THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 79 



of cultivation is low in the Hudson Valley and the handling and marketing 

 of the crop is also on a lower level than westward in the State. The cherry 

 harvest is earlier here than elsewhere in New York, if we except the small 

 crop of Long Island, an advantage, for prices usually fall rather than 

 stiffen as the season advances. 



The great basin in which lie the Central Lakes of New York is far 

 famed for its Sour Cherry industry, the product going largely to canneries. 

 Some Sweet Cherries are grown — more and more are being planted — 

 about these lakes; but the rich, heavy soils which mostly prevail here- 

 abouts are more fit for varieties of the Sour Cherry; though the equable 

 climate makes almost certain the Sweet Cherry crop on soils suited to 

 its culture. Here, as elsewhere in the State, the acreage at this writing 

 is greatly on the increase though it is doubtful if the advance will much 

 longer weather the present depression in prices. All through this region, 

 as in that to the north, the Sweet Cherry grows wild, thriving like the 

 Biblical bay — seemingly a sheer gift of the soil and, like other gifts, 

 generally neglected. 



The high plain along the shore of Lake Ontario from the St. Lawrence 

 River to the Niagara River, extending from the lake on the north from 

 ten to fifteen miles inland, is the region of greatest possibilities for the 

 cherry in New York. The climate of this great stretch of territory is 

 nearly perfect for this fruit and the soils are sufficiently diversified to fvu-nish 

 a suitable habitat for any of the many varieties of either Sweet or Sour 

 cherries. In the past there have been so many ups and downs in the 

 cherry industry that fruit-growers in this favored belt have given more 

 attention to other fruits but for the last decade, until the recent down- 

 ward turn in the cherry market, the plantings have been greatly increased, 

 both Sweet and Sour cherries finding favor. 



Not unlike the Ontario shore in climate, but quite unlike it in its 

 soils, is the shore of Lake Erie, the most westward topographical division 

 of New York in which cherries are grown. The mainstay of this region 

 is the grape, but, in seeking for a more diversified agriculture. Sour Cherry 

 cultvire was introduced some twenty years ago and has become a thriving 

 industry with prospects of continued growth. Here, as is so often the 

 case in agricultiire, credit must be given to some one leader for the develop- 

 ment of a crop and the cherry orchards that dot the landscape for mUes 

 about the home of the late John Spencer speak eloquently of his leader- 

 ship in this region. 



