Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-12-02
MY CHERRY TREE.
The Tree Agent Must Have
WiIfu|Iy Lied to Me.
Told Ne it Would Grow Bushels of
Black Heart Cherries.
But it Didn't. and Lost My Good. Cold
Dollars.

| and thought | knew more than / do
| ROW. | was resting from my labors OF
| my lawn and along came a tree peddlei
| and he was Il very oily gentleman. He
| had great respect for the truth. In
| fact 50 much respect that he nevei
| spoke it, He approached me as ! sa,
under my vine and fig tree and after
some preliminary skrmishing and side
talk about the weather and the high
price of putty and other interesting
things he produced from his cadaver-
| Gus pocket a large book full of the
rrettiest pictures Of trees and shrubs
! eEcr saw.
There were pictures Of great. large
| juicy apples that 10. looked good
enough I" eat. the kind that one sees
only in books pears as big Is boxing
| gloves and grapes and plums the size
| of toy balloons. ] wandered with hin,
through that show of horticultural
| monstrosities until my eyes ached and
when he showed me "A thrifty looking
cherry tree all in bloom. why. that was
my downfall. When he saw n had
made an impression upon me he COM
nenced To eXpatiate on cherries. bla ok
hearts. sugar heats. honey hearts and
all kinds of hearts. until ! was bewil-
del'ed and Visions of cherries as big
rs hens eggs loated before my eyes.
After little more argument on tn
agents : pert the deal was closed and |
was destined for 4 valuable consilera-
tion =" become the sole owner Of one
large cherry tree of the black heart
-
prolific yelder. As | thought nr ms
purchase | piti"d the poor state Of
California. Tor | We'll knew that with
my tree shelling out cherries by The
3ushel | could corner the home market
and give the cherry raiscrs on III" Pa
ciiir slope a black eye. IN due course
Of tim" my wonderful tree arrived. ac-
cuWpanied by i Slick looking fellow
who collected the hard coin and who
proceeded 10 give me some instructions
upon raising cherries. Ny tree. looked
some what like an alder bush but !
didn't mind that.
Tho collector said. Now YOU must
be careful ana not let the tree fruit il
self TO death The first year and when
ii blossoms pick uff an but FEN. ANA
y
abundant crop
80 cot my man ana together NV
planted the tree on my lawn and
launched odt into cherry culture.
told my neichborS all about il ana
what pleasant parties we would have
when the cherries got ripe. They did
not seem as enthusiastic over it az ]
Was. In fact they We're rather luke
warm. hut That | attributed to the fact
that they were 4 little lit jealous.
put in more time oTer that tire"
than a wet nurse would over an orphan
baby worked early ana late until
got Il hinge in my back bigger than
hay barn door Pretty soon the tree
commenced to blossom and I was
happy. | used to get a lantern and go
out ana look at it nights | think |
must have scared it. for after it shelled
cut four blossoms ii got Sidetracked
and stopped and positively refused t.
bud=c. So / watched ii burst out into
fruit. and about the time cherries were
ripe everywhere my four blossoms got
to be about the size Of a buckShot.
Their the birds sWooped down and
lrlcGad them OFF, So | thought there
was no danger that year Of its fruitiue
itself to death. ! began to figure on
the rroiit on cherries and where could
find market for an immense crop, but
the blow was too much for it,
And when il began to fruit up had
FIVE cherries about the size Of a black
bead and harder than Pharaoh's heart
Late in the season the birds did my
harN eSting for mo. 81 that year was
not the roaring success ! hoped for
Tn, ne,shbors got a little funny about
that time and used to come over ana
went to purcnas" a bushcl or SO of
cherries. | told them all to wait until
tnothcr season and ! would show them
how to raise cherries
80 last summer I commenced IN that
tree again and it looked as if the mar
vest would BE- plenty. That tree fairly
outdid itself in the blossom line. II
looked like Il hydrangea bush and
WoH!dr have sWapped thai tree fol a
litter of pigs Then we had a wind
storm in the night and the blossom.
all blew UP toward Sidney. leaving nv
tree as baldheaded as Il Calcutta mis-
siora"y. Seven lone blossoms were. lef;
which never got beyond the blossomins
age
This fan was fearful that the tre,
might fruit itself Ia death and know
ms u wanted to be kept in a good
warm place had il cut down and put
into the shed. so at the present time. T
am temporarily gu, Of the cherry bt,si
ness. JOHN QUILL.