CHERRY 



1300 



CHERRY 



home, but fled to the mountains. Their de- 

 scendants, numbering about 1,700, live in West- 

 ern North Carolina. 



Arriving at their destination, they reestab- 

 lished the government and made Tahlequah 

 the capital. Just as they had regained some- 

 thing of their former prosperity the War of 

 Secession broke out, and again disaster was 

 brought upon them. Some sided with the 

 South, others with the North, and the nation 

 furnished soldiers to both the Confederate and 

 the Federal armies. During the war the coun- 

 try was ravaged by hostile forces; at the close 

 of the war the Cherokee made a new treaty 

 with the United States, which freed the slaves 

 they had held and adopted them as citizens. 

 Schools were reestablished and industries were 

 revived. Prosperity continued and the Chero- 

 kee became a civilized and thriving people. 

 In 1892 they sold their western territorial 

 extension, and in 1906 they gave up their 

 government and became citizens of the United 

 States. Many of them are among the most 

 prosperous, influential and cultured citizens 

 of Oklahoma. They number about 20,000. 

 See FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES; INDIANS, AMER- 

 ICAN. E.S.C. 



CHERRY, cher'i, a small, plumlike fruit of 

 many varieties, sweet and sour, cultivated and 

 wild. It has been called the "home fruit," 

 because it has not been grown extensively for 

 commerce. It requires more work in harvest- 

 ing than any other fruit and is not easily 

 shipped long distances, but cherries always 



Sweet is the air with the budding haws, and the 

 valley stretching for miles below 



Is white with blossoming cherry-trees, as if just 

 covered with lightest snow. 



The illustration shows form of tree, appearance 

 of flowers, detail of leaves and the ripened fruit. 



find a ready market. Either wild or culti- 

 vated, the trees are ornamental, with their 

 satiny brown bark against the oval, dark-green 

 leave*, dotted kere and there with bunches 



of light, bright-red or purplish-black fruit, 

 feasts for birds as well as food for man. 



Before the leaves come, the wealth of white 

 blossoms make the trees seem "covered with 



United States 



nnsylvania 



* 



Michigan 

 339 



Illinois 

 287 



Figures Represent Thousands of Bushels 



THE CHERRIES THAT GROW IN A YEAR 

 The figures represent an average of crops for 

 five years. 



lightest snow." And who has not heard of and 

 in his mind's eye seen the graceful branches 

 of dainty pink cherry blossoms of Japan at 

 Cherry Festival time trees so covered with 

 soft bloom it would seem some fleecy pink 

 clouds must have dropped down at sunset 

 time! 



Cherry wood, especially that from the black 

 cherry, is fine-grained and beautiful, very 

 valuable for the manufacture of fine furniture. 

 Luther Burbank has done much work with 

 cherries to make the fruit more valuable com- 

 mercially, and has recently developed a won- 

 derful sour cherry a boon to canners, for, 

 when picked, it leaves its stone on the tree 

 (see BURBANK, LUTHER). In the eastern part 

 of America sour cherries form an important 

 item in the canning business, but on the 

 Pacific coast the sweet cherry industry is more 

 highly developed. 



Choke Cherry. Sometimes the little wild 

 choke cherry tree, with its puckery, bitter, 

 "choking" fruit, is mistaken for a young, wild, 

 black cherry tree, with its much-prized fruit. 

 But a taste of one choke cherry will teach 



