Cherry (fruit)

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On each side of us we saw the pear, thickly powdered with its chaste blossom, and growing to an enormous size, promising an abundant supply of fruit for the manufacture of that delicious perry, whose praises would form a worthy subject, for the muse of a second Phillips. Far and wide also, on every side, the cherry is cultivated to that extent as to overwhelm completely the Worcester and neighbouring markets in the season with its produce. ”

“ While a certain variety of old fashioned sweet cherry will live and bear fruit, some of the recent improved varieties will not live. Every one that I have planted was winter-killed. The Montmorency cherry, however, does well. ”

“ The cherry, while a very common fruit in nearly all agricultural regions of America, does not hold the place in American markets as a fresh fruit that it does in the towns and cities of Europe. The great abundance of strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, dewberries, blackberries, as well as early varieties of tree fruits, makes keener here than abroad the competition in the fruit markets during cherry time. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A Heart cherry mentioned in 1882 as a promising new fruit because of its extreme earliness and excellent quality. This variety, introduced by Thomas Rivers & Son, Sawbridgeworth, England, should not be confused with an older French sort often known by the same name but of a reddish-brown color. Tree moderate in growth; fruit glossy, black, round, of medium size, produced in clusters; flesh charcoal-black, very rich in flavor. ”

“ The fruit of the cultivated domestic cherry is the most desirable and is usually had in mind when cherries are mentioned. The fruit is technically a stone fruit or drupe and not a berry; the outer portion of the fruit covering known as exocarp is fleshy and constitutes the edible portion. The endocarp is hard and forms the shell which encloses the seed. The fresh, fully ripened fruits are relished most by children, as well as by adults. Birds also are very fond of ripe cherries. Robins are on such a keen lookout for the ripening berries that the busy farmer is often a total loser. ”

“ It is one of the first of the Sweet Cherries, is large and, as the color-plate shows, is a beautiful yellowish-white tinted with shades of crimson, with conspicuous russet dots—a beautiful fruit. The flesh separates readily from the skin, is tender, juicy, with an abundance of colorless juice and a flavor that has given it the reputation, wherever grown in America, of being one of the best in quality. It would be hard to name another cherry better suited for small plantations and it is to be hoped that it will long be kept in the gardens of connoisseurs of good fruit. ”

“ We have cultivated varieties, ripening in succession throughout the cherry season. There is no necessity for cultivating the common red and very acid cherry, except in climates too vigorous for the more tender cultivated varieties. The cherry is an ornamental tree, making a beautiful shade, besides the luxury of its fruit. ”

“ According to Truchsess, this cherry was described in 1802 by Christ who states that it originated in Wanfred, Prussia, Germany. Truchsess believed, however, that the name was a corruption of Sauriotte, a sour or Weichsel cherry. Fruit round, somewhat flattened, above medium in size; suture indistinct; apex slightly depressed, gray; stem strong; skin dark red; flesh and juice of a slight reddish cast, sour, rather repulsive; stone large. Badacsony. P. avium. ”

“ The only wild fruit that I ever heard of was the native cherry; a fruit almost entirely composed of a hard kernel the size of a marble, with a thin outside rind that has an acid taste, and of which the colonists make a sweetmeat in default of anything better. The stone is buff-coloured, and much corrugated, and when a good many of them are strung together, and alternated with the nuts of the sandalwood tree, they make a pretty row of beads, a purpose for which nature seems to have intended them. ”

“ German cherry juice 15 galls.; pure rect. spirits, 20 galls.; syrup, 5 galls.; oil of bitter almonds, 1 drachm.
Obs. Equal part of fully ripe Morello cherries and black cherries produce the richest cordial. Some persons prick each cherry separately with a needle instead of crushing them; in which case they retain them in the liquor, and serve up a few of them in each glass. The plan named in the first formula is, however, that usually adopted. On the small scale, the fruit is commonly bruised between the fingers. ”

“ The fruit is also large—between the Red Dutch and Cherry in size—exceedingly abundant, and although rather acid, of good flavor when fully ripe. The clusters are very long—from five to seven inches—tapering, and the berries are bright red. If it is grown in some moist, cool, half-shady location, the bunches will hang on the bushes very late in the season. In many localities it is found very profitable, since it need not be sold until the others are out of the market. The young branches are rather slender, but the plant itself is vigorous, and can be grown at less expense than the Cherry. ”

“ The trees are a little tender to cold, are not quite productive enough to make the variety profitable and are, too, somewhat fastidious as to soils. To offset these defects, they are vigorous and 200 healthy and bear early. But the chief fault of the cherry from the cherry-grower's standpoint is to be found in the fruit. The flesh is soft and the cherries will not stand handling in harvesting and shipping and are very susceptible to brown-rot and crack badly in wet weather. ”

“ The cherry orchard begins to bear profitably at about the age of five years; the trees often live to a great age and continue to bear fruit. Records of cherry trees over a hundred years old are known. However, it is believed that about thirty years is the limit for profitable bearing. Cherries grow in all parts of the United States. Formerly the crop was a very important one in the East, especially New York, but of late years the California cherries have been more and more occupying the market. ”

“ The fruits are extensively used for canning. Cherry trees should be planted when 2 and 3 years old. Too rich soil tends to make growth at the expense of fruit, particularly in the sweet Cherries. For the sweet types, a strong, gravelly loam is best. Sour Cherries thrive well on clay loams.
Trees of the sour Cherry should be planted 18 by 18 ft. apart, in well prepared under-drained soil. The trees may be slightly trimmed back each year, keeping the head low and bushy.
Black Tartarian Cherry
The sweet Cherries have proved disappointing in many instances from the rotting of the fruit. ”

“ Canneries have come to the rescue and now contract our fruit at three and one half to four cents loose, boxes returned. This, also, will be fairly remunerative. Large dark cherries ship well, sell well, and probably will remain profitable. The world's fairs of 1893 and since revealed the fact that we grow the largest, showiest, and perhaps the finest cherry in the world. Somehow, we ought to do well with our dark cherries. ”

“ Unfortunately the fruit does not stand handling in harvesting and marketing quite as well as that of some other Dukes and is a little too susceptible to brown-rot for a good commercial cherry. The chief faults of the variety, however, are in the trees rather than in the fruit. The trees are but of medium size, are not as productive as some others of the hybrid sorts, are at their best only in choice cherry soils and demand good care. In Europe, Reine Hortense is much used as a dwarf and for training on walls. ”

“ The flavor is rich and sweet which, with the abundant juice and firm, crackling flesh, makes this a most delicious and refreshing cherry for dessert and, with the great size and attractive color, gives it preference over all other Sweet Cherries for culinary purposes. In particular, cherry-canners find that Napoleon makes a finely finished product. The cherries carry well and keep long and are, therefore, well thought of by fruit-dealers. Besides being very productive, the trees come in bearing early and are as vigorous, hardy and healthy as those of any other Sweet Cherry. ”

“ Sweet or Cherry Birch (Betula lenta) is often stained so as to imitate it, while it of itself is stained so as to resemble mahogany. The wood of the cultivated cherry is not used in the United States. The wild cherry bears purplish-black fruit somewhat larger than peas, sweetly bitter when ripe. The bark is also bitter. It should be noted of these woods that the thin heart of the persimmon is black, that of the Bois d'Arc is yellow, and that of the cherry is red. Each receives a high polish. ”

“ Elton has been freely recommended and widely cultivated in Europe and America for the past century and probably no cherry has given more general satisfaction. The variety is distinguished by the form, color, flesh and flavor of its fruit. The cherries are oblong-heart-shaped—possibly too much drawn out for best appearance and often too oblique; the color, very well shown in the color-plate, is most attractive and makes up for any defect in shape—a dark red mottled with amber, very bright, clear and glossy; the flesh, a little too soft to ship well, is delicate and most pleasing to the palate ”

“ This fruit embellished the third course in Rome, and the second at Athens.
“The fruit of the cherry tree is eaten raw, cooked, preserved with sugar, and in brandy; it is also preserved dry, or made into ratafia. By fermentation, the juice of cherries, with the kernel, by adding sugar, makes a very agreeable liquor, which is called cherry wine; a brandy is produced with fermented cherries drawn by the alembic, very powerful; that named kirschen wasser, in the province of German-Lorraine, is a spirituous liquor, obtained by the distillation of various species of wild cherries.”—Bosc. ”

“ This old French cherry, for many years largely advertised and widely sold in America, does not thrive in the New World as well as the reports say it does in the Old World. The two faults that condemn it, as it grows here, are that the cherries ripen very unevenly making several pickings necessary and the trees are so small that, though loaded with fruit, the total yield is not large. Lesser faults are that the cherries are not uniform in shape and are borne thickly in close clusters so that when brown-rot is rife this variety suffers greatly. The short stem, too, prevents easy picking. ”

“ Under domestication more than twice as many orchard varieties of the plum have come into being as of the cherry. In spite of this stability, there are ample rewards in breeding cherries to those who will put in practice rightly directed efforts to improve this fruit—a statement substantiated by the histories of some of the best varieties, described later in this text, which were originated through what was passing as current coin in plant-breeding before the far better methods of the present time, brought about by Mendel's discovery, came into being. ”

“ The wild cherry (Prunus emarginata, var. mollis) is a small, handsome tree seldom more than a foot in diameter at the base. It makes valuable lumber and its black, astringent fruit furnishes a rich resource as food for the birds. A smaller form is common in the Sierra, the fruit of which is eagerly eaten by the Indians and hunters in time of need.
The wild apple (Pyrus rivularis) is a fine, hearty, handsome little tree that grows well in rich, cool soil along streams and on the edges of beaver meadows from California through Oregon and Washington to southeastern Alaska. ”