15S SYSTEM ATir VOMOLOGY 



Ida, Elton and Waterloo; dark coloicd ones arc l>lack Tartarian, 

 Early Purple and Ea^^le. 



(2) The Bigarrcaus. — 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 accord- 

 ance with color of fruit and juice into black and light Bigar- 

 reaus. 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 repre- 

 sentative sorts. 



IlyhrUI or Duke cherries. 



230. Hybrid cherries. — The Duke cherries, long placed by 

 most pomologists and botanists in a botanical variety of P. 

 avium, are hybrids between the sweet and the sour cherry. A 

 study of the characters of the varieties of Duke cherries shows 

 all gradations between P. Cerasus and P. avium, though, in the 

 main, the hybrids resemble the sweet more than the sour cher- 

 ries, differing from the former most noticeably in having acid 

 flesh. 



Sterility is a common attribute of hybridism. In this respect, 

 the Dukes behave like hybrids ; most of the seeds are sterile, and 

 in none are the seeds so fertile as in varieties know^n to be pure- 

 bred as to species. Also, shrunken pollen-grains indicate hybrid- 

 ity. A study of the pollen of Duke cherries shows many grains, 

 the greater proportion, to be abnormal, a condition not found 

 in the pollen of varieties true to species. Crosses between sw^eet 

 and sour cherries at the New York Experiment Station have 

 given many Dukes. May Duke, Reine Hortense, and Late Duke 

 are the leading hybrid varieties. 



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. There are about 

 sixty-five cherries listed as ''Dukes." The name Duke comes 

 from the variety May Duke, which is a corruption of Medoc, 

 a district in France, whence this variety came. The cherries 



