Page:EB1911 - Volume 06.djvu/98

 chiefly on the upper Rhine from the wild black gean, and in the manufacture the entire fruit-flesh and kernels are pulped up and allowed to ferment. By distillation of the fermented pulp the liqueur is obtained in a pure, colourless condition. Ratafia is similarly manufactured, also by preference from a gean. Maraschino, a highly valued liqueur, the best of which is produced at Zara in Dalmatia, differs from these in being distilled from a cherry called marasca, the pulp of which is mixed with honey, honey or sugar being added to the distillate for sweetening. It is also said that the flavour is heightened by the use of the leaves of the perfumed cherry, Prunus Mahaleb, a native of central and southern Europe.

The wood of the cherry tree is valued by cabinetmakers, and that of the gean tree is largely used in the manufacture of tobacco pipes. The American wild cherry, Prunus serotina, is much sought after, its wood being compact, fine-grained, not liable to warp, and susceptible of receiving a brilliant polish. The kernels of the perfumed cherry, P. Mahaleb, are used in confectionery and for scent. A gum exudes from the stem of cherry trees similar in its properties to gum arabic.

The cherry is increased by budding on the wild gean, obtained by sowing the stones of the small black or red wild cherries. To secure very dwarf trees the Prunus Mahaleb has been used for the May duke, Kentish, morello and analogous sorts, but it is not adapted for strong-growing varieties like the bigarreaus. The stocks are budded, or, more rarely, grafted, at the usual seasons. The cherry prefers a free, loamy soil, with a well-drained subsoil. Stiff soils and dry gravelly subsoils are both unsuitable, though the trees require a large amount of moisture, particularly the large-leaved sorts, such as the bigarreaus. For standard trees, the bigarreau section should be planted 30 ft. apart, or more, in rich soil, and the May duke, morello and similar varieties 20 or 25 ft. apart; while, as trained trees against walls and espaliers, from 20 to 24 ft. should be allowed for the former, and from 15 to 20 ft. for the latter. In forming the stems of a standard tree the temporary side-shoots should not be allowed to attain too great a length, and should not be more than two years old when they are cut close to the stem. The first three shoots retained to form the head should be shortened to about 15 in., and two shoots from each encouraged, one at the end, and the other 3 or 4 in. lower down. When these have become established, very little pruning will be required, and that chiefly to keep the principal branches as nearly equal in strength as possible for the first few years. Espalier trees should have the branches about a foot apart, starting from the stem with an upward curve, and then being trained horizontally. In summer pruning the shoots on the upper branches must be shortened at least a week before those on the lower ones. After a year or two clusters of fruit buds will be developed on spurs along the branches, and those spurs will continue productive for an indefinite period. For wall trees any form of training may be adopted; but as the fruit is always finest on young spurs, fan-training is probably the most advantageous. A succession of young shoots should be laid in every year. The morello, which is of twiggy growth and bears on the young wood, must be trained in the fan form, and care should be taken to avoid the very common error of crowding its branches.

Forcing.—The cherry will not endure a high temperature nor close atmosphere. A heat of 45° at night will be sufficient at starting, this being gradually increased during the first few weeks to 55°, but lowered again when the blossom buds are about to open. After stoning the temperature may be again gradually raised to 60°, and may go up to 70° by day, or 75° by sun heat, and 60° at night. The best forcing cherries are the May duke and the royal duke, the duke cherries being of more compact growth than the bigarreau tribe and generally setting better; nevertheless a few of the larger kinds, such as bigarreau Napoléon, black tartarian and St Margaret’s, should be forced for variety. The trees may be either planted out in tolerably rich soil, or grown in large pots of good turfy friable calcareous loam mixed with rotten dung. If the plants are small, they may be put into 12-in. pots in the first instance, and after a year shifted into 15-in. pots early in autumn, and plunged in some loose or even very slightly fermenting material. The soil of the pots should be protected from snow-showers and cold rains. Occasionally trees have been taken up in autumn with balls, potted and forced in the following spring; but those which have been established a year in the pots are to be preferred. Such only as are well furnished with blossom-buds should be selected. The trees should be removed to the forcing house in the beginning of December, if fruit be required very early in the season. During the first and second weeks it may be kept nearly close; but, as vegetation advances, air becomes absolutely necessary during the day, and even at night when the weather will permit. If forcing is commenced about the middle or third week of December, the fruit ought to be ripe by about the end of March. After the fruit is gathered, the trees should be duly supplied with water at the root, and the foliage kept well syringed till the wood is mature. (See also .)

 CHERRYVALE, a city of Montgomery county, Kansas, U.S.A., about 140 m. S.S.E. of Kansas City. Pop. (1890) 2104; (1900) 3472, including 180 negroes; (1905, state census) 5089; (1910) 4304. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, and the main line and a branch (of which it is a terminus) of the St Louis & San Francisco railways. It is in a farming district and in the Kansas natural-gas and oil-field, and has large zinc smelters, an oil refinery, and various manufactures, including vitrified brick, flour, glass, cement and ploughs. Cherryvale was laid out in 1871 by the Kansas City, Lawrence & South Kansas Railway Company (later absorbed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé). The main part of the town was destroyed by fire in 1873, but was soon rebuilt, and in 1880 Cherryvale became a city of the third and afterwards of the second class. Natural gas, which is used as a factory fuel and for street and domestic lighting, was found here in 1889, and oil several years later.

 CHERRY VALLEY, a village of Otsego county, New York, U.S.A., in a township of the same name, 68 m. N.W. of Albany. Pop. (1890) 685; (1900) 772; (1905) 746; (1910) 792; of the township (1910) 1706. It is served by the Delaware & Hudson railway. Cherry Valley is in the centre of a rich farming and dairying region, has a chair factory, and is a summer resort with sulphur and lithia springs. It was the scene of a terrible massacre during the War of Independence. The village was attacked on the 11th of November 1778 by Walter Butler (d. 1781) and Joseph Brant with a force of 800 Indians and Tories, who killed about 50 men, women and children, sacked and burned most of the houses, and carried off more than 70 prisoners, who were subjected to the greatest cruelties and privations, many of them dying or being tomahawked before the Canadian settlements were reached. Cherry Valley was incorporated in 1812.

 CHERSIPHRON, a Cretan architect, the traditional builder (with his son Metagenes) of the great Ionic temple of Artemis at Ephesus set up by the Greeks in the 6th century. Some remains of this temple were found by J. T. Wood and brought to the British Museum. In connexion with the pillars, which are adorned with archaic reliefs, a fragmentary inscription has been found, recording that they were presented by King Croesus, as indeed Herodotus informs us. This temple was burned on the day on which Alexander the Great was born.

 CHERSO, an island in the Adriatic Sea, off the east coast of Istria, from which it is separated by the channel of Farasina. Pop. (1900) 8274. It is situated in the Gulf of Quarnero, and is connected with the island of Lussin, lying on the S.W. by a turn bridge over the small channel of Ossero, and with the island of Veglia, lying on the E. by the Canale di Mezzo. These three are the principal islands of the Quarnero group, and form together the administrative district of Lussin in the Austrian crownland of Istria. Cherso is an elongated island about 40 m. long, 1¼ to 7 m. wide, and has an area of 150 sq. m. It is traversed by a range of mountains, which attain in the peak of Syss an altitude of 2090 ft. and form natural terraces, planted with vines and olive trees, specially in the middle and southern parts of the island. The northern part is covered with bushes of laurel