CHERRY. Prunue cerasus. The cherry of horticulturists was said to have been brought from Ceresus, a city in Pontus, to Italy, after the defeat of Mithridates, by Lucullus. About one hundred and twenty years afterwards, or in A.D. 55, it was taken to Britain by the Romans. A fruit universally cherished, it became dis seminated where civilization extended, and is now cultivated, in some of its varieties, in every climate where the tree will survive the winter. West of Lake Michigan, only the Kentish and Morello varieties are generally cultivated, since the sweet varieties are so subject to bark burst ing and exudation of gum, as to render their cultivation unprofitable. Along the Eastern shore of Michigan, however, the sweet varieties are cultivated with measurable success, well up to the Northern limit of the lake. As we pro ceed East and especially South, all varieties are more or less cultivated. The oherry is propagated both by grafting and budding, the latter prefera bly. Grafting is done in the spring before the appearance of the leaf, and budding as soon as the terminal bud is perfectly formed, at the North generally in August; and, in severe climates, at such height as is required for the head to be formed. For family u:e we incline to the opin ion That it is preferable to bud on Mahaleb stocks, and under the surface if grafted, since they are apt to kill at the junction. Thus we have no
suckers, and the fruit is larger. On Morello stocks, however, we get earlier and more profuse bearing, and for market purposes, it is undoubt, edly best, in all that region where Early Rich mond and Late Morello are the varieties planted, and this embraces the whole West and North west, except where previously noted. Below will be found a list of varieties, as revised by the American Pomological Society, and adapted to various latitudes of the United States.
The columns explain as follows. Size-1., large; m., medium; a., small. Form—ob. h., obtuse heart shape; r. ob. h., roundish obtuse heart shape; r. h., roundish heart shape; r., roundish or round. Color—I r., lively bright red; d . r. dark red, almost black; a. m., amber mottled with red; y. r., yellow ground shaded and marbled with red. Class—H., Hearts, or tender fleshed sweet cherries; B., Bigarreau, or firm fleshed cherries: D., Dukes, having a char acter in tree and fruit midway between the Hearts and Morellos; M., Morellos, having acid fruit, and the tree of small, slender growth. Use—F., family, for dessert; F. M. family or market; IC M. for kitchen or market; M., mar . Ica. Season—E., early; M., medium; L. late.
, foreign: Am., American. L., aignifies doing well, adapted to ; ** well adapted, signifies on trial, or experimental.