Cherry

a fruit tree belonging, with the plum, to the rose family. Our garden cherries are from European stock. Cherries are cultivated as far north as the southern part of Norway. In Germany and other continental countries cherry trees line the roadsides. The fruit is sold to a contractor. The pickers use long stepladders in their work; they refer tourists to the foreman who very politely sells them at a moderate price as many large, black, meaty cherries as they want to pay for. We have several American wild cherries. The black cherry is a large tree in many localities. The fruit is bitter. The wood is used for expensive furniture. The wood of the red cherry also is desirable, but the tree is too small for lumber. A dwarf sand cherry sometimes fruits when less than a foot high. The choke cherry, with cylindrical clusters, comes in the fall after birds have taken the red cherries, and is welcome in spite of its puckering qualities.

Several proverbial expressions show that cherries have had a place in homely life for centuries. "As like as two cherries," is expressive of similarity. "Making two bites of a cherry," is a sermon on unnecessary effort. "As red as a cherry," and "cherry red," indicate the favorite kind of cherry. Cerise, the name of an exquisite color, is French for cherry.

Sweet cherries and sour cherries are cultivated thoughout the apple states as dooryard and orchard fruits. In California cherries are subordinated to other fruits, yet 300 cars of fresh cherries and 170,000 cases of canned cherries are shipped during the season.