Chapter IV · LEADING VARIETIES OF CHERRIES (continued 2)

Early Richmond is the old Kentish of English writers, confused more or less with the different Montmorencies. Whether or not this variety was introduced into Kent, England, by the Romans and became thus early the Kentish or whether it came from Flanders or Holland where it was called Cerise de Volger, is not now certain. Probably, however, it is one of the many seedlings of the Cerise Commune, as are the Montmorencies, and was first known as Cerisier Hâtif. Early in the Sixteenth Century the gardener of Henry VIII made extensive plantings in Kent with trees supposed to have come from Flanders, and Parkinson, in 1629, mentions a variety as Flanders which was probably this cherry. The variety, soon known by many English writers as Kentish, was confused by the French who seem to have had two Kentish cherries. In English nurseries Kentish was soon confused with Montmorency. In this way the terms Kentish, Flanders, Flemish and Montmorency came into use for this sort. It was early brought to America where it became known as Early Richmond but even here it has several names. The belief that it originated at Richmond, Virginia, was due to the fact that William Prince secured his first trees from that source. By whom the variety was introduced into this country is unknown, although Thacher speaks of it as early as 1822. In the South it became known as Virginia May, while in the West it has been called Early May. The variety appeared on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society as Kentish in 1862 but in 1871 the name was changed to Early Richmond. It is listed by all prominent nurseries in this country as Richmond or Early Richmond while in England it is still known as Kentish. The French cherry, often spoken of as "the common French cherry," introduced into the lower St. Lawrence region, is very similar to Early Richmond. This strain, propagated from seed or sprouts, seems to be somewhat hardier than Early Richmond and varies slightly from it in size and quality.

EARLY RICHMOND

Tree of medium size, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense, round-topped, productive; trunk and branches smooth; branches reddish-brown lightly overspread with dull gray, with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, long, grayish, smooth, with numerous small, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three and one-half inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, obovate, thick; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface pale green; apex variable in shape, base abrupt; margin finely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole glandless or with one or two globose, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the blade.

Buds small, short, obtuse, very plump, free, arranged singly and in clusters on very short spurs; blooms appearing in mid-season; flowers one and one-fourth inches across, white; borne in scattering clusters, usually in twos and threes; pedicels five-eighths inch long, glabrous; calyx-tube green or faintly tinged with red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, obtuse, serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, sessile, with a shallow, wide notch at the apex; filaments over one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures early; three-fourths inch in diameter, roundish-oblate, compressed; cavity abrupt, regular; suture indistinct; apex roundish or flattened, with a slight depression at the center; color light red changing to dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, one inch long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, rather tough, separating from the pulp; flesh pale yellow, with light pinkish juice, stringy, tender and melting, sprightly, pleasant flavored; good to very good in quality; stone free, small, roundish-ovate, slightly pointed, with smooth surfaces; somewhat roughened along the ventral suture.

ELKHORN

Prunus avium

1. Prince Pom. Man. 2:117. 1832. 2. Elliott Fr. Book 213. 1854. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 1899.

John Tradescantes Cherrie. 4. Parkinson Par. Ter. 574. 1629.

Hertogs-Kers. 5. Knoop Fructologie 2:36, 40. 1771.

Grosse Schwarze Knorpelkirsche. 6. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 180-192. 1819. 7. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 3:36. 1858. 8. Ill. Handb. 89 fig., 90. 1860. 9. Lauche Deut. Pom. III: No. 6, Pl. 1882. 10. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 357, 358. 1889.

Tradescant's Black Heart. 11. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 188 fig., 189. 1845. 12. Thompson Gard. Ass't 526. 1859. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862.

Gros Bigarreau Noir. 14. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:108-111, fig. 24. 1866. 15. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:224, 225 fig., 226. 1877.

St. Margaret's Cherry. 16. Flor. & Pom. 105, Pl. 542. 1881.

Elkhorn has served its day and is now being rapidly superseded by other cherries of the Bigarreau group to which it belongs. It was valued by the old pomologists because of the large size of the fruit, the firm flesh, late ripening, rich flavor, and because it hangs well on the tree long after maturity. But it fails in competition with other Bigarreaus in bearing cherries quite variable in size, in the diminishing size of the fruit as the trees attain age and more than all else in being but moderately productive. The bark of the trunk and main branches is so heavily overspread with gray as to make this a distinguishing mark. The fruit, too, is distinct in appearance by reason of the irregular surface of the skin. The variety possesses no characters, as it usually grows, to make it worth planting either for home or market.

The history of this old cherry was almost hopelessly confused by the early horticulturists by the vast number of names they used for it, many of which belonged to other varieties. Elkhorn is supposed to have been raised by John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I of England, under the name Tradescant's Black Heart. Of this cherry, John Parkinson in 1629 says: "John Tradescantes Cherrie is most usually sold by our Nursery Gardiners, for the Archdukes cherrie, because they have more plenty thereof, and will better be increased, and because it is so faire and good a cherrie that it may be obtruded without much discontent: it is a reasonably good bearer, a faire great berrie, deepe coloured, and a little pointed." It is not known when or how Elkhorn got to America. The first cherry-grower in this country to mention it was William Prince, in 1832, who says that his father noticed the variety growing in a garden next to a hotel in Maryland about 1797 and brought cions of it to New York afterwards propagating and selling it under the name Elkhorn given to the cherry by the hotel proprietor. Elkhorn was at one time very popular and well disseminated throughout the United States and is sold now by a large number of nurserymen either under the name Tradescant's Black Heart or as Elkhorn. In 1862, the American Pomological Society listed in its fruit catalog Tradescant's Black Heart but dropped it in 1877. In 1899 this Society placed the variety in its catalog under the name Elkhorn and it still remains on its list of recommended fruits. From its history it is apparent that this cherry is rightly called Tradescant or Black Heart or by some combination of these terms but Elkhorn has been adopted by the American Pomological Society, is everywhere in common use on this continent and is so distinctive that we choose for this text the newer name.

Tree large, very vigorous, upright, open-topped, moderately productive; trunk stocky, smooth; branches stout, smooth, with numerous small lenticels, reddish-brown heavily overspread with ash-gray; branchlets thick.

Leaves numerous, three and three-fourths inches long, two and one-fourth inches wide, short-oval to obovate, thin; upper surface medium green, roughish; lower surface dull, light green, lightly pubescent; apex acute; margin coarsely serrate, glandular; petiole with from one to three raised glands of medium size, variable in shape, usually on the stalk.

Fruit matures in late mid-season; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, cordate to conical, slightly compressed; cavity deep, wide, flaring; suture indistinct; apex roundish or pointed, with a slight depression at the center; color purplish-black; dots numerous, small, dark russet, inconspicuous; stem one and three-eighths inches long, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tender, adhering somewhat to the pulp; flesh a characteristically dark purplish-red, with very dark colored juice, meaty, firm, crisp, mild, sweet; of good quality; stone semi-free, ovate, flattened, slightly pointed, with smooth surfaces, tinged with red.

ELTON

Prunus avium

1. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 49. 1831. 2. Prince Pom. Man. 2:121, 122. 1832. 3. Pom. Mag. 2:92, Pl 1839. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 186 fig. 77. 1845. 5. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 52. 1848. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 75. 1850. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 54. 1852. 8. Elliott Fr. Book 194 fig. 1854. 9. Thompson Gard. Ass't 528. 1859. 10. Ill. Handb. 105 fig., 106. 1860. 11. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:91 fig. 17, 92, 93. 1866. 12. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 463 fig. 1869. 13. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:196, 197 fig. 1877.

Flesh Coloured Bigarreau. 14. Prince Pom. Man. 2:128. 1832. 15. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 182 fig. 74. 1845. 16. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:192, 193 fig. 1877.

Elton has been freely recommended and widely cultivated in Europe and America for the past century and probably no cherry has given more general satisfaction. The variety is distinguished by the form, color, flesh and flavor of its fruit. The cherries are oblong-heart-shaped—possibly too much drawn out for best appearance and often too oblique; the color, very well shown in the color-plate, is most attractive and makes up for any defect in shape—a dark red mottled with amber, very bright, clear and glossy; the flesh, a little too soft to ship well, is delicate and most pleasing to the palate; the flavor is peculiarly rich and luscious being hardly surpassed by that of any other cherry. The trees may be as readily told as the fruit, by the unusually dark red color of the petioles of the leaves. The branches are stout and bear the crop thickly placed close to the wood and in prodigious quantities. Unfortunately it has a fault which in America, at least, makes it almost unfit for a commercial plantation. Brown-rot, the scourge of the Sweet Cherry, attacks this variety more aggressively than almost any other sort and for this reason, while its merits can hardly be too highly spoken of, Elton must remain for most part a variety for the home orchard. The tree, perfect in most respects, is a little tender to cold. Leroy, the French pomologist, thinks it does better on Mahaleb than on the Mazzard stock.

This is another cherry from Thomas Andrew Knight, the great English pomologist. Knight fruited it first about 1806, the tree coming from a pit of Yellow Spanish, the paternal parent being White Heart. From the first it took a high place in English and continental pomology as it did also in America upon being brought here in 1823. The variety is everywhere known and grown in America and is for sale by many nurserymen. Elton was one of the fruits to receive attention at the first meeting of the American Pomological Society in 1848, and in 1852 was put on the list of recommended fruits where it still remains.

ELTON

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, very productive; trunk thick, smooth; branches smooth, reddish-brown covered with ash-gray, with small lenticels; branchlets long, brown partly covered with ash-gray, smooth, with inconspicuous, raised lenticels, intermediate in number and size.

Leaves numerous, five and one-half inches long, two and one-half inches wide, folded upward, long-obovate to elliptical, thin; upper surface dark green, rugose; lower surface light green, thinly pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt; margin doubly serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole two inches long, heavily tinged with red, with a few scattering hairs along the upper surface, with from two to four reniform or globose, reddish-brown glands on the stalk.

Buds large, long, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and on very short spurs variable in size; leaf-scars prominent; mid-season in blooming; flowers one and one-half inches across, white; borne in twos and threes; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes tinged with red, long, broad, acute, serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, nearly sessile, with a shallow notch at the apex; filaments about one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures early; about one inch long, three-fourths inch wide, cordate to conical, somewhat compressed and oblique; cavity rather abrupt, regular; suture indistinct; apex distinctly pointed; color dark red with an amber tinge, faintly mottled; dots numerous, small, light yellow, obscure; stem slender, one and three-fourths inches long; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh white with a tinge of yellow, with colorless juice, slightly stringy, tender, very mild, sweet; of good quality; stone free except along the ventral suture, one-half inch long, long-ovate, slightly flattened, with smooth surfaces; somewhat ridged along the ventral suture.

EMPRESS EUGENIE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

1. Gard. Mon. 7:277. 1865. 2. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:159 fig. 41, 160. 1866. 3. Mas Le Verger 8:5, 6, fig. 1. 1866-73. 4. Pom. France 7: No. 10, Pl. 10. 1871. 5. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 383. 1875. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 20. 1877. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:348 fig., 349. 1877. 8. Hogg Fruit Man. 296, 297. 1884. 9. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 78, Pl. 29. 1894.

Eugenie. 10. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 22. 1883.

This old French cherry, for many years largely advertised and widely sold in America, does not thrive in the New World as well as the reports say it does in the Old World. The two faults that condemn it, as it grows here, are that the cherries ripen very unevenly making several pickings necessary and the trees are so small that, though loaded with fruit, the total yield is not large. Lesser faults are that the cherries are not uniform in shape and are borne thickly in close clusters so that when brown-rot is rife this variety suffers greatly. The short stem, too, prevents easy picking. To offset these faults Empress Eugenie has to its credit the reputation of being about the most refreshing and delicious Duke. In a home plantation where the unevenness in ripening can be utilized to prolong the season and where dwarfness may not be undesirable, Empress Eugenie may well find a place.

This cherry appeared in 1845 as a chance seedling on the grounds of M. Varenne at Belleville, near Paris, France. It first fruited about 1850 and four years later the Horticultural Society of Paris placed it, under the name Impératrice Eugenie, on its list of recommended fruits. M. A. Gontier, a nurseryman at Fontenay-aux-Roses introduced it to commerce in 1855. Empress Eugenie soon became quite generally disseminated throughout Europe and was considered nearly as good as May Duke, with which it has occasionally been confused. It must have been brought to America towards the beginning of the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century and here it gradually became widely distributed until today it is found in all the leading cherry plantations and is propagated by a large number of nurserymen throughout the United States. The American Pomological Society added this cherry to its fruit catalog list in 1877 under the name Empress Eugenie. In 1883 this name was shortened to Eugenie under which term it has since appeared in the Society's catalog. In The Cherries of New York we have not adopted the shortened name as, by such a change, all trace is lost of the person after whom the cherry was christened.

EMPRESS EUGENIE

Tree small, not very vigorous, upright, becoming round-topped, very productive; trunk slender, roughish; branches slender, much roughened, reddish-brown partly covered with ash-gray, with numerous small lenticels; branchlets with short internodes, brown slightly covered with ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous small, conspicuous, much-raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three and one-half inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, obovate, thick; upper surface dark green, slightly rugose; lower surface light green, thinly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base variable in shape; margin doubly serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole three-fourths of an inch long, tinged with red, with a few hairs along the upper surface, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-yellow or reddish glands, usually at the base of the blade.

Buds obtuse, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and on long or short spurs, in clusters variable in size; leaf-scars obscure; blooming in mid-season; flowers one and one-fourth inches across, white; borne in very dense clusters, in threes and fours; pedicels one inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube with a faint tinge of red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, acute, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, with short but distinct claws; apex nearly entire; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures in mid-season; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, roundish-conic to oblate-conic, compressed; cavity narrow; suture very shallow, indistinct; apex flattened or depressed; color dark red; dots numerous, small, dark russet, obscure; stem one and one-fourth inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin tough, separating from the pulp; flesh pale red, with pinkish juice, tender, meaty, sprightly, pleasant flavored, tart; of good quality; stone semi-clinging, small, ovate, flattened, somewhat oblique, with smooth surfaces.

ENGLISH MORELLO

Prunus cerasus

1. Parkinson Par. Ter. 572. 1629. 2. Langley Pomona 85. 1729. 3. Christ Handb. 677. 1797. 4. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 54. 1831. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 197, 198 fig. 1845. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 306, 307. 1884. 8. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.

Grosse Cerise à Ratafia. 9. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 1:189. 1768.

Grosse Lange Lothkirsche. 10. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 599, 600, 601. 1819. 11. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 326. 1888. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 356, 357. 1889.

Large Morello. 13. Prince Pom. Man. 2:144. 1832.

Ratafia Griotte. 14. Prince Pom. Man. 2:147. 1832. 15. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 2: No. 17, Pl. 1846. 16. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:299, 300 fig., 301. 1877.

Northern Griotte. 17. Prince Pom. Man. 2:146. 1832. 18. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 2: No. 18, Pl. 1846. 19. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:188 fig. 189, 190. 1866. 20. Pom. France 7: No. 15, Pl. 15. 1871. 21. Thomas Guide Prat. 18, 195. 1876. 22. Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 331. 1885.

Colorado Morello. 23. Rogers Cat. 18. 1900.

English Morello is the best of all its group and is the standard late Sour Cherry in North America, occupying at the close of the season the place held by Montmorency in mid-season for home, market and cannery. It is not a table fruit and can hardly be eaten out of hand until it loses some of its astringency and acidity by thorough ripening. In any way the cherries are prepared by cooking, however, it is one of the best, culinary processes giving the fruits a rich, dark wine color, very attractive in appearance, and a most pleasant, sprightly, aromatic flavor. The fruit is handsome in appearance, bears harvesting and shipping well, is resistant to brown-rot and hangs long on the trees after ripening, often until the last of August if robins can be kept away. Once seen, one may always know the trees. They are small, round-headed, with branches that distinctly droop. To be sufficiently productive an English Morello orchard must be closely set; for, though the trees are vigorous and productive for their size, they are too dwarf to yield heavily. The trees are hardy but not always healthy and are not adapted to as great a diversity of soils as might be wished. The variety distinctly fails in its tree-characters. The demand for English Morello has recently decreased and it is doubtful if it ever regains its popularity of a decade ago. There is a place for a late cherry which English Morello now fills but not sufficiently well.

All of the early pomologists describe a Morello or a Morella but no one of them definitely gives its place of origin. The concensus of opinion is that it originated in either Holland or Germany from whence it was introduced into England and later into France. The early German writers listed a Grosse Lange Lothkirsche which is English Morello. Preceding them, Duhamel described the Grosse Cerise à Ratafia "as one praised for confitures and preserving," which is probably this cherry. Leroy believed English Morello to be the cherry that Mortillet brought to Paris from Holland calling it Griotte du Nord though he thought the variety had been grown in France for many years previous but under another name. It is possible that the term Du Nord originated through its being widely grown as an espalier demanding a northern exposure, rather than as some have thought, because it came from northern Germany. In 1862 English Morello was put on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society where it still remains. Wragg is thought to be identical with this cherry by some and, if not, it differs but little. Northern Griotte and Grosse Lange Lothkirsche, introduced by Budd from Russia, are English Morello. Morris, or Colorado Morello, put out by John Morris of Golden, Colorado, once thought to be distinct, is also English Morello.

ENGLISH MORELLO

Tree small, upright-spreading, with drooping branchlets, dense-topped, productive; trunk slender, rough; branches slender, smooth, dark brown overlaid with dark ash-gray, with numerous small lenticels; branchlets slender, willowy, with short internodes, brownish, smooth, with numerous conspicuous, small, slightly raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, two and three-fourths inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward, obovate to oval; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface light green; apex acute, base variable in shape; margin finely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, tinged with dull red, grooved, with from one to three small, globose or reniform, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the blade.

Buds small, short, obtuse, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds; leaf-scars obscure; season of bloom late; flowers one inch across, white; borne in scattering clusters in twos and threes; pedicels nearly one inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube with a faint tinge of red, somewhat campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, obtuse, serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals distinctly veined, roundish, crenate, sessile, with crenate apex; filaments one-fourth of an inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures very late; about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, sometimes running larger, roundish-cordate, slightly compressed; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring, regular; suture a shallow groove; apex roundish, with a small depression at the center; color very dark red becoming almost black; dots numerous, small, dark russet, conspicuous; stem slender, one inch long, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh dark red, with dark colored juice, tender and melting, sprightly, tart; of good quality; stone free, small, ovate, slightly flattened and pointed, with smooth surfaces, slightly tinged with red.

FLORENCE

Prunus avium

1. Prince Treat. Hort. 29. 1828. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 277. 1832. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 187. 1845. 4. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 365. 1849. 5. Am. Soc. Cat. 22. 1885.

Knevett's Late Bigarreau. 6. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 46. 1831.

Bigarreau de Florence. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:204 fig., 205. 1877.

Florence Heart. 8. Bunyard-Thomas Fr. Gard. 43. 1904.

Florence is a Bigarreau so similar to Yellow Spanish as to be hardly worth planting, since it is, all and all, surpassed by its better-known rival. The fruit hangs on the tree in edible condition an almost phenomenal length of time which has given rise to much divergence of opinion as to its season, some pomologists rating it as early, others as mid-season and still others as late. At Geneva the trees of this variety are not as healthful, vigorous or as fruitful as those of Yellow Spanish, with which it must compete, nor are the cherries quite as fine in appearance or quality.

This variety was found in Florence, Italy, early in the Nineteenth Century by John Houblon, who took it to England from whence it was brought to America. It found a place in 1885 on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society where it remained until 1891, when it was discarded, with quite sufficient reason.

FLORENCE

Tree vigorous, upright, open-topped, productive; trunk and branches thick, smooth; branches reddish-brown partly overspread with ash-gray, with numerous lenticels; branchlets thick, long, brown partly covered with ash-gray, smooth, with inconspicuous, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, variable in size, averaging four and one-fourth inches long, two and one-fourth inches wide, folded upward, long-oval to obovate, thin; upper surface rather dark green, rugose; lower surface dull light green, thinly pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt; margin coarsely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole one and three-fourths inches long, thick, pubescent, dull red, with from two to four large, reniform, reddish glands on the stalk.

Buds pointed, plump, free, arranged as lateral buds and grouped in large clusters on numerous short spurs; season of bloom intermediate; flowers one and one-fourth inches across, white; borne in dense clusters in twos and threes; pedicels three-fourths of an inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes greenish, acute, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals broad-obovate to oval, entire, with very short, blunt claws, distinctly notched at the apex; filaments nearly one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, usually shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures early; one inch in diameter, cordate, compressed; cavity deep, wide; suture very shallow; apex somewhat pointed; color reddish over an amber background, marked with indistinct, whitish spots and streaks; dots numerous, small, whitish, inconspicuous; stem one and one-half inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, separating from the pulp; flesh yellowish-white, with colorless juice, tender, meaty, crisp, sprightly, sweet; of very good quality; stone clinging, cordate, flattened, blunt, with roughish surfaces; enlarged along the ventral suture.

GEORGE GLASS

Prunus cerasus

1. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 328, 329. 1888. 2. Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 79. 1890. 3. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 245. 1894. 4. Ia. Sta. Bul. 31:341. 1895. 5. Del. Sta. An. Rpt. 12:125. 1900. 6. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:276, 277. 1903. 7. Ia. Sta. Bul. 73:70. 1903.

George Glass has been widely heralded as a desirable variety in the Middle West but in New York, where it has passed through a rather lengthy probationary period, practically all who have tried it are ready to declare it worthless. It is of the Amarelle group and cannot compete with the many good varieties of its kinship, as the Early Richmond or the several Montmorencies. Its season is between Early Richmond and Montmorency. As compared with the last-named variety, the standard Sour Cherry, the fruit of George Glass is smaller, sourer, less attractive in appearance and the trees are far less fruitful. Possibly the trees are more hardy, this character commending it for the colder parts of the Mississippi Valley.

The origin of this variety is uncertain but it is supposed to have been introduced into Iowa by immigrants from northeastern Germany. In American collections it has often been confused with Brusseler Braune and Bessarabian and by some is declared to be identical with the latter sort. It is supposed to be a cross between a Duke and a Morello cherry.

GEORGE GLASS

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, rather open, hardy, appears unproductive; trunk thick; branches thick, roughened, with numerous conspicuous, raised lenticels; leaves numerous, four inches long, two inches wide, obovate, thick, stiff, dark green; petiole three-fourths of an inch long, tinged with red, with a few hairs along the upper surface, with one or two small, globose, reddish-orange glands, usually at the base of the blade; buds intermediate in size and length; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers one and one-fourth inches across; borne in dense clusters.

Fruit matures in mid-season; three-fourths of an inch long, one inch wide, oblate, compressed; cavity deep; color light red changing to dark red; stem one and one-eighth inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin separating from the pulp; flesh yellowish-white, with abundant colorless juice, stringy, tender and melting, rather mild for a sour cherry; good to very good in quality; stone free, roundish or slightly oblate, plump, blunt, with smooth surfaces; ventral suture prominent.

HEART-SHAPED WEICHSEL

Prunus cerasus

1. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 573-577. 1819. 2. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 3:60, 61. 1858. 3. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 328. 1888. 4. Wash. Sta. Bul. 92:17. 1910.

Herzförmige Sauerkirsche. 5. Christ Wörterb. 288. 1802.

Heart-Shaped Griotte. 6. Prince Pom. Man.. 2:149. 1832. 7. Mas Le Verger 8:103, 104, fig. 50. 1866-73.

This Sour Cherry, of the Morello group, is too poor in quality to recommend it for any purpose. The fruit is scarcely edible until dead ripe and even then is too puckering to eat out of hand with relish. The cherries are very attractive, being large for the kind, heart-shaped, of a handsome, clear, glossy dark purple color and very uniform in all characters. The tree is conspicuous because of its symmetrical shape, large size, round head and its many branches and branchlets. The leaves are characteristically small, as are the flowers, which are further distinguished by very narrow petals. The tree is hardy and productive and quite worth a place on a lawn as an ornamental if not in the garden for its fruit. The variety has several characters to commend it to plant-breeders.

This variety came to light in written records in the early part of the Nineteenth Century in German fruit-books under the name Saure Herzkirsche or Herzkirschweichsel and was highly recommended for its fine flavor. Professor J. L. Budd of Iowa, in one of his European trips, was impressed with its symmetrical habit of growth and its abundant foliage where he found it growing in eastern Europe as a lawn tree. He included it among his importations but it has not proved valuable in the New World.

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, unproductive; branches rather slender, smooth except for the large, conspicuous lenticels; branchlets slender, long; leaves numerous, two and three-fourths inches long, one and three-eighths inches wide, obovate to oval, thin, dark green, smooth; petiole over one-half inch long, tinged with red, with from one to three small, globose, greenish-yellow or brownish glands at the base of the blade; buds intermediate in size and length, usually obtuse; season of bloom late; flowers one inch across; borne in scattered clusters; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil slightly shorter than the stamens, often defective.

Fruit matures in mid-season; about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, roundish-conic, slightly compressed; color very dark, dull red; stem slender, one and one-fourth inches long, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tough; flesh very dark red, with dark wine-colored juice, tender, rather meaty, very astringent, sour; of poor quality; stone nearly free, small, ovate, flattened, pointed, with roughish and colored surfaces.

HILDESHEIM

Prunus avium

1. Prince Pom. Man. 2:131. 1832. 2. Elliott Fr. Book 196. 1854.

Guignier à Fruit Rouge Tardif. 3. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 1:162. 1768.

Agathe. 4. Knoop Fructologie 2:37. 1771.

Doppelttragende Kleine Rothe Spätkirsche. 5. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 281, 282, 283. 1819.

Hildesheimer Ganz Späte Knorpelkirsche. 6. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 321, 322, 323. 1819.

Late Red Guigne. 7. Prince Pom. Man. 2:113. 1832.

Bigarreau Tardif de Hildesheim. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 184. 1845.

Merveille de September. 9. Elliott Fr. Book 210. 1854.

Belle Agathe de Novembre. 10. Ann. Pom. Belge 3:9, Pl. 1855.

Hildesheimer Späte Knorpelkirsche. 11. Ill. Handb. 139 fig., 140. 1860.

Kratos Knorpelkirsche. 12. Ill. Handb. 59 fig., 60. 1867.

Schöne Agathe. 13. Ill. Handb. 63 fig., 64. 1867.

Bigarreau de Fer. 14. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:199, 200 fig. 1877.

Belle Agathe. 15. Mas Pom. Gen. 11:99, 100, fig. 50. 1882.

Bigarreau de Hildesheim. 16. Hogg Fruit Man. 282. 1884.

This variety, one of the oldest, has been called by a great number of names by European writers. The cherry mentioned by Duhamel, in 1768, as a late Guigne with red fruit, otherwise known as Guigne de Fer, can be no other than Hildesheim. The exact origin of the variety has never been known, though it is supposed to have sprung up in the neighborhood of Hildesheim, Prussia. It was brought to America early in the Nineteenth Century, probably by William Prince. With it came some of the numerous foreign names. It seems certain that Late Red Guigne mentioned by Prince was Hildesheim. Ripening late and being small and of rather undesirable texture, Hildesheim did not meet with much favor in America, never being widely disseminated, and has long since passed from cultivation. This variety, under the name Belle Agathe, was propagated in Belgium by M. Thiery about 1852 and for some time was supposed to be a separate sort. The following description is compiled:

Tree very large, vigorous, upright, hardy, an annual bearer, unproductive while young producing good crops later; branches thick, large, long, straight; leaves numerous, of medium size, oval or elongated-oval, acuminate; margin finely and regularly serrate; petiole slender, rather short, tinged red, with large, flattened glands; blooming season early.

Fruit matures very late, usually attached in fives but sometimes in threes and fours; small to medium, roundish-cordate, flattened on one side, somewhat irregular; color yellowish, mottled and marbled with dark red; stem two inches long, slender, somewhat curved; skin thick; flesh pale yellow, slightly tinged with red at the pit, firm, somewhat stringy, rather dry, with uncolored juice, pleasant flavored, sweet; quality good; stone medium to large, with reddish surface, long, compressed.

IDA

Prunus avium

1. Gard. Mon. 20:270, 271. 1878. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 3rd App. 162. 1881. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1909.

Ida is a handsome, large, light red cherry resembling Napoleon in shape and Rockport in color, but differing from both in having soft flesh which places it among the Hearts rather than the Bigarreaus. Because of beauty of the fruit, earliness and good tree-characters, Ida promises to become a rather general favorite in home orchards though it falls short of several others of its near of kin in flavor and flesh-characters. It can never take a high place among commercial kinds because the cherries are too soft to handle well, show bruises plainly, are somewhat susceptible to brown-rot and come when better cherries are plentiful. The trees are vigorous, hardy and bear full crops regularly and in various environments. The variety is readily told by the upright habit of growth and by the large lenticels on trunk and branches. Ida has been very well tried as a commercial variety in this State but in the ups and downs of the industry has not held its own with other sorts and can be recommended only for home plantations.

E. H. Cocklin of Shepherdstown, Pennsylvania, grew this variety as a seedling of Cocklin's Favorite, another of his cherries. The cherry was named after his daughter, Ida. It seems to have proved worthy of general culture, as it is now listed by many nurserymen. The American Pomological Society placed Ida on its fruit list in 1909.

IDA

Tree large, vigorous, upright, open-topped, somewhat vasiform, very productive; trunk stout; branches very stocky, smooth, light ash-gray over brown, with large, much-raised lenticels; branchlets very stout, short, brown partly covered with ash-gray, roughish, with a few raised lenticels.

Leaves five and one-half inches long, two and one-half inches wide, folded upward, elliptical to obovate, thin; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, pubescent along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, base acute; margin doubly crenate, with small, black glands; petiole two and one-fourth inches long, thick, tinged with red, somewhat hairy along the grooved upper surface, usually with two large, reniform, reddish glands on the stalk.

Buds large, long, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in dense clusters on numerous short spurs, also with many small, round, lateral leaf-buds on the secondary growth; leaf-scars not prominent; blooming in mid-season; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in clusters usually in twos; pedicels three-fourths of an inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, whitish within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a tinge of red, acute, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, dentate at the apex, nearly sessile; filaments nearly one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures early; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, cordate, slightly compressed; cavity deep, flaring, regular; suture a distinct line; apex variable in shape; color amber overspread with light red, mottled; dots numerous, rather large, yellowish, somewhat conspicuous; stem one and one-half inches long; skin thin, separating readily from the pulp; flesh whitish, with colorless juice, tender and melting, mild, sweet; of good quality; stone free or semi-free, roundish, slightly flattened, blunt, with smooth surfaces; with distinct ridges along the ventral suture.

JEFFREY DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

1. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 52. 1831. 2. Mag. Hort. 9:204. 1843. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 190, 191. 1845. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862. 5. Mas Pom. Gen. 11:119, 120, fig. 60. 1882. 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 302. 1884.

Royale. 7. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 1:193, 194, Pl. XV. 1768. 8. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 482-484. 1819. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:386, 387 fig., 388. 1877.

Königliche Süssweichsel. 10. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 427-429. 1819. 11. Ill. Handb. 73 fig., 74. 1867.

Jeffrey's Royal. 12. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 99. 1846.

Royale Hâtive. 13. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:134-138, fig. 32. 1866.

This old variety, which has almost passed from cultivation, may have had its origin in France about the middle of the Eighteenth Century, though more likely it originated in England much earlier. Leroy mentions a Royale cherry which was introduced from England to France about 1730 and was first grown by M. le Normand in the garden of Louis XV. The name Royale was first used by the French about 1735 from the fact that it was grown in the royal gardens and since that time this name has clung to the variety in most of the French plantations. According to English writers, the variety was brought to notice in England by Jeffrey, proprietor of the Brompton Nursery at Brompton Park, England, and from that time it was known as Jeffrey's Duke. English pomologists maintain that Jeffrey renamed the old Cherry Duke of England, giving it his name. Jeffrey Duke appeared on the American Pomological Society's fruit catalog list in 1862 but was dropped in 1871. It is doubtful if the variety can now be found in America. The following description is compiled from the authors given in the references:

Tree large, vigorous, very upright, unusually compact, slow-growing, productive; branches very numerous, stocky, straight, thickly set with fruit-spurs; internodes short; branchlets very short; buds closely set; leaves numerous, medium in size, oval or obovate, acuminate; margin finely and irregularly serrate; petiole short, slender, with small, flattened or globose glands; blooming season late; flowers small, very open.

Fruit matures in mid-season, usually attached in pairs; medium in size, roundish, slightly flattened at the apex and base; suture a well-marked line; color lively red becoming dark red or almost black when fully ripe; stem slender, inserted in a moderately broad, deep cavity; skin thin; flesh firm but tender, yellowish-amber, with abundant colored juice, slightly stringy, highly flavored; good in quality; stone small, roundish, tinged with red.

KING AMARELLE

Prunus cerasus

1. Christ Wörterb. 293. 1802. 2. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 610-615. 1819. 3. Liegel Syst. Anleit. 174. 1825. 4. Ill. Handb. 533 fig., 534. 1861. 5. Lauche Deut. Pom. III: No. 23, Pl. 1882. 6. Am. Gard. 9:264. 1888. 7. Can. Exp. Farm Bul. 2nd Ser. 3:62. 1900. 8. Ia. Sta. Bul. 73:72. 1903. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.

King's Cherry. 10. Rea Flora 205. 1676.

King Amarelle is an old European cherry that has taken on new life in America. It is of the Early Richmond type, differing from this standard Amarelle in bearing fruit a little earlier, lighter in color and with a longer stem. The fault which all but condemns the variety as a commercial cherry is the small size of the fruit, the cherries running smaller than those of Early Richmond which, in its turn, is rather too small. The tree is very like that of Early Richmond—quite as vigorous and productive, the same in size and shape and, if anything, a little more hardy. The variety is told from afar in blossoming-time by the peculiar distribution of the flower-clusters, which are numerous and dense but always separated by several inches or a foot of bare wood. King Amarelle can never displace Early Richmond but might be tried where a somewhat hardier cherry is wanted or it might be planted as a substitute where the better-known sort fails.

This variety, of old and uncertain origin, sprang up in France about the same time as the Montmorencies and became confused with them. In both fruit and tree-characters, however, King Amarelle is very different from the Montmorencies, being more like Early May but ripening later and making a larger tree. The cultivation of King Amarelle never became extended in Europe because of the inferior quality of the fruit and poor tree-characters. Professor J. L. Budd brought the variety to America from Russia about 1883. The Royal Amarelle, grown on the Canadian Experiment Station grounds in 1900, is undoubtedly King Amarelle. The American Pomological Society placed it on its list of recommended fruits in 1909.

Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, open-topped, very productive; trunk roughish; branches rather slender, smooth, reddish-brown overlaid with dark ash-gray; branchlets slender, of medium length, with short internodes, brown partly covered with ash-gray, smooth, with numerous conspicuous, small, raised lenticels.

Leaves three and one-half inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward, obovate, somewhat glossy, thick; upper surface dark green, rugose; lower surface light green, with a few scattering hairs; apex acute, base abrupt; margin finely and doubly serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole one inch long, somewhat slender, lightly tinged with red, with a few hairs on the grooved upper surface and with from one to three small, globose, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the blade.

Buds small, short, obtuse, very free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in clusters on few, short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in dense clusters usually in threes; pedicels over one-half inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube with a tinge of red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes faintly tinged with red, acute, serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals somewhat obovate, entire, with an entire apex; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures early; three-fourths inch in diameter, roundish-oblate, compressed; cavity regular, somewhat abrupt; suture indistinct; apex roundish or flattened; color bright red; dots numerous, small, light russet, rather conspicuous; stem one inch long, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh pale yellow, with colorless juice, tender and melting, sprightly; fair to good in quality; stone free, ovate, somewhat flattened, pointed, with smooth surfaces, faintly tinged with red; ridged along the ventral suture.

KIRTLAND

Prunus avium

1. Am. Pom. Soc. Sp. Rpt. 22. 1904-05.

Kirtland's Mary. 2. Horticulturist 2:123, 124 fig. 21. 1847-48. 3. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 365. 1849. 4. Cole Am. Fr. Book 231. 1849. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 39. 1852. 6. Ibid. 235. 1854. 7. Elliott Fr. Book 198 fig. 1854. 8. Hooper W. Fr. Book 262, 263. 1857. 9. Mas Le Verger 8:55, 56, fig. 26. 1866-73.

Mary. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 69, 86, 87. 1866.

In the collection of cherries at this Station, Kirtland stands among the best of the Bigarreaus in quality of fruit—in fact is hardly surpassed in richness and delicacy of flavor. The fruit, too, as may be seen from the color-plate, is handsome, the cherries resembling the well-known Napoleon but being a little darker in color. The flesh is firm and meaty and stands handling well and also resists the brown-rot as well as any other cherry. With these splendid qualities of fruit, Kirtland would long ago have been one of the standard commercial cherries were its tree-characters better. Wherever tried, the complaint comes that the trees lack vigor and can be grown successfully only on choice cherry soils and under the best of care. With these faults the variety can be recommended only for home orchards and for local markets where there is demand for a very early Bigarreau, since this variety ripens before most other cherries of its kind.

Kirtland was grown in 1842 by Professor J. P. Kirtland of Cleveland, Ohio, and ranks foremost in quality and appearance of all the seedlings raised by this well-known cherry-breeder. The American Pomological Society, in 1852, mentioned this sort as deserving of further trial and, in 1854, listed it among the varieties of promising fruits. Elliott, in his Fruit Book, noted this cherry under the name Kirtland's Mary, in honor of Professor Kirtland's daughter, and classed it as a variety worthy of general cultivation. Hogg, in 1866, dropped the name Kirtland and listed it as Mary, while in the American Pomological Society's Special Report for 1905 it is called Kirtland. According to the rules of pomological nomenclature, Hogg was correct in holding the name Mary but, since there is another Mary and no worthy sort bearing the name of so eminent a horticulturist as Professor Kirtland, this Station follows the American Pomological Society in the use of Kirtland.

KIRTLAND

Tree small, rather weak, upright-spreading, open-topped, productive; trunk and branches slender, smooth; branches reddish-brown partly overspread with ash-gray, with numerous lenticels; branchlets thick, brown almost entirely overspread with ash-gray, smooth except for the longitudinal, conspicuous, raised lenticels.

Leaves five inches long, two and one-fourth inches wide, folded upward, elliptical to obovate, thin; upper surface medium green, somewhat glossy, smooth; lower surface light green, thinly pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt; margin doubly serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole one and three-fourths inches long, slender, tinged with red, lightly pubescent along the upper side, with two or three reniform, reddish glands on the stalk.

Buds pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds or on numerous, very short spurs in clusters variable in size; leaf-scars prominent; blooming in mid-season; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in dense clusters; pedicels one inch long, pubescent, reddish-green; calyx-tube tinged with red, light green within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes reddish, obtuse, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals roundish-oval, entire, with short, broad claws and a notched apex; filaments in four series, the longest one-half inch; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures in mid-season; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, cordate, compressed; cavity wide, flaring; suture a more or less distinct line; apex roundish or pointed, with a small depression at the center; color amber overspread with bright red; dots numerous, small, grayish, conspicuous; stem one and three-fourths inches long, adhering to the fruit; skin tough; flesh whitish, with colorless juice, tender, meaty, with a pleasant and refreshing flavor; very good to best in quality; stone free, small, roundish-ovate, with smooth surfaces; ridged along the ventral suture.

KNIGHT

Prunus avium

1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1909.

Knight's Early Black. 2. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 52. 1831. 3. Prince Pom. Man. 2:120. 1832. 4. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 52. 1848. 5. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde. 3:19. 1858. 6. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:83. 1866. 7. Mas Pom. Gen. 11:85, 86, fig. 43. 1882.

Knights Frühe Herzkirsche. 8. Ill. Handb. 3 fig., 4. 1867.

This old English variety has long been popular in America, where it is generally known as Knight's Early Black, this name having been shortened by the American Pomological Society to Knight. Possibly Knight is to be found in dooryards and home gardens in Eastern United States as often as any other Sweet Cherry with the exception of Black Tartarian. The characters which give it popularity are excellent quality, handsome appearance because of its glossy, dark purple color and uniformity in color, shape and size, and its earliness, it being the earliest good Sweet Cherry. Unfortunately, even in the best soil and under the most painstaking treatment, the cherries run small, a defect for American markets. The small size also leads to comparatively low yields even though the fruits are often borne in prodigious numbers. Knight, in size, color and flavor, is much like Black Tartarian but the cherries are smaller and ripen earlier. As the trees grow on the grounds of this Station they are about all that could be desired in a Sweet Cherry. The trees are characteristically marked by smooth bark which is dotted with large lenticels. There are now better sweet varieties than Knight for most purposes but still this old variety has too many merits, especially for home grounds, to be wholly forgotten.

Knight comes from a seed of May Duke crossed with Yellow Spanish by T. A. Knight, Downton Castle, Wiltshire, England, about 1810. The new variety sprang into prominence almost immediately, being mentioned by French, German and English writers. Knight is still one of the well-recognized sorts in Europe and America and has appeared continuously on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society since 1848. Mathieu has included several synonyms under this head which we question as we believe they belong to the Guigne Noir Hâtive, a distinct variety though very similar.

KNIGHT

Tree of medium size, upright-spreading, open-topped, very productive; trunk stocky, variable in smoothness; branches smooth, light reddish-brown nearly overspread with ash-gray, with small lenticels; branchlets thick, brown lightly covered with ash-gray, variable in smoothness, with small, raised, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaves numerous, five and one-half inches long, two and one-half inches wide, folded upward, obovate to long-oval, thin; upper surface dark green, rugose; lower surface light green, thinly pubescent; apex and base variable in shape; margin doubly serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole two inches long, slender, tinged with red, with a shallow groove and with few hairs, with two or three large, reniform, reddish glands, usually on the stalk.

Buds long, conical or pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in small clusters on spurs variable in length; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in dense clusters, usually in twos; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes lightly tinged with red, long, acute, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals oval, entire, deeply notched at the apex; filaments nearly one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures early; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, cordate to conical; cavity wide, rather abrupt; suture indistinct; apex flattened, with a small depression at the center; color dark reddish-black, obscurely mottled; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; stem slender, one and one-half inches long, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh dark red, with dark colored juice, tender, meaty, mild, sweet; of good quality; stone free except along the ventral suture, small, roundish-ovate, with smooth surfaces.

LAMBERT

Prunus avium

1. U. S. D. A. Pom. Rpt. 24. 1894. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 1899. 3. U. S. D. A. Yearbook 307-309, Pl. 31. 1907.

Nowhere else in America, possibly nowhere else in the world, can the Sweet Cherry be grown as well as in Oregon and Washington. From these States, more particularly Oregon, several meritorious cherries have been added to pomology. One of the best of these is Lambert, now a standard sort in its native State but still on probation in Eastern America. Lambert is a Bigarreau, a seedling of Napoleon by Black Heart, and a worthy rival of its parents in most respects and superior in some. In appearance, Lambert is more like its male than its female parent, having much the same shape and color, but it is larger, more rotund, smoother, clearer and brighter—one of the handsomest of the dark-colored Sweets. The flesh and flavor leave little to be desired; the flesh is purplish-red marbled with lighter red, firm, meaty and juicy, with a sweet, rich flavor that at the first taste one marks very good. The tree is strong, vigorous, healthy and usually fruitful and regular in bearing. The fruit sets in great, loose clusters—often a dozen or more cherries to the fruit-spur. The leaves are remarkably large and dark green, the foliage betokening the vigor of the variety. Lambert is well worthy thorough testing for either home or market wherever the Sweet Cherry can be grown.

Lambert originated as a seedling under a Napoleon tree which was planted by the late Henderson Lewelling80 about 1848 in the orchard of J. H. Lambert, Milwaukee, Oregon. This seedling, supposed to have been a cross between Napoleon and Black Heart, was grafted to May Duke and later transplanted. About 1880, the top died and a sprout from the seedling stock formed a new top. Mr. Lambert gave the new variety his name and in 1895 turned over his stock to the Oregon Horticultural Society with the exclusive right to propagate. The variety was placed on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society in 1899 where it still remains.

LAMBERT

Tree medium to large in size and vigor, upright-spreading, very productive; branches smooth, dull reddish-brown, with numerous small lenticels; branchlets thick, long, dark reddish-brown nearly covered with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with a few inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaves four and one-fourth inches long, two and one-half inches wide, folded upward, oval to obovate, thin; upper surface medium green, smooth; lower surface light green, lightly pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt; margin doubly serrate, glandular; petiole one and one-half inches long, dull red, glandless, or with from one to three rather small, globose, reddish glands on the stalk.

Buds large, pointed or conical, free, arranged singly as lateral buds or in small clusters on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate, short; flowers one and one-fourth inches across, white; borne usually in twos; pedicels three-fourths of an inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes long, broad, obtuse, finely serrate; petals roundish, entire, with short claws and with dentate apex; filaments one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures in mid-season; one inch in diameter, roundish-cordate, compressed; cavity rather deep, slightly flaring; suture shallow, often a mere line; apex roundish, depressed at the center; color very dark red changing to reddish-black; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; stem tinged with red, slender, one and one-fourth inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, adhering to the pulp; flesh dark red, with scant dark red juice, meaty, firm, pleasant flavored, sweet; of very good quality; stone clinging, large, wide, ovate, flattened, blunt, oblique, with smooth surfaces; prominently ridged along the ventral suture.

LARGE MONTMORENCY

Prunus cerasus

1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 22. 1885. 2. Ibid. 25. 1899. 3. Del. Sta. An. Rpt. 12:110, 114. 1900. 4. Am. Gard. 22:266, 267. 1901.

Flemish. 5. Bradley Gard. 211. 1739. 6. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 49. 1831. 7. Thompson Gard. Ass't 530. 1859.

Grosse Glaskirsche von Montmorency. 8. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 465-470. 1819. 8. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 3:54, 55. 1858. 10. Ill. Handb. 165 fig., 166. 1860.

Short Stem Montmorency. 11. Prince Pom. Man. 2:139, 140. 1832. 12. Ia. Sta. Bul. 73:75. 1903.

Grosser Gobet. 13. Ill. Handb. 543 fig., 544. 1861.

Montmorency. 14. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:195 fig. 54, 196, 197. 1866.

As its synonyms show, Large Montmorency has been grown under various names in Europe and America—a testimony to its merits. Were it not that the true Montmorency is so much more fruitful than this larger-fruited offshoot of the same race of Amarelle cherries, Large Montmorency would be a leading commercial Sour Cherry, for it is equal to the smaller-fruited strain in all other characters with the advantage of size. The relationship between this and the other Montmorencies is apparent but Large Montmorency is easily distinguished by several marked characters from the common Montmorency, known by all, with which it is most often confused. Its fruits are more often borne singly, are larger, have a shorter, thicker stem, are more oblate and ripen a little earlier. The trees are more upright, with stouter branches and are far less fruitful. The flesh-characters of the two kinds are much the same—excellent in both, the flavor being particularly refreshing to those who like the acidity of the Sour Cherry. Large Montmorency has been tried and found so wanting in productiveness that it can rarely be recommended as a commercial variety but it is much too good a fruit to be wholly lost and should be grown by connoisseurs who want a large, finely flavored Sour Cherry.

This variety has been much confused with other cherries, particularly Montmorency, Early Richmond and Short Stem Montmorency. Bradley, in 1739, mentioned a Flemish cherry which undoubtedly was the Large Montmorency of today, for the name Flemish has rather commonly been applied to this sort since Bradley's time. There is no doubt but that Large Montmorency sprang up about the same time as the true Montmorency, in the Montmorency Valley in France. It may have been a seedling of the Cerise Hâtive, afterwards known as Early Richmond, though some writers are of the opinion that the Montmorencies and Cerise Hâtive were all seedlings of the old Cerise Commune. At any rate, there have come to be at least three distinct types of Montmorency: the true Montmorency with long stems and moderate-sized fruit, called Montmorency à Longue Queue or, in America, Montmorency Ordinaire; the Large Montmorency with its large fruit and shorter, thicker stems, commonly known by the French and German writers as Montmorency à Gros Fruit, Gros Gobet, Grosse Glaskirsche von Montmorency and sometimes as Montmorency à Courte Queue; and the Short-Stem Montmorency, often called Montmorency à Courte Queue and sometimes Gros Gobet. Large Montmorency has often been sold for Montmorency, or for Early Richmond, hence the three varieties are more or less confused. Large Montmorency probably came to America about the same time as Montmorency and Early Richmond, early in the Nineteenth Century. In 1875, Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, New York, disseminated this sort quite extensively but later it proved too unproductive for commercial use. It was soon replaced by the true Montmorency but often the names were interchanged and large forms of the Montmorency were thought to be this variety. The unproductiveness of this cherry has been consistently mentioned by nearly every writer from Duhamel's time to the present. Large Montmorency was added to the American Pomological Society's catalog list of fruits in 1885 as Montmorency Large but in 1899 this name was changed to Large Montmorency.

LARGE MONTMORENCY

Tree rather large, vigorous, upright, vasiform, unproductive; trunk thick, roughened; branches stocky, nearly smooth, reddish-brown overspread with dark ash-gray, with numerous large, raised, conspicuous lenticels; branchlets thick, short, brown tinged with bronze, smooth except for the large, numerous yellowish, conspicuous, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three and one-half inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, broad-oval to obovate, thick, stiff; upper surface dark green, slightly rugose; apex acute, base variable in shape; margin serrate, glandular; petiole one inch long, tinged with dull red, glandless or with from one to three globose, yellow or brownish glands, usually at the base of the blade.

Buds usually pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in small clusters on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers white, one inch across; borne in scattering clusters, usually in threes; pedicels five-eighths inch long, glabrous, green; calyx-tube tinged with red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, long, broad, acute, serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals obovate, entire or slightly crenate, sessile, with a crenate apex; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to or longer than the stamens, often defective.

Fruit matures in mid-season; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, oblate, compressed; cavity wide, flaring; suture shallow; apex flattened or depressed; color dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, somewhat conspicuous; stem thick, one inch long, adhering fairly well to the fruit; skin thick, separating from the pulp; flesh whitish, showing distinctly the fibers in the pulp, with abundant colorless or slightly tinged juice, tender and melting, sprightly, pleasant flavored, tart; of very good quality; stone free, roundish, plump, with smooth surfaces, tinged with red.

LATE DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

1. Pom. Mag. 1:45, Pl. 1828. 2. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 48, 49, 55, 56. 1831. 3. Prince Pom. Man. 2:134, 135. 1832. 4. Hort. Reg. (Eng.) 1:257, fig. 1833. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 191 fig. 80. 1845. 6. Mag. Hort. 13:397 fig. 33, 398. 1847. 7. Gard. Chron. 556. 1848. 8. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:37, 38, Pl. 1851. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862.

Wahre Englische Kirsche. 10. Christ Handb. 682. 1797. 11. Christ Wörterb. 284. 1802. 12. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 405-410. 1819. 13. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 3:50. 1858. 14. Ill. Handb. 499 fig., 500. 1861.

Späte Herzogenkirsche. 15. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 434-437. 1819.

Anglaise Tardive. 16. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:179-181, fig. 48. 1866. 17. Mas Le Verger 8:67, 68, fig. 32. 1866-73.

Late Duke is a variant of the well-known May Duke, ripening from two weeks to a month later. The size, color, flavor and season of the fruit all commend it, as do the vigor, health and fruitfulness of the trees. The cherries are not quite as sweet as those of May Duke, a little more marbled in color of skin and ripen through a longer season. The trees are readily told from those of the earlier Duke, being more open and spreading, scanter of foliage, with slender branches and with fruit more thickly clustered along the branchlets. Ripening in a season when hybrid varieties are gone or rapidly going, Late Duke is a valuable acquisition in the home orchard and for nearby markets to which tender-fleshed varieties can be shipped. If those who want late cherries will plant this variety on a northern slope, against a northern wall or where in any way shaded or in a cool soil, these delicious cherries can be had until well toward August. The tree is hardy and its blossoming-time is late so that the variety is well adapted to northern latitudes.

The origin of this variety is unknown. In 1797, Christ mentions "a true English cherry" which is probably Late Duke. At least Oberdieck, in 1861, states that the true English cherry is identical with the Late Duke, or Anglaise Tardive. In 1823, Late Duke was introduced into England by the London Horticultural Society from M. Vilmorin, of Paris, under the name Anglaise Tardive. Though the French name of this variety seems to indicate an English origin, the old English writers were not aware of any cherry of this kind being in existence in England previous to its introduction by the Horticultural Society. Because of the close resemblance of Late Duke to May Duke it has often been confused with that sort and by some writers was supposed to be a late strain of May Duke. The American Pomological Society listed Late Duke in its fruit catalog in 1862.

LATE DUKE

Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, becoming spreading at maturity, open-topped, productive; trunk and branches slender; branches brown overlaid with dark ash-gray, with numerous small lenticels; branchlets slender, short, reddish-brown, with ash-gray scarf-skin, with numerous conspicuous, small, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, obovate, thick; upper surface very dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, with a few scattering hairs; apex abruptly pointed; margin doubly crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole one inch long, lightly tinged with red, grooved and somewhat hairy on the upper surface, glandless or with one or two small, reniform, greenish glands, usually at the base of the blade.

Buds small, short, obtuse or conical, plump, free, arranged singly and in clusters; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom late; flowers white, one inch across; borne in numerous, dense clusters, in twos, threes and fours; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish, campanulate; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, serrate, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, almost sessile; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures very late; one inch in diameter, blunt-cordate, somewhat compressed; cavity wide; suture shallow; color dark red; stem slender, one and one-half inches to two inches long, deeply inserted; flesh amber-colored, with abundant juice, tender, rich, sprightly subacid; stone semi-clinging, medium to large, roundish-ovate, compressed.

LATE KENTISH

Prunus cerasus

1. Downing Fr. Trees. Am. 197. 1845. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.

Kentish Red. 3. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 249. 1817.

Pie Cherry. 4. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 371. 1849.

Red Pie Cherry. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 103. 1852.

Kentish. 6. Elliott Fr. Book 217. 1854.

This old cherry served well the needs of Americans in colonial times when all cherries were grown from pits or suckers. Though but little improvement on the wild Prunus cerasus, the trees were so hardy, vigorous, healthy and productive that any who had a bit of spare land could have cherries. This, therefore, became preeminently the "pie cherry" of New England and the North Atlantic States. The trees are long-lived and even so late as a generation ago Downing says that this variety is "better known among us than any other acid cherry, especially abundant on the Hudson and near New York." The variety is never planted now, having long since been superseded by better sorts, Early Richmond and Montmorency in particular, but it is still to be found as old trees or self-sown near where a tree of the variety formerly stood.

Late Kentish and Early Richmond, the latter the Kentish of some authors, are much confused. Late Kentish is the old Pie Cherry of Colonial times. It is a seedling sort belonging to America, having been planted along fences and roadsides in the earliest times. This cherry is mentioned by the Pilgrims in 1620 and this and the May Duke were listed as market varieties in Massachusetts. Many believe it to be a seedling of Early Richmond, sometimes, as we have seen, called Kentish, but this variety being two weeks later, received the name Late Kentish. The name was put on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society in 1873. The following description is a compilation:

Tree small, bears annually, very productive, hardy.

Fruit matures about two weeks after Early Richmond; medium or below in size, roundish, flattened; stem one inch to one and one-half inches in length, stout, straight; color deep, lively red; flesh light colored, with abundant colorless juice, very tender, sour, remaining quite acid even when fully ripe; stone does not adhere to the stalk.

LITHAUER

Prunus cerasus

1. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 328. 1888. 2. Can. Exp. Farm Bul. 17:9. 1892. 3. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 245. 1894. 4. Del. Sta. An. Rpt. 12:128. 1900. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Sp. Rpt. 33. 1904-05. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.

It is barely possible that Lithauer, if the trees can be obtained, may have some value in the coldest and bleakest parts of New York where less hardy sorts cannot be grown. The variety is too poor in quality to be worth planting where the better but less hardy cherries will grow. We greatly doubt whether it is worthy a place in the recommended list of fruits of the American Pomological Society. It is included here only because of the prominence given it by a place in the fruit list named.

This is one of the varieties imported from Russia by Professor J. L. Budd of Iowa, who reported that it was much grown in southwest Russia for drying and in making cherry wine. As tested in various parts of this country Lithauer has proved of little value except in the extreme north. The American Pomological Society, in 1909, listed this sort in its catalog of recommended fruits for northern fruit regions. The following description is compiled:

Tree large, vigorous, tall, weeping, hardy.

Fruit matures from the middle to the last of July; small, roundish, slightly oblate; stem long, averaging one and one-half inches, slender; color dark purplish-red becoming almost black at maturity; skin thick, tough; flesh dark red, with reddish juice, firm, meaty, quite acid or bitter even when fully ripe; poor in quality; stone variable in size, roundish.

LOUIS PHILIPPE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

1. Elliott Fr. Book 218. 1854. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862. 3. Horticulturist 22:289, 290 fig. 1867. 4. Thomas Guide Prat. 26, 195. 1876. 5. Cult. & Count. Gent. 42:378. 1877. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.

Here again we have a very evident hybrid between some Sweet Cherry and a Sour Cherry of the Morello type in which Morello characters are most prominent. If the description and color-plates of this variety and Olivet be compared it will be found that the two cherries are nearly identical. They differ only in season of ripening and in minor tree-characters which may be best summarized by the statement that this cherry has in the tree more of the aspect of a Morello than has Olivet. It may be suspected that one or the other of the two varieties on our grounds is misnamed but the descriptions of all who have described the two show that they are very similar, if not identical. The history of Louis Philippe, long known in America but little or not at all known in Europe, throws some light on the question of its distinctness from Olivet, the origin of which is known, inasmuch as Louis Philippe seems to be the older of the two. The value of the two varieties to cherry-growers is the same and is indicated in the discussion of Olivet.

Elliott,82 the American pomologist, imported Louis Philippe from France in 1846 but the cherry does not seem to have been known at that time in Europe and it is possible that Elliott gave it its name. For the first few years the variety was not given the recognition it deserved but, in 1862, it was recognized by the American Pomological Society by a place on its list of recommended fruits which it still holds under the name, Philippe.

LOUIS PHILLIPE

Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped; trunk and branches intermediate in thickness; branches with numerous very large, elongated, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, four and one-half inches long, two and one-eighth inches wide, oval to obovate, thick, leathery; upper surface dark, shiny green, smooth; lower surface olive-green, with a large, prominent midrib; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate, with reddish-brown glands; petiole one inch long, usually with one or two large, globose, yellowish-red, glands, variable in position.

Flowers one and one-fourth inches across, white, well distributed, mostly in threes; pedicels one inch long, thick, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals slightly obovate, entire, broad, slightly notched at the apex; stamens one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal in length to the stamens.

Fruit matures in mid-season or later; nearly one inch in diameter, roundish-ovate; cavity abrupt; suture very shallow to a mere line; apex flattened, depressed; color very dark red; dots numerous, unusually small, obscure; stem one and one-fourth inches to one and one-half inches long, adhering well to the fruit; flesh light red, with much wine-colored juice, fine-grained, tender and melting, sour at first, becoming pleasantly tart at full maturity; good in quality; stone separates readily from the flesh, small, roundish-ovate, plump; ventral suture grooved; dorsal suture with a small ridge.

LUTOVKA

Prunus cerasus

1. Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 328. 1885. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 17. 1897. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Sp. Rpt. 32, 33. 1904-05. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.

Galopin. 5. Thomas Guide Prat. 21. 1876. 6. Kan. Sta. Bul. 73:189. 1897.

For a time Lutovka and Galopin were listed as two distinct varieties. Unquestionably they are the same despite the seeming difference in origin. All we know of Galopin is that it was said to have been originated by a nurseryman in Belgium whose name it bears. The Lutovka was introduced into this country by J. L. Budd of Iowa, in 1883, and, according to the introducer, was well known in Poland and Silesia as a roadside tree. Nothing is said of it in foreign literature. As was the case with many of Budd's importations, this variety did not stand the test of culture. It is a shy bearer and is now seldom recommended, although it was placed on the list of desirable fruits of the American Pomological Society in 1897 where it still remains. The variety has no value in New York. In 1895, this Station sent out buds which they had been led to believe were the Lutovka and which they later found to be Brusseler Braune. The following description is compiled:

Tree large, upright, slightly spreading; leaves large, ovate, leathery, produced from short spurs along the main branches.

Fruit ripens the forepart of July; medium to above in size, roundish-oblate; suture often a line, sometimes lacking; stem short, stout, set in a large, deep cavity; skin dark, clear red, thin, tough, translucent; flesh colorless, meaty, juicy, slightly acid; quality good; pit large, roundish, free.

LYONS

Prunus avium

Bigarreau de Lyon. 1. Mag. Hort. 16:358. 1850. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 61, 62 fig. 1854.

Bigarreau Jaboulay. 3. Hogg Fruit Man. 74. 1866. 4. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:100 fig. 20, 101. 1866. 5. Mas Le Verger 8:17, 18, fig. 7. 1866-73. 6. Pom. France 7: No. 16, Pl. 16. 1871. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:213 fig., 214. 1877. 8. Flor. & Pom. 117. 1878.

Early Lyons. 9. Flor. & Pom. 193, fig. 1. 1875. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 294, 295. 1884.

Early Jaboulay. 11. Hogg Fruit Man. 294. 1884.

Of the one hundred and twenty-five cherries tested on the grounds of this Station during the past ten years, Lyons is one of the best. Though grown for nearly a century in Europe it seems never to have been well tried in America probably because it has not been considered particularly valuable in the Old World. From its behavior at this Station it appears to deserve extensive trial as an extra early market cherry for dessert purposes, as it is one of the few tender-fleshed cherries that give promise of standing handling for distant markets. Though commonly classed as a hard-fleshed Bigarreau it is really an intermediate between the firm-of-flesh cherries and the soft-fleshed Hearts. In the tree it is a typical Bigarreau. Besides being one of the earliest of the Heart-like cherries it is one of the largest, handsomest and best flavored. Unfortunately, because of an accident, we cannot show a color-plate of this splendid cherry. On these grounds the tree-characters are about all that could be desired, though we are making allowance for a slight lack of productiveness in the young tree which is one of the faults commonly attributed to Lyons by European writers; however, all agree that the trees become fruitful with age. The blossoms of this variety are conspicuously large and showy, with pistils unusual in being longer than the stamens. The merits of Lyons have been so pronounced in the several years we have watched it that we feel quite warranted in recommending it for both home and commercial orchards.

About 1822, M. Jaboulay, a nurseryman at Oullins, near Lyons, France, grafted over a number of seedling cherries which had sprung up on his grounds. Five years later, having decided to dig out the trees, he was attracted by the superb growth made by one of them upon which the graft had not started and ordered the tree to be saved. This tree produced a full crop of exceedingly large and attractive fruit which matured far in advance of other varieties. Jaboulay decided to save all the grafts for propagation the succeeding year but found upon going to the tree the following spring that the wood had been stolen. About five years later M. Riviére, also a nurseryman at Oullins, placed upon the market at Lyons a very early cherry which he called Bigarreau Anglaise but which was recognized as the same as the one found by Jaboulay. Thus have come the several names given in the synonyms. Lyons has never been much grown in this country. Lewis B. Eaton of Buffalo, New York, in importing cherry trees from France in 1841 and 1842, found among them one without a label which turned out to be Bigarreau de Lyon, later the Lyons. Trees of this variety were received for testing at this Station from the United States Department of Agriculture under the name Hâtive de Lyons. These, as grown here, have proved identical in both tree and fruit characters with the many descriptions of Bigarreau Jaboulay, or Bigarreau de Lyon.

Tree vigorous, a rapid grower, upright-spreading; branches straggling, reddish-brown; branchlets thick, long, with long internodes, grayish-brown, with numerous rather large, conspicuous, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, variable in size, averaging five and one-half inches long, two and one-half inches wide, folded upward, long-elliptical to obovate, thin; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, with few hairs; apex distinctly elongated, base abrupt; margin coarsely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole often two inches long, thickish, pubescent on the upper surface, glandless or with from one to six large, reniform, reddish glands usually on the stalk.

Buds large, long, conical, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in small, scattering clusters; leaf-scars obscure; season of bloom intermediate; flowers large, often one and one-half inches across, white; borne in dense clusters, in twos and threes; pedicels one inch long, glabrous, green with a trace of red; calyx-tube distinctly reddish, somewhat obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes strongly tinged with red, broad, acute, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals obovate, entire, tapering to distinct but short claws; apex entire or with a shallow, wide notch; filaments five-sixteenths of an inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to or longer than the stamens.

Fruit matures early; one inch in diameter, cordate, compressed; cavity flaring; suture shallow, or a mere line, often extending around the fruit; apex roundish or pointed; color very dark red; dots numerous, small, russet; stem thick, one and one-half inches long; skin thin, rather tender, separating from the pulp; flesh reddish, with dark colored juice, meaty, sprightly, sweet; of very good quality; stone semi-clinging, large, ovate, plump, with smooth surfaces; ridged along the ventral suture.

MAGNIFIQUE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.

Belle et Magnifique. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 279, 280. 1832. 3. Ibid. 239. 1841.

Belle Magnifique. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 193. 1845. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 54. 1852. 6. Elliott Fr. Book 191. 1854. 7. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 272. 1857. 8. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 82 fig., 83. 1904.

Belle de Magnifique. 9. Ann. Pom. Belge 1:61, fig. 1. 1853. 10. Pom. France 7: No. 19, Pl. 19. 1871.

Belle de Chatenay. 11. Ill. Handb. 179 fig., 180. 1860. 12. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:175-178, fig. 48. 1866. 12. Mas Le Verger 8:57, 58, fig. 27. 1866-73. 13. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 334, 343. 1889. 14. Guide Prat. 9, 181. 1895.

This good, old cherry has never been considered a commercial fruit in the United States; yet it is, and has been, surprisingly popular with nurserymen, most of whom for nearly a century have offered it for sale. A generation ago, when American fruit-growing was in the hands of connoisseurs, Magnifique was more popular than now. It has failed as a commercial cherry because the crop ripens very unevenly, there being sometimes green and fully ripe cherries on the tree at the same time, though the season is usually given as very late. This is one of the lightest in color of the hybrid Dukes, the Sour Cherry parent very evidently having been an Amarelle—a conclusion to which both fruit and tree point. The quality is usually counted as very good though it is too acid to be a first-rate dessert cherry for some. The trees are very vigorous and usually are fruitful. Magnifique has been grown so long that its place in the orchard would seem to have been fixed by experience; yet it might be made more than a cherry for the home orchard if some commercial grower would plant it in a shaded place and a cool soil and thereby retard ripening time until other cherries were gone.

This valuable cherry was brought to notice in 1795 by Chatenay, surnamed Magnifique, a nurseryman near Paris. It seems, at first, to have been quite commonly called Belle de Chatenay but Belle de Magnifique became the commoner appellation ending in America at least with the universal name "Belle Magnifique." The variety was introduced into America from France sometime before 1830, by General H. A. S. Dearborn, Boston, Massachusetts, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The cherry is typically a Duke sort and is so listed by most writers, though Downing in 1845 placed it with the Morello cherries. Magnifique was placed upon the fruit list of the American Pomological Society in 1852 where it has since remained.

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense, productive; trunk and branches stocky, brown overlaid with dark gray; branchlets with many, small conspicuous lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three and one-half inches long, two inches wide, obovate to oval, thickish; upper surface dark green, slightly rugose; lower surface finely pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base variable in shape; margin finely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole one inch long, tinged with dull red, grooved on the upper surface and with a few hairs, glandless or with one or two small, reniform, greenish glands usually at the base of the leaf.

Buds obtuse or conical, plump, free, arranged as lateral buds or in rather dense clusters on short spurs; leaf-scars obscure; season of bloom late; flowers white, one inch across, wide open; borne in dense clusters on short spurs, usually in threes or fours; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, light green; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes broadly and shallowly dentate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals obovate, entire, with very short claws, indented at the apex; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures late; nearly one inch in diameter, cordate; cavity rather deep; suture very shallow; color pale red changing to bright red; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; stem one and one-fourth inches long; skin thick, tough, adherent to the pulp; flesh whitish, with abundant colorless juice, fine-grained, meaty but tender, pleasantly tart, sprightly; very good in quality; stone free, small, oval, plump, slightly pointed, with smooth surfaces; slightly notched near the base of the ventral suture.

MAY DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

1. Bradley Gard. 211. 1739. 2. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 1:194. 1768. 3. Prince Pom. Man. 2:133, 134. 1832. 4. Gard. Chron. 57. 1843. 5. Cultivator N. S. 2:319 fig. 93. 1845. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 191, 192 fig. 81. 1845. 7. Bridgeman Gard. Ass't Pt. 3: 53, 54. 1847. 8. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 52. 1848. 9. Elliott Fr. Book 211. 1854. 10. McIntosh Bk. Gard. 2:542, 543. 1855. 11. Mas Le Verger 8:133, 134, fig. 65. 1866-73. 12. Hogg Fruit Man. 305, 306. 1884. 13. Guide Prat. 8, 195, 196. 1895.

Duke Cherry. 14. Ray Hist. Plant. 2:1540. 1688.

May Cherry. 15. Miller Gard. Dict. 1:1754. 16. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:138-140, fig. 33. 1866.

Rothe Maikirsche. 17. Christ Handb. 669. 1797. 18. Christ Wörterb. 282. 1802. 19. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 377-389. 1819. 20. Ill. Handb. 151 fig., 152. 1860. 21. Mas Le Verger 8:135, 136, fig. 66. 1866-73. 22. Lauche Deut. Pom. III: No. 16, Pl. 1882. 23. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 374. 1889.

Royale Hâtive. 24. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 2: Nos. 23, 24, Pl. 1846. 25. Pom. France 7: No. 4, Pl. 4. 1871. 26. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:389 fig., 390, 391. 1877.

Royale Cherry Duke. 27. Mas Pom. Gen. 11:127, 128, fig. 64. 1882.

Esel Kirsche. 28. Ohio Hort. Soc. Rpt. 22. 1892-93.

Anglaise Hâtive. 29. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 78 fig., 79. 1904.

May Duke is one of the oldest and, the world over, one of the most popular cherries. There are several reasons why it has attained and holds its popularity. It is finely flavored, especially when prepared for the table, and even before ripe; it is also delicious to eat out of hand if the cherries are dead ripe, when it is one of the best of the subacid cherries; while one of the earliest of its class, it may be left to hang for a month or six weeks, becoming daily sweeter and more aromatic; few or no cherries thrive in greater variations of soil and climates, this fact accounting in greatest measure for its world-wide distribution in temperate regions; despite its tender flesh, it ships well though it is grown only for local markets since its long period of ripening makes necessary several pickings—a fatal defect for a canning cherry or one for the general trade; lastly, the trees are as fruitful as any, and are hardy, vigorous and healthy. The fruit is remarkably well distributed in dense clusters on trees characteristically upright and vasiform and bearing a heavy canopy of dark green, luxuriant foliage. May Duke fills a particular place in the cherry orchard as a fruit for the local market and hundreds of new-comers have not been able to supplant it. The fact that it has lost none of its pristine vigor, health and productiveness in the two hundred and more years it has been known contradicts the idea that varieties of fruit degenerate or wear out with age. When we pass in review all of the varieties of cherries, all characters and purposes considered, May Duke remains one of the best.

This variety seems to have been first mentioned by Ray in 1688. May Duke is supposed by some English writers to have originated in a district in France known as Médoc and the name to have been derived from the place. When this cherry first received attention, the old style of reckoning time was in vogue and the 11th of June was the last day of May. It may, therefore, be presumed that the variety derived its name from its season of ripening rather than from a corruption of Médoc. A few years ago Professor J. L. Budd of Iowa imported from Russia several cherries among which was one called Esel Kirsche. Later this cherry was distributed by the United States Department of Agriculture. As grown on the grounds of this Station, Esel Kirsche has proved to be May Duke. In Ohio the two could not be distinguished and with this evidence we have listed Esel Kirsche as a synonym of May Duke. In 1832, William Prince mentioned May Duke as being among the first of the cherries introduced to America from Europe. From the references to this variety in the horticultural literature and in the nursery catalogs throughout the United States we may say that it is one of the most widely distributed and best-known cherries in the country. The American Pomological Society placed May Duke on its fruit catalog list in 1848.

MAY DUKE

Tree large, upright becoming somewhat vasiform and spreading with age, open-topped, very productive; trunk of medium thickness, somewhat shaggy; branches smooth or roughish, reddish-brown partly covered with ash-gray, with numerous lenticels variable in size; branchlets short, brown partly covered with light gray, smooth, with small, inconspicuous, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three and one-half inches long, two inches wide, folded upward, obovate; upper surface very dark green, rugose; lower surface thinly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base acute; margin finely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole one inch long, slender, tinged with red, grooved, glandless or with one or two small, globose, brownish glands, usually at the base of the blade.

Buds obtuse, plump, free, in large clusters on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in dense clusters, in twos and threes; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube with a tinge of red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, rather long, narrow, acuminate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals broad-oval, entire, nearly sessile; apex crenate; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures early, although variable in habit; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, cordate to conical, compressed; cavity abrupt, regular; suture indistinct; apex roundish, with a small depression at the center; color light changing to dark red at full maturity; dots numerous, russet, obscure; stem slender, one and one-half inches long, adhering strongly to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh medium to dark red, with pinkish juice, tender and melting, sprightly subacid, pleasant flavored; of very good quality; stone nearly free, small, roundish to elliptical, with smooth surfaces; slightly ridged along the ventral suture.

MERCER

Prunus avium

1. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 262, Pl. 5. 1892. 2. Am. Gard. 14:39 fig. 1893. 3. Can. Hort. 17:322 fig. 693. 1894. 4. Black & Son Cat. 22 fig. 1909.

This comparatively new Bigarreau is on probation in many parts of the State and country, otherwise we should not give it prominence in The Cherries of New York, as the variety is all but worthless as it grows on the grounds of this Station. The trees are not sufficiently fruitful, the cherries are too small, the flavor in none too good and the fruit is not at all resistant to brown-rot—four fatal defects for a commercial cherry.

This variety is reported to have sprung from a pit of a Mazzard tree and was introduced several years ago by Black & Son of Hightstown, New Jersey. The name, Mercer, after the county in New Jersey from which it was introduced, was given the cherry by H. E. Van Deman, then United States Pomologist.

Tree vigorous, healthy, not always productive; branches long, grayish-brown, smooth, with a few small, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaves numerous, four and one-half inches long, two and one-fourth inches wide, folded upward, long-oval, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, pubescent, grooved along the midrib; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt; margin coarsely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole one and one-half inches long, tinged with dull red, thick, with from two to five very large, reniform, reddish glands, variable in position.

Buds of medium size and length, conical, plump, free; leaf-scars rather prominent; season of bloom early; flowers one and one-fourth inches across, in scattering clusters in twos and threes; pedicels three-fourths inch long, glabrous; calyx-tube green or faintly tinged red, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes greenish streaked with red along the edges, long, obtuse, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals broad-oval, entire, slightly indented at the apex, tapering to short, blunt claws; filaments one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures in mid-season; small, cordate to blunt-conic, compressed; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture an indistinct line; apex flattened or depressed; color black; dots small, numerous, obscure; stem slender, one and one-fourth inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, rather tender; flesh reddish, with dark colored juice, tender, meaty, crisp, aromatic, mild flavored, sweet; fair to good in quality; stone free or semi-clinging, variable in size, ovate, flattened, blunt-pointed, with smooth surfaces, tinged with red.

MEZEL

Prunus avium

1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1909.

Bigarreau Monstrueux. 2. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 46. 1831.

Bigarreau of Mezel. 3. Horticulturist 1:475 fig., 476. 1846-47. 4. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:107 fig., 108. 1866. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 454. 1869. 6. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:218 fig., 219. 1877.

Great Bigarreau. 7. Horticulturist 6:20 fig., 21. 1851. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 253. 1857.

Monstreuse de Mezel. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862.

Schwarze Knorpel von Mezel. 10. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 377. 1889.

Mezel seems to have made a stir in pomological circles in the middle of the Nineteenth Century by reason of the great size and beautiful appearance of the cherries. Though on the recommended list of the American Pomological Society and frequently spoken of in the pomological works of the day and offered by some nurserymen, we have not been able to find many trees of this variety now growing in New York. We glean from the literature that Mezel pleased the eye more than the palate and that the trees, while vigorous and healthy, were not productive. At any rate after a decade or two of much advertising and what would seem to have been a very thorough trial, Mezel failed to receive very general approbation from cherry-growers and has now almost passed from cultivation. Contrary to the general behavior of the variety in New York, the tree and fruit from which the accompanying description was made have so many merits that one can well wish that the variety will not wholly pass out of cultivation.

This variety was found at Mezel, Puy-de-Dôme, France, by M. Ligier sometime prior to 1846 when it was brought to notice. Even so, it had grown in a vineyard at that place for thirty years and was only made public after an excursion of several members of a horticultural society to the vineyard. It was immediately heralded as a coming variety and grafts were distributed. Great Bigarreau, which made its appearance a few years later, is here included as a synonym though many writers list it as a distinct sort. Bigarreau Monstrueux, first listed in the London Horticultural Society catalog for 1831, is held by many pomologists to be identical with Mezel which, if true, casts some doubt on the generally accepted history of the variety. Mezel appeared on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society in 1862 but was discarded in 1869; it was replaced in 1883 and is still on the list though it is scarcely known in any part of the United States.

MEZEL

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, variable in productiveness; trunk stocky, nearly smooth; branches thick, smooth, reddish-brown partly overspread with dark ash-gray, with lenticels medium in number and size; branchlets of average thickness, variable in length, with internodes of medium length, brown partly covered with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with small, inconspicuous, raised lenticels medium in number.

Leaves numerous, five inches long, often two and one-half inches wide, long-oval, thin; upper surface dark green, strongly rugose giving a crumpled appearance; lower surface dull, light green, with slight pubescence; apex varies from abrupt to taper-pointed, base abrupt; margin glandular, coarsely serrate; petiole long, averaging one and one-half inches, slender, tinged with red, with from one to four reniform glands of medium size on the petiole.

Buds intermediate in size and length, plump, pointed, arranged singly as lateral buds or in clusters of various sizes on both long and short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers one and seven-sixteenths inches across, well distributed in scattering clusters in twos and threes; pedicels one and one-eighth inches long, medium in thickness, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube with a slight tinge of red, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes long, medium in width, acute, slightly serrate, glabrous within and without; petals somewhat obovate, crenate, nearly sessile, with a very shallow notch at the apex; anthers yellow; filaments shorter than the petals; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens, often defective.

Fruit matures in mid-season; large, seven-eighths inch long, thirteen-sixteenths inch wide, cordate, compressed, the surface markedly irregular and broken into ridges; cavity very deep, wide, irregular, abrupt; suture variable, shallow to very deep and wide and at times double; apex blunt-pointed, usually not depressed; color attractive purplish-black; dots numerous, very small, somewhat russet, obscure; stem medium in thickness, long, averaging two and one-eighth inches, adheres well to the fruit; skin medium in thickness, rather tender but not inclined to crack, adheres slightly to the pulp; flesh purplish-red, with abundant dark red juice, tender, meaty, mild, very pleasant, sweet; very good to best in quality; stone clinging, large, strongly ovate, with slightly roughish surface.

MONTMORENCY

Prunus cerasus

1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 1:181, 182. 1768. 2. Kraft Pom. Aust. 1:6, Tab. 15 fig. 1. 1792. 3. Christ Wörterb. 292. 1802. 4. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 656, 657, 691. 1819. 5. Kenrick Am. Orch. 281. 1832. 6. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 2: No. 14, Pl. 1846. 7. Mas Le Verger 8:53, 54, fig. 25. 1866-73. 8. Pom. France 7: No. 3, Pl. 3. 1871. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 5:361, 362 fig., 363, 364. 1877. 10. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 369. 1889. 11. Guide Prat. 9, 196. 1895. 12. Del. Sta. An. Rpt. 12:112 fig. 4, 113, 114. 1900. 13. Am. Gard. 22:266, 267. 1901. 14. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909.