[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, 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.