It was not until after the middle of the Nineteenth Century that the Mahaleb came into use in America, none of the horticultural writers in the first half of the last century, as Cobbett, 1803; McMahon, 1806; Coxe, 1817; Thacher, 1822; Prince, 1828; Kenrick, 1833; Manning, 1838; Thomas, 1846; Floy, 1846, nor Cole, 1849, having mentioned the Mahaleb though nearly all speak of the Mazzard as the stock upon which cherries are budded. Downing, in 1845, makes first mention of the Mahaleb as a stock in the New World;[47] Thomas in his second edition, 1851, recommends it as a stock to dwarf cherries;[48] Barry, 1852, says that Mahaleb stock is imported from Europe;[49] while Elliott, in 1854, also speaks of it as a dwarfing stock.[50] From this date on the Mahaleb is mentioned in all American works on pomology in which stocks for cherries are discussed. [Illustration: _PRUNUS MAHALEB_] Pains have been taken to show the exact date the Mahaleb began to be used as a stock in America. The quotations show that this was about 1850. They show, too, that at first and for a long time its only use was as a dwarfing stock. But now the Mahaleb has almost wholly superseded the Mazzard as a stock for all Sweet and Sour Cherries. Not many cherries were propagated on the new stock until after 1860 when its use, if we may judge from the accounts of fruit-growing, began to be general and it grew so rapidly in favor that by 1880 it was more popular than the Mazzard and in another decade had almost wholly taken the place of the latter. Probably 95 per centum of the cherries grown in this country are budded on the Mahaleb. Why has the Mahaleb supplanted the Mazzard? This is the question that immediately comes to mind and to the discussion of which we proceed. There is no question but that it is much easier to grow cherry trees on Mahaleb stock in the nursery than on Mazzard and that usually a better looking tree can be delivered to the fruit-grower on the first-named stock. Seedlings of both stocks are imported from Europe and those of the Mahaleb are usually cheaper. These reasons are sufficient for the exclusive use of Mahaleb by nurserymen, and, were it certain that the Mahaleb is the best stock for the fruit-grower, all hands might forthwith renounce the Mazzard. In what respects is it easier to grow cherries on the Mahaleb in the nursery than on the Mazzard?