CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - Pole Shift Survival Information

276 THE NURRER~‘-111,4NUAI,
must, be stratified and kept very cool to prevent germination, and
they should be sown at the earliest possible moment. They do
not need to be cracked by hatitl. t ‘are must be taken that cherry
pits do not become hard and dry. This precaution is more important
with cherries than with peaches and plums. At the close
of the first season, the seedlings will be a foot or foot and a half
high, large enough to transplant into nursery rows, after the manner
of apples, where they are budded the following season (second
seasdn f roni t lie seed). In warm climat.es the pits are sometimes
cracked as soon as they are gathered, anti the ‘I meats ” planted
immediately. They n-ill then make stocks fit for grafting the
ensuing winter, or for transplanting and budding the following
summer.
(.‘herries, in common with o-ther stone fruits, grow readily from
root-cuttings, in the same way as blackberries. They do better if
startecl over a gentle heat.
The mazzard cherry is the stock on which cherries are recommended
to be worked. It is a hardy and vigorous variety, with
inferior fruit, of the common sweet cherry (Prunes aGum). Seeds
of this are readily procured in this country. As a matter of fact,
. however, nearI>* all sour cherries are worked on the mahaleb in this
country, as tlltiy take better on it, and the stocks are cheap. Sweet
cherries are often budded on the mahaleb, but it is a question
whether such practice is best. The mazzard is such a strong
grower that the I)ucl is often “ drowned out ” by the flow of sap.
To avoid this esuberance, nurserymen often pinch in the tips of
the stocks a few days before they are to be worked. The mazzard
is also liable to leaf-blight, and to serious injury from the black
aphis, so that thtl bark often sets before the operator has had time
to finish his plantation. Mazzards usually have a shorter budding
season than lnallalet)s, and are less uniform in behavior ; and for
these reasons, mahalebs are widely used.
Malialcb is 8 distinct species, P1’21.17218 nhiln~rJh, from southern
Europe. The seeds or stocks of it are imported. Mahaleb st.ocks
are recommended in the books for dwarfing the cherry, but the
tluarfing depends more on pruning than on the mahalel) root.
The mahalcl) is naturallJ7 a smaller tree than the mazzard, however.
It is said that the mahaleb is better adapted to heavy clay
soils than the mazzard, l)ut. in practice it is used indiscriminately
for all soils and nearly all varieties.
Morelin ( 1’~~ if ,7,, C%~flsus) stocks will no doubt prove to be