4 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



served or dried, for the making of pies, tarts, sauces and confections. Dur- 

 ing the last few years, in America at least, the consumption of cherries 

 has been enormously increased by the fashion of adding preserved cherries, 

 as much for ornament as to give flavor, to many drinks and ices. The 

 great bulk of the cherry crop now grown in America for commercial purposes 

 is canned, the industry being more or less specialized in a few fruit regions. 

 The demand for cherries for canning seems to be increasing greatly but 

 unfortunately it calls for but few varieties, the Montmorency being the 

 sort sought for among the Sour Cherries, while the hard-fleshed varieties 

 of the Bigarreau type are in greatest demand among the Sweet Cherries. 



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. The fact, too, that 

 market fruits in America are shipped long distances, for which the cherry 

 is not well adapted, helps to explain the relatively small regard in which 

 this fruit has been held for commercial purposes in the fresh state. In 

 recent years, however, both Sweet Cherries and Sour Cherries, the former 

 in particular, have been sent to the markets in far greater abundance, the 

 impetus to their market value being due to a better product — better 

 varieties, hence greater demand — and to greatly improved facilities for 

 shipping and holding for sale. 



In Europe several liqueurs are very commonly made from cherries 

 both for home and commercial uses. Such is not the case in America, 

 where, except in very limited quantities in which unfermented cherry 

 juices are used in the home, this fruit is not used in liqueur-making. In 

 some of the countries of Europe, wine is made from the juice; a spirit, 

 kirschwasser,' is distilled from the fermented pulp as an article for both 

 home and commerce; and ratafias and cordials are very generally flavored 

 with cherries. In the Austrian province of Dalmatia a liqueur or cordial 

 called maraschino ^ is made by a secret process of fermentation and distil- 



' Kirschwasser as a commercial article is made chiefly on the upper Rhine from the wild black Sweet 

 Cherry {Prunus avium). In its manufacture, fruit — -flesh and kernels — is mashed into a pulp which 

 is allowed to ferment. By distillation from this fermented pulp a colorless liqueur is obtained. 



^ Maraschino is a liqueur, or cordial, made from the fruit and leaves of the small, sour, black Marasca 

 cherry. The product comes chiefly from Zara, the capital of the Austrian province of Dalmatia, where 

 it has been made and exported for over 200 years. Such accounts of the process of making maraschino 



