HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



195 



Speaking in general terms, it may be said that 

 the FriDius avium — whence come geans, merries, 

 bigarreaus (all tall trees) — has been found wild in 

 Asia, throughout Northern Persia, in the Russian 

 provinces of Southern Caucasus, and in Armenia ; 

 in Europe, from the South of Sweden to the 

 mountainous parts of Greece and Spain ; in Africa, 

 in Algeria : whilst the Priaiiis cerastes, compre- 

 hending the Morello and many short -growing va- 

 rieties of similar habit, has been met with wild in 

 Asia Minor, on the shores of the Caspian, in Greece, 

 and in the mountainous districts of Italy and France 

 (but farther west only in a cultivated state), and like- 

 wise in Southern India. 



The mode of the propagation of the cherry appears 

 to be by seeds, which are dropped by birds at a short 

 distance from the plantations. 



The last-mentioned species was well known in 

 ancient times, and is described both by Theophrastus 

 and by PUny, who writes of nine kinds of cherry, and 

 strongly recommends the fruit as profitable to the 

 grower. He says, ," 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." 



The inhabitants of the ancient city of Pompeii 

 must have been familiar with the species of cherry 

 now under consideration, since, amongst the treasures 

 revealed in the exploration of its ruins, at least two 

 paintings have been found which plainly portray the 

 Prumis cei'asus. 



Whatever may have been the kind of cherry intro- 

 duced into our country at the early period above 

 mentioned by our Roman invaders, there is reason 

 to believe that but little care was taken to preserve 

 or cultivate it, or, indeed, any other fruit trees; and 

 though gardens, orchards, and vineyards are men- 

 tioned in William the Conqueror's Survey, it was not 

 until the skill of the monks, who came over under 

 his auspices, had achieved a great improvement in 

 the science and art of gardening, that England had 

 much to boast of in the way of orchard fruits. These 

 indefatigable men transplanted with them from their 

 own fruitful Normandy, both the trees wherewith to 

 stock our orchards, and the practical knowledge where- 

 with to tend and foster their growth. From this period, 

 for a time, the art of gardening flourished, then fell 

 back sadly when civil wars and disputes devastated 

 the land, no great revival taking place until the 

 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 



Very early in the reign of Henry VIII. , in a list 

 of fruits and vegetables then introduced from the 

 Netherlands, we find amongst others " the cherry." 

 This was probably the kind which we still call the 

 Flemish cherry, of which old John Gerarde says : 

 "It differeth not from our other English cherries in 

 stature or form of leaves or flowers ; the only differ- 

 ence is, that this tree bringeth forth his fruit sooner 



and greater than the other, wherefore it may be 

 called in Latin, Cerasus fracox.'''' 



This author describes witli care at least a dozen 

 kinds of cherries, of whose virtues and properties he 

 duly descants, though, verily, his experience of the 

 kindj he here describes seems to have been stolen 

 from him. His account leads us to suppose that at 

 least he would fain have shared it with his greedy 

 friend. "We have," says he, "another that 

 bringeth forth cherries also very great, bigger than 

 any Flanders cherrie, of the colour of jet, or 

 burnished home, and of a most pleasant taste, as 

 witnesseth Mi-. Bull, the Queen's Majesty's Clock- 

 maker, who did taste of the fruit (the tree bearing 

 onely one cherrie, which he did eaie, but myself 

 never tasted of it), at the impression hereof." 



Gerarde records, too, a use of the Morello cherry, 

 which, I believe, is little known at the present time. 

 He says, " When they be ripe, the Frenchmen 

 gather them with their stalks and hang them up in 

 their houses in bunches or handfuls against winter, 

 which the Physitions do give unto their patients 

 in hot and burning fevers, being first steeped in a 

 little warm water, that causeth them to swell and 

 plump as when they did grow upon the tree." After 

 recording the various medicinal uses of the cherry, 

 which however seem to be but fe\?, he recommends 

 the gum of the cherry-tree, with wine and water, as 

 " a remedy for an old cough ; " and, says he, " Dio- 

 scorides added, that it maketh one well coloured, 

 cleareth the sight, and causeth a good appetite to 

 meat." 



Several kinds of cherry are used to make liqueurs. 

 The species called Pninits inarasca is found wild in 

 Dalmatia ; from it is distilled the liqueur we know as 

 Maraschino. 



Although the cherry is in nowise associated in our 

 minds with revelry and mirth as the vine is, German 

 records relate a custom in which this fruit has been 

 made the emblem of rejoicing. The account given 

 of an ancient festival runs thus : — There is a feast 

 celebrated at Naumberg, called the feast of cherries, 

 in which troops of children parade the streets, 

 holding green boughs ornamented with cherries, to 

 commemorate a triumph obtained by their ancestors 

 in the following manner. In the year 1432 the 

 Hussites threatened the city of Naumberg with 

 immediate destruction, when one of the citizens 

 named Wolff proposed that all the children in the 

 city, from seven to fourteen years of age, should be 

 clad in mourning and sent as suppliants to the enemy. 

 Procopius Nasus, chief of the Hussites, was so 

 touched with the spectacle that he not only received 

 the young suppliants, but regaled them with fruits 

 and promised to spare the city. The children 

 returned, crowned with leaves and bearing bunches 

 of cherries, crying as they passed along, "Victory, 

 victory ! " 



The wood of the cherry-tree is not extensively usecl 



K 2 



