CHERRY 



CHERVIL 



741 



nectarine, of which the product is almost insignificant. 

 This is not because the finest cherries cannot be grown, 

 but because the avenues for the disposition of the prod- 

 uct are not so wide as for other leading fruits. 

 Recently there are indications that these avenues will 

 be widened, for, in the year 1912, 244 carloads were 

 profitably shipped in a fresh state to eastern markets, 

 and in 1911 a product equivalent to 243,010 cases (each 

 containing two dozen 2J^-pound cans) of canned cher- 

 ries were disposed of to advantage. In 1910, there was 

 large shipment of barreled cherries in sulfur water to 

 eastern bottlers who put up maraschino cherries in 

 competition with importations, but this business seems 

 to have transgressed the pure food laws and declined. 

 Until it is demonstrated that such distant demands 

 will increase, present plantations will not be largely 

 extended. Cherries are costly in picking and packing, 

 and the chance of low price in a local market, over-sup- 

 plied whenever the trees do their full duty, the grower 

 does not enjoy. Cherry-drying has never seemed war- 

 ranted on a large scale, because of the large amount of 

 labor required to the pound of product; and the 

 grower has had no recourse when the canner and local 

 consumer would pay only the cost of picking and box- 

 ing. A good shipping demand seems, therefore, the 

 measure of the extension of California's cherry inter- 

 est, and the early ripening of the fruit, which permits 

 its sale during the blooming season of eastern cherry 

 trees, is the leading surety of such demand. On several 

 occasions early varieties have been shipped from the 

 Vacaville district overland, on March 31, but the usual 

 opening date is about two 

 weeks later, and thence onward 

 later varieties, and from later 

 regions, may be shipped until 

 July, if found profitable. 



But, although there is plenty 

 of good land upon which to 

 multiply the present total of 

 three-quarters of a million trees, 

 the cherry regions of California 

 are restricted. It is one of the 

 most exacting of all trees, and 

 is profitable only when its 

 requirements are respected. 

 About one-half of the present 

 acreage lies in valleys opening 

 upon the bay of San Francisco, 

 where deep and moist, but 

 well-drained alluvial soil fosters 

 strong and sound root-growth, 

 and modified atmospheric 

 aridity favors leaf and fruit- 

 ing. On similar deep and moist 

 soils, however, the sweet cherry 

 enters the hot interior valleys 

 to certain limits, chiefly along 

 the river bottoms. It abhors 

 dry plains. In dry air it usu- 

 ally refuses to fruit, although, 

 if the soil be moist, it may 

 make stalwart tree-growth. In 

 foot-hill valleys it sometimes 

 does admirably, both in growth 

 and fruiting, and in mountain 

 valleys, above an elevation 

 of 2,000 feet, on good soil, 

 and in the greater rainfall, and even with the snow 

 flurries, which are experienced every year at proper 

 elevations, the tree becomes very thrifty and profitable 

 to the limits of local markets. The tree seems to have 

 no geographical limitations in California; wherever 

 suitable soil and weather conditions occur, it accepts 

 the situation the Dukes and Morellos succeeding 

 under conditions too trying for the Hearts and Bigar- 

 reaus, but the latter, only, are of commercial account. 



910. Montmorency cherry. Sour. ( X 



Cherry trees are grown by budding upon Mazzard 

 and Mahaleb seedlings both being largely imported. 

 It is customary to plant out in orchards at the end of 

 the first year's growth from the bud, though two-year- 

 old cherry trees can be more successfully handled than 

 other two-year-olds. The trees are headed at 1 or 2 

 feet from the ground, cut back to promote low branch- 

 ing for two years, and then allowed to make long 

 branches, and not usually shortened-in, so long as 

 thrifty and healthy. The tree, in a good environment, 

 is, however, a very hardy tree, and will endure pruning 

 to almost any degree. There are many trees which have 

 made a very broad but not usually high growth, bear- 

 ing 1,000 pounds of fruit to the tree, and a few others 

 which have even doubled that figure, while others 

 have been dwarfed and trained en espalier. The com- 

 mercial orchards are, however, uniformly of low trees, 

 approximately of vase form in exterior outline, and 

 with branches curving outward without shortening. 



The cherry is very readily grafted over by the usual 

 top-grafting methods, and large orchards have been 

 thus transformed into varieties more acceptable for 

 canning or shipping. Comparatively few varieties are 

 grown. Early Purple Guigne, Chapman and Knights 

 Early Black are grown in early-ripening localities. 

 Black Tartarian, Lewelling and Bing are the mainstay 

 for black cherries. The Napoleon Bigarreau (locally 

 known as Royal Ann) is the ideal for a white cherry, 

 and almost excludes all others, although the Rockport 

 Bigarreau has some standing. Of all the varieties 

 grown, the Black Tartarian and Napoleon (Fig. 909) 

 constitute 70 per cent of the crop, and probably 90 

 per cent of the amount marketed. 



California-grown cherries attain large size; the can- 

 ner's requirement for fancy fruit is a diameter not less 

 than J^ of an inch, and for No. 1 not less than % of an 

 inch. Wholesale prices usually range from $40 to $60 

 a ton for black and $80 to $120 for white, but occa- 

 sionally canners have paid as 

 high as $160 a ton for white 

 cherries. The higher rates can 

 be expected only in years of 

 short crops. 



EDWARD J. WICKSON 



CHERVIL. A term applied 

 to two umbelliferous plants 

 that produce edible parts, 

 neither of which is well known 

 in America. The name is 

 sometimes applied, also, to the 

 sweet cicely. 



Salad chervil or leaf chervil is 

 Anthriscus Cerefolium, Hoffm., 

 a native of Caucasus, south- 

 ern Russia and western Asia. 

 It is annual, reaching 1^ to 2 

 feet high. The neat and aro- 

 matic leaves are used like pars- 

 ley, which they much resemble. 

 The leaves are decompound, 

 with oval cut leaflets; and there 

 are varieties with much cut 

 and curled foliage. The culti- 

 vation of salad chervil presents 

 no difficulties. Leaves are 



ready to use in six to ten weeks 

 from seed-sowing, and any good garden soil is con- 

 genial. It thrives best in the cooler and moister part 

 of the year. In hot weather, seeds would better be 

 sown in a shaded place. 



Tuberous or turnip-rooted chervil is Chserophyllum 

 bulbosum, Linn., of southern Europe. (See Chasrophyl- 

 lum.) It is biennial or plur-annual, like the radish 

 and carrot. The roots are like small carrots in shape 

 (4 to 5 inches long), but are gray or blackish, and the 



