128 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



dark glands; petiole nearly two inches long, tinged with red, with a few hairs, with from 

 two to four reniform, brownish glands usually on the stalk. 



Buds large, conical or pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in 

 clusters on spurs of medium length ; leaf-scars prominent ; season of bloom medium ; flowers 

 white, one and one-eighth inches across; borne in scattered clusters in twos and threes; 

 pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green faintly tinged with 

 red, campanulate; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, obtuse, glabrous within and without, 

 reflexed; petals irregular-oval, crenate, with short, blunt claws and with a crenate apex; 

 anthers yellowish; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistU glabrous, equal to the stamens 

 in length. 



Fruit matures in mid-season; nearly one inch in diameter, oblate, somewhat cordate, 

 compressed; cavity regular, flaring; suture a faint groove; apex pointed or slightly 

 depressed; color dark red almost black; dots small, russet, medium in number, obscure; 

 stem slender, two inches long; skin thin, tender; flesh dark red, with wine-colored juice, 

 meaty, tender, crisp, pleasant flavored, rrdld, sweet; very good to best in quality; stone 

 free except along the ventral suture, rather small, ovate, slightly flattened, blimt, with 

 smooth surfaces; ridged along the ventral suture. 



EARLY MAY 



Prunus fruticosa 



I. Langley Pomona 86, PI. 17 fig. 2. 1729. 2. Prince Pom. Man. 2:131. 1832. 3. Downing Fr. 

 Trees Am. 479. 1869. 4. Hogg Fruit Man. 295. 1884. 



May. 5. Parkinson Par. Ter. 571. 1629. 



Cerisier Nain a Fruit Rond Precoce. 6. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 1:168, 169, 170, PI. HI. 1768. 



Friihe Zwergweichsel. 7. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 492-498. 1819. 8. Mathieu Norn. Pom. 

 349. 350, 372. 1889. 



Amarell-Weichsel. 9. Dochnahl Fiihr. Obslkunde 3:57, 58. 1858. 



Precoce de Montreuil. 10. Mas Le Verger 8:141, 142, fig. 69. 1866-73. 



Criottier Nain Precoce. 11. Leroy Diet. Pom. 5:293 fig., 294. 1877. 



As the only cultivated representative of the European Dwarf Cherry, 

 Early May should be of especial interest to cherry-growers. It is a true 

 dwarf variety, the trees seldom attaining a height of more than six or seven 

 feet. Both tree and branches are very flexible so that Early May is well 

 adapted to the wall-training of European countries. It has further value 

 in its earliness, being the earliest of all cherries. It is doubtful whether 

 the variety can now be obtained in America but it ought to be reintroduced 

 both for the fruit and because it is a handsome ornamental. Early May 

 has several characters to recommend it to plant-breeders. The description 

 herewith given is compiled from European fruit-books. 



Pliny in his Natural History mentions the Macedonian and the Cha- 

 maecerasus cherries, both of which we now believe to have been Prunus 

 fruticosa, the European Dwarf Cherry. Early May, according to European 



