PRUNUS CERASUSLinnaeus.

The geographical distribution of these cherries is most interesting.5From North America come but five species of cherries but two of which,Prunus besseyiandPrunus pumila, furnish food and these two as yet are but sparingly grown; all five, however, are more or less used as stocks.

Greene6has described, in addition to the five accepted ones, eleven new species of true cherries from the far west of the type ofPrunus emarginata, some of which at least have furnished food to the Indians, miners and trappers and may have horticultural possibilities for the desert regions in which they are found either for fruit or as stocks.

From the western portion of the Old World, including all of Europe, northern Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, Turkestan and Afghanistan come 14 species. From this region, though the number of species as compared with East Asia is small, we have all of the cultivated esculent cherries, if possiblyPrunus tomentosabe excepted. Though nearly all of the species of this large territory are found—possibly all originated there—in the southeastern part of Europe and the adjoining southwestern part of Asia, yet they seem, with one or two exceptions, to be quite distinct from the species of the eastern half of the Old World—the Himalaya Mountains separating the two regions. It is probable that when west central Asia has been as well explored botanically as the east central part of the continent, many new species will be added to Prunus and its sub-genus Cerasus.

It is in the eastern half of the Old World that the cherry flora is richest. More than 100 of the 119 species of Cerasus recognized by Koehne are found in the Himalaya Mountains and the region to the east including Japan and the Kuril Islands. Yet out of all of this wealth of raw material onlyPrunus tomentosahas been truly domesticated as an esculent though possibly a score of these species are well-known ornamentals. Of the 100 eastern Asiatic species about 75 belong to China—the remainder toFormosa, Siam and Japan with its islands. Happily these Chinese cherries are being introduced, but a few at a time, it is true, to Europe and America and it can hardly be otherwise than that they will enrich horticulture as they are domesticated, hybridized or used as a consort upon which to grow the cherries now known to cultivation. In particular, it may be expected that cherries for the cold north and the bleak plains of our continent will be evolved from the Asiatic species better suited to these regions than the cultivated cherries we now grow.

The number and diversity of the species of cherries which this brief review of Cerasus shows to exist suggest that our cultivated cherry flora is but begun. There can be no question but that others of these species than the few that have been domesticated will yield to improvement under cultivation and furnish refreshing fruits. It is just as certain that new types, as valuable perhaps as the hybrid Dukes we now have, can be produced through hybridization. In North America, we have no satisfactory stock for cultivated Sweet and Sour Cherries. Both of the stocks now commonly used, the Mazzard and the Mahaleb, as we shall see, have weaknesses that unfit them for general use. Surely out of the great number of forms we have just listed a better stock than either of the two named can be found. No doubt, too, many of these new species, even though they do not furnish food, will prove valuable timber or ornamental trees.

We are ready now for a more detailed discussion of the cultivated species of cherries.

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 resinous at opening, more or less erect, very numerous, three to four inches long and from one-half to two inches wide, obovate to oval, folded upward, thick and firm in texture; upper surface dark green, smooth, the lower surface paler green, with more or less pubescence; apex taper-pointed or acute, base abrupt or acute; margins finely serrate, often doubly so, teeth tipped with small, dark glands; petioles from a half-inch to two inches long, slender, grooved, with a few hairs on the upper surface, tinged with red; glands from one to four, usually small, variously colored, globose or reniform, usually at the base of the blade; stipules small, lanceolate, narrow, finely serrate, early caducous.Winter-buds small, short, obtuse or pointed, plump and free, arranged singly or in clusters; leaf-scars usually prominent; flowers appearing with or after the leaves, showy, an inch across, white; borne in dense or scattered, very scaly clusters and in twos, threes and fours on one-year-old wood; pedicels from a half to an inch and a half in length, slender, green and glabrous; calyx-tube obconic, glabrous, green or tinged with red; calyx-lobes broadly obtuse or acute, glabrous on both surfaces, reflexed, margin serrate, faintly red; petals white, roundish or oval to obovate, entire or crenate, sessile or nearly so; stamens about thirty, filaments one-fourth of an inch in length; anthers yellow; pistils about as long as the stamens, glabrous.Fruit roundish-oblate or cordate, sides slightly compressed, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter; suture lacking or indistinct; cavity well marked, usually abrupt; apex usually depressed; color from light to dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, more or less conspicuous; stem slender, from a half-inch to two inches in length, glabrous, without bloom; skin usually separating readily from the pulp; flesh dark red, with dark colored juice or pale yellow with colorless juice, tender, melting, sprightly, more or less acidulous, sometimes astringent; stone free or more or less clinging, roundish, pointed or blunt, smooth, less than a half inch in diameter; ventral suture usually ridged, sometimes smooth.

Leaves resinous at opening, more or less erect, very numerous, three to four inches long and from one-half to two inches wide, obovate to oval, folded upward, thick and firm in texture; upper surface dark green, smooth, the lower surface paler green, with more or less pubescence; apex taper-pointed or acute, base abrupt or acute; margins finely serrate, often doubly so, teeth tipped with small, dark glands; petioles from a half-inch to two inches long, slender, grooved, with a few hairs on the upper surface, tinged with red; glands from one to four, usually small, variously colored, globose or reniform, usually at the base of the blade; stipules small, lanceolate, narrow, finely serrate, early caducous.

Winter-buds small, short, obtuse or pointed, plump and free, arranged singly or in clusters; leaf-scars usually prominent; flowers appearing with or after the leaves, showy, an inch across, white; borne in dense or scattered, very scaly clusters and in twos, threes and fours on one-year-old wood; pedicels from a half to an inch and a half in length, slender, green and glabrous; calyx-tube obconic, glabrous, green or tinged with red; calyx-lobes broadly obtuse or acute, glabrous on both surfaces, reflexed, margin serrate, faintly red; petals white, roundish or oval to obovate, entire or crenate, sessile or nearly so; stamens about thirty, filaments one-fourth of an inch in length; anthers yellow; pistils about as long as the stamens, glabrous.

Fruit roundish-oblate or cordate, sides slightly compressed, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter; suture lacking or indistinct; cavity well marked, usually abrupt; apex usually depressed; color from light to dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, more or less conspicuous; stem slender, from a half-inch to two inches in length, glabrous, without bloom; skin usually separating readily from the pulp; flesh dark red, with dark colored juice or pale yellow with colorless juice, tender, melting, sprightly, more or less acidulous, sometimes astringent; stone free or more or less clinging, roundish, pointed or blunt, smooth, less than a half inch in diameter; ventral suture usually ridged, sometimes smooth.

The numerous synonyms ofPrunus cerasusindicate the state of confusion which prevails in the scientific nomenclature of the Sour Cherry. Yet the names given are scarcely a tithe of those that have been discarded or superseded for a whole or a part of this species by botanists. Happily,there is no language in which there is a possibility of confusing the Sour Cherry with the other two or three species of cultivated cherries if the common names be used. That men, learned or unlearned, speaking in their mother tongues distinguish species of cherries so readily by their common names, is ample excuse for not attempting to give in a pomological work all of the Latin names of the Sour Cherry that have been used by the many men who have at one time or another attempted to classify the plants in Prunus. Those here published are from botanists who have contributed most to the knowledge of the species.

Prunus cerasusis the Sour Cherry, or Pie Cherry, of many languages—grown and esteemed in temperate climates the world over and probably the most widely distributed of all tree fruits. The species is found truly wild, as we have set forth in detail in the following chapter, in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. It is a frequent escape from cultivation, multiplying from seed distributed by birds or human agencies or growing from suckers which spring so freely from the roots as to make the species unfit for a stock in orchard work. The number of cultivated varieties ofPrunus cerasuslisted inThe Cherries of New Yorkis 270. Sour Cherries cultivated for their fruits constitute two distinct groups, each of which is again divided into many varieties. The two groups vary more or less in both tree and fruit but have a constant difference only in a single, very easily distinguished character—the juice in the fruits of one is red, in the other it is colorless.

The cherries with colorless juice are the Amarelles, from the Latin for bitter, a term probably first used by the Germans but now in general use wherever these cherries are grown, though the English often designate them as Kentish cherries and the French as Cerisier Commun. These Amarelles are pale red fruits, more or less flattened at the ends. Despite the derivation of the name Amarelle, they have less bitterness than the other group of varieties of the Sour Cherry. They are also less acid than the darker colored cherries and are therefore more suitable for eating out of hand while the dark colored cherries are almost exclusively culinary fruits. The common representatives of this group are Early Richmond, Montmorency and the various cherries to which the word Amarelle is affixed, as the King Amarelle and the Späte Amarelle.

PRUNUS CERASUS(MORELLO GROUP)

The second group, varieties with reddish juice and usually with very dark fruits which are more spherical or cordate in shape than the Amarelles, comprises the Morellos of several languages or the Griottes ofthe French. The first of these terms has reference to the color, the word Morello coming from the Italian meaning blackish while Griotte, from the French, probably is derived through agriotte from aigre, meaning sharp, in reference to the acidity of these cherries. Weichsel is the German group name for these cherries, rather less commonly used than the other two terms. The trees of the Morello-like varieties are usually smaller, bushier and more compact than those of the Amarelles. The branches, as a rule, are more horizontal, often drooping, are less regularly arranged and are more slender. The leaves, in typical varieties, are smaller, thinner, a darker green and are pendant while those of the Amarelles are either inclined to be upright or horizontal; the leaves are also toothed less deeply and more regularly. These differences in the leaves are well shown in the color-plates of the varieties of the two groups. There are differences, also, in the inflorescence and the floral organs in the extreme types but these disappear in the varieties that connect the two forms. The typical varieties of this group are English Morello, Ostheim, Olivet, Brusseler Braune, Vladimir and Riga.

Attempts to give precise distinctions between the fruits and trees of the two groups fail because the varieties constituting them hybridize freely making it impossible, with the more or less blended characters, to classify accurately. The group name indicates but little more than whether the cherries have a colored or a colorless juice—a distinction well worth while for the fruit-grower.

Ehrhart called Sour Cherries with colorless juicePrunus acidaand those with dark colored juicePrunus austera. To some extent botanists have followed Ehrhart's designations. Linnaeus thought the two groups sufficiently distinct to be botanical varieties of the species and denominated the cherry with colorless juicePrunus cerasus capronianaand the one with colored juicePrunus cerasus austera.

A third division of the species is the Marasca cherry from which is made maraschino, a distilled liqueur much used in Europe as a drink and in Europe and America in the manufacture of maraschino cherries. The Marasca cherry is a native of the province of Dalmatia, Austria, where the trees grow wild and are now sparingly cultivated. In 1831 Host gave this form the nameCerasus marascaand a year later Reichenbach described it asPrunus marasca. Botanists now very generally include it in the species under discussion and Schneider7makes it a botanical variety,Prunus cerasus marasca, a disposition which we believe to be the best. The Marasca cherries differ from the other cultivated forms chiefly in the greater vigor of the trees, relatively finer serrations of the leaves, longer stipules and a more compact inflorescence. The fruits are much smaller than in the common Sour Cherries, are deep red or almost black in color and have intensely red flesh and juice. The cherries are very acid with a bitter taste that gives flavor to the maraschino made from them.

Besides these divisions of the species cultivated for their fruits botanists describe several botanical forms which either have no horticultural value or are cultivated exclusively as ornamentals. It is not necessary to discuss these in a pomological work. Of these botanical derivatives ofPrunus cerasus, Schneider enumerates nine and three hybrids between this and other species.8

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 long, two to three inches wide, strongly conduplicate, oblong-ovate, thin; upper surface dark green, rugose or sometimes smooth; lower surface dull green, more or less pubescent; apex acute, base more or less abrupt; margin coarsely and doubly serrate, glandular; petioleone and three-fourths inches long, slender, dull red, with from one to three small, globose, reddish glands on the stalk; stipules small, lanceolate, finely serrate, early caducous.Buds rather small, of medium length, pointed, appressed or free, arranged singly or in small, scaly clusters at the tips of branchlets or on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; blooming with or after the leaves; flowers white, one and one-quarter inches across; in clusters of two or three; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous; calyx-tube green or with a faint red tinge, brownish-yellow within, campanulate; calyx-lobes faintly tinged with red, long, acute, margin serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals oval, entire or crenate, tapering to a short, blunt claw; stamens nearly one-half inch long, thirty-five or thirty-six; anthers yellow; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.Fruit ripening in early July; about an inch in diameter, cordate; cavity deep, wide, abrupt; suture a line; apex roundish or pointed; color ranging from yellow through red to purplish-black; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem tinged with red, one and one-half inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin toughish, adherent to the pulp; flesh yellow, red, or dark purple with colorless or colored juice, tender to firm, sweet; stone semi-clinging, three-eighths of an inch long, not as wide as long, elliptical, flattened, blunt, with smooth surfaces.

Leaves resinous at opening, more or less drooping, numerous, four to six inches long, two to three inches wide, strongly conduplicate, oblong-ovate, thin; upper surface dark green, rugose or sometimes smooth; lower surface dull green, more or less pubescent; apex acute, base more or less abrupt; margin coarsely and doubly serrate, glandular; petioleone and three-fourths inches long, slender, dull red, with from one to three small, globose, reddish glands on the stalk; stipules small, lanceolate, finely serrate, early caducous.

Buds rather small, of medium length, pointed, appressed or free, arranged singly or in small, scaly clusters at the tips of branchlets or on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; blooming with or after the leaves; flowers white, one and one-quarter inches across; in clusters of two or three; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous; calyx-tube green or with a faint red tinge, brownish-yellow within, campanulate; calyx-lobes faintly tinged with red, long, acute, margin serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals oval, entire or crenate, tapering to a short, blunt claw; stamens nearly one-half inch long, thirty-five or thirty-six; anthers yellow; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit ripening in early July; about an inch in diameter, cordate; cavity deep, wide, abrupt; suture a line; apex roundish or pointed; color ranging from yellow through red to purplish-black; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem tinged with red, one and one-half inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin toughish, adherent to the pulp; flesh yellow, red, or dark purple with colorless or colored juice, tender to firm, sweet; stone semi-clinging, three-eighths of an inch long, not as wide as long, elliptical, flattened, blunt, with smooth surfaces.

Through its cultivated varietiesPrunus aviumis everywhere known in temperate climates as the Sweet Cherry. In the wild state it is variously called Mazzard, Bird, Wild, Crab and the Gean cherry. It is not as hardy a species asPrunus cerasusand is, therefore, less generally grown but still is a favorite orchard, dooryard and roadside plant in all mid-temperate regions. It refuses to grow, however, in the warmest and coldest parts of the temperate zones. Wherever the species thrives as an orchard plant it is to be found growing spontaneously along fences and roadsides and in open woods from seeds distributed by birds. The fruits of these wild Sweet Cherries are usually small and the flesh thin and dry, often unpalatable; but, on the other hand, trees are sometimes found as escapes from cultivation which rival in their products the orchard-grown cherries. It is from reverted seedlings that the description of the species herewith given has been made. The number of cultivated varieties ofPrunus aviumlisted inThe Cherries of New Yorkis 549.

The habitat of the species and its history as a cultivated plant are given in the following chapter. A further point of horticultural interest as regards its habitat is that wherever found truly wild, as in its original home in southern and central Europe and Asia Minor, it is to be found in moderately dry, calcareous soils and seldom in the shade, preferring always warm, sunny sites, as gravelly or stony hillsides. These predilections cling to the species in its cultivated varieties.Prunus aviumdiffers fromPrunus cerasusin an important horticultural character asthe two species grow spontaneously—the former suckers from the root little or not at all, making it a suitable plant for a stock in orchard work, while the latter suckers so much as to make it unfit for use as a stock.

Prunus aviumis variously divided by botanists and pomologists. Whatever distinct forms of the species may exist in the wild state, they are now interminably confused by hybridization under cultivation. It is impossible to divide the species into botanical varieties from the characters of the horticultural varieties, as many botanists have attempted to do. The species can be roughly divided into two pomological groups, the distinguishing character being the texture of the flesh.

Sweet Cherries with soft, tender flesh form one group known by pomologists under the French group name Guigne or the English Gean. These are also the Heart cherries of common parlance. These soft-fruited cherries may again be divided into dark colored varieties with reddish juice and light colored sorts with colorless juice. Typical light colored Geans are Coe, Ida, Elton and Waterloo; dark colored ones are Black Tartarian, Early Purple and Eagle. It is to this group of cherries that Linnaeus gave the varietal nameJulianaand De Candolle the specific nameCerasus Juliana.

The second group is distinguished by the firm, breaking flesh of the fruits—the Bigarreaus of several languages, the name originally having reference to the diverse colors of the fruits. This group is further divisible in accordance with color of fruit and juice into black Bigarreaus and light Bigarreaus. Chief of the black cherries falling into this division are Windsor, Schmidt and Mezel; of the light ones, which are much more numerous, Yellow Spanish and Napoleon are representative sorts. Linnaeus called these hard-fleshed cherriesPrunus avium duracina; De Candolle called themCerasus duracina; K. Koch,Prunus avium decumana; and Roemer,Cerasus bigarella.

Besides these two orchard forms ofPrunus aviumseveral other horticultural forms, quite as distinct or even more so, are grown as ornamentals, some of which are listed as distinct species or as botanical varieties ofPrunus avium. To add to the confusion, a number of Latinized garden names are more or less commonly applied to these ornamental Sweet Cherries. Schneider,9in revising the genus Prunus, names four botanical forms ofPrunus aviumand two natural hybrids with other species.

The Duke cherries, long placed by most pomologists and botanists in a botanical variety ofPrunus 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 betweenPrunus cerasusandPrunus 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 this respect the Dukes behave like most hybrids. In several Duke cherries all of the seeds collected at this Station are sterile; in others, most of them are sterile and in none are the seeds as fertile as in varieties known to be pure bred as to species. So, too, shrunken pollen grains indicate hybridity. A study of the pollen of the Duke cherries shows many grains, the greater proportion, to be abnormal, a condition not found in the pollen of varieties true to species. May Duke, Reine Hortense and Late Duke are the leading hybrid varieties.

PRUNUS AVIUM × PRUNUS CERASUS (REINE HORTENSE)

There are dark colored Duke cherries with reddish juice and light colored sorts with uncolored juice, just as in the two parent species. May Duke is a typical variety with colored juice while Reine Hortense is probably the best-known cherry among these hybrids with uncolored juice. About 65 of the cherries listed inThe Cherries of New Yorkare "Dukes," or hybrids between the Sweet and the Sour Cherry.

The name Duke comes from the variety May Duke which is a corruption of Médoc, a district in the department of Geronde, France, from whence this variety came. The cherries of this group are known as Dukes only in England; in France the name Royale is similarly used.

These hybrid cherries have been placed in a distinct botanical group by several botanists. They constitute theCerasus regalisPoiteau and Turpin (Traite des Arb. Fruit. 123); theCerasus bigarella regalisRoemer (Syn. Monogr.3:69); and thePrunus avium regalisBailey (Cyc.Am. Hort.1453. 1901).

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, with reddish-brown glands; petiole one-half inch long, slender, greenish, with none or with from one to three small, globose, greenish glands variable in position.Buds small, short, obtuse, appressed or free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in clusters on small, slender spurs; flowers appearing late, after the leaves, small, averaging one-half inch across, white, fragrant; borne in clusters of six to eight scattered on a main stem an inch in length, with the terminal pedicels one-quarter inch long and basal pedicels one-half inch long; pedicels slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, entire, glabrous, reflexed; petals white, small, separated, ovate, tapering to short, narrow claws; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, about equal to the stamens in length.Fruit matures about the middle of July; very small, one-fourth inch long, one-third inch wide, roundish-ovate; cavity shallow and abrupt; suture shallow or a mere line; apex roundish to slightly pointed, with stigma usually adherent; color black; stem slender, length of corymb about one and one-half inches; length of fruit-stem about one-quarter inch; skin thick, tough; flesh reddish-black, with scant reddish-black juice, tender and soft, very astringent, sour, not edible; stone free or nearly so, very small, averaging nine thirty-seconds inch long and seven thirty-seconds inch wide, ovate, slightly flattened, with pointed apex; ventral suture prominent.

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, with reddish-brown glands; petiole one-half inch long, slender, greenish, with none or with from one to three small, globose, greenish glands variable in position.

Buds small, short, obtuse, appressed or free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in clusters on small, slender spurs; flowers appearing late, after the leaves, small, averaging one-half inch across, white, fragrant; borne in clusters of six to eight scattered on a main stem an inch in length, with the terminal pedicels one-quarter inch long and basal pedicels one-half inch long; pedicels slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, entire, glabrous, reflexed; petals white, small, separated, ovate, tapering to short, narrow claws; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, about equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures about the middle of July; very small, one-fourth inch long, one-third inch wide, roundish-ovate; cavity shallow and abrupt; suture shallow or a mere line; apex roundish to slightly pointed, with stigma usually adherent; color black; stem slender, length of corymb about one and one-half inches; length of fruit-stem about one-quarter inch; skin thick, tough; flesh reddish-black, with scant reddish-black juice, tender and soft, very astringent, sour, not edible; stone free or nearly so, very small, averaging nine thirty-seconds inch long and seven thirty-seconds inch wide, ovate, slightly flattened, with pointed apex; ventral suture prominent.

Prunus mahalebis now a wild inhabitant of all southern Europe as far north as central France, southern Germany, Austria-Hungary and eastward through Asia Minor and Caucasia to and within the borders of Turkestan. Wherever it grows spontaneously in the Old World it is said to prefer rocky, gravelly, sunny slopes and the climate in which the grape thrives best. Wild or cultivated, the Mahaleb is a shallow-rooted plant, a fact that must be taken into consideration in its use as a stock.Prunus mahalebis a common escape from cultivation in eastern North America especially about the nursery centers of central New York.

The Mahaleb, or St. Lucie cherry, is of no importance to fruit-growers for its fruit but as a consort with nearly all of the Sweet and Sour Cherries now being propagated in North America it becomes of prime importance and so receives botanical consideration here. According to Schneider, in the reference cited, there are several spontaneous forms ofPrunus mahaleband also several horticultural varieties grown as ornamentals. None of these, wild or cultivated, are of interest to fruit-growers, unless, perchance some one of them should prove to be a better stock upon which to work orchard cherries. Mahaleb stocks are usually grown as seedlings but may also be propagated from root cuttings.

The wood of the Mahaleb tree is of value in cabinet making, possessing among other good qualities a pleasant and lasting odor. The leaves, too, are odoriferous and are more or less used in France in the manufacture of perfumes and in cookery to give savor to sauces.

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 surface dull, dark green, rugose; lower surface thickly pubescent, with a prominent midrib and veins; apex abruptly pointed; margin serrate; petiole three-sixteenths inch in length, reddish, pubescent, of medium thickness, with from twelve to fourteen small, globose, yellow glands, usually at the base of the blade.Buds very small, short, pointed, free, arranged as lateral buds and in clusters on small, short spurs; leaf-scars not prominent; season of bloom early; flowers appear with the leaves, white, thirteen-sixteenths inch across; borne singly or in pairs; pedicels short, thick, glabrous; calyx-tube reddish, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, serrate, slightly pubescent, erect; petals white, roundish-ovate, entire, with short claws; anthers tinged with red; pistil pubescent at the base, longer than the stamens, often defective.Fruit matures in mid-season; a half-inch in diameter, roundish, slightly compressed; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex depressed, with adherent stigma; color currant-red; dots numerous, small, grayish, obscure; stem thickish, one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in length, pubescent; skin thick, tender, adheres slightly to the pulp, covered with light pubescence; flesh light red, with light red juice, stringy, melting, sprightly, sour; good in quality; stone clinging, one-quarter of an inch long, one-eighth inch wide, oval, slightly pointed, with smooth surfaces.

Leaves numerous, two and one-eighth inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward or flattened, broad-oval to obovate, velvety; upper surface dull, dark green, rugose; lower surface thickly pubescent, with a prominent midrib and veins; apex abruptly pointed; margin serrate; petiole three-sixteenths inch in length, reddish, pubescent, of medium thickness, with from twelve to fourteen small, globose, yellow glands, usually at the base of the blade.

Buds very small, short, pointed, free, arranged as lateral buds and in clusters on small, short spurs; leaf-scars not prominent; season of bloom early; flowers appear with the leaves, white, thirteen-sixteenths inch across; borne singly or in pairs; pedicels short, thick, glabrous; calyx-tube reddish, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, serrate, slightly pubescent, erect; petals white, roundish-ovate, entire, with short claws; anthers tinged with red; pistil pubescent at the base, longer than the stamens, often defective.

Fruit matures in mid-season; a half-inch in diameter, roundish, slightly compressed; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex depressed, with adherent stigma; color currant-red; dots numerous, small, grayish, obscure; stem thickish, one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in length, pubescent; skin thick, tender, adheres slightly to the pulp, covered with light pubescence; flesh light red, with light red juice, stringy, melting, sprightly, sour; good in quality; stone clinging, one-quarter of an inch long, one-eighth inch wide, oval, slightly pointed, with smooth surfaces.

The habitat ofPrunus tomentosais probably Central Asia though it is now to be found growing spontaneously in East Tibet and the Chinese provinces of Setschuan, Hupe, Kansu and perhaps Tochlii.

This shrub-like cherry is very generally cultivated in central, eastern and northern China and in Japan for its fruit and as an ornamental. It has been introduced into cultivation in many widely separated places inNorth America and appears to be promising for cold regions, both bud and wood withstanding perfectly the most rigorous climates of the United States. As it grows in America it is a bush and never a true tree. It is a twiggy, close-jointed plant, usually with many stems springing from the ground and these bearing branches quite to the base. Frequently these low-growing branches bend to the ground and take root forming new plants. The bushes are thickly clothed with leaves densely tomentose on the underside, in this respect and in shape, as well, very unlike the foliage of common cultivated cherries. The flowers appear in great abundance with the leaves, making a handsome ornamental; they are white, becoming rose-colored as they fall away. The fruit ripens in mid-season for cherries, setting profusely from the many blossoms. The cherries are a half-inch in diameter, bright currant-red, covered with inconspicuous hairs and contain a stone of medium size. They are pleasantly acid, very juicy and withal a decided addition to cultivated cherries.Prunus tomentosaseems a most promising plant for domestication and of particular merit for small gardens and cold regions.

Koehne, in his list of cherries, names ten botanical varieties ofPrunus tomentosa. From this the species seems to be most variable and under cultivation would probably break up into many forms some of which might prove superior to the type species. Koehne's botanical varieties are given under the species on page 22.

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, small, averaging one and three-fourths inches long, one inch wide, flat, abruptly pointed, narrowly oblanceolate to obovate, thin; upper surface dark, dull green, smooth; lower surface light green, thinly pubescent on themidrib and veins; midrib small, straight; veins very minute; margin serrate, teeth tipped with very small glands; petiole short, one-fourth inch in length, glandless.Flowers small, in two- to five-flowered umbels, white, appearing with the leaves; pedicels slender, a half-inch in length. Fruit nearly round, pendulous, variable in color but usually purple-black, without bloom, nearly a half-inch in diameter; flesh thin, variable in quality but often sour and astringent; season late July; stone turgid, nearly round.

Leaves hanging late in the season, small, averaging one and three-fourths inches long, one inch wide, flat, abruptly pointed, narrowly oblanceolate to obovate, thin; upper surface dark, dull green, smooth; lower surface light green, thinly pubescent on themidrib and veins; midrib small, straight; veins very minute; margin serrate, teeth tipped with very small glands; petiole short, one-fourth inch in length, glandless.

Flowers small, in two- to five-flowered umbels, white, appearing with the leaves; pedicels slender, a half-inch in length. Fruit nearly round, pendulous, variable in color but usually purple-black, without bloom, nearly a half-inch in diameter; flesh thin, variable in quality but often sour and astringent; season late July; stone turgid, nearly round.

Prunus pumila, the Sand Cherry, or Dwarf Cherry, of eastern America, is found on sandy and rocky inland shores from Maine to the District of Columbia and northwestward to the Lake of the Woods in Canada. In particular it is common on the sand dunes of the Great Lakes. Everywhere in the wild state it grows in light sands suggesting its use in arid soils and especially on poor soils in cold climates.

As yet there seem to be no named varieties of this cherry known to fruit-growers, its nearly related species,Prunus besseyi, offering greater opportunities to both the fruit-grower and the experimenter. Both the plants and fruits are so variable, the size, color and quality of the crop on some plants being quite attractive, that it is certain an opportunity to domesticate a worthy native plant is being overlooked. The species ought to have value, too, as a stock on which to work other cherries for sandy soils, dwarf trees and exacting climates.

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 borne on slightly curled stems in umbels of two to four; the fruit and stone in the two species are much the same, possibly averaging smaller in this species.

The habitat ofPrunus cuneatais from Maine to North Carolina and northwest to Minnesota, being most commonly found in wet, stiff soils near lakes and bogs but often found on rocky hills if the soil be not too dry.

It is doubtful if this cherry is as promising for cultivation as the foregoing species and not nearly as worthy attention as the next cherry.

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; apex with a short taper-point, broadly lanceolate to nearly oval-lanceolate; upper surface dark green, glossy, smooth; lower surface very light green, not pubescent; midrib distinct, glabrous; veins small but distinct; margin serrate, teeth appressed, tipped with indistinct, sharp glands; petiole thick, three-eighths inch in length, glandless or with from one to two very small, light colored, globose glands on the petiole at the base of the leaf; stipules very prominent, almost leaf-like.Flowers appearing with the leaves in sessile umbels, small, less than a half-inch across, white; fruit more than a half-inch in diameter, globose, sometimes oblong-pointed, yellowish, mottled or more often purple-black; variable in quality but always more or less astringent; ripening in early August; stone large, globose, slightly flattened.

Leaves hanging late, numerous, small, two and three-eighths inches long, one inch wide, thick, stiff, slightly folded upward or nearly flat; apex with a short taper-point, broadly lanceolate to nearly oval-lanceolate; upper surface dark green, glossy, smooth; lower surface very light green, not pubescent; midrib distinct, glabrous; veins small but distinct; margin serrate, teeth appressed, tipped with indistinct, sharp glands; petiole thick, three-eighths inch in length, glandless or with from one to two very small, light colored, globose glands on the petiole at the base of the leaf; stipules very prominent, almost leaf-like.

Flowers appearing with the leaves in sessile umbels, small, less than a half-inch across, white; fruit more than a half-inch in diameter, globose, sometimes oblong-pointed, yellowish, mottled or more often purple-black; variable in quality but always more or less astringent; ripening in early August; stone large, globose, slightly flattened.

The habitat ofPrunus besseyiis not yet definitely bounded but it can, at least, be said that this species is to be found on the prairies from Manitoba and Minnesota to southern Kansas and westward into Montana, Wyoming and Utah. In its natural range it undoubtedly runs into that ofPrunus pumilato the east, and Waugh, in the reference given, holds that the two species grade into each other and he, therefore, makes this a variety of the eastern species. CertainlyPrunus pumilaandPrunus besseyiare as distinct as are many other of the more or less indefinite species of this genus—few, indeed, are the species of Prunus that do not have outliers which overlap other types and, as we shall see, there are hybrids between this and species of other cherries, plums and even peaches and apricots, showing that the lines of demarcation between the members of this genus are difficult to define.

AlthoughPrunus besseyihas received attention from horticulturists less than a quarter-century it has aroused much interest, best indicatedby the fact that now a considerable number of varieties of the species are under cultivation and there are more than a score of hybrids disseminated in which it is one of the parents. Indians, trappers and early settlers have long used the wild fruit under the name of Western Sand Cherry, Bessey's Cherry and Rocky Mountain Cherry. Among pioneers this cherry was held in high esteem for sauces, pies and preserves and, where there was a dearth of cultivated cherries, was eaten with relish out of hand. The flesh is tender, juicy and, while astringent as commonly found, plants bearing aromatic and very palatable cherries are often found growing wild while some of the domesticated plants bear very well-flavored fruits. All speak of the Sand Cherry as wonderful in productiveness and as having remarkable capacity to withstand the vicissitudes of the exacting climate in which it grows. A valuable asset ofPrunus besseyiis its great variability. Fruit from different plants varies in size, color and flavor suggesting that, under cultivation, amelioration will proceed rapidly. The plants of this species root freely from layers or root-cuttings and are therefore easily propagated and multiplied.

But it is in its hybrids that this western cherry has proved most valuable in horticulture. There are now hybrids under cultivation between this species and the Sand plum (Prunus augustifolia watsoni), the Hortulana plum (Prunus hortulana), the Simonii plum (Prunus simonii), the Japanese plum (Prunus triflora), the American plum (Prunus americana), the Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera), the Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium), the peach (Prunus persica), the apricots(Prunus armeniacaandPrunus mume), and the common plum(Prunus domestica). It would almost seem that this species is the "go-between" of the many and varied types of the genus Prunus. It is true that few of these hybrids yet shine as orchard plants but, given time, it seems certain that some will prove valuable in general horticulture and that many will be grown in the special horticulture of the northern Mississippi Valley and the adjoining plains to the west. Credit must be given to Professor N. E. Hansen of the South Dakota Experiment Station for most of our present knowledge of hybridism between this and other species.10

In his work with this species Hansen has also found thatPrunus besseyimakes a very good stock for peaches, apricots, Japanese and native plums and that, while it does not so readily consort with the true cherries, yetit can be used as a stock for them. On the other hand larger fruits of the Sand Cherry can be grown when it is budded on stocks of the Americana.

Besides these well-recognized species of cultivated cherries there are several others that play a much less conspicuous part in horticulture.Prunus fruticosaPallas, the Dwarf Cherry of Europe, is much cultivated, more especially its botanical varietypendula, as an ornamental and somewhat for its fruit. According to Wilson,11Prunus involucrataKoehne is grown for its fruit in the gardens of China; the fruits, he says, are "small and lacking in flavour." The fruits ofPrunus emarginataWalpers are eaten by the Indians on the Pacific Coast and the early settlers used the species as a stock for orchard cherries.Prunus jacquemontiiHooker, the Dwarf Cherry of Afghanistan and Tibet, is occasionally in culture for its fruit and as a park plant; so also is another dwarf cherry from southwestern Asia,Prunus incanaSteven.Prunus pseudocerasusLindley, the Flowering Cherry of Japan, is a well-known ornamental the world over and in Japan is used as a stock for orchard cherries for which purpose, as we have suggested in the discussion of stocks, it ought to be tried in America.

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 and vegetables. On these continents agriculture and rude civilization began in ages immemorial and cultivated plants diversified, enriched and adorned the landscapes long before the first written records. Our knowledge of how wild cherries have been remodeled into the orchard and garden varieties of today—of what the methods and processes of domestication have been—is, therefore, doubtful and limited, for the mind and hand of man had been deeply impressed upon the cherry long before the faint traditions which have been transmitted to our day could possibly have arisen.

The history of the cherry, then, goes back to primitive man. Direct proof of the ancient use of cherries is furnished by the finding of cherry-pits of several species in the deposits of Swiss lake-dwellings, in the mounds and cliff-caves of prehistoric inhabitants of America and in the ancient rubbish-heaps of Scandinavian countries. There are but few regions in which cultivated cherries are grown in which the inhabitants in times of stress, or by choice in times of plenty, do not now use as food wild cherries, some species of which grow in abundance and under the most varied conditions, almost from the Arctic Circle to within a few degrees of the Tropic of Cancer in a belt encircling the globe. It is probable that all of the wild species which have furnished fruit to the aborigines or to the modern inhabitants of a region have been sparingly cultivated—at the very least if they possessed any considerable food value they have been more or less widely distributed by the hand of man. But, curiously enough, out of the score or more of species of which the fruit is used as food as the plants grow wild, but two may be said to be truly domesticated. These are the Sour, or Pie Cherry,Prunus cerasus, and the SweetCherry,Prunus avium, with the histories of which we are now to be concerned.

Pliny is generally accredited as the first historian of the cherry. Nearly eighteen and a half centuries ago he gave an account of the cherries of Rome with the statement that Lucullus, the Roman soldier and gourmet, had brought them to Rome 65 years before Christ12from the region of the Black Sea. This particular in the account proves to be a good illustration of the adage that old errors strike root deeply. Though disproved beyond all question of doubt time and time again by botanists and historians, Pliny's inadvertence is still everywhere current in text-books, pomologies and cyclopaedias—a mis-statement started, repeated and perpetuated from medieval days when to be printed in Pliny was sufficient proof. That Lucullus brought to Italy a cherry and one which the Romans did not know there is no reason to doubt, but other cherries there must have been, not only wild but cultivated, ofPrunus cerasusat least and probably ofPrunus avium, and in comparative abundance long before Lucullus, returning from the war in Pontus with Mithridates, brought to Rome a cherry. With this brief mention of Pliny's inaccuracy, we pass to more substantial facts in the history of the cherry.

The domestication of one or the other of the two generally cultivated species of cherries followed step by step the changes from savagery to civilization in the countries of Europe and of western Asia. For, as one sorts the accumulated stores of botanical and historical evidence, it becomes quickly apparent that both the Sweet and the Sour Cherry now grow wild and long have done so in the region named and that, from the time tillage of plants was first practiced in the Old World, this fruit has been under cultivation, feeble, obscure, and interrupted by war and chase though its cultivation may have been. Certainly the history of the cherry is as old as that of agriculture in the southern European countries and is interwritten with it.

In beginning the history of a cultivated plant the first step is to ascertain where it grows spontaneously—where it may be found unplanted and unattended by man. This is the task now before us forPrunus cerasusandPrunus avium, discussing them in the order named.

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 several continents. It is not so easy to say where the habitat and what the condition before the species was cultivated. But botany, archaeology, history and philology indicate that the original habitat of the Sour Cherry is southeastern Europe and the nearby countries in Asia.

After saying that this cherry has been found wild in the forests of Asia Minor, the plains of Macedonia, on Mount Olympus and in neighboring territories, De Candolle, however, limits its habitat to the region "from the Caspian Sea to the environments of Constantinople."13But as a wild plant this cherry must have spread over a far greater area. Even the broadest boundaries of the habitat ofPrunus cerasusas set by De Candolle show over-caution. Thus, the Marasca cherry, a botanical variety ofPrunus cerasus, is most certainly wild in the Province of Dalmatia on the Adriatic Sea in Austria; so, too, it is certain that this species is feral as far away from De Candolle's center of distribution as northern Austria and southern Germany and has been so for untold ages. It is safe to say that the original source of the Sour Cherry was the territory lying between Switzerland and the Adriatic Sea on the west and the Caspian Sea and probably somewhat farther north on the east. That is, our savage forefathers must have found this cherry in the region thus outlined, probably in a much more extended territory, into which it was brought in more or less remote times by agencies other than human from De Candolle's smaller area of origin.

It is easier to define the geographic range of the wild Sweet Cherry. Botanists very generally agree thatPrunus aviumas a wild plant inhabits all of the mainland of Europe in which the cultivated varieties of the species can be grown—that is, most of the continent south of Sweden, and may be found wild well into southern Russia. The species is reported sparingly wild in northern Africa and is a very common wild plant insouthern Asia as far east as northern India. It must not be thought that the plant is everywhere abundant in the great area outlined as its habitat. To the contrary, the Sweet Cherry is an uncommon wild plant in Spain, Italy and other parts of southern Europe. All authorities agree that the region of greatest communal intensity forPrunus aviumis between the Caspian and Black Seas and south of these bodies of water. It might suffice to say that from about these seas the Sweet Cherry came—that here grew the trunk from which branches were spread into other lands by birds and animals carrying the seeds from place to place. The most important fact to be established, however, is that this cherry has long grown spontaneously over a widely extended territory and may, therefore, have been domesticated in several widely separated regions.

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 cerasusandPrunus aviumare not found wild in China and were only in recent years introduced there as cultivated plants. Neither does the cherry of our civilization seem to have been known in the second great agricultural region of the world—Egypt and the extreme southwest of Asia. At least there are no words for the cherry in the languages of the peoples of that region and cherry pits have not been found with the remains of other plants in the tombs and ruins of Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. Nor does the cherry seem to have been cultivated in India until comparatively recent times.

These very brief and general statements show that cherries were not cultivated in the first agricultural civilizations and serve to fix the time and the place of the domestication of the cherry a little more definitely. Records of cherries as cultivated plants begin, so far as the researches of botanical historians now show, with Greek civilization though it is probable, for several reasons, that some cultivated cherries came to Greece from Asia Minor.

Theophrastus, to whom Linnaeus gave the title "Father of Botany,"writing about 300 years before the Christian era in hisHistory of Plants, is, according to botanical historians, the first of the Greek writers to mention the cherry. His statement is as follows:—

"The cherry is a peculiar tree, of large size, some attaining the height of twenty-four cubits, rather thick, so that they may measure two cubits in circumference at the base. The leaf is like that of the mespilus, rather firm and broader, the color of the foliage such that the tree may be distinguished from others at a good distance. The bark, by its color, smoothness and thickness, is like that of tilia. The flower [meaning, the cluster of flowers] is white, resembling that of the pear and mespilus, consisting of small [separate] flowers. The fruit is red, similar to that of diospyros [but what his diospyros was no one knows] of the size of a faba [perhaps nelumbo seed], which is hard, but the cherry is soft. The tree grows in the same situations as tilia; by streams."14

From this passage we gather that the cherry Theophrastus knew was the Sweet Cherry,Prunus avium; the description shows it to be the same large, tall tree now naturalized in open woods and along roadsides in many parts of the United States. From the fact that Theophrastus describes the tree and the bark in more detail than the fruit we may assume that the cherry was more esteemed in ancient Greece as a timber-tree than as a fruit-tree. Curiously enough the name the Greeks at this time used for the Sweet Cherry is now applied toPrunus cerasus, the Sour Cherry.

"Kerasos" was the Sweet Cherry in ancient Greece and from kerasos camecerasus, used by many botanists as the name of the genus. That the Sweet Cherry should by the use ofaviumbe denominated the "bird cherry" is clear since birds show much discrimination between cherries, but why the Sour Cherry should be given the specific namecerasus, first applied to the Sweet Cherry, is not apparent.

Pages are written in the old pomologies and botanical histories as to the origin of the wordcerasus. Pliny's statement that Lucullus called the cherrycerasusfrom the town from which he obtained it, Kerasun in Pontus, on the Black Sea, is, in the light of all who have since looked into the matter, a misconception. To the contrary, commentators now agree that the town received its name from the cherry which grows most abundantly in the forests in that part of Asia Minor. The name, according to all authorities, is very ancient—a linguistic proof of the antiquity of the cherry.

To sum up, the cherry comes into literature first from Greece in the writings of Theophrastus. There can be but little doubt, however, but that it had been cultivated for centuries before Theophrastus wrote. Whether one or both of the two cherries were domesticated by the Greeks, beginning with their civilization, or whether cultivated cherries came to Greece from Asia Minor, is not now known. It is very probable that some of the several varieties grown in Greece came under cultivation through domestication of wild plants; others were introduced from regions farther east.

A digression may be permitted here to state a hypothesis suggested by De Candolle15which 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, sincePrunus aviumis the commoner in the original home, is generally the more vigorous of the two, has spread much farther and probably at a much earlier date from the primal habitation in Asia Minor thanPrunus cerasus, that the latter, the Sour Cherry, is derived from the Sweet Cherry. In the future breeding of cherries confirmatory evidence of such a relationship may be obtained though, should none be found, the negation should go for naught and the supposition can only remain an interesting and plausible hypothesis.

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 probable that Pliny knew and described all of the cherries to be found in the whole of his country. But even if these ten comprise the entire number, those who know how extremely difficult it is to introduce new plants ina country with the facilities we have in our day, will doubt that all of the cherries in Pliny's account could have been introduced in Italy 1900 years ago and have come under general cultivation, as according to Pliny they had, within the short space of a century. The following quotation, then, must be taken as an account of the cherries grown in Italy in the first century after Christ with little weight given to the historical evidence presented.16

"The cherry did not exist in Italy before the period of the victory gained over Mithridates by L. Lucullus, in the year of the City 680. He was the first to introduce this tree from Pontus, and now, in the course of one hundred and twenty years, it has travelled beyond the Ocean, and arrived in Britannia even. The cherry, as we have already stated, in spite of every care, has been found impossible to rear in Egypt. Of this fruit, that known as the "Apronian" is the reddest variety, the Lutatian being the blackest, and the Caecilian perfectly round. The Junian cherry has an agreeable flavour, but only, so to say, when eaten beneath the tree, as they are so remarkably delicate that they will not bear carrying. The highest rank, however, has been awarded to the Duracinus variety, known in Campania as the "Plinian" cherry, and in Belgica to the Lusitanian cherry, as also to one that grows on the banks of the Rhenus. This last kind has a third colour, being a mixture of black, red, and green, and has always the appearance of being just on the turn to ripening. It is less than five years since the kind known as the "laurel-cherry" was introduced, of a bitter but not unpleasant flavour, the produce of a graft upon the laurel. The Macedonian cherry grows on a tree that is very small, and rarely exceeds three cubits in height; while the chamaecerasus is still smaller, being but a mere shrub. The cherry is one of the first trees to recompense the cultivator with its yearly growth; it loves cold localities and a site exposed to the north. The fruits are sometimes dried in the sun, and preserved, like olives, in casks."

How are the cherries described in the passage from Pliny related to those of modern culture? A score or more of commentators have tried to tell but when the comments are compared Pliny's disorder becomes confusion worse confounded. Here, as in his historical statements, Pliny seems to have prepared the ground for a fine crop of misunderstandings. The speculations as to what particular cherry each of the descriptions fits quickly show the futility of specification. A few generalizations only are warranted.

Thus, if we assume, as most commentators do, that Apronian, thefirst of Pliny's varieties, was named after Apronius, a Roman praetor of Pliny's day, there is nothing to indicate the character of the cherry except the word "reddest" which means but little for it is no more possible to distinguish cherries by redness than by its blackness to tell a pot from a kettle.

It is as impossible to distinguish the second variety as the first. The name given is Lutatian, the variety having been dedicated, as all commentators agree, to Lutatius Catulus, a contemporary of Lucullus, revered by Romans for having rebuilt the capitol after it had been destroyed by fire. It is described as "being the blackest" but whetherPrunus aviumorPrunus cerasus, sweet or sour, who can tell?

The third variety is called the Caecilian cherry, which we are told is "perfectly round"—a character possessed in like degree by many cherries. The name, on the authority of Latin scholars, commemorates the Caecilius family, rich and powerful Romans, friends of Lucullus at the time he was promoting cherry culture.

We may be a little more certain of the identity of the fourth cherry, called the Junian, and said to have been possessed of "an agreeable flavor but only, so to say, when eaten beneath the tree, as they are so remarkably delicate that they will not bear carrying." Whether the name was given in honor of the Roman Republican, Junius Brutus, who died 42 A. D. or from Junius, the month of their ripening, cannot be said. The description, as practically all agree, fits very well the French Guigne or English Gean group of cherries. It is probable that "Guigne" is a perversion of "Junian."

There can be little question as to the cherry Pliny next describes, "the Duracinus variety" which he says has been awarded "highest rank" and to which he paid the compliment of giving it his own name, for he tells us that it is "known in Campania as the Plinian cherry." This hard-fleshed cherry of delectable quality can be no other than a Bigarreau—some protean Napoleon, Yellow Spanish, Windsor or the older Oxheart and Elkhorn.

The sixth cherry is the Lusitanian, which, if the translations read aright, the Belgians rank highest. Ancient Lusitania is modern Portugal and the Lusitanian cherry may be the Griotte of Portugal grown from time immemorial in that country. The identity of the variety is not so important in this passage as is the connection that Pliny establishes in cherry culture at this early time between Portugal, Italy and Belgium.By such tokens does our author cast doubt upon his statement that Lucullus had but yesterday, as it were, brought the cherry from Pontus.

The seventh cherry is one "that grows on the banks of the Rhenus" (Rhine), further described as "being a mixture of black, red and green," and of having "always the appearance of being just on the turn to ripening." It is useless to add another guess to those of the many commentators as to what this tri-colored cherry from the banks of the Rhine may be.

The eighth description, that of the "laurel-cherry," applies to a graft and not to a variety. Of it, Pliny says, "It is less than five years since the kind known as the laurel-cherry was introduced, of a bitter, but not unpleasant flavor, the produce of a graft upon the laurel." It is barely possible that a cherry could be made to grow on a laurel five years but it is extremely doubtful, as all modern horticulturists who have tried it say, and it is impossible to have such a graft bear fruit. Pliny was misinformed.

The ninth and tenth of Pliny's cherries, the Macedonian and the Chamaecerasus, are probably one and the same, since but one cherry that could possibly answer to the descriptions given could have been in Italy at the time Pliny wrote. The cherry described, then, was almost beyond doubtPrunus fruticosaPallas, a synonym of which isPrunus chamaecerasusJacquin, perpetuating the name used by Pliny. This is the European Dwarf Cherry, or Ground Cherry, which is now and was probably then a wild plant in parts of Italy and which is very well described by "a tree that is very small, and rarely exceeds three cubits in height."

We have accredited Pliny with having first described cherries in Italy and discredited his account of their introduction in his own country, but chiefly on inferential evidence. Just a few words of direct proof that the cherry was long in cultivation by the Romans before Lucullus and we have done with the introduction of the cherry into Italy and have filled another gap between Theophrastus and our own times. Marcus Terentius Varro (B. C. 117-27), one of the illustrious scholars of ancient Rome, sometimes called the father of Roman learning, in his eightieth year, as he tells us in his first chapter, wrote a book on farming—one, which, by the way, may be read with profit by modern farmers.17In book 1, chapter XXXIX, he tells when to graft cherries, discussing the process not as if it or the cherry were new or little known but as if the cherry wereas commonplace as the other agricultural crops of the times. Varro effectually disproves Pliny to whose mis-statement we have given so much space only because for nearly 2000 years it has been generally accepted as the truth.

The gaps in the history of the cherry are long. Athenaeus,18Tertullian,19Ammianus,20and St. Jerome,21Roman writers of the Third and Fourth Centuries, mention cherries but chiefly to repeat and perpetuate Pliny's errors. It was not until the Sixteenth Century—a lapse of 1400 years—that an attempt was again made to describe in full cultivated cherries. Sometime in this century, Matthiolus (1487-1577), a Tuscan and one of the eminent naturalists not only of Italy but of the world in the Middle Ages, in translating and annotating the medical works of the Greek writer Dioscorides, made a list of the fruit-trees then grown in Italy. As the second descriptive list of cherries this contribution of Matthiolus might be worth reprinting were it not, as in Pliny, that but few of his varieties can be certainly made out. He does, however, make a number of additions to Pliny's list but space does not permit a consideration of these; especially since Gerarde, writing less than a century later in English, so well amplifies Matthiolus that we shall print his account.

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