Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/544

510&#93; 5*°T CHE This species of the Primus is, according to Linnaeus, the parent- stock, from which many of the cul- tivated varieties are derived : there are many different sorts, which are known under the names of Black- heart, White-heart, Flemish, or early Kentish, Courone, and Hert- fordshire black, Cherries. All these have been raised originally from stones, and afterwards preserved by budding, and grafting on stocks of the wild black and red cherry, reared for this purpose. In order to ensure a luxuriant vegetation, and a delicious flavour, to these varieties, the stones of the black cherries should be set, or sown, in autumn, to raise stocks ; and planted out, the second year after they come up, in lines at the dis- tance of about two feet. Cherry-trees prosper best when grafted ; and, exclusive of their delicious fruit, afford, by their plentiful leaves, an excellent article of food for fattening hogs. — They also exude a gum in every respect equal to gum-arabic ; and which is so extremely nutritive, that, ac- cording to Hassel«.uist, above 100 men were kept alive, during a siege, for nearly two months, with no other sustenance than that pro- duced by gradually dissolving a little of this gum in the mouth. — The wood is hard and tough; it is used by turners in the manufacture of chairs, and stained to imitate mahogany. From the ripe black cherries of the second species, the Swiss distill a very agreeable liqueur, or ardent spirit, by the sale of which, to the French and Germans, they annual- ly derive considerable profit. For preserving this fruit during the winter, we communicate tlv lowing recipe, inserted in Ho en- C H E heimer's German work on Do- mestic Economy. — Take, in the proportion of two pounds of sour cherries, half a pound of fine loaf sugar, and a pint of white wine vinegar ; boil the two last, and skim off the impurities from the top ; then let the liquor stand, till it become lukewarm. Meanwhile, prepare a coarse powder, consisting of two drams of cinnamon, and one of cloves ; break the stalks of the cherries in the middle, so as to leave half of their length for the jar, into which they must be care- fully put in layers, strewing a little of the spice between each stratum, pouring the liquor above-mention- ed on the top, and securing the whole from the access of air. "Willi respect to their physical effects, cherries may be divided into sweet, sub-acid, and pulpy. The first kind, though the most palatable, are the least wholesome, as they readily ferment, and pro- duce flatulency in weak stomachs ; the second are the most antiseptic j and the third, the most nourishing, bur digested with some difficulty. Hence we would preferably recom- mend the sub-acid cherries, as an excellent article of domestic medi- cine in the true scurvy, in putrid fevers, and the dysentery; as like- to those persons, who are liable to obstructions in the alimen- tary canal. Widi this intention they may be eaten in considerable quantities, and frequently from half a pound to a pound each time, but particularly on an empty stomach. Nor will they be found less salu- tary to constitutions whose bile is vitiated, whose stomach is troubled with foul eructations, and who are afflicted with an offensive breath : all such persons should eat them freely. For similar reasons, dried cherries