472 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Griutte is a French word, and was originally applied to these fruits- 

 because of their dark red brown color.) 



The Sweet Cherry group is represented in this country by four 

 types : 



1. Mazzards {Meris'ier of the French), small fruits of various 

 shapes and colors, represented by miscellaneous and inferior seed- 

 lings of the Sweet Cherry species. Mazzard trees are common 

 along roadsides and in the borders of woods, where the seeds are 

 scattered by birds. Mazzard seedlings, imported from Europe, ar& 

 much used as stocks by nurserymen. 



2. Hearts or Geans, with a soft-fleshed heart-shape fruit, repre- 

 sented by the Governor Wood, Black Eagle, Black Tartarian and 

 the like. (The word Gean — French guigne — is an old name for 

 the cherry, ultimately probably of Greek origin.) 



3. Bigarreaus, hard-fleshed, or crackling cherries, mostly of light 

 color and heart-shape, comprising "Windsor, Napoleon, Yellow 

 Spanish, and others. (The word Bigarreau is French, sometimes 

 anglicized as higaroon, and it is applied to these fruits probably 

 because of their mottled or streaked appearance. Tlie typical bigar- 

 reaus are light red upon the sunny side, and whitish or lemon-yellow 

 on the reverse.) 



4. Dukes differ from the heart cherries chiefly in having an acid 

 or subacid fruit. Here belong the May Duke, Reine Flortense^ 

 Belle de Choisy and a few other sorts. Horticulturists, and even 

 botanists, persist in classing the Dukes with the true sour cherries, 

 but there is nothing to warrant such association beyond the mere 

 incidental sourness of the fruit. The habit of tree, characters of 

 flowers, leaves, and even of the fruits, are clearly those of the sweet 

 cherry type. Even the sourest of them are sweet as compared with 

 the true sour cherries, and there is every gradation from the type 

 of May Duke to the typical Hearts. (May Duke is a corruption of 

 Medoc, a district in southern France, whence the variety is said to^ 

 have come. In France, the leading Dukes are known under the 

 name of Royales^ Jeffrey's Duke being called Hoyale, and May 

 Duke Royale hdtive.) 



2. The Botanical Classification. 



There are few plants of which the botanical nomenclature is 

 moi'e perplexingly and delightfully mixed than the cultivated 

 cherries. They were already widely grown and immensely varia- 



