THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 175 



Fruit matures in mid-season; nearly one inch in diameter, oblate, strongly compressed; 

 cavity deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex flattened or sUghtly depressed; color 

 dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem one and three-fourths inches 

 long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh pale yellowish 

 or with a tinge of red, with Ught pink juice, slightly stringy, tender and melting, pleasantly 

 flavored, mildly tart ; of very good quality ; stone free, roundish-oval, plump, blunt, oblique, 

 with smooth surfaces often tinged with red, with small ridges radiating from the base. 



OLIVET 



Prunns avium X Prunus cerasus 



1. Gard. Mon. 19:19. 1877. 2- Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 20. i88i. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 3rd 

 App. 164. 1881. 4. Can. Exp. Farm Bui. 17:11. 1892. $. Cal. Sla. .An. Rpt. ^16. 1895-97. 6. Va. 

 Sta. Bui. 133:27. 1902. 7. la. Sta. Bui. 73:76, 77. 1903. 8. .4m. Pom. Soc. Sp. Rpt. 24. 1904-05. 

 9. Wash. Sta. Bui. 92:21. 1910. 



Olivet is a large, globular, deep red, glossy cherry with a rich, vinous, 

 subacid flavor. Some writers caU Olivet a Duke while others place it 

 with the Morellos. The fruit, on the grounds of this Station, shows many 

 characteristics of the Morellos while the tree appears to be a Duke, sug- 

 gesting that it is a hybrid between trees of the two groups. The fruit, 

 eaten out of hand, would be rated as a very good Morello or a subacid 

 and somewhat mediocre Duke, a frmt hardly good enough for dessert and 

 not as good as some of the sourer cherries for ctdinary purposes. It is 

 one of the earliest of the Morello-like cherries and this may give it a place 

 in the cherry flora of the coimtry. The trees are large and vigorous and 

 their much-branched, roimd tops would seem to give the maximum amount 

 of bearing surface, but, unfortunately, the cherries do not set abundantly. 

 On the grounds of this Station the variety is not frmtful, this being its chief 

 defect. In other parts of the country, however, it is reported to be either 

 very productive or moderately so. The descriptions of this cherry as given 

 by American experiment stations and nurserymen show plainly that there 

 are several distinct sorts passing under the name Olivet in this country. 



Olivet, of comparatively recent origin, was found at Olivet, Loire, 

 France. American ntirserymen introduced this variety sometime previous 

 to 1877, for in that year the Gardener's Monthly mentioned the cherry as 

 being " a valuable Duke sort filling an unoccupied place among the list 

 of early cherries in central New York." Olivet was entered on the Amer- 

 ican Pomological Society's catalog list of fruits in 1881 where it is still 

 retained. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, round-topped, unproductive; trunk thickish, 

 rather rough; branches thick, smooth, reddish-brown partly overspread with ash-gray, 



