CHERRIES 



Sour cherries of Montmorency and Morelli varieties grown for canning pur- 

 poses in the Bitter Root Valley and packed at Hamilton and Stevensville and a 

 small commercial acreage of sweet cherries of Bing and Lambert varieties grown 

 along the shores of Flathead Lake make up the commercial cherry crop of Mon- 

 tana. Production is practically limited to that part of Montana west of the 

 continental divide. 



In 1928 the pack of sour cherries at both plants was only 42.5 tons which, 

 on a fresh fruit basis, would be about 67 tons compared with 260 tons on the same 

 basis in 1927. Allowance for local and other consumption of sour cherries places 

 the 1928 production close to 87 tons against 280 tons in 1927. 



Production of sweet cherries in 1928 was about 80,000 pounds compared with 

 40,000 pounds in 1927. There was no production of sweet cherries in 1926 or 

 between that time and the freeze of December, 1924, which killed out practically 

 all of the sweet cherry orchards except a small number of trees along th shores 

 of the Flathead Lake. 



Total production of cherries for the state in 1928 is estimated at 127 tons 

 compared with 300 tons in 1927; 336 tons in 1926; 260 tons in 1925 and 200 tons 

 in 1924. No annual estimates of production were made prior to 1924. The decen- 

 nial census of 1920 enumerated a total of 65,633 bearing trees and 4,073 trees of 

 non-bearing age. The large bulk of these were shown in counties making up the 

 Bitter Root and Flathead Valleys of western Montana. No enumeration of cherry 

 trees was published in the special census of agriculture in 1925. 



The present trend of production of both sour cherries and sweet cherries 

 is upward. In case of sour cherries the canning factories have taken practically 

 the entire production during the past three years. Plantings of sour cherries 

 during this period have averaged about 50,000 trees each year, a<Jcording to the 

 state horticulturist. 



In case of sweet cherries, new plantings are also expected to increase, al- 

 though the area in which sweet cherry production can be safely expanded is 

 practically limited to the shore lines of the Flathead lake south of Big Fork. 

 Elsewhere in the state sweet cherry trees were practically all killed out by the 

 freeze of December, 1924. Even in this area the freeze damage resulted in no 

 crop in 1926 and 1925. Probably not much more than 10 acres on the Flathead 

 lake shores comprise the present acreage and these trees are distributed among 

 only about 15 to 20 growers. 



