl.,[66]

the latter the honey agaric, more or less abundant in both Europe and

America. Both are associated with and are probably a cause of the

root-rot of the cherry and other orchard fruits. Neither is a common

enough pest in this country, however, to receive extensive description

in texts on diseases of plants. Control measures are different in

localities where fungi occur, consisting in the main of getting rid of

stumps and roots in orchard lands and planting to field crops before

using for orchard purposes. Infected trees should be removed or isolated

by trenching about them.

All stone-fruits suffer more or less from an excessive flow of gum. The

name gummosis[67] is generally applied to these troubles. Gumming is

much more prevalent in the far West than in the East but is to be found

wherever stone-fruits are grown. This excessive gumming is a secondary

effect of injuries caused by fungi, bacteria, insects, frost, sunscald,

and mechanical agencies. There is a good deal of difference in the

susceptibilities of varieties and species to this trouble, the Sweet

Cherry suffering much more than the Sour sorts and varieties of other

species having hard wood suffering less than those having softer wood.

There is less gummosis, too, on trees in soils favoring the maturity of

wood; under conditions where sun and frost are not injurious; and,

obviously, in orchards where by good care the primary causes of the

diseases are kept out.

A number of diseases of the trunk arise from mechanical injuries from

wind, sun, frost and hail. Few, indeed, are the fruit-growers whose

trees are not occasionally damaged in one way or another in the

vicissitudes of a trying climate. Very often these mechanical injuries

are followed by fungal parasites or insects so as to make it difficult

to distinguish the primary from the secondary trouble. There is a wide

difference in the susceptibility of _Prunus avium_ and _Prunus cerasus_

to such injuries, the Sweet Cherry, with its softer wood, being much

more easily injured by any and all stresses of weather than the Sour

Cherry. In the main the elements cannot be combated but low heading of

the trees is a preventive from sunscald, at least, and sometimes may

have a favorable effect in preventing wind and frost injuries.

[55] Smith, E. F. Peach Rot and Peach Blight, _Journ. Myc._

=5=:123-134. 1889. Quaintance, A. L. The Brown Rot, etc., _Ga.

Sta. Bul._ =50=:237-269, figs. 1-9. 1900.

[56] Farlow, W. G. The Black Knot, _Bulletin Bussey Institution_

440-453. 1876. Halsted, B. D. Destroy the Black Knot, etc., _N. J.

Sta. Bul._ =78=:1-14. 1891.

[57] Duggar, B. M. _Fungous Diseases of Plants_ 185, fig. 68. 1909.

[58] Higgins, B. B. Contributions to the Life History and

Physiology of Cylindrosporium on Stone Fruits, _Am. Jour. Bot._

=1=:145-173. 1914.

[59] Aderhold, R. Mycosphaerella cerasella n. spec., die

Perithecienform von Cercospora cerasella Sacc. und ihre

Entwicklung, _Ber. d. deut. bot. Ges._ =18=:246-249. 1900.

[60] Duggar, B. M. _Fungous Diseases of Plants_ 314. 1909. Pierce,

N. B. A Disease of Almond Trees, _Jour. Myc._ =7=:66-67, Pls.

11-14. 1892.

[61] Duggar, B. M. _Fungous Diseases of Plants_ 226. 1909.

[62] Smith, E. F. and Townsend, C. O. A Plant Tumor of Bacterial

Origin, _Science_ =25=:671-673. 1907. Toumey, J. W. Cause and

Nature of Crown Gall, _Ariz. Sta. Bul._ =33=:1-64, figs. 1-31.

1900. Hedgcock, G. C. Crown Gall, etc., _U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Pl.

Ind. Bul._ =90=:15-17, Pls. 3-5. 1906.

[63] Scribner, F. L. Leaf Rust of the Cherry, etc., _U. S. Dept.

Agr. Rpt._ 353-355, Pl. 3. 1887.

[64] Atkinson, Geo. F. Studies of Some Shade Tree and Timber

Destroying Fungi, _Cor. Agl. Exp. Sta. Bul._ =193=:208-214. 1901.

Schrenk, H. von. Div. Veg. Phys. and Path., _U. S. Dept. Agl._

=25=:40-52, Pls. 11 (in part), 13. 1900.

[65] Wilcox, E. M. A Rhizomorphic Root-Rot of Fruit Trees, _Okla.

Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul._ =49=:1-32, Pls. 1-11. 1901.

[66] Duggar, B. M. _Fungous Diseases of Plants_ 473. 1909.

[67] Hedrick, U. P. Gumming of the Prune Tree, _Ore. Sta. Bul._

=45=:68-72. 1897.

CHERRY INSECTS

Insects troubling cherries are numerous but hardly as destructive as

with other tree-fruits. Entomologists list about 40 species of insects

attacking cherries and about as many more occasionally attack the

varieties of one or the other of the two cultivated species. The

majority of these pests came with the tree from its habitat over the sea

but several have come from the wild cherries of this continent.

Of the pests peculiar to the cherry alone, possibly the cherry fruit

maggot[68] (_Rhagoletis cingulata_ Loew) is, the country over, as

troublesome as any. The adult insect is a small fly with barred wings

which lays eggs under the skin of the cherry in mid-summer. From these

eggs small, whitish maggots about one-third of an inch long hatch and

eat out a cavity in the ripening fruit. These maggots when full grown

pupate in the ground and remain there until the following season. The

only effective preventive or remedial measure to take against the pest

in large orchards is to spray with a sweetened arsenical, but in small

plantations chickens are fairly effective in scratching up and eating

the pupating maggots.

The cherry fruit maggot is probably responsible for most of the "wormy"

cherries in New York but the plum curculio is also a cause of "wormy"

fruits and in some seasons is a most formidable pest. This curculio[69]

(_Conotrachelus nenuphar_ Herbst) is a rough, grayish snout-beetle

somewhat less than a quarter of an inch in length, so familiar an insect

as scarcely to need further description. The female beetle pierces the

skin of the young cherries and places an egg in the puncture. About this

cavity she gouges out a crescent-shaped trench, this cut or sting being

a most discouraging sign to the cherry-grower, for he well knows that

from the eggs come, within a week or two, white and footless grubs which

burrow to the stone and make "wormy fruit." Some of the infested

cherries drop but many remain eventually to distract the housewife and

those who eat cherries out of hand. Jarring the beetles from the trees,

a method employed by plum-growers, is quite too expensive and

ineffective for the cherry-grower and poisoning with an arsenate is the

only practical means of combating the pest. Rubbish and vegetation offer

hiding places for the insects and, therefore, cultivated orchards are

freer from curculio than those laid down to grass. There are no

curculio-proof cherries but, as with plums, the thin-skinned varieties

are damaged most by the insect.

The grub of the plum curculio is easily distinguished from the cherry

fruit maggot. This "worm" is the larva of a beetle, a true grub,

footless and with a brownish, horny head while the cherry fruit maggot,

the larva of a two-winged insect, is a true maggot like that which comes

from the common house-fly and hardly to be distinguished from the apple

maggot. It is important to be able to distinguish in wormy cherries the

grub of the curculio from the cherry fruit maggot in order to know and

understand the nature of the two enemies in combating them.

Another pest of this fruit is the cherry leaf-beetle (_Galerucella

cavicollis_ Le Conte) the larvae of which sometimes do much damage to

cherry foliage. The adult insect is an oval, reddish beetle about

one-fourth of an inch long with black legs and antennae. Both the adult

and the larvae feed on the leaves and do much damage if abundant.

Usually there are two broods, the insect pupating in the ground.

Fortunately the pest is easily controlled with the arsenical sprays.

The cherry scale (_Aspidiotus forbesi_ Johnson) is commonly found on

this fruit and occasionally on others as well. To the unaided eye it is

very similar to the well-known San José scale, differing chiefly in

being lighter in color. The remedy is the same as for the San José

scale, which we next discuss.

The dreaded San José scale[70] (_Aspidiotus perniciosus_ Comstock) is

rather less harmful to cherries than to other tree-fruits and yet is

sometimes a serious pest on Sweet Cherries. Sour Cherries are almost

immune. The insect is now so well known in all fruit-growing regions

that it needs no description. It is usually first recognized by its

work, evidence of its presence being dead or dying twigs--oftentimes the

whole tree is moribund. Examination shows the twigs or trees to be

covered with myriads of minute scales, the size of a small pin-head,

which give the infested bark a scurfy, ashy look. If the bark be cut or

scraped a reddish discoloration is found. Leaves and fruit as well as

bark are infested, the insidious pest, however, usually first gaining a

foothold on the trunks or a large branch. Cherry-growers, in common with

all fruit-growers, find the lime and sulphur solution the most effective

spray in combating this insect.

Several other scale insects feed on the cherries and, now and then,

become pestiferous; among these the following may be named: The European

fruit lecanium[71] (_Lecanium corni_ Bouché) occasionally does a great

deal of damage in New York and now and then destroys the whole crop in

an orchard. The winter treatment for San José scale is used to control

this pest, but usually such treatment is supplemented by a summer spray

about July first with such contact sprays as whale oil soap and kerosene

emulsion. The fruit pulvinaria (_Pulvinaria amygdali_ Cockerell), the

mealy bug (_Pseudococcus longispinus_ Targioni), the scurfy scale

(_Chionaspis furfura_ Fitch), the West Indian peach scale (_Aulacaspis

pentagona_ Targioni), the Putnam scale (_Aspidiotus ancylus_ Putnam),

the walnut scale (_Aspidiotus juglans-regiæ_ Comstock), Howard's scale

(_Aspidiotus howardii_ Cockerell), the European fruit scale (_Aspidiotus

ostreæformis_ Curtis), the red scale of California (_Chrysomphalus

aurantii_ Maskell), the oyster-shell scale (_Lepidosaphes ulmi_

Linnaeus), and the soft scale (_Coccus hesperidum_ Linnaeus), are all

more or less common.

Several borers occasionally infest cherry trees of which the peach

borer[72] (_Sanninoidea exitiosa_ Say.) is the most troublesome. Larvae

of the peach borer are frequently found in both Sweet and Sour Cherries,

more particularly in Sweet Cherries, in eastern orchards. Fortunately

this pest is not as rife with the cherry as with peaches and plums. Its

work may be prevented by thorough cultivation, by mounding the trees

and, according to some, by the use of a covering of tar or of obnoxious

or poisonous washes. Usually preventive measures are not effective,

however, and the borer must be destroyed--best done by digging it out

with a knife and wire. Since the pest is easily discovered through the

exudation of gum mixed with sawdust or excreta, close to the surface or

just beneath the ground, its presence can be detected in time to prevent

its doing much damage. The lesser peach borer[73] (_Sesia pictipes_

Grote & Robinson) often attacks old or weakened cherry trees, working in

the growing tissues of the trunk anywhere from the ground to the main

branches. The worm is much like the common peach borer, known by all,

but is smaller, rarely reaching the length of four-fifths of an inch

when full grown. The flat-headed apple tree borer[74] (_Chrysobothris

femorata_ Fabricius) is a common pest in wild cherries and sometimes

seriously attacks the cultivated species. It is treated as is the peach

borer.

The shot-hole borer[75] (_Eccoptogaster rugulosus_ Ratzeburg), though

seldom injuring healthy trees, is very often a serious menace in old or

decrepit cherry trees. It may be looked upon, however, as an effect

rather than a cause. The peach bark-beetle[76] (_Phlæotribus liminaris_

Harris) is very similar in its work to the shot-hole borer and like it

attacks only diseased and decrepit trees.

All cherry-growers are familiar with the small, dark green, slimy slugs

which feed on the surface of the leaves of the cherry, possibly more

common on the foliage of pears, eating out the soft tissues and leaving

but the skeleton of the leaf. If the slugs are numerous the tree may be

defoliated or if the leaves remain the foliage looks as if scorched. The

adult of this slug is a sawfly (_Caliroa_ (_Eriocampoides_) _cerasi_

Linnaeus) which lays its eggs within the tissue of the leaves. Despite

the fact that it is easily destroyed by any of the arsenical sprays or

by dusting with lime this slug everywhere does much damage to cherries.

Wild cherries suffer severely from the tent caterpillar[77] (_Malacosoma

americana_ Fabricius) and occasionally cultivated trees are attacked.

The arsenical sprays are fatal to the pest. The spring canker-worm[78]

(_Paleacrita vernata_ Peck) and the fall canker-worm[79] (_Alsophila

pometaria_ Harris), the white-marked tussock moth (_Hemerocampa

leucostigma_ Smith and Abbot), the rusty tussock moth (_Hemerocampa

antiqua_ Linnaeus), and the definite-marked tussock moth (_Hemerocampa

definita_ Packard) are all occasional cherry pests and all succumb to

poisonous sprays. The two now notorious European pests recently

introduced into America, gypsy moth (_Porthetria dispar_ Linnaeus) and

the browntail moth (_Euproctis chrysorrhæa_ Linnaeus), attack cherry

trees in common with other deciduous trees and may often do considerable

damage. Sometimes, but not often, the buds of the cherry are attacked by

the bud-moth (_Spilonota_ (_Tmetocera_) _ocellana_ Schiffermüller), the

caterpillars of which bind the young leaves together as they expand so

that small, dead, brown clusters of foliage are to be seen here and

there where the pests are at work. Spraying with arsenicals is effective

if done just as the buds begin to open.

In sandy soils the cherry is sometimes attacked by hordes of the common

rose-chafer (_Macrodactylus subspinosus_ Fabricius), leaves, flowers and

even the fruit suffering from the pest. It is a difficult insect to

control but a spray of arsenate of lead with molasses is fairly

effective. It is important to know that the insect does not often breed

in ground kept in clean cultivation.

[68] Slingerland, M. V. _Bul. Cor. Ag. Ex. Sta._ =172=: 1899.

[69] Riley, C. V. _An. Rpt. State Entom. Mo._ =1=:50-56. 1869;

=3=:11-29. 1871.

[70] Marlatt, C. L. The San José or Chinese Scale, _U. S. D. A.

Bur. Ent. Bul._ =62=:1-89. 1906.

[71] Lowe, V. H. The New York Plum Lecanium, _N. Y. Sta. Bul._

=136=:583. 1897.

[72] Beutenmüller, _W. Sesiidae of America_, etc. 266-271. 1901.

[73] _Ibid._ 291-292. 1901.

[74] Riley, C. V. _An. Rpt. State Entoml. Mo._ =1=:46-47. 1869.

[75] Lowe, V. H. _N. Y. Sta. Bul._ =180=:112-128. 1900.

[76] Wilson, W. F. The Peach-tree Bark-beetle, _U. S. D. A. Bur.

Ent. Bul._ =68=:91-108. 1909.

[77] Lowe, V. H. The Apple-tree Tent Caterpillar, _N. Y. Sta.

Bul._ =152=:279-293. 1898.

[78] Riley, C. V. _An. Rpt. State Entom. Mo._ =2=:94-103. 1870.

[79] _Ibid._ =7=:83-90. 1875.