Cherry trees begin to bear in the climate of New York when set from three to five years. The varieties of _Prunus cerasus_ first produce profitable crops but, at from six to eight years from setting, both Sweet and Sour sorts are in full swing as money-making crops. The limits of profitable age are not set by the life of the tree but, rather, by its size. Thus, cherry trees of either of the species commonly cultivated are not infrequently centenarians but the profitable age of an orchard is not often more than from thirty to forty years. After this time the trees become large and the expense of caring for them and of picking the fruit becomes so great as to prevent profits. Moreover, disease, injuries and inevitable accidents will have thinned the ranks of trees until the orchard is below profit-making. Cherry-picking begins in New York about the first of July, following the rush in harvesting strawberries, and lasts, if the orchard contains both Sweet and Sour varieties, from four to six weeks. Workers may in this way fill in a gap between small-fruits and other tree-fruits and the crop becomes one in which the grower may often take small profits to keep his help employed; though, in the long run, if the more or less frequent depressions can be weathered, the cherry may prove as profitable as other fruits. The problem of labor is a most vexatious one under present conditions, it being impossible to obtain casual men laborers for cherry-picking and women and children are unsatisfactory, since the fruit must be carefully picked or both cherries and trees suffer. The problem is solved, unsatisfactorily in most cases, in various ways by different growers. Most of the crop is now picked by children in the teens under the eyes of men or women supervisors. In picking for the market the stem is left on and only the stem is touched by the fingers. Cherries for canning factories are less laboriously picked. The picking package is usually an eight-pound basket. The rate paid is one cent per pound. Pickers earn $1.50 to $2.00 per day in good seasons. Close watch is kept on pickers to prevent the breaking off of fruit-spurs, thereby destroying the succeeding year's crop, varieties fruiting in clusters suffering especially from carelessness in this respect. Cherries are picked a few days before full ripeness.