THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 49 



Thus, the first of the German herbals, the Herbarius, printed at 

 Mainz in 1491, does not describe or even name varieties of cherries but 

 groups them in the two species as Sweets and Sours, the statement run- 

 ning:^ "The cherries are some sweet, some sour, like the wild apple; 

 the soiirs bring to the stomach gas and make the mouth fresh (frisch), 

 those too sweet or too sour are of little use." A wood-cut in this old herbal 

 illustrates a Sour Cherry. 



According to Miiller,- not until 1569 did the Germans attempt to 

 give names to varieties, when, in a medical herbal, the Gart der Gesimdheit, 

 cherries were roughly divided into four groups: (i) The AmareUen, sour, 

 dark red cherries with long stems. (2) The Weichselkirschen, red cherries 

 with white juice and short stems. (3) The Siisskirschen, red or black 

 Sweet Cherries with long stems. (4) " Beside these yet more " distinguished 

 by their shape and the province in which they are grown. Not until well 

 into the Eighteenth Century do the Germans seem to have given names 

 to more than a few of the most distinct varieties of cherries. Yet the 

 cherry was more largely cultivated in Germany, one, two, or three centimes 

 ago, as it is now, than in any other Eiu"opean country. This, one readily 

 gleans from what has been written on cherries in different countries and 

 from the acknowledgments of foreign pomologists to those of Germany 

 for most of what has been printed regarding cherries. Not only has the 

 cherry been a favorite orchard plant in Germany but since the Sixteenth 

 Century it has been largely planted along the public roads. 



Of cherries on the continent, for this brief history, nothing more 

 need be said. Most of the varieties that have been imported from Europe 

 to America have come from England and we must, therefore, devote rather 

 more attention to the history of the cherry in England than in other 

 European countries. 



CHERRIES IN ENGLAND 



Cultivated cherries came to England with the Romans. Prunus 

 avium is indigenous in Great Britain but probably no care worthy the 

 name cultivation was given these wild trees by the ancient Britons. Pliny 

 states that the cherry was carried from Rome to Britain before the middle 

 of the First Century — meaning probably some improved variety. In no 

 part of the world does the cherry take more kindly to the soil than in 



' Quoted from Muller, Hugo M. Obstzuchter 8:3. 1910. 



2 Ibid. 



4 



