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.
CHAPTER IV
LEADING VARIETIES OF CHERRIES
ABBESSE D'OIGNIES
Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus
- 1. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:182. 1866. 2. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:161, 162 fig. 1877. 3. Hogg Fruit Man. 276, 277. 1884. 4. Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 329. 1888. 5. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:284. 1903. 6. Ia. Sta. Bul. 73:62 fig. 1907. 7. N. Y. Sta. Bul. 385:307, 308, Pl. 1914.
Abbesse d'Oignies has so many good characters that it is well worth trying commercially wherever cherries are grown in the United States. Curiously enough, it seems so far to have been tried only in the Middle West, Professor Budd having introduced it in Iowa from Russia in 1883. In the unfavorable soil and climatic conditions of the Mississippi Valley, Abbesse d'Oignies grows as well as any cherry of its class, if we may judge from the accounts of it. We do not know of its having been tried elsewhere in the East than on our grounds and here we find it, in competition with practically all of the varieties of its class, one of the best of the Dukes. At this Station it does so well that we described it, in the reference given, as one of the noteworthy fruits in our collection. The trees are large, vigorous, hardy, fruitful and very free from fungus diseases. The cherries are large, dark red, of most excellent quality, combining the flavor of the Dukes with a firmer and yet tenderer flesh than the Montmorency. The high quality, handsome appearance and good shipping qualities of the fruit, combined with the splendid characters of the tree, ought to make Abbesse d'Oignies a very good commercial variety.
This cherry probably originated in Belgium about the middle of the Nineteenth Century. At least it was first listed in Belgian nursery catalogs in 1854. It is now a greater or less favorite wherever cherries are grown in the Old World, Professor Budd having found it, as we have said, in 1883, in Russia and immediately transported it to America.
