[1] The original meaning of "check" is a move in the game of chess
which directly attacks the king; the word comes through the Old Fr.
_eschec_, _eschac_, from the Med. Lat. form _scaccus_ of the Persian
_shah_, king, i.e. the king in the game of chess; cf. the origin of
"mate" from the Arabic _shah-mat_, the king is dead. The word was
early used in a transferred sense of a stoppage or rebuff, and so is
applied to anything which stops or hinders a matter in progress, or
which controls or restrains anything, hence a token, ticket or
counterfoil which serves as a means of identification, &c.
CHER, a department of central France, embracing the eastern part of the
ancient province of Berry, and parts of Bourbonnais, Nivernais and
Orleanais, bounded N. by the department of Loiret, W. by Loir-et-Cher and
Indre, S. by Allier and Creuse, and E. by Nievre. Pop. (1906) 343,484.
Area 2819 sq. m. The territory of the department is elevated in the
south, where one point reaches 1654 ft., and in the east. The centre is
occupied by a wide calcareous table-land, to the north of which stretches
the plain of Sologne. The principal rivers, besides the Cher and its
tributaries, are the Grande Sauldre and the Petite Sauldre on the north,
but the Loire and Allier, though not falling within the department, drain
the eastern districts, and are available for navigation. The Cher itself
becomes navigable when it receives the Arnon and Yevre, and the
communications of the department are greatly facilitated by the Canal du
Berry, which traverses it from east to west, the lateral canal of the
Loire, which follows the left bank of that river, and the canal of the
Sauldre. The climate is temperate, and the rainfall moderate. Except in
the Sologne, the soil is generally fertile, but varies considerably in
different localities. The most productive region is that on the east,
which belongs to the valley of the Loire; the central districts are
tolerably fertile but marshy, being often flooded by the Cher; while in
the south and south-west there is a considerable extent of dry and
fertile land. Wheat and oats are largely cultivated, while hemp,
vegetables and various fruits are also produced. The vine flourishes
chiefly in the east of the arrondissement of Sancerre. The department
contains a comparatively large extent of pasturage, which has given rise
to a considerable trade in horses, cattle, sheep and wool for the
northern markets. Nearly one-fifth of the whole area consists of forest.
Mines of iron are worked, and various sorts of stone are quarried. Brick,
porcelain and glassworks employ large numbers of the inhabitants. There
are also flour-mills, distilleries, oil-works, saw-mills and tanneries.
Bourges and Vierzon are metallurgical and engineering centres. Coal and
wine are leading imports, while cereals, timber, wool, fruit and
industrial products are exported. The department is served by the Orleans
railway, and possesses in all more than 300 m. of navigable waterways. It
is divided into three arrondissements (29 cantons, 292 communes)
cognominal with the towns of Bourges, Saint-Amand-Mont-Rond, and
Sancerre, of which the first is the capital, the seat of an archbishop
and of a court of appeal and headquarters of the VIII. army-corps. The
department belongs to the _academie_ (educational division) of Paris.
Bourges, Saint-Amand-Mont-Rond, Vierzon and Sancerre (q.v.) are the
principal towns. Mehun-sur-Yevre (pop. 5227), a town with an active
manufacture of porcelain, has a Romanesque church and a chateau of the
14th century. Among the other interesting churches of the department,
that at St Satur has a fine choir of the 14th and 15th centuries; those
of Dun-sur-Auron, Plaimpied, Aix d'Angillon and Jeanvrin are Romanesque
in style, while Aubigny-Ville has a church of the 12th, 13th and 15th
centuries and a chateau of later date. Drevant, built on the site of a
Roman town, preserves ruins of a large theatre and other remains. Among
the megalithic monuments of Cher, the most notable is that at
Villeneuve-sur-Cher, known as the Pierre-de-la-Roche.
CHERAT, a hill cantonment and sanatorium in the Peshawar district of the
North-West Frontier Province, India, 34 m. S.E. of Peshawar. It is
situated at an elevation of 4500 ft, on the west of the Khattak range,
which divides the Peshawar from the Kohat district. It was first used in
1861, and since then has been employed during the hot weather as a
health station for the British troops quartered in the hot and malarious
vale of Peshawar.
CHERBOURG, a naval station, fortified town and seaport of north-western
France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Manche, on the
English Channel, 232 m. W.N.W. of Paris on the Ouest-Etat railway. Pop.
(1906) town, 35,710; commune, 43,827. Cherbourg is situated at the mouth
of the Divette, on a small bay at the apex of the indentation formed by
the northern shore of the peninsula of Cotentin. Apart from a fine
hospital and the church of La Trinite dating from the 15th century, the
town has no buildings of special interest. A rich collection of
paintings is housed in the hotel de ville. A statue of the painter J.F.
Millet, born near Cherbourg, stands in the public garden, and there is
an equestrian statue of Napoleon I. in the square named after him.
Cherbourg is a fortified place of the first class, headquarters of one
of the five naval arrondissements of France, and the seat of a
sub-prefect. It has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a
chamber of commerce, a lycee and a naval school. The chief industries of
the town proper are fishing, saw-milling, tanning, leather-dressing,
ship-building, iron and copper-founding, rope-making and the manufacture
of agricultural implements. There are stone quarries in the environs,
and the town has trade in farm produce.
Cherbourg derives its chief importance from its naval and commercial
harbours, which are distant from each other about half a mile. The
former consists of three main basins cut out of the rock, and has an
area of 55 acres. The minimum depth of water is 30 ft. Connected with
the harbour are dry docks, the yards where the largest ships in the
French navy are constructed, magazines, rope walks, and the various
workshops requisite for a naval arsenal of the first class. The works
and town are carefully guarded on every side by redoubts and
fortifications, and are commanded by batteries on the surrounding hills.
There is a large naval hospital close to the harbour. The commerical
harbour at the mouth of the Divette communicates with the sea by a
channel 650 yds. long. It consists of two parts, an outer and tidal
harbour 17-1/2 acres in extent, and an inner basin 15 acres in extent,
with a depth on sill at ordinary spring tide of 25 ft. Outside these
harbours is the triangular bay, which forms the roadstead of Cherbourg.
The bay is admirably sheltered by the land on every side but the north.
On that side it is sheltered by a huge breakwater, over 2 m. in length,
with a width of 650 ft. at its base and 30 ft. at its summit, which is
protected by forts, and leaves passages for vessels to the east and
west. These passages are guarded by forts placed on islands intervening
between the breakwater and the mainland, and themselves united to the
land by breakwaters. The surface within these barriers amounts to about
3700 acres. Cherbourg is a port of call for the American, North German
Lloyd and other important lines of transatlantic steamers. The chief
exports are stone for road-making, butter, eggs and vegetables; the
chief imports are coal, timber, superphosphates and wine from Algeria.
Great Britain is the principal customer.
Cherbourg is supposed by some investigators to occupy the site of the
Roman station of _Coriallum_, but nothing definite is known about its
origin. The name was long regarded as a corruption of _Caesaris Burgus_
(Caesar's Borough). William the Conqueror, under whom it appears as
_Carusbur_, provided it with a hospital and a church; and Henry II. of
England on several occasions chose it as his residence. In 1295 it was
pillaged by an English fleet from Yarmouth; and in the 14th century it
frequently suffered during the wars against the English. Captured by the
English in 1418 after a four months' siege, it was recovered by Charles
VII. of France in 1450. An attempt was made under Louis XIV. to
construct a military port; but the fortifications were dismantled in
1688, and further damage was inflicted by the English in 1758. In 1686
Vauban planned harbour-works which were begun under Louis XVI. and
continued by Napoleon I. It was left, however, to Louis Philippe, and
particularly to Napoleon III., to complete them, and their successful
realization was celebrated in 1858, in the presence of the queen of
England, against whose dominions they had at one time been mainly
directed. At the close of 1857, L8,000,000, of which the breakwater cost
over L2,500,000, had been expended on the works; in 1889 a further sum
of L680,000 was voted by the Chamber of Deputies for the improvement of
the port.
CHERBULIEZ, CHARLES VICTOR (1829-1899), French novelist and
miscellaneous writer, was born on the 19th of July 1829, at Geneva,
where his father, Andre Cherbuliez (1795-1874), was a classical
professor at the university. He was descended from a family of
Protestant refugees, and many years later Victor Cherbuliez resumed his
French nationality, taking advantage of an act passed in the early days
of the Revolution. Geneva was the scene of his early education; thence
he proceeded to Paris, and afterwards to the universities of Bonn and
Berlin. He returned to his native town and engaged in the profession of
teaching. After his resumption of French citizenship he was elected a
member of the Academy (1881), and having received the Legion of Honour
in 1870, he was promoted to be officer of the order in 1892. He died on
the 1st of July 1899. Cherbuliez was a voluminous and successful writer
of fiction. His first book, originally published in 1860, reappeared in
1864 under the title of _Un Cheval de Phidias_: it is a romantic study
of art in the golden age of Athens. He went on to produce a series of
novels, of which the following are the best known:--_Le Comte Kostia_
(1863), _Le Prince Vitale_ (1864), _Le Roman d'une honnete femme_
(1866), _L'Aventure de Ladislas Bolski_ (1869), _Miss Ravel_ (1875),
_Samuel Brohl et Cie_ (1877), _L'Idee de Jean Teterol_ (1878), _Noirs et
rouges_ (1881), _La Vocation du Comte Ghislain_ (1888), _Une Gageure_
(1890), _Le Secret du precepteur_ (1893), _Jacquine Vanesse_ (1898), &c.
Most of these novels first appeared in the _Revue des deux mondes_, to
which Cherbuliez also contributed a number of political and learned
articles, usually printed with the pseudonym G. Valbert. Many of these
have been published in collected form under the titles _L'Allemagne
politique_ (1870), _L'Espagne politique_ (1874), _Profils etrangers_
(1889), _L'Art et la nature_ (1892), &c. The volume _Etudes de
litterature et d'art_ (1873) includes articles for the most part
reprinted from _Le Temps_. The earlier novels of Cherbuliez have been
said with truth to show marked traces of the influence of George Sand;
and in spite of modification, his method was that of an older school. He
did not possess the sombre power or the intensely analytical skill of
some of his later contemporaries, but his books are distinguished by a
freshness and honesty, fortified by cosmopolitan knowledge and lightened
by unobtrusive humour, which fully account for their wide popularity in
many countries besides his own. His genius was the reverse of dramatic,
and attempts to present two of his stories on the stage have not
succeeded. His essays have all the merits due to liberal observation and
thoroughness of treatment; their style, like that of the novels, is
admirably lucid and correct. (C.)
CHERCHEL, a seaport of Algeria, in the arrondissement and department of
Algiers, 55 m. W. of the capital. It is the centre of an agricultural
and vine-growing district, but is commercially of no great importance,
the port, which consists of part only of the inner port of Roman days,
being small and the entry difficult. The town is chiefly noteworthy for
the extensive ruins of former cities on the same site. Of existing
buildings the most remarkable is the great Mosque of the Hundred
Columns, now used as a military hospital. The mosque contains 89 columns
of diorite, surmounted by a variety of capitals brought from other
buildings. The population of the town in 1906 was 4733; of the commune
of which Cherchel is the centre 11,088.
Cherchel was a city of the Carthaginians, who named it Jol. Juba II. (25
B.C.) made it the capital of the Mauretanian kingdom under the name of
Caesarea. Juba's tomb, the so-called Tombeau de la Chretienne (see
ALGERIA), is 7-1/2 m. E. of the town. Destroyed by the Vandals, Caesarea
regained some of its importance under the Byzantines. Taken by the Arabs
it was renamed by them Cherchel. Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa captured the
city in 1520 and annexed it to his Algerian pashalik. In the early years
of the 18th century it was a commercial city of some importance, but was
laid in ruins by a terrible earthquake in 1738. In 1840 the town was
occupied by the French. The ruins suffered greatly from vandalism during
the early period of French rule, many portable objects being removed to
museums in Paris or Algiers, and most of the monuments destroyed for the
sake of their stone. Thus the dressed stones of the ancient theatre
served to build barracks; the material of the hippodrome went to build
the church; while the portico of the hippodrome, supported by granite
and marble columns, and approached by a fine flight of steps, was
destroyed by Cardinal Lavigerie in a search for the tomb of St Marciana.
The fort built by Arouj Barbarossa, elder brother of Khair-ed-Din, was
completely destroyed by the French. There are many fragments of a white
marble temple. The ancient cisterns still supply the town with water.
The museum contains some of the finest statues discovered in Africa.
They include colossal figures of Aesculapius and Bacchus, and the lower
half of a seated Egyptian divinity in black basalt, bearing the
cartouche of Tethmosis (Thothmes) I. This statue was found at Cherchel,
and is held by some archaeologists to indicate an Egyptian settlement
here about 1500 B.C.
See AFRICA, ROMAN, and the description of the museum by P. Gauckler in
the _Musees et collections archeologiques de l'Algerie_.
CHERCHEN, a town of East Turkestan, situated at the northern foot of the
Altyn-tagh, a range of the Kuen-lun, in 85 deg. 35' E., and on the
Cherchen-darya, at an altitude of 4100 ft. It straggles mostly along the
irrigation channels that go off from the left side of the river, and in
1900 had a population of about 2000. The Cherchen-darya, which rises in
the Arka-tagh, a more southerly range of the Kuen-lun, in 87 deg. E. and
36 deg. 20' N., flows north until it strikes the desert below Cherchen,
after which it turns north-east and meanders through a wide bed (300-400
ft.), beset with dense reeds and flanked by older channels. It is
probable that anciently it entered the disused channel of the
Ettek-tarim, but at present it joins the existing Tarim in the lake of
Kara-buran, a sort of lacustrine "ante-room" to the Kara-koshun (N.M.
Przhevalsky's Lop-nor). At its entrance into the former lake the
Cherchen-darya forms a broad delta. The river is frozen in its lower
course for two to three months in the winter. From the foot of the
mountains to the oasis of Cherchen it has a fall of nearly 4000 ft.,
whereas in the 300 m. or so from Cherchen to the Kara-buran the fall is
1400 ft. The total length is 500-600 m., and the drainage basin measures
6000-7000 sq. m.
See Sven Hedin, _Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia,
1899-1902_, vols. i. and ii. (1905-1906); also TAKLA-MAKAN.
CHEREMISSES, or TCHEREMISSES, a Finnish people living in isolated groups
in the governments of Kazan, Viatka, Novgorod, Perm, Kostroma and Ufa,
eastern Russia. Their name for themselves is Mori or Mari (people),
possibly identifiable with the ancient Merians of Suzdalia. Their
language belongs to the Finno-Ugrian family. They number some 240,000.
There are two distinct physical types: one of middle height,
black-haired, brown skin and flat-faced; the other short, fair-haired,
white skinned, with narrow eyes and straight short noses. Those who live
on the right bank of the Volga are sometimes known as Hill Cheremis, and
are taller and stronger than those who inhabit the swamps of the left
bank. They are farmers and herd horses and cattle. Their religion is a
hotchpotch of Shamanism, Mahommedanism and Christianity. They are
usually monogamous. The chief ceremony of marriage is a forcible
abduction of the bride. The women, naturally ugly, are often disfigured
by sore eyes caused by the smoky atmosphere of the huts. They wear a
head-dress, trimmed with glass jewels, forming a hood behind stiffened
with metal. On their breasts they carry a breastplate formed of coins,
small bells and copper disks.
See Smirinov, _Mordres et Tcheremisses_ (Paris, 1895); J. Abercromby,
_Pre- and Proto-historic Finns_ (London, 1898).
CHERIBON, a residency of the island of Java, Dutch East Indies, bounded
S. and W. by the Preanger regencies, N.W. by Krawang, N. by the Java
Sea, and E. by the residencies of Tegal and Banyumas. Pop. (1897)
1,577,521, including 867 Europeans, 21,108 Chinese, and 2016 Arabs and
other Asiatic foreigners. The natives consist of Middle Javanese in the
north and Sundanese in the south. Cheribon has been for many centuries
the centre of Islamism in western Java, and is also the seat of a
fanatical Mahommedan sect controlled from Mecca. The native population
is on the whole orderly and prosperous. The northern half of the
residency is flat and marshy in places, especially in the north-western
corner, while the southern half is mountainous. In the middle stands the
huge volcano Cherimai, clad with virgin forest and coffee plantations,
and surrounded at its foot by rice fields. South-south-west of Cherimai
on the Preanger border is the Sawal volcano, at whose foot is the
beautiful Penjalu lake. Sulphur and salt springs occur on the slopes of
Cherimai, and near Palimanan there is a cavernous hole called Guwagalang
(or Payagalang), which exhales carbonic acid gas, and is considered holy
by the natives and guarded by priests. There is a similar hole in the
Preanger. The principal products of cultivation are sugar, coffee, rice
and also tea and pulse (_rachang_), the plantations being for the most
part owned by Europeans. The chief towns are Cheribon, a seaport and
capital of the residency, the seaport of Indramaya, Palimanan,
Majalengka, Kuningan and Chiamis. Cheribon has a good open roadstead.
The town is very old and irregularly built, and the climate is
unhealthy; nevertheless it has a lively export trade in sugar and coffee
and is a regular port of call. In 1908 the two descendants of the old
sultans of Cheribon still resided there in their respective _Kratons_ or
palaces, and each received an annual income of over L1500 for the loss
of his privileges. A country residence belonging to one of the sultans
is situated close to Cheribon and is much visited on account of its
fantastic architecture. Indramaya was a considerable trading place in
the days of the early Portuguese and Dutch traders. Kuningan is famous
for a breed of small but strong horses.
CHERKASY (Polish, _Czerkasy_), a town of Russia, in the government of
Kiev, 96 m. S.E. of Kiev, on the right bank of the Dnieper. Pop. (1883)
15,740; (1897) 26,619. The inhabitants (Little Russians) are mostly
employed in agriculture and gardening; but sugar and tobacco are
manufactured and spirits distilled. Cherkasy was an important town of
the Ukraine in the 15th century, and remained so, under Polish rule,
until the revolt of the Cossack _hetman_ Chmielnicki (1648). It was
annexed by Russia in 1795.
CHERNIGOV, a government of Little Russia, on the left bank of the
Dnieper, bounded by the governments of Mogilev and Smolensk on the N.,
Orel and Kursk on the E., Poltava on the S., and Kiev and Minsk on the
W. Area, 20,233 sq. m. Its surface is an undulating plain, 650 to 750
ft. high in the north and 370 to 600 ft. in the south, deeply grooved by
ravines and the valleys of the rivers. In the north, beyond the Desna
river, about one-third of the area is under forest (rapidly
disappearing), and marshes occur along the courses of the rivers; while
to the south of the Desna the soil is dry and sometimes sandy, and
gradually it assumes the characters of a steppe-land as one proceeds
southward. The government is drained by the Dnieper, which forms its
western boundary for 180 m., and by its tributary the Desna. The latter,
which flows through Chernigov for nearly 350 m., is navigable, and
timber is brought down its tributaries. The climate is much colder in
the wooded tracts of the north than in the south; the average yearly
temperature at the city of Chernigov is 44.4 deg. F. (January, 23 deg.;
July 68.5 deg.).
The population reached 1,996,250 in 1883, 2,316,818 in 1897, and
2,746,300 (estimate) in 1906. It is chiefly Little Russian (85.6%); but
Great Russians (6.1%), mostly Raskolniks, i.e. nonconformists, and White
Russians (5.6%) inhabit the northern districts. There are, besides, some
Germans, as well as Greeks, at Nyezhin. Agriculture is the principal
occupation; in the north, however, many of the inhabitants are engaged
in the timber trade, and in the production of tar, pitch, wooden wares,
leather goods and so forth. Cattle-breeding is carried on in the central
districts. Beet is extensively cultivated. The cultivation of tobacco is
increasing. Hemp is widely grown in the north, and the milder climate of
the south encourages gardening. Bee-keeping is extensively carried on by
the Raskolniks. Limestone, grindstones, china-clay and building-stone
are quarried. Manufactures have begun to develop rapidly of late, the
most important being sugar-works, distilleries, cloth-mills and
glass-works. The government is divided into fifteen districts, their
chief towns being Chernigov (q.v.), Borzna (pop. 12,458 in 1897),
Glukhov (14,856), Gorodnya (4197), Konotop (23,083), Kozelets (5160),
Krolevets (10,375), Mglin (7631), Novgorod-Syeversk (9185), Novozybkov
(15,480), Nyezhin (32,481), Oster (5384), Sosnitsa (2507), Starodub
(12,451) and Surazh (4004).
CHERNIGOV, a town of Russia, capital of the above government, on the
right bank of the Desna, nearly half a mile from the river, 141 m. by
rail N.E. of Kiev on a branch line. Pop. (1897) 27,006. It is an
archiepiscopal see and possesses a cathedral of the 11th century. In 907
the city is mentioned in the treaty of Oleg as next in importance to
Kiev, and in the 11th century it became the capital of the principality
of Syeversk and an important commercial city. The Mongol invasion put an
end to its prosperity in 1239. Lithuania annexed it in the 14th century,
but it was soon seized by Poland, which held it until the 17th century.
In 1686 it was definitely annexed to Russia.
CHEROKEE (native _Tsalagi_, "cave people"), a tribe of North American
Indians of Iroquoian stock. Next to the Navaho they are the largest
tribe in the United States and live mostly in Oklahoma (formerly Indian
territory). Before their removal they possessed a large tract of country
now distributed among the states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi,
Tennessee and the west of Florida. Their chief divisions were then
settled around the head-waters of the Savannah and Tennessee rivers, and
were distinguished as the Elati Tsalagi or Lower Cherokees, i.e. those
in the plains, and Atali Tsalagi or Upper Cherokees, i.e. those on the
mountains. They were further divided into seven exogamous clans.
Fernando de Soto travelled through their country in 1540, and during the
next three centuries they were important factors in the history of the
south. They attached themselves to the English in the disputes and
contests which arose between the European colonizers, formally
recognized the English king in 1730, and in 1755 ceded a part of their
territory and permitted the erection of English forts. Unfortunately
this amity was interrupted not long after; but peace was again restored
in 1761. When the revolutionary war broke out they sided with the
royalist party. This led to their subjugation by the new republic, and
they had to surrender that part of their lands which lay to the south of
the Savannah and east of the Chattahoochee. Peace was made in 1781, and
in 1785 they recognized the supremacy of the United States and were
confirmed in their possessions. In 1820 they adopted a civilized form of
government, and in 1827, as a "Nation," a formal constitution. The
gradual advance of white immigration soon led to disputes with the
settlers, who desired their removal, and exodus after exodus took place;
a small part of the tribe agreed (1835) to remove to another district,
but the main body remained. An appeal was made by them to the United
States government; but President Andrew Jackson refused to interfere. A
force of 2000 men, under the command of General Winfield Scott, was sent
in 1838, and the Cherokees were compelled to emigrate to their present
position. After the settlement various disagreements between the eastern
and western Cherokees continued for some time, but in 1839 a union was
effected. In the Civil War they all at first sided with the South; but
before long a strong party joined the North, and this led to a
disastrous internecine struggle. On the close of the contest they were
confirmed in the possession of their territory, but were forced to give
a portion of their lands to their emancipated slaves. Their later
history is mainly a story of hopeless struggle to maintain their tribal
independence against the white man. In 1892 they sold their western
territory known as the "Cherokee outlet." Until 1906, when tribal
government virtually ceased, the "nation" had an elected chief, a senate
and house of representatives. Many of them have become Christians,
schools have been established and there is a tribal press. Those in
Oklahoma still number some 26,000, though most are of mixed blood. A
group, known as the Eastern Band, some 1400 strong, are on a reservation
in North Carolina. Their language consists of two dialects--a third,
that of the "Lower" branch, having been lost. The syllabic alphabet
invented in 1821 by George Guess (Sequoyah) is the character employed.
See also _Handbook of American Indians_(Washington, 1907); T.V.
Parker, _Cherokee Indians_ (N.Y., 1909); and INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN.
CHEROOT, or SHEROOT (from the Tamil word "shuruttu," a roll), a cigar
made from tobacco grown in southern India and the Philippine Islands. It
was once esteemed very highly for its delicate flavour. A cheroot
differs from other cigars in having both ends cut square, instead of one
being pointed, and one end considerably larger than the other.
CHERRAPUNJI, a village in the Khasi hills district of Assam. It is
notable as having the heaviest known rainfall in the world. In 1861 it
registered a total of 905 in., and its annual average is 458 in. This
excessive rainfall is caused by the fact that Cherrapunji stands on the
edge of the plateau overlooking the plains of Bengal, where it catches
the full force of the monsoon as it rises from the sea. There is a good
coal-seam in the vicinity.
CHERRY. As a cultivated fruit-tree the cherry is generally supposed to
be of Asiatic origin, whence, according to Pliny, it was brought to
Italy by Lucullus after his defeat of Mithradates, king of Pontus, 68
B.C. As with most plants which have been long and extensively
cultivated, it is a matter of difficulty, if not an impossibility, to
identify the parent stock of the numerous cultivated varieties of
cherry; but they are generally referred to two species: _Prunus
Cerasus_, the wild or dwarf cherry, the origin of the morello, duke and
Kentish cherries, and _P. Avium_, the gean, the origin of the geans,
hearts and bigarreaus. Both species grow wild through Europe and western
Asia to the Himalayas, but the dwarf cherry has the more restricted
range of the two in Britain, as it does not occur in Scotland and is
rare in Ireland. The cherries form a section _Cerasus_ of the genus
_Prunus_; and they have sometimes been separated as a distinct genus
from the plums proper; both have a stone-fruit or drupe, but the drupe
of the cherry differs from that of the plum in not having a waxy bloom;
further, the leaves of the plum are rolled (_convolute_) in the bud,
while those of the cherry are folded (conduplicate).
The cherries are trees of moderate size and shrubs, having smooth,
serrate leaves and white flowers. They are natives of the temperate
regions of both hemispheres; and the cultivated varieties ripen their
fruit in Norway as far as 63 deg. N. The geans are generally
distinguished from the common cherry by the greater size of the trees,
and the deeper colour and comparative insipidity of the flesh in the
ripe fruit, which adheres firmly to the "nut" or stone; but among the
very numerous cultivated varieties specific distinctions shade away so
that the fruit cannot be ranged under these two heads. The leading
varieties are recognized as bigarreaus, dukes, morellos and geans.
Several varieties are cultivated as ornamental trees and on account of
their flowers.
The cherry is a well-flavoured sub-acid fruit, and is much esteemed for
dessert. Some of the varieties are particularly selected for pies,
tarts, &c., and others for the preparation of preserves, and for making
cherry brandy. The fruit is also very extensively employed in the
preparation of the liqueurs known as kirschwasser, ratafia and
maraschino. Kirschwasser is made 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 deg. at night will be sufficient at starting,
this being gradually increased during the first few weeks to 55 deg.,
but lowered again when the blossom buds are about to open. After stoning
the temperature may be again gradually raised to 60 deg., and may go up
to 70 deg. by day, or 75 deg. by sun heat, and 60 deg. 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 Napoleon, 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 FRUIT AND FLOWER FARMING.)
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 Fe, 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 Fe). 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, 1-1/4
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 and mastic, but there are scarcely any
large trees. There is a scarcity of springs, and the houses are
generally furnished with cisterns for rain water. In the centre of the
island is an interesting lake called the Vrana or Crow's Lake, situated
at an altitude of 40 ft. above, the level of the sea, 3-3/4 m. long, 1 m.
wide and 184 ft. deep. This lake is in all probability fed by
subterranean sources, The chief town of the island is Cherso, situated
on the west coast. It possesses a good harbour and is provided with a
shipwright's wharf.
CHERSONESE, CHERSONESUS, or CHERRONESUS (Gr. [Greek: chersos], dry, and
[Greek: nesos], island), a word equivalent to "peninsula." In ancient
geography the Chersonesus Thracica, Chersonesus Taurica or Scythica, and
Chersonesus Cimbrica correspond to the peninsulas of the Dardanelles,
the Crimea and Jutland; and the Golden Chersonese is usually identified
with the peninsula of Malacca. The Tauric Chersonese was further
distinguished as the Great, in contrast to the Heracleotic or Little
Chersonese at its S.W. corner, where Sevastopol now stands.
The _Tauric Chersonese_[1] (from 2nd century A.D. called Cherson) was a
Dorian colony of Heraclea in Bithynia, founded in the 5th century B.C.
in the Crimea about 2 m. S. of the modern Sevastopol. After defending
itself against the kingdom of Bosporus (q.v.), and the native Scythians
and Tauri, and even extending its power over the west coast of the
peninsula, it was compelled to call in the aid of Mithradates VI. and
his general Diophantus, c. 110 B.C., and submitted to the Pontic
dynasty. On regaining a nominal independence, it came more or less under
the Roman suzerainty. In the latter part of the 1st century A.D., and
again in the succeeding century, it received a Roman garrison and
suffered much interference in its internal affairs. In the time of
Constantine, in return for assistance against the Bosporans and the
native tribes, it regained its autonomy and received special privileges.
It must, however, have been subject to the Byzantine authorities, as
inscriptions testify to restorations of its walls by Byzantine
officials. Under Theophilus the central government sent out a governor
to take the place of the elected magistrate. Even so it seems to have
preserved a measure of self-government and may be said to have been the
last of the Greek city states. Its ruin was brought about by the
commercial rivalry of the Genoese, who forbade the Greeks to trade there
and diverted its commerce to Caffa and Sudak. Previous to this it had
been the main emporium of Byzantine commerce upon the N. coast of the
Euxine. Through it went the communications of the empire with the
Petchenegs and other native tribes, and more especially with the
Russians. The commerce of Cherson is guaranteed in the early treaties
between the Greeks and Russians, and it was in Cherson, according to Ps.
Nestor's chronicle, that Vladimir was baptized in 988 after he had
captured the city. The constitution of the city was at first democratic
under Damiorgi, a senate and a general assembly. Latterly it appears to
have become aristocratic, and most of the power was concentrated in the
hands of the first archon or Proteuon, who in time was superseded by the
strategus sent out from Byzantium. Its most interesting political
document is the form of oath sworn to by all the citizens in the 3rd
century B.C.
The remains of the city occupy a space about two-thirds of a mile long
by half a mile broad. They are enclosed by a Byzantine wall. Foundations
and considerable remains of a Greek wall going back to the 4th century
B.C. have been found beneath this in the eastern or original part of the
site. Many Byzantine churches, both cruciform and basilican, have been
excavated. The latter survived here into the 13th century when they had
long been extinct in other Greek-speaking lands. The churches were
adorned with frescoes, wall and floor mosaics, some well preserved, and
marble carvings similar to work found at Ravenna. The fact that the site
has not been inhabited since the 14th century makes it important for our
knowledge of Byzantine life. The city was used by the Romans as a place
of banishment: St Clement of Rome was exiled hither and first preached
the Gospel; another exile was Justinian II., who is said to have
destroyed the city in revenge. We have a considerable series of coins
from the 3rd century B.C. to about A.D. 200, and also some of Byzantine
date.
See B. Koehne, _Beitrage zur Geschichte von Cherronesus in Taurien_
(St Petersburg, 1848); art. "Chersonesos" (20) by C.G. Brandis in
Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencydopadie_, vol. iii. 221; A. A. Bobrinskoj,
_Chersonesus Taurica_ (St Petersburg, 1905) (Russian); V. V. Latyshev,
_Inscrr. Orae Septentr. Ponti Euxini_, vols. i. and iv. Reports of
excavations appear in the _Compte rendu_ of the Imperial
Archaeological Commission of St Petersburg from 1888 and in its
_Bulletin_. See E. H. Minns, _Scythians and Greeks_ (Cambridge, 1907).
(E. H. M.)