VARIETIES OF CHERRIES 



323 



Group 2. Dark-colored Bigarreaus 



499. Schmidt (Fig. 147). Schmidt's Bi- 

 garreau. — The characters which entitle 

 Schmidt to a high place in the cherry list 

 are: the fruits are large, being unsurpassed 

 in size by any other black cherry; they are 

 glossy black in color ; the flesh is dark ruby- 

 red under the skin, which makes the cherry 

 as pleasing inwardly as outwardly ; and they 

 are free from brown-rot, in this respect ex- 

 celling any other market sort. The trees are 

 vigorous, healthy, productive, and charac- 

 terized by abundant large leaves of dark 

 luxuriant green. Schmidt originated with 

 Herr Schmidt, Casekow, Prussia, about 

 1841. It eventually found its way to 

 America, but when and how is not known. 



Fig. 147. Schmidt. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped and productive. 

 Leaves obovate; margin serrate, glandular. Fruit midseason, one inch in 

 diameter, long-cordate, compressed, often oblique; cavity deep, wide, flar- 



fing; suture indistinct; apex bluntly pointed; color 

 purplish-black; dots numerous, small, dark russet, 

 obscure; stem slender, 1^2 inches long; strongly 

 adherent to the fruit ; skin tough, separating from 

 the pulp; flesh purplish-red, with dark colored juice, 

 crisp, firm, mild, sweet; of good quality; stone semi- 

 clinging, ovate, oblique, with smooth surfaces. 



500. Windsor (Fig. 148) is the standard 

 late Bigarreau. The fruits are firm and 

 stand harvesting and shipping well; and at 

 a season of the year when brown-rot is usu- 

 ally rife, Windsor is fairly free from this 

 scourge of the sweet cherry. The quality is 

 good, equalled but not surpassed by others 

 of its class. The trees have the reputation 

 of being the hardiest of the Bigarreaus, of 

 thriving in many soils and of being fruitful, 

 but to offset these merits, they do not come 



Fig. 148. Windsor, 



