The Cherries Of New York - free ebook by U. P. Hedrick

THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK BY U. P. HEDRICK

ASSISTED BY Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1914 II ALBANY J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS 1915...

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NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,

Geneva, N. Y. , January 12, 1915 To the Honorable Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station : Gentlemen :—I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript copy for Part II of the 33d Annual Report of this Station. This contribution is the fourth monograph on the fruits of New York State, prepared under your direction by the Horticulturist of this institution and his associates. The cherry, which this manuscript discusses, is undoubtedly most widely grown of the tree-fr

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PREFACE

This is the fourth of the monographs on the fruits of temperate North America published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The nature and purposes of these treatises have been set forth in the prefaces of preceding volumes, but a summary of the purposes, with needed emphasis on several, is given for the convenience of all readers and the enlightenment of those who may not have the first three books. The Cherries of New York contains an historical account of cultivated cherries, the

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CHERRIES AND THEIR KINDRED

The genus Prunus plays a very important part in horticulture. It furnishes, in temperate climates, the stone-fruits, plants of ancient and modern agriculture of which there are a score or more commonly cultivated and at least as many more sparingly grown for their edible fruits. Of these stone-fruits the species of cherries rank with those of the plum and the peach in commercial importance while the several botanical groups of the apricot and almond are less important, but hardly less well-known

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DISTRIBUTION OF CULTIVATED CHERRIES

The cherry is one of the most commonly cultivated of all fruits and the many varieties of its several forms encircle the globe in the North Temperate Zone and are being rapidly disseminated throughout the temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere. For centuries it has been, as we shall see in the history of the species, one of the most valuable fruit-producing trees of Europe and Asia—an inhabitant of nearly every orchard and garden as well as a common roadside tree in temperate climates in bot

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USES OF THE CHERRY

The cherry is a delectable early-summer fruit, especially grateful as a refreshing dessert and much valued in cookery, when fresh, canned, preserved or dried, for the making of pies, tarts, sauces and confections. During the last few years, in America at least, the consumption of cherries has been enormously increased by the fashion of adding preserved cherries, as much for ornament as to give flavor, to many drinks and ices. The great bulk of the cherry crop now grown in America for commercial

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LITERATURE OF THE CHERRY

Despite the important part they have played in orcharding since the domestication of fruits in temperate zones, as shown by their history and their present popularity, pomological writers have singularly neglected cherries. There are relatively few European books devoted to them and in America, while there are treatises on all others of the common tree-fruits, the cherry alone seems not to have inspired some pomologist to print a book. Neither are the discussions in general pomologies as full an

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AMELIORATION OF THE CHERRY

The amelioration of the cherry has been in progress almost since the dawn of civilization, yet few men have directed their efforts toward the improvement of this fruit. The histories of the varieties described in The Cherries of New York show that nearly all of them have come from chance seedlings. Possibly there has been little interest in improving cherries because this fruit is comparatively immutable in its characters. In spite of the fact that there are a great number of varieties, 1,145 be

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TREE AND FRUIT CHARACTERS OF THE CHERRY

Species of cherries have very characteristic trees. The merest glance at the tree enables one to tell the Sweet Cherry, Prunus avium , from the Sour Cherry, Prunus cerasus . The first named is the larger of the two, especially reaching a greater height, is pyramidal in shape, with branches erect and bearing much less foliage than the Sour Cherry. The Sweet Cherry often lives for a century or more—the Sour Cherry attains but the three score years and ten of man. Prunus cerasus is easily distingui

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A CLASSIFICATION OF CULTIVATED CHERRIES

The genus Prunus is variously delimited and divided by systematic botanists. A simple, and from a horticultural point of view, a very satisfactory classification, is to put almonds and peaches in one sub-genus (Amygdalus), cherries in a second (Cerasus), plums and apricots in a third (Euprunus), and to place the racemose cherries and cherry-laurels, usually considered in Prunus, in another genus, Padus. In this division of Prunus into three sub-genera we may assign to each the following characte

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PRUNUS CERASUS Linnaeus.

PRUNUS CERASUS (AMARELLE GROUP) Tree low, reaching a height of twenty to thirty feet, diffuse, open-headed, round-topped or spreading, often without a central leader; trunk at maturity a foot in diameter; bark reddish-brown overlaid with ashy-gray, smooth or sometimes roughened; branches spreading, slender and more or less drooping; branchlets slender and willowy, glabrous, reddish-brown becoming darker and overspread with ashy-gray; lenticels small, numerous, conspicuous, raised. Leaves resinou

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PRUNUS AVIUM Linnaeus.

PRUNUS AVIUM (YELLOW SPANISH) PRUNUS AVIUM (DOUBLE FLOWERING) Tree reaching a height of thirty to forty feet, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, semi-hardy, usually with a central leader; trunk a foot or more in diameter roughened; branches rather stocky, smooth, dull ash-gray, with few small lenticels; branchlets thick, long, with long internodes, grayish-brown, smooth, with small, inconspicuous lenticels. Leaves resinous at opening, more or less drooping, numerous, four to six inches lo

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PRUNUS AVIUM × PRUNUS CERASUS

The Duke cherries, long placed by most pomologists and botanists in a botanical variety of Prunus avium , are unquestionably hybrids between the Sweet Cherry and the Sour Cherry. A study of the characters of the varieties of the Duke cherries shows all gradations between Prunus cerasus and Prunus avium , though, in the main, they resemble the latter more than the former, differing from the Sweet Cherries most noticeably in having an acid flesh. Sterility is a common attribute of hybridism. In th

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PRUNUS MAHALEB Linnaeus.

Tree small, slender, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped; branches roughened, ash-gray over reddish-brown; branchlets numerous, slender and firm-wooded, with short internodes, dull gray, glabrous, with very numerous large, raised lenticels. Leaves numerous, an inch in length, one and one-fourth inches wide, ovate to obovate, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, glossy, smooth; lower surface light green, slightly pubescent along the midrib; apex and base abrupt; margin finely crenate,

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PRUNUS TOMENTOSA Thunberg.

PRUNUS TOMENTOSA A dwarfish, bush-like plant attaining a height of ten or twelve feet, vigorous, dense-topped, hardy; trunk and branches stocky; branches smooth, grayish-brown; branchlets many, of medium thickness and length, thickly overspread with short pubescence, with short internodes, roughish, with a few large, raised lenticels near the base. Leaves numerous, two and one-eighth inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward or flattened, broad-oval to obovate, velvety; upper surf

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PRUNUS PUMILA Linnaeus.

Plant a small shrub, five to eight feet in height, willow-like habit, weak, upright when young but becoming decumbent, slow-growing, hardy; trunk slender, smooth except for the raised lenticels; branches slender, smooth, twiggy, very dark, dull reddish-black with a tinge of gray; lenticels numerous, small, conspicuous; branchlets very slender, short, twiggy, with short internodes, dull grayish-brown, glabrous, with conspicuous, very small, raised lenticels. Leaves hanging late in the season, sma

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PRUNUS CUNEATA Rafinesque.

Prunus cuneata , sometimes called the Appalachian cherry, is not growing at this Station but is described in the references given as very similar to the Sand Cherry, differing in the following respects: The plant is dwarfer but is more erect never having prostrate branches; the branches are smoother and lighter colored; the leaves are shorter, more oval, more obtuse, thinner, less conspicuously veined, teeth fewer and the points more appressed; the flowers are larger, petals broader and are born

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PRUNUS BESSEYI Bailey.

Plant a small shrub, spreading or diffuse, one to four feet in height, open-centered, slow-growing, hardy; trunk slender, smooth; branches slender, smooth, very dark brownish-black, with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, short, with short internodes, dull grayish-brown becoming almost black, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, small, raised lenticels. Leaves hanging late, numerous, small, two and three-eighths inches long, one inch wide, thick, stiff, slightly folded upward or nearly flat;

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MINOR SPECIES

Besides these well-recognized species of cultivated cherries there are several others that play a much less conspicuous part in horticulture. Prunus fruticosa Pallas, the Dwarf Cherry of Europe, is much cultivated, more especially its botanical variety pendula , as an ornamental and somewhat for its fruit. According to Wilson, 11 Prunus involucrata Koehne is grown for its fruit in the gardens of China; the fruits, he says, are "small and lacking in flavour." The fruits of Prunus emarginata Walpe

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THE ANCIENT USE OF CHERRIES

History casts no direct light upon the period when the cherry first came under cultivation. Undoubtedly primitive men in all parts of the North Temperate Zone enlivened their scanty fruit fare with wild cherries. Cultivated cherries, we know, had their origin in the Old World. But history tells us nothing of the period when Europe and Asia were unbroken forests inhabitated by savages who eked out a precarious subsistence by the pursuit of the chase and from meagre harvests of wild grains, fruits

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THE ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED CHERRIES

Prunus cerasus , of which the Montmorency is the commonest representative in America, is now to be found wild wherever Sour Cherries are much grown, for it is a favorite food of many birds which quickly scatter its seeds from centers of cultivation. Nearly all of the botanies of temperate regions in which agriculture is carried on name this cherry as an escape from cultivation into woods and hedgerows and along roadsides. The Sour Cherry, then, is now to be found truly wild in many parts of seve

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THE CHERRY IN GREECE; THE FIRST RECORD OF CULTURE AND THE NAME

Having established the habitats of the two cultivated cherries we may next ask when and where their cultivation began. The domestication of plants probably began in China—certainly Chinese agriculture long antedates that of any other nation now in existence of which we have records. Agriculture in China, historians roughly approximate, goes back 4,000 years. But while the Chinese have many other species of cherry, as we have seen, some of which may be said to be partially domesticated, Prunus ce

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THE SWEET CHERRY POSSIBLY THE PARENT OF THE SOUR CHERRY

A digression may be permitted here to state a hypothesis suggested by De Candolle 15 which should interest both fruit-growers and plant-breeders. De Candolle, while considering the two species of cultivated cherries to be now quite distinct, suggests that, since they differ essentially but little in their characters and since their original habitats were in the same region, it is probable that one species came from the other. He surmises, since Prunus avium is the commoner in the original home,

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THE CHERRY IN ITALY

Pliny attempts to give the first full account of cultivated cherries and, even though among his statements are several inaccuracies, yet he may be said to have made a very good beginning of a flora of cultivated cherries for he names and describes ten varieties. The fact that there were as many as ten cherries in Italy at the time Pliny wrote, less than a century after the return of Lucullus from Pontus, is strong evidence that the cherry in Italy antedates Lucullus. Besides, it is hardly probab

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CHERRIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Pliny mentions the cherry as growing in several countries and, by reading between lines, we may assume that cultivated cherries were distributed throughout all parts of Europe where agriculture was practiced, by Christ's time or shortly thereafter. Pliny speaks of the cherry in some connection with England, Germany, Belgium and Portugal. Surely we may assume that the cherry was being grown at the same time in at least the countries in Europe which are between or border on those named. But from P

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CHERRIES IN ENGLAND

Cultivated cherries came to England with the Romans. Prunus avium is indigenous in Great Britain but probably no care worthy the name cultivation was given these wild trees by the ancient Britons. Pliny states that the cherry was carried from Rome to Britain before the middle of the First Century—meaning probably some improved variety. In no part of the world does the cherry take more kindly to the soil than in England and no doubt this fruit became firmly established in Kent, where the Romans s

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CHERRIES IN AMERICA

The cherry was one of the first fruits planted in the fields cleared and enriched by our hardy American ancestry. From Canada to Florida the colonists, though of several nationalities and those from one nation often representing several quite distinct classes, were forced alike to turn at once to the cultivation of the soil as a means of subsistence. And while in all of the colonies the early settlers must have been busily engaged in the cultivation of cereals for the staff of life, in the South

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CHERRIES PLANTED BY THE FRENCH IN AMERICA

While written records are lacking, the plantations of old trees and the development of cherry culture indicate that the French early planted cherries in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and in the early settlements on the St. Lawrence River. The cherry is a favorite fruit of the French and the venerable trees that survived on the sites of their settlements when the English came into possession of Canada are proof sufficient that the émigrés from Provence or Normandy, fruit district

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CHERRIES IN NEW ENGLAND

The cherry came to New England with the first settlers. This we are told in all the records of early New England in which the conditions of the country are described and of it we have confirmatory proof in many enormous cherry trees, Sweet and Sour, both about ancient habitations and as escapes from cultivation in woods, fields and fence rows, all pointing to the early cultivation of this fruit. The early records are very specific. Thus, to quote a few out of an embarrassment of references: Fran

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CHERRIES IN NEW YORK

Though settled at about the same time and having a more congenial climate, New York made progress in fruit-growing more slowly than Massachusetts. The early Dutch settlers in New York were transient traders and not home makers. Actual settlement with homes in view did not begin until after the historical bargain in which thrifty Peter Minuit had acquired Manhattan Island for $24.00 and the country became New Amsterdam. But troublesome times followed under the rule of Minuit, Wouter Van Twiller a

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CHERRIES IN THE SOUTH

It would be interesting but hardly of sufficient profit to trace further the history of cultivated cherries in the states of the Atlantic seaboard. References to the cherry abound in the colonial records of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware but they bring out no facts differing materially from those abstracted from the records of the northern colonies. The Quakers and the Swedes in the states watered by the Delaware and the English in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, all early grew che

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CHERRIES IN THE MIDDLE WEST

At a surprisingly early date the cherry, with the apple, peach, pear and plum, was being grown far inland in the New World. Southeastern Michigan was settled in 1701 at Detroit and within a half-century settlements had been made at Vincennes, Indiana; Kaskaskia and Cahokia, Illinois; and at Saint Louis and several other points in Missouri. The orchards and gardens of the early French settlers in these states live in the traditions of all the settlements; but much more substantial evidence was to

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CHERRIES ON THE PACIFIC COAST

The history of the cherry in America is not complete without some mention of its introduction, culture and the development of new varieties on the Pacific coast. Indeed, it is not too much to say that at no time nor at any place in its whole history has the cherry made greater advancement than during the last half-century in Oregon, California and Washington—naming the states in order of their contribution to cherry culture. At about the time the colonies were beginning their struggle with the m

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STOCKS FOR CHERRIES

Cherries have been grown in America for over 200 years and for 50 years the crop has been important commercially. Yet despite the extent and the importance of the industry and the years it has been in existence, curiously enough so fundamental a question as the best stock upon which to grow cherries has not yet been settled; indeed, though cherries behave markedly different on the several stocks, interest as to which is the best seems but recently to have been aroused. Now there is a rather warm

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CHERRY CLIMATES AND CHERRY SOILS

Climate and soil have been the chief determinants of location for cherry-growing in New York. Both Sweet Cherries and Sour Cherries are profoundly influenced by the natural environment in which they are grown—Sweet Cherries rather more so than any other fruit, either climate or soil dictating whether they may or may not be grown. The Sour Cherry is at home in a great variety of climates, the vagaries of weather affecting it but little. It is probably the hardiest to cold, in some of its varietie

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THE POLLINATION OF CHERRIES

We cannot complain in New York of much uncertainty in the setting of the cherry crop. Late spring frosts occasionally catch the blossoms of Sweet varieties but seldom those of the Sour sorts. Cold weather, especially if accompanied by wet weather, not unfrequently cuts short the cherry crop by preventing proper setting. There is, however, no general complaint of poor crops through self-sterility. In fact from the behavior of perfectly isolated trees in all parts of the State it would be premised

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CHERRY ORCHARDS AND THEIR CARE

It is patent to the eye of every passer-by that cherry trees are commonly set too thickly in most of the orchards in New York. While close planting is a universal fault, the amount of room differs greatly in different cherry centers, depending mostly upon the custom in the community, though, as all confess, it should depend upon the variety and the soil. The very erroneous notion seems to have prevailed in setting the plantations now reaching maturity that a large return could be skimmed from a

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THE COMMERCIAL STATUS OF CHERRY-GROWING IN NEW YORK

Cherry growing is a specialist's business in which, under the best of conditions, there are more ups and downs than with other fruits. Because of the great profits that have come to a few in the years just past many growers have been drawn into the business in a small way or have planted an acreage beyond their means to manage. The inevitable depression that follows over-planting is, at this writing, at hand and spells ruin to some and disgust and discouragement in the industry to others. Perhap

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CHERRY DISEASES

Cherries, without preventive or remedial intervention, are at the mercy of two or three fungus diseases and sometimes several others are virulent, depending upon locality, season, weather and variety. One of these diseases, brown-rot, in spite of the great advances in plant pathology of recent years, is almost beyond the control of preventive or remedial measures. Happily, all the others yield better to treatment. Brown-rot 55 ( Sclerotinia fructigena (Persoon) Schroeter), sometimes known as fru

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CHERRY INSECTS

Insects troubling cherries are numerous but hardly as destructive as with other tree-fruits. Entomologists list about 40 species of insects attacking cherries and about as many more occasionally attack the varieties of one or the other of the two cultivated species. The majority of these pests came with the tree from its habitat over the sea but several have come from the wild cherries of this continent. Of the pests peculiar to the cherry alone, possibly the cherry fruit maggot 68 ( Rhagoletis

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ABBESSE D'OIGNIES

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus Abbesse d'Oignies has so many good characters that it is well worth trying commercially wherever cherries are grown in the United States. Curiously enough, it seems so far to have been tried only in the Middle West, Professor Budd having introduced it in Iowa from Russia in 1883. In the unfavorable soil and climatic conditions of the Mississippi Valley, Abbesse d'Oignies grows as well as any cherry of its class, if we may judge from the accounts of it. We do not kno

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ARCH DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus Parkinson, nearly three hundred years ago, thought the Arch Duke "one of the fairest and best of cherries." It is now, however, quite surpassed by several others of the Dukes. The concensus of opinion of those who have known the true fruit of this name is that either May Duke or Late Duke is better. We give it prominence only because of its worthy past and that it may be better distinguished from May Duke with which it is often confused. As compared with the last-na

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BALDWIN

Prunus cerasus 1. Kan. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 23 :81. 1898. 2. Kan. Hort. Soc. Cherry, The , 15, 16, Pl. 1900. 3. Ia. Sta. Bul. 73 :63. 1903. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 27. 1909. Baldwin is supposed to have grown from a sprout of a stock on which Early Richmond had been budded on the farm of S. J. Baldwin, Seneca, Kansas. The Early Richmond bud was in some manner broken off and the sprout, springing from the stock, was allowed to grow and first fruited in 1891. On the grounds of this Station Baldwin trees w

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BAUMANN MAY

Prunus avium Baumann May is an early Sweet Cherry which at one time held high place among its kind but a century of culture proved that it had little value except for extreme earliness and it is now but sparingly or not at all grown either in America or abroad. If the variety could be obtained it might be worth growing for breeding work because of its earliness and great productiveness. At one time this variety was rather largely grown in central and western New York and specimens of it must yet

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BESSARABIAN

Prunus cerasus By general consent Bessarabian has a place in home orchards in the colder parts of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Plains. It is very hardy and is said to thrive even under neglect—standing as much abuse as a forest tree. As compared with standard commercial cherries of the East the fruit is distinctly inferior in size and quality, being hardly fit to eat out of hand, and is sour and astringent even when cooked. The trees, though hardy and healthy, are dwarfish and not produc

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BIGARREAU PÉLISSIER

Prunus avium This variety originated in France as a chance seedling about 1883 and fruited first in 1891. It was introduced a few years later by M. Auguste Pélissier, a nurseryman at Château-Renard, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. Although not yet well established even in France, this cherry is considered promising for market, because of its firm flesh, handsome appearance, high quality and good tree-characters. It is included among the major varieties in The Cherries of New York that the attention of

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BING

Bing is one of the best of the several very good cherries from the Pacific Northwest. But few Sweet Cherries equal it in size and attractiveness and none surpass it in quality, so that it may be said to be as good as any of the dessert cherries. It is, too, a very good shipping fruit, ranking with the best of the Bigarreaus, to which group it belongs, as a cherry for distant markets. Another quality commending the variety is that it hangs well on the trees and the crop ripens at one time so that

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BLACK GUIGNE

Prunus avium There is much confusion in the history of this old cherry. It undoubtedly originated in France and in that part of the country later conquered by the Germans, though Mas, in his Pomologie Générale , mentioned it as probably of German origin. In the time of Louis XIII this variety was known as the Guigne Noire Commune and was cultivated quite extensively in France and northern Italy. It was esteemed both for its earliness and its fine quality and was known as Guigne Guindoulle by the

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BLACK HAWK

Despite the fact that Black Hawk was lauded by the horticulturists in the middle of the last century as one of the best of all black Sweet Cherries, it is now almost unknown. According to the older pomologists it was unsurpassed for eating out of hand but was only mediocre in all other characters of either fruit or tree. In particular it was surpassed in many ways by the better-known Eagle which fills about the same place in cherry culture. The variety was very popular in southern Ohio about Cin

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BLACK HEART

Although one of the oldest cherries under cultivation, Black Heart is still largely grown the world over. Prince, in 1832, said that it was more widely cultivated in the United States than any other variety and Downing, in 1845, said Black Heart was then better known than any other cherry in the country. While neither of these two statements would hold for Black Heart now, it having long since passed its heyday of popularity, it is still, because of the fruitfulness of the tree and the high qual

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BLACK TARTARIAN

Prunus avium Black Tartarian is probably the favorite dooryard and roadside Sweet Cherry in New York and ranks second or third among commercial cherries in the State, as it probably does for the whole region east of the Mississippi. It is known by all who grow or eat cherries. The preeminently meritorious characters which give it so high a place in cherry culture are: first, and most important, the elasticity of its constitution whereby it adapts itself to widely different soils and climates; se

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BLEEDING HEART

Prunus avium Bleeding Heart goes back almost as far as the history of cultivated cherries. It is only of historical interest now and this chiefly because it has been the parent of many sorts of present worth. According to the old writers it took highest rank in the cherry lists of a century and more ago by virtue of its high quality and handsome appearance, the name being indicative of color and form. So far as can be made out at this late date the variety has been grown but little or not at all

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BOURGUEIL

Prunus cerasus Bourgueil is a variant form of Montmorency hardly differing enough in fruit from Large Montmorency to be distinguished from it and yet since it seems to be more productive than the last-named sort it is possibly worth adding to the cherry flora of the country. The variety, it must be remembered, is still on probation, but if trees true to name can be obtained it is worth planting in small numbers where growers want a cherry of the Montmorency type. This variety was found by a Doct

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BRUSSELER BRAUNE

Prunus cerasus From the standpoint of commercial cherry culture, Brusseler Braune has little value. The trees are uncertain in bearing; the cherries are small, sour, and astringent; and, worse than the faults named, the crop ripens very unevenly. It is of the English Morello type but in New York, at least, is far inferior to this well-known sort. Brusseler Braune has been much advertised for cold climates but there are many better cherries that stand cold nearly or quite as well and are better i

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BUNTE AMARELLE

Prunus cerasus 1. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 652-655. 1819. 2. Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 330. 1885. 3. Ia. Sta. Bul. 2 :40. 1888. 4. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2 :272. 1903. So far Bunte Amarelle has found a place only in the trying cherry climate of Iowa and neighboring States. It is not attractive enough in appearance, good enough in quality, or certain and fruitful enough in bearing to compete with other Amarelles, to which group this variety belongs. Its saving grace is extreme hardiness of tree

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CALIFORNIA ADVANCE

Prunus avium California Advance is a Sweet Cherry, one of the "Hearts" of common parlance, distinguished and worth growing only because it is extra early, though when fully ripe it is of very good quality. It is usually described as a cherry of "large size" but on the grounds of this Station the cherries run small, as they are occasionally reported elsewhere to do, suggesting that the variety requires good care and a choice cherry soil for a finely finished product. On these grounds the variety

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CARNATION

Prunus cerasus Carnation is a conspicuous cherry because of its beautiful color—red, a little variegated with white or yellow, hence the name. It is one of the Amarelles, similar to Montmorency except in color in which character it is more pleasing than the better-known sort. The stone separates from the pulp very readily leaving the flesh unusually bright and clean. Because of their sprightly refreshing flavor, the cherries are pleasing to the palate, as well as attractive to the eye. Unfortuna

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CENTENNIAL

Prunus avium In California, Centennial is passing from the period of probation to one of general acceptance as a standard variety. Unfortunately it has not been well tested in the East but trees growing in a commercial orchard at Geneva show the variety to be a close competitor, in this instance at least, with its parent, Napoleon, the mainstay of Sweet Cherry growers in New York. In some respects it quite surpasses Napoleon. It is larger, sweeter and better flavored and has a smaller pit. The t

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CHOISY

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus It seems to be the consensus of opinion of a score or more of European and American pomologists who have known Choisy that it is the handsomest and most delicious of all Duke cherries—one of the very best of all dessert cherries. In it are delicately combined the richness of the Sweet Cherry and the sprightliness of the Sour Cherry. Unfortunately, while it bears early and regularly, the trees are seldom fruitful. As an offset to unfruitfulness, however, the trees ar

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CLEVELAND

Prunus avium Cleveland is a Bigarreau which falls so far short of its near kin, as it grows in New York at least, as not to be worth planting except as an early cherry of its type—earliness being its one saving asset. The cherries closely resemble Rockport in size, color, shape and flavor, are in no way better than that somewhat mediocre sort and are even more subject to brown-rot. It ripens with Black Tartarian and can never compete in orchard or market with that sort. Possibly Cleveland has to

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CLUSTER

Prunus cerasus Cluster is a curiosity, characterized by fruits borne in clusters at the extremity of a single peduncle. The pistils vary from one to a dozen, setting from one to five perfect fruits in the cluster or from eight to twelve as the trees become older. The variety is little known in America but is well known in Europe, having first been described by Daléchamp in 1586, according to Leroy. Its origin is uncertain. Parkinson speaks of it as Flanders Cluster, in 1629, and as it was cultiv

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COE

Prunus avium Even earlier and certainly better than Cleveland, which we have just discussed, is Coe, long known as Coe's Transparent. This is the first of the light-colored cherries to ripen and is a splendid fruit in quality and appearance. The color-plate shows this variety very well—possibly too well, since one of its defects is variability in color, the variant usually being very light colored and not as attractive as the type. A second defect is that the fruit runs rather small. The tree-ch

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DIKEMAN

Prunus avium Dikeman has some merit as a very late Sweet Cherry but here its usefulness ends. The cherries are too small and the pits too large for this variety to have great worth. The tree is somewhat remarkable for its spreading habit and stout branches. Plant-breeders seeking for a very late sort might well choose Dikeman as a parent. Two very similar cherries, with a variation in the spelling, pass under this name. Late in the Eighteenth Century there appeared a cherry on the Dyckman farm n

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DOUBLE GLASS

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus Double Glass is a Duke, a hybrid more nearly resembling the Sweet Cherry than the Sour Cherry. The trees grow remarkably well in nursery and orchard and their behavior so pleased growers when the variety was brought to notice that it became for a time quite the vogue. But the trees turned out to be unproductive and the cherries so mediocre that the variety rapidly passed through its heyday of popularity. The fruits are curiously marked, the suture being so deep as t

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DOUBLE NATTE

Prunus cerasus Budd's importations of Russian cherries, to which reference is so often made in this text, brought forth almost universal praise for any and all of the foreign sorts. Cultural tests soon demonstrated, however, that most of the varieties were comparatively worthless; Double Natte is one of these. It is a very mediocre cherry of the Morello group in nowise equal to English Morello except when earliness is a prime requisite, this sort being one of the earliest of the Morellos. In fla

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DOWNER

Prunus avium Downer is a Sweet Cherry, one of the so-called "Hearts" much prized by those who know it as a late cherry delicately and richly flavored. Possibly it is the best of the late Sweet Cherries. Several defects keep it from being of any considerable worth; it thrives only in the choicest soils; the trees are often unhealthy as well as lacking in vigor; the flesh is thin and the stone is large; and, though the cherries set abundantly, the yield is small because the fruits are small. So, w

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DYEHOUSE

Prunus cerasus Dyehouse is conspicuous among cherries for its earliness and for the beauty of its fruit. Early Richmond is the standard early cherry yet Dyehouse is a week earlier, just as attractive in appearance and equally well flavored. It is near of kin to Early Richmond but the two may be distinguished by the difference in time of ripening and by its brighter, clearer color, greater opaqueness, more highly colored juice and slightly smaller size. Possibly this cherry would supersede the be

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EAGLE

Prunus avium We hesitatingly follow the American Pomological Society in calling this variety Eagle when it has so long been known as Black Eagle, the name given it by the great pomologist, Knight. Were this choicely good cherry larger in size, it would still be a prime favorite with growers for in many respects it is one of the best varieties of its species. Its flavor is excellent; the trees are usually fruitful; it ripens at a good time in the cherry season, just after Black Tartarian; the che

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EARLY MAY

Prunus fruticosa As the only cultivated representative of the European Dwarf Cherry, Early May should be of especial interest to cherry-growers. It is a true dwarf variety, the trees seldom attaining a height of more than six or seven feet. Both tree and branches are very flexible so that Early May is well adapted to the wall-training of European countries. It has further value in its earliness, being the earliest of all cherries. It is doubtful whether the variety can now be obtained in America

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EARLY MORELLO

Prunus cerasus This, which we think is the true Early Morello, is worthy an extended description in The Cherries of New York chiefly because there are several cherries of this name. The confusion results in much vexation to cherry-growers in the West where, only, these cherries have been planted. The full description should make clear at least the character of the variety which is being grown at this Station as Early Morello. About all that can be said of the variety as it grows here is that the

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EARLY PURPLE

Prunus avium Early Purple is a valuable cherry on account of its earliness, its attractive color and high quality. The trees bear well and regularly after having become established in the orchard. The variety has the reputation of being a poor grower in the nursery and as a young tree in the orchard but with age it takes on vigor and at all times is as healthy as those of any Sweet Cherry. More than most cherries, this variety responds to good care and a choice cherry soil—a warm, free-working l

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EARLY RICHMOND

Prunus cerasus Early Richmond has long been the leading Sour Cherry of its season—the first of its kind in the markets. It is not a remarkable variety in its fruit-characters, the cherries being but medium in size, mediocre in quality and not handsomer than other Amarelles with which it belongs. It is, however, a very good culinary fruit and when well ripened may be eaten out of hand with relish by those who like the refreshing acidity of a Sour Cherry. Though not in nearly as great demand for c

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ELKHORN

Prunus avium 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 b

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ELTON

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

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EMPRESS EUGENIE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus 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

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ENGLISH MORELLO

Prunus cerasus 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

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FLORENCE

Prunus avium 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 S

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GEORGE GLASS

Prunus cerasus 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 S

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HEART-SHAPED WEICHSEL

Prunus cerasus 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 l

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HILDESHEIM

Prunus avium 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 th

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IDA

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

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JEFFREY DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus 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

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KING AMARELLE

Prunus cerasus 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 vigor

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KIRTLAND

Prunus avium 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, Kirt

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KNIGHT

Prunus avium 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 uniformi

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LAMBERT

Prunus avium 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.

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LARGE MONTMORENCY

Prunus cerasus 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 appar

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LATE DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus 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 bra

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LATE KENTISH

Prunus cerasus 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 varie

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LITHAUER

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 i

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LOUIS PHILIPPE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus 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 th

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LUTOVKA

Prunus cerasus 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 c

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LYONS

Prunus avium 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

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MAGNIFIQUE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus 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

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MAY DUKE

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

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MERCER

Prunus avium 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

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MEZEL

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 tre

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MONTMORENCY

Prunus cerasus Montmorency is the most popular Sour Cherry grown in America. No one questions its supremacy. Probably half of the cherry trees in New York, Sweet or Sour, are Montmorencies and at least three-fourths of all the trees of the Sour Cherry are of this variety. It leads in the demands for this fruit in the markets, for the cannery and for home use as a culinary cherry. Several characters give it first place. It is surpassed by no other Sour Cherry, in New York at least, in vigor, heal

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NAPOLEON

Prunus avium Napoleon is the leading firm-fleshed Sweet Cherry. It takes its place by virtue of the large size, handsome appearance and high quality of the fruit and the phenomenal productiveness of the trees. The accompanying plate shows well the large size and beautiful color of the cherries—unsurpassed in either character by any other Bigarreau and possibly by any other cherry. The flavor is rich and sweet which, with the abundant juice and firm, crackling flesh, makes this a most delicious a

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NOUVELLE ROYALE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus If this cherry were to be judged by its behavior on the grounds of this Station, it would be called one of the best of the hybrid Dukes. In particular, it would be commended by its product, the trees not making as good a showing as the fruit. The cherries are distinguished by their large size, dark red color, glossy surface, good quality, lateness in maturity and, even more particularly, sweetness, keeping in mind that the variety is a hybrid and not a true Sweet Ch

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OLIVET

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus Olivet is a large, globular, deep red, glossy cherry with a rich, vinous, subacid flavor. Some writers call Olivet a Duke while others place it with the Morellos. The fruit, on the grounds of this Station, shows many characteristics of the Morellos while the tree appears to be a Duke, suggesting that it is a hybrid between trees of the two groups. The fruit, eaten out of hand, would be rated as a very good Morello or a subacid and somewhat mediocre Duke, a fruit har

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OSTHEIM

Prunus cerasus Ostheim finds considerable favor in the prairie states of the Middle West but is all but worthless as grown in New York and other eastern states. It is one of the Morellos and falls far short of the best of its group, the cherries being too small and of but mediocre quality. The trees are typical Morellos, round-headed, with slender, drooping branches and branchlets and very dark green foliage. The fruit is borne toward the ends of short branches which are not well distributed ove

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OX HEART

Prunus avium Ox Heart is very commonly used as a class name for the large, meaty varieties of cherries which are cordate in shape. In America the name is most often given to the light-fleshed cherries, such as Yellow Spanish, Napoleon or White Bigarreau. At one time, however, the name was applied to a distinct variety known throughout England, Germany and America, being first mentioned by Miller, an Englishman, in 1734. Coxe, in 1817, was the first American writer to list the variety but it neve

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REINE HORTENSE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus Were there not so many good Duke varieties of its season Reine Hortense would take high rank among hybrid cherries. Several qualities fit it admirably for home and somewhat for commercial plantations. To begin with, it is most excellent in quality, its flavor being a commingling of the refreshing acidity of the Sour Cherry and the richness of the Sweet Cherry, though to some there may be a little too much acidity for a first-class dessert fruit. The cherries are als

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REPUBLICAN

Prunus avium For some reason Republican does not make headway in the favor of cherry-growers though all who have described it speak well of it. Judged by the palate, Republican is one of the best of the Bigarreaus. The cherries are rich and sweet in flavor, firm of flesh and with an abundance of refreshing juice. Judged by the eye, too, it holds its own with the best of its class, the fruit having a pleasing rotundness of shape and a beautiful dark red, almost black, glossy color. In size the va

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ROCKPORT

Prunus avium Rockport is of very doubtful commercial value and has too many faults to be included with the best sweet sorts for a home orchard. It is more easily characterized by its faults than its merits. Compared with the well-known Yellow Spanish, of which it is a seedling and to which it is similar, the cherries are smaller and the pits are larger than those of the parent variety,—quite too large for the amount of pulp. Worst of the faults of the variety is, however, that the cherries are n

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ROYAL DUKE

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus Royal Duke has a place in the cherry flora to follow in season the well-known May Duke and to precede another standard sort, Late Duke. It is so nearly like these two sorts, except in season, and so similar to Arch Duke, as well, that there is much difficulty in getting the variety true to name. It is more often taken for May Duke than for the other kinds named but it differs from this well-known sort in being a little later in season, and the cherries are larger, a

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SCHMIDT

Prunus avium Schmidt, shortened in accordance with the rules of the American Pomological Society from Schmidt's Bigarreau, is not new nor can it be said to be little known, since it has been rather widely planted in America for a score of years. Yet in New York, at least, it is not receiving the attention that it deserves from commercial cherry-growers, being relegated to the rear of ten or a dozen kinds when it should be in the front rank. Indeed, about Geneva, where many Sweet Cherries are gro

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SHORT-STEM MONTMORENCY

Prunus cerasus In tracing the history of the Montmorency cherries from Duhamel's time to the present we have been led to conclude that three distinct types are now being cultivated. Of these closely related strains, all of which probably originated about the same time in Montmorency Valley, France, Montmorency is by far the most important and the one now grown commercially in all parts of the country. Large Montmorency, while quite similar to Montmorency, is much less grown because of its unprod

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SKLANKA

Prunus cerasus Sklanka is evidently a cross between a cherry of the Amarelle group and one of the Morellos—another indication of the frequency of hybridization in this fruit. The cherries of Sklanka have the light-colored skin and juice of the Amarelles while the dwarfish, round-topped trees with pendant branches and abundant, small leaves are typical of the Morellos. The variety is in no way remarkable unless it be in hardiness, the pomologists of the colder parts of the Mississippi Valley hold

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SPARHAWK

Prunus avium Sparhawk has little to recommend it for either a home or commercial orchard; but the rich and honeyed sweetness of the cherries, scarcely surpassed in flavor, might make it worth planting by plant-breeders and connoisseurs of choicely good fruits. The name "honey" which appears in several of the synonyms is indicative of the flavor of the fruit. The cherries are quite too small and the pits altogether too large for a commercial product. The tree is upright-spreading, with numerous t

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SPÄTE AMARELLE

Prunus cerasus This is another variety with Amarelle fruit and a Morello-like tree and is unquestionably a hybrid between varieties of the two groups. Several references from the Middle West mention Späte Amarelle as very promising but in New York, where such sorts as Early Richmond and the Montmorencies thrive, it is unpromising for any purpose. The cherries are quite too poor in quality, being very sour, and the trees too unproductive to make the variety even a poor rival of a score or more of

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SUDA

Prunus cerasus Suda has been widely advertised as an improved English Morello but, while there seem to be some slight differences between the two, the new variety is not an improvement on the old so far as can be discovered at this Station. The trees of Suda in general aspect are more upright and the stems of the cherries longer and more slender than those of English Morello, being but an inch in length in the one variety and an inch and three-fourths in the other. The trees on the grounds of th

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TIMME

Timme can hardly be distinguished from Early Richmond, differing only in smaller fruits, and probably is a seed variation of that variety. On the grounds of this Station the trees of Timme are even more productive than those of Early Richmond, one of the most fruitful of all cherries, but the greater fruitfulness of the tree hardly offsets the smaller size of the cherries. It is doubtful if this new strain can displace the older Early Richmond, which is well established in the favor of cherry-gr

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TOUSSAINT

Prunus cerasus Toussaint is a marked deviation from its species. Instead of bearing blossoms normally this variety sends out small branches from the buds. In the axis of the first four leaves are borne the buds destined to produce similar branches the following spring. As the branches elongate these buds remain dormant but others are borne which produce flowers in umbel-like clusters of two or three. The trees begin blooming three or four weeks later than other cherries and new buds and flowers

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VLADIMIR

Vladimir is a Morello-like cherry not more promising in New York, at least in the orchard of this Station, than any other of the many competitors of English Morello. The cherries are large, very similar in size and appearance to those of English Morello; the pit is small, the skin very thin and separating readily from the pulp. The variety is further characterized by the very dark red flesh and dark colored juice which is too astringent and sour to eat out of hand but does very well for culinary

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WATERLOO

Prunus avium × (Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus) This old sort, seemingly well thought of in Europe, has not been popular in America and has only historical value to cherry-growers of this country. It is an interesting cherry resembling the Bigarreaus in tree and leaf-characters while the flowers are more like those of the Dukes, the fruit, too, taking on more the aspect of the Dukes than of the Sweet Cherry. The variety has long since passed from general cultivation in the United States and can n

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WHITE BIGARREAU

Prunus avium White Bigarreau is a cherry of the past, having been considered one of the good sorts of a century ago. Rivers, the English pomologist, believed it to have come originally from Russia. It is reputed to have been brought to America from France by Chancellor Livingston of Revolutionary fame. Thacher, in 1822, described the variety first under its present name. The variety, as the synonymy shows, has been grown under many names both in America and Europe. In 1845, according to Downing,

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WHITE HEART

White Heart is mentioned in The Cherries of New York only because of its reputation in Europe and the frequent references, therefore, that American cherry-growers see to it in European publications. Bunyard and Thomas, in the reference given, speak of it as one of the best and most profitable cherries grown in the famous Kent cherry orchards. Early American horticulturists describe it but it seems not to have been widely grown in America and has probably long since passed from cultivation. It fa

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WINDSOR

Windsor is the standard late Bigarreau and one of the most profitable of the hard-fleshed cherries grown in New York. Both fruit and trees deserve the approbation of cherry-growers. In color the cherries meet the market demand, buyers preferring a dark-colored Sweet Cherry. None would find fault with the appearance of Windsor. The flesh is firm and the product stands harvesting and shipping well and at a season of the year when brown-rot is usually rife this variety is fairly free from this scou

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WOOD

Prunus avium Wood is preeminently a Sweet Cherry for the amateur, having many qualities that fit it for the home orchard and but few to commend it to commercial growers. The trees are a little tender to cold, are not quite productive enough to make the variety profitable and are, too, somewhat fastidious as to soils. To offset these defects, they are vigorous and healthy and bear early. But the chief fault of the cherry from the cherry-grower's standpoint is to be found in the fruit. The flesh i

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WRAGG

Prunus cerasus Wragg is either English Morello or a strain of that variety. Trees on the grounds of this Station are identical with English Morello but it may be that here, and occasionally elsewhere, the older sort has been substituted for Wragg. In Iowa, where the new variety is most largely grown, pomologists claim that it is distinct and that it is an improvement on English Morello. Professor J. L. Budd, an authority on Russian cherries, believed that this sort is distinct and of Russian ori

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YELLOW SPANISH

Prunus avium For centuries Yellow Spanish must have been the best of all the Bigarreaus and it is only in comparatively late years that it has had rivals. Even yet in tree-characters it is hardly equaled, surpassing Windsor, which has a notable tree, in several respects and falling short of it only in hardiness. The trees are large,—perhaps the largest of all the varieties of Prunus avium ,—having an upright-spreading top which gives a large bearing surface and forms a canopy of splendid foliage

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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES, WITH ABBREVIATIONS USED

The list of books which follows contains all American pomological works in which the cherry is discussed at any length. Only such European books are listed, however, as were found useful in writing The Cherries of New York . Only periodicals are listed to which references are made in the text of the book. The reports and bulletins of experiment stations and horticultural societies are not included since the abbreviations used for such publications will be recognized by all. (Names of varieties i

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