Cherries. 



I. CLASSIFICATION OF THE CHEERIES. 

 1. The Horticultural Groups. 



Before proceeding to a discussion of the general subject in hand, 

 it will be necessary to define the terms and classification which are 

 used throughout this }3aper. The cherry is a perplexingly variable 

 subject, and classification of the different types is much confused. 

 In this account, I have conceived the cultivated tree cherries to be 

 derived from two ancestrial species, the Sour Cherries {Prunus 

 Cerasus)^ which are characterized by a diffuse and mostly low 

 round-headed growth and a habit of suckering from the root, flowers 

 in small clusters from lateral buds and generally preceding the 

 leaves, the latter hard and stiff, Hght or grayish green and rather 

 abruptly narrowed at the top into a point, the fruit roundish and 

 always red, the flesh soft and sour ; the Sweet Cherries {Prunes 

 Avium), with tall-growing, erect habit and bark tending to peel off 

 in birch-like rings, flowers flimsy, in dense clusters on lateral spurs 

 and appearing with the leaves, the latter large and more or less limp 

 and gradually taper-pointed, the fruit variously colored, spherical 

 or heart-shape, the flesh either soft or hard and generally sweet. 



The Sour Cherry class includes two general types : 



1. Amarelles, with pale red fruits, which are generally flattened 

 ■on the ends, and an un colored juice. Here belong the Mont- 

 morency, Early Richmond and their kin. (The term Amarelle, 

 from the Latin for hitter, is used by the Germans for these light- 

 colored and white-juiced cherries, and it is the best term which I 

 know for adoption in America. In France, however, it appears to 

 have a less definite application. — See Leroy, Diction.naire de Pomo- 

 logie, V. 163. If this term is not acceptable, then I should choose 

 Kentish, to designate this group of cherries.) 



2. Morellos or Griottes, with very dark red fruits, which gen- 

 erally vary from spherical to heart-shape, and a dark colored juice 

 includes the various Morellos, Ostheim, Louis Phillippe, and the 

 like. (The word Morello is from the Italian, meaning 'blackish. 



