Since considerable quantities of cherries are put up in America in maraschino, or its imitation, and the manufacture of such products is a growing industry, the following ruling by the Board of Food and Drug Inspection of the United States Department of Agriculture, taken from Food Inspection Decision 141, is of interest to growers, canners and users of cherries: "In considering the products prepared from the large light-colored cherry of the Napoleon Bigarreau, or Royal Anne type, which are artificially colored and flavored and put up in a sugar sirup, flavored with various materials, the Board has reached the conclusion that this product is not properly entitled to be called 'Maraschino Cherries,' or 'Cherries in Maraschino.' If, however, these cherries are packed in a sirup, flavored with maraschino alone, it is the opinion of the Board that they would not be misbranded, if labeled 'Cherries, Maraschino Flavor,' or 'Maraschino Flavored Cherries.' If these cherries are packed in maraschino liqueur there would be no objection to the phrase 'Cherries in Maraschino.' When these artificially colored cherries are put up in a sirup flavored in imitation of maraschino, even though the flavoring may consist in part of maraschino, it would not be proper to use the word 'Maraschino' in connection with the product unless preceded by the word 'Imitation.' They may, however, be labeled to show that they are a preserved cherry, artificially colored and flavored. "The presence of artificial coloring or flavoring matter, of any substitute for cane sugar, and the presence and amount of benzoate of soda, when used in these products must be plainly stated upon the label in the manner provided in Food Inspection Decisions Nos. 52 and 104." LITERATURE OF THE CHERRY Despite the important part they have played in orcharding since the domestication of fruits in temperate zones, as shown by their history and their present popularity, pomological writers have singularly neglected cherries. There are relatively few European books devoted to them and in America, while there are treatises on all others of the common tree-fruits, the cherry alone seems not to have inspired some pomologist to print a book. Neither are the discussions in general pomologies as full and accurate as for other fruits. The reason for this neglect is that the cherry, until the last decade or two, has scarcely been a fruit of commerce, having been grown almost entirely for home use or at most for the local market. As a result of this neglect of the cherry by students of pomology, we have no authoritative nor serviceable system of classification of the varieties of cherries and the nomenclature of this fruit is in an appalling state of confusion, as a glance at the synonymy of some of the older varieties discussed in _The Cherries of New York_ will show.