It is useless to plant cherries unless the fruit can be protected from the birds. The cost of "keeping" a few trees would absorb all profit. In planting for sale, select two or three varieties only; and these should come in together, if possible, to lessen the cost of "keep." They should be intermingled, for reasons already mentioned (see pears, p. 12).

Cherries like a deep, mellow, and rather sandy soil, but they also thrive on a good loam lying on chalk. Stiff moist soils and dry gravelly soils are not suitable. The trees require much moisture, especially sorts with large leaves, such as the Bigarreau and Heart Cherries. Plant varieties to suit the soil. Inquire carefully what sorts do best in your neighbourhood. Cherries do well in open ground, not shaded nor in a valley. They prefer a south aspect, but Morellos thrive on a north wall. Kentish and Late Duke might also be tried there. Plant as you would pears or plums. Protect your trees from rabbits by wire, and from cattle by "cradles," 6 feet high at least,[12] or iron guards. Cattle fed on cake are useful in cherry orchards, and improve the produce.

Cherries for Eating, recommended by R.H.S. in 1892, are:—

a. Dukes.—(1) May Duke, dark red and early; (2) Archduke (large blackish red), mid-season, both tender-skinned, and so beloved by birds. Both are close growers.b. Yellow-fruited (i.e. White Heart or Bigarreau).—(1) Elton, very early, good on heavy soil, tree spreading; (2) Kent Bigarreau, early, large, hardy, makes a large tree, best for general crop.

c. Black-fruited.—(1) Black Eagle, very large, travels well, free grower, mid-season; (2) Early Rivers, first-rate, earliest black, a good cropper and grower.

Cooking Cherries.—(1) Kentish, bright red, mid-season, a compact grower, best for jam; (2) Morello, very late, only fit for wall, fence, or bush.

Other good sorts are Governor Wood (mottled red, early) and Black Tartarian, a strong grower, fruit large, late. Florence is very large and late, succeeding the Bigarreau, but requires a warm soil and aspect.

Where there is no wall, Morellos and other sorts should be planted as bushes in a garden 5 or 6 feet apart. They should be covered with nets when the fruit is colouring. Morellos last a long while on a north wall, protected by a net. These are often in great demand, and in a plantation succeed as standards. But the cost of "keeping" for a long time would be excessive.

Pruning and Training

Allow the trees to grow a year before pruning them. Then cut back the branches to about 1 foot in length to an outer eye; the Bigarreau to 15 inches. Encourage two shoots from each branch, one at the end, the other 3 inches from the stem, and on the outside. Thus the branches will not grow into each other. Maintain the chief branches at nearly equal length for some years. Standards do not require much pruning. Cut back in summer (July) all shoots crowding the tree or threatening to cross others. In winter look over the trees again. Keep the trees open to sun and air. Cherries on wall should be on the fan system, and pinched back in July. The branches should be 9 inches apart for Duke Cherries, 12 for Bigarreau. If trained horizontally or as espaliers, shorten the shoots on the upper branches a week or two before those on the lower. Keep the shoots near the wall. When sufficient main branches are formed to cover the wall, do not cut back the leaders again. Be sparing with the knife. After two or three years fruit spurs will form, but not much surplus wood. Morellos require special treatment. The fruit is usually found on the wood of the previous year. Train young shoots in to replace the old, and cut out, when the fruit is off, all the old that can be spared. In standards, pyramids and bushes, thin out the branches.

Aphides are the chief enemy, especially on walls. Syringe with tobacco water made by pouring 1 gallon of soft boiling water on 2 ozs. of strong shag tobacco; add 2 ozs. of soft soap to the water when poured on the tobacco. Strain off and use cold. This solution is also good against the pear slug-worm, which attacks cherries as well as pears. Follow this prescription by a good syringing of cold water the following morning. The roots of cherries are near the surface so that the ground above them must not be dug.

Standards

in strong soil should be 30 feet apart, 24 feet in lighter ground. They are best on grass which is used for pasture. The trees then should be 30 feet from each other. The Kentish Red are sometimes 15 or 18 feet only. Between standards at 24 feet apart bush trees of various kinds may be planted (apples, pears, plums), the two former on dwarfing stocks; there should be two between each standard 8 feet apart.Ordinary manure is not often given. It may cause rank growth. Dr Griffiths recommends the following artificials: 3 parts weight of kainit, 2 parts of superphosphate, 1 part of nitrate of soda. Three lbs. of this mixture should be applied to each tree shortly before active growth begins. If the land is deficient in lime or chalk some should be given to each tree.

W. C. (in Watson): "Superphosphate of lime, 5 lbs., sulphate of potash, 2 lbs., sulphate of magnesia, ½ lb., chloride of soda, ½ lb. Apply during mild weather in February at the rate of 4 ozs. to the square yard of border, or the full quantity 8 lbs. to each rod of orchard ground."

Gather fruit dry before it is quite ripe. Cherries are usually sent to market in baskets which contain 24 lbs. nett; very choice fruit in 12 lb. baskets.

The word cherry comes from the old English cheri, chiri, and that probably from the French cerise, that from the Latin cerasus, and that from the Greek (?e?as??) kerasos. "Cheri or chiri was a corruption of cheris or chiris, the final s being mistaken for the plural inflection; the same mistake occurs in several other words, notably in pea as shortened from pease, Latin pisum" (Skeat).

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