CHAPTER XIX 



THE CHERRY 



Although the amount of cherries grown in this State is small as 

 compared with the aggregate weights of some other fruits, the cherry, 

 from the growth of the tree and the size and quality of the product, 

 is entitled to rank as one of the grand fruits of California. The size 

 of the California-grown cherry is a matter of pride with the residents, 

 and a marvel to visitors. It is related that, many years ago, one of the 

 most distinguished Eastern pomologists, who was taken to an Alameda 

 County cherry orchard during picking time, could not recognize the 

 varieties, though he had himself propagated and shipped to California 

 the very trees which were bearing the fruit, the size of which so far 

 surpassed all his mental standards. And quality is commensurate with 

 size. Whatever disagreement there may be concerning the flavors of 

 our other fruits as compared with Eastern, the richness and excellence 

 of the California cherry have never been impeached. Recently the 

 shipment of cherries to eastern markets, the extension of the canning 

 interest, and the uprising of a demand for maraschino-preserving have 

 considerably enlarged the opportunity for profitable growth of the fruit. 



Famous Old Trees. The longevity and productiveness of the 

 cherry tree in this State is naturally of interest. Cherries that were 

 planted in some of the earliest settled parts of the State are still in 

 full vigor. One of the famous trees is a Black Tartarian, which was 

 brought from France by Dr. L. E. Miller, and planted by him in 1854, 

 on land afterwards owned by Robert Hector in Placer county, just 

 below Rattlesnake Bar, on the American River, about eight hundred 

 feet above sea-level. It is described as above seventy feet in height, the 

 branches covering a space between seventy feet and seventy-five feet in 

 diameter. The trunk branches about six feet above the ground, and 

 at that point has a girth of over ten feet. A close record of its crop, 

 kept for a number of years when the tree was over thirty years of age, 

 showed that it yielded from a ton to a ton and a half a year. Such trees 

 are too large to be profitable, for the fruit has to be picked with the 

 aid of extension ladders securely guyed, by men slung in swings from 

 such ladders or the forks of the trees. At last reports there were 

 about fifty of these large trees. Other large trees were to be seen near 

 Woodside, San Mateo. County, and near Oroville and Chico in Butte 

 County, some of which have borne a ton of fruit in favorable seasons. 



LOCALITIES FOR THE CHERRY 



In California there are many districts in which the cherry does not 



do well, and situations for the fruit must therefore be selected with 



discrimination. The chief product is made in the coast valleys adjacent 



to the Bay of San Francisco, including its extension east of the Coast 



221 



