Cherry blossom

“ The joyful festivals of the cherry blossom, the wistaria, the iris and chrysanthemum, the sombre colours of the beech blossom and the paths about the lotus gardens, where mankind meditated in solemn mood. ”

“ If you understand how the single seedbox of the cherry blossom turns into the cherry fruit, then you understand how the same thing happens with the single seedboxes of the plum and the peach blossom.
You know that in the flowers of the pear and the apple there were several of these pins without dust boxes; and although these were joined below into a single seedbox, this had separate compartments for the many seeds.
But the single seedboxes of the cherry, the plum, and the peach, have but one hollow. Usually in this hollow we find only one seed. ”

“ And that is just what they are trying to do; for the cherry blossom is not wise enough to know that here in the schoolroom there are no bee visitors to bring it yellow dust, and to help it grow into a cherry. These leaves are the little handkerchiefs which the cherry tree, just like the apple tree we read about long ago, uses in signaling the bees. ”

“ They walked through the picturesque grounds, planted with the world-famed cherry tree, heavy with its fragrant mass of blossom. Interspersed was the graceful momiji, or spring maple, clothed in its luxurious mantle of brilliant red, forming with the dark foliage of the lofty pines, and the varied greens of rare and ancient trees in all their rich and perfect beauty, an enchanting contrast to the cloudless azure sky above. Pearl for a moment, in her admiration of these beauties of nature, perfected by the cunning art of man, forgot to be anxious and unhappy. ”

“ Anglers in Norwegian rivers are familiar with the white plumes of bird cherry, waving like fine lace-work from the grim cliffs overhanging many a green dal.
Lovely as the gean tree is when in full blossom, some of the double-flowering Japanese cherries are even more so, and they have this advantage, that the display is not nearly so fleeting. What may be the wild parent of these cultivated forms I am unable to say; but Mr. J. H. Veitch, writing from Yokohama, indicates that some, at least, are not cherries at all:
"The cherries in this neighbourhood are magnificent. ”

“ They grow on tall bushes, instead of trees, and are so interwoven with the cherry bushes, and in blossom so much alike, I cannot tell plum from cherry bush. They both grow in great patches along the valley, and form a support for the grape vines that grow abundantly, which are much the same as the "chicken grapes" of Pennsylvania. I must not over-look the dwarf or sand-hill cherry, which, however, would not be a hard matter, were it not for the little white blossoms that cover the crooked little sticks, generally about a foot in height, that come up and spread in every direction. ”

“ The cherry-tree in blossom is considered by the Japanese the ideal of beauty in the vegetable kingdom, and during the flowering season of this tree excursions are often undertaken to famous cherry-groves where hour after hour is passed in tranquil admiration of the flower-splendour of the tree. ”

“ Our attending coolie informed us that we had hit upon a festival that has particular attractions to the foreign eye. You have probably heard of those sacred cherry-blossoms that are so dear to the hearts of the Japanese, and which, with the chrysanthemum, are their chief floral pride. It is true that meddling foreigners have said that they are not cherry-blossoms at111 all ”

“ The use of cherries is to produce cherry blossoms; just as the use of bulbs is to produce hyacinths,—not of hyacinths to produce bulbs. Nay, that the flower can multiply by bulb, or root, or slip, as well as by seed, may show you at once how immaterial the seed-forming function is to the flower's existence. A flower is to the vegetable substance what a crystal is to the mineral. ”

“ Both the ornamental and the edible cherries are very beautiful in spring when abundantly covered with flowers, which usually open with the unfolding leaves, as well as throughout the summer when overspread with lustrous green foliage and most of them are quite as conspicuously beautiful in the autumn 7 when the leaves turn from green to light and dark tints of red. All will agree that a cherry tree in full fruit is a most beautiful object. ”

“ Cherry brandies and cordials are made from the fruit by people who rely upon old-fashioned home remedies. These are the people who chew the bitter opening buds of the wild cherry in spring, as they drink sassafras tea, believing that spring is the time to clear the blood, and that Nature offers free remedies far better than they can buy in bottles.
We cannot wonder that wild cherry trees spring up in the woods, in fence corners, and along roadsides. The birds are feasting in the trees each autumn, and until the last berry is taken. They are the sowers of the seed. ”

“ They are of a deep blush color, and of a delicate bell-shape; the lips, however, divided and turning backward, to expose the interior to the cherishing sun. But, perhaps, the bloom that is richest, and most promising in its general appearance, is that of the cherry, clasping its white honors all around the long, straight branches, from heel to point, and not letting a leaf or bit of stem be seen, except the three or four leaves that come as a green finish at the extremity of each branch. The blossoms of the pears, and, loveliest of all, the apples, do not come in perfection till next month. ”

“ Under certain conditions it is possible for gardeners to modify the life of a cherry, and to make it bloom much earlier, but this is only possible within well-defined limits. It is no use trying to force it to bloom before January. ”

“ There are various wild growing species of cherry, which must not be confused with the cultivated varieties. The wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) is very common in our woods. It is a handsome tree, varying from 15 to 100 feet in height. It has a smooth bark on the younger branches. The fruit is rather small, fleshy portion thin and of a very dark color when fully ripened. The wild black cherry must not be confused with the poisonous choke cherry (Prunus virginiana) , which is a smaller tree and has red berries instead of black. ”

“ For weeks there is a slow, gradual, almost imperceptible growth of the buds, then they develop with a rush, and in six to ten days double or treble their weight. Then comes the supreme moment, for the flower-buds suddenly burst open and the Cherry is in active and vigorous bloom and covered all over with exquisite blossoms. All last year's fats and starches are rapidly used up. Very soon the young leaves are beginning to make sugar and other food, which give some help during the ripening of the fruit. ”

“ From Ontario to Dakota, and south to Florida and Texas, this tree is found, reaching its best estate in moist, rich soil, but climbing mountain canyons at elevations of from five to seven thousand feet. A worthy shade and park tree, the black cherry is charmingly unconventional, carrying its mass of drooping foliage with the grace of a willow, its satiny brown bark curling at the edges of irregular plates like that of the cherry birch. ”

“ And the apple and lilac will bloom to-morrow.
The honeysuckle is red on the rock;
The willow floats over the brook like a feather;
In every shadow some love lies hid—
And you and I in the world together. ”

“ Birds feast in September on the long clusters of dark purple berries. They are bitter sweet, barely edible, I say. But birds take them thankfully, and children usually eat them freely. Old-fashioned people make them into wines or cordials for home remedies.
The choke cherry is a shrubby tree, with a rank, disagreeable odour added to the bitter and pungent odour that belongs to the black cherry. The leaves are twice as wide as the black cherry’s. The fruit shares the rank quality of the leaves and bark. ”

“ The boxes into which the cherries are packed are, of course, much smaller than the boxes into which the apples are packed. A cherry box holds only 8 pounds of fruit.
One of the most beautiful of all the beautiful sights on a fruit-ranch is the blossoming of the cherry-trees in May. The waxy white blossoms not only cover—literally and truly cover—the branches from end to end, but they also stick to the trunk and main limbs of the trees, much as the feathers muffle the legs of certain kinds of pullets. ”

“ The flesh is tender, juicy and, while astringent as commonly found, plants bearing aromatic and very palatable cherries are often found growing wild while some of the domesticated plants bear very well-flavored fruits. All speak of the Sand Cherry as wonderful in productiveness and as having remarkable capacity to withstand the vicissitudes of the exacting climate in which it grows. A valuable asset of Prunus besseyi is its great variability. Fruit from different plants varies in size, color and flavor suggesting that, under cultivation, amelioration will proceed rapidly. ”

“ In the Kentish cherry the stone adheres so firmly to the footstalk, that it can be drawn out of the flesh; and this renders the fruit well fitted for drying. The Tobacco-leaved cherry, according to Sageret and Thompson, produces gigantic leaves, more than a foot and sometimes even eighteen inches in length, and half a foot in breadth. The Weeping cherry, on the other hand, is valuable only as an ornament, and, according to Downing, is "a charming little tree with slender weeping branches, clothed with small almost myrtle-like foliage." There is also a peach-leaved variety. ”

“ A pocket in the hills filled with dead air or a wind-swept highland would be unsatisfactory extremes; for, in the first case, fungi, especially the dreaded brown-rot, would take too great toll, and, in the second, blossoms would be blasted or foliage frazzled and the fruit whipped. The harsh, drying winds of winter, too, would be disastrous to Sweet Cherry culture and if extreme, as on the Great Plains, wood and buds of Sour Cherries would suffer. ”

“ All cherry-growers are familiar with the small, dark green, slimy slugs which feed on the surface of the leaves of the cherry, possibly more common on the foliage of pears, eating out the soft tissues and leaving but the skeleton of the leaf. ”

“ The birds bide the time when a blush upon the fruit betrays its ripeness. Then the cherries are greedily devoured, and their seed, preserved from digestion in their stony cases are borne over hill, dale, and river to some islet or brookside where a sprouting cherry plant will be free from the stifling rivalries suffered by its parent. ”

“ Long before the cherry begins to turn, they are around, alert and cautious. In small flocks they circle about, high in the air, uttering their fine note, or plunge quickly into the tops of remote trees. Day by day they approach nearer and nearer, reconnoitring the premises, and watching the growing fruit. Hardly have the green lobes turned a red cheek to the sun, before their beaks have scarred it. ”

“ The leaf of the choke cherry is a wide and abruptly pointed oval. The fruit until dead ripe is red or yellow, and so puckery, harsh, and bitter that children, who eat the black cherries eagerly, cannot be persuaded to taste choke cherries a second time.
Birds are not so fastidious; they often strip the trees before the berries darken. ”

“ The birds are so fond of ripe cherries that we sometimes have difficulty in getting our share before the robins and thrushes have taken all. Birds frequently fly away with the cherries, eat the pulp, and drop the stone, which, of course, contains a seed, and this seed then often sprouts and grows into a cherry tree. We sometimes find good cherries growing in hedges and thickets, far from the orchard ”

“ Prunus cerasus is the Sour Cherry, or Pie Cherry, of many languages—grown and esteemed in temperate climates the world over and probably the most widely distributed of all tree fruits. The species is found truly wild, as we have set forth in detail in the following chapter, in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. It is a frequent escape from cultivation, multiplying from seed distributed by birds or human agencies or growing from suckers which spring so freely from the roots as to make the species unfit for a stock in orchard work. ”

“ It is vulgarly called the Dwarf ever-bearing cherry. It will keep in a good Green-house, but not grow freely. A. solanàcea has large oblong leaves, narrowed at each end, and bears purple berries; A. élegans has entire, oblong, shining leaves; A. umbellàta, once A. littoràlis, is the finest of the genus for abundance of flower and beauty of foliage. The flowers are pink, in large decompound panicles, the leaves the largest of all the species, oblong, [Pg 221] wedge shaped, nearly sessile, entire, smooth, and reflexed. They are all evergreens, and the pots should be well drained. ”

“ Other characters of leaves taken into account in describing cherries are thickness, roughness, and pubescence, all of which are somewhat variable, being greatly influenced by climate and soil. Quite too much stress is laid upon the value of pubescence on leaves in determining groups, unless comparisons can be made between plants growing in the same habitat. Possibly more important than any other part of the leaf-blade, in the study of species at least, is the margin. This in the cherry is 13 always serrated and often sub-serrated. ”

“ This was gratifying to Checkers, as indicating that Brown and his friends were confident.
He went up into the grand stand; the horses were at the post. Remorse was acting very badly—plunging, kicking and refusing to break. "I 'll just about get left at the post," thought Checkers. "Say, that favorite looks good," he remarked to a young fellow next to him.
"Good," echoed the youth; "well, I should say he is good. He 's cherry-ripe, and he 'll gallop in. If I had a thousand dollars, and did n't know where I was goin' to eat to-night, I 'd put it all on him. ”

“ Our knowledge of how wild cherries have been remodeled into the orchard and garden varieties of today—of what the methods and processes of domestication have been—is, therefore, doubtful and limited, for the mind and hand of man had been deeply impressed upon the cherry long before the faint traditions which have been transmitted to our day could possibly have arisen. ”