Very acceptable jellies, sauces and preserves are made from several of the wild cherries in the Padus group. The peasantry of the Eastern Hemisphere have in times of need found them important foods as have also the American Indians at all times. The fruits of some of the species of Padus are quite commonly used in flavoring liqueurs and on both continents are sometimes fermented and distilled into a liqueur similar to kirschwasser. The bark of different parts of the trees of this group is valuable in medicine--at least is largely used. The trees of several species form handsome ornamentals and some of them are in commerce for the purpose. _Prunus serotina_, one of the group, because of the strength of its wood and the beautiful satiny polish which its surface is capable of receiving, is a valuable timber tree of American forests. For the products of the members of this group, as just set forth, the domestication of some of the species of Padus might well be pushed. [1] Kirschwasser as a commercial article is made chiefly on the upper Rhine from the wild black Sweet Cherry (_Prunus avium_). In its manufacture, fruit--flesh and kernels--is mashed into a pulp which is allowed to ferment. By distillation from this fermented pulp a colorless liqueur is obtained. [2] Maraschino is a liqueur, or cordial, made from the fruit and leaves of the small, sour, black Marasca cherry. The product comes chiefly from Zara, the capital of the Austrian province of Dalmatia, where it has been made and exported for over 200 years. Such accounts of the process of making maraschino as have become public seem to agree that the liqueur is a distillation of a compote made from the fruit and young leaves. When ripe the cherries are picked early in the morning and sent at once to the distillery where the stones are extracted by machinery. The leaves are cut, pressed and added to the fruit with sugar and alcohol. This mixture is allowed to ferment for six months or thereabouts and from it is then distilled maraschino. It is then stored in cellars for three years before being placed on the markets. In both Europe and America there are many imitations of the maraschino liqueur in which neither fruit nor foliage of the Marasca nor any other cherry has any part. According to the Dalmatians all attempts to improve the Marasca cherry by culture have failed. They say, too, that it will not thrive elsewhere than in Dalmatia. Under culture, the fruits and leaves lose their distinctive aroma and taste as they do on any but the native soil of the variety. The poorer, sparser and more rocky the ferruginous soil, the wilder the tree, the smaller and sourer the cherries, the better the maraschino liqueur--so the present makers say.