I08 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



Fraser's Black Tartarian. This turned out to be the same as the cherry 

 from Circassia. Some go farther back and say that Black Tartarian was 

 carried to Russia from Spain, thence to England. It owes its introduction 

 into this country to William Prince of Flushing, Long Island, probably 

 in the early part of the Nineteenth Century. It was recognized in 1848 

 and placed on the schedule of fruits at the National Convention of Fruit 

 Growers which later became the present American Pomological Society. 

 The variety still retains a place among the recommended cherries but 

 under the name Tartarian. The variety quickly became popular in America, 

 finding a place in every orchard and in the lists of all nurserymen. Some 

 nurserymen claim to have superior strains of the old variety; as, Green's 

 Tartarian and Black Tartarian Improved. Comparisons show no dif- 

 ferences. Black Russian, listed by some firms, is probably Black Tar- 

 tarian as it is used many times as a synonym by foreign writers. 



Tree characteristically large, vigorous, upright, vasiform, productive; trunk of medium 

 thickness, smooth; branches smooth, reddish-brown, sUghtly overspread with ash-gray, 

 with large lenticels; branchlets rather long, brown almost entirely overspread with ash- 

 gray, smooth, glabrous, with inconspicuous, slightly raised lenticels. 



Leaves numerous, five and one-half inches long, two and one-half inches wide, folded 

 upward, obovate to elliptical, thin; upper surface dark green, rugose; lower surface light 

 green, slightly pubsecent; apex acute, base abrupt; margin varies from serrate to crenate; 

 petiole two inches long, thick, tinged with red, with a few hairs, with from one to three 

 reniform, reddish glands of medium size usually on the stalk. 



Buds pointed or obtuse, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds, or in small 

 clusters on spiu-s of variable length; leaf -scars very prominent; season of bloom medium; 

 flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across, borne in scattering well-distributed clusters 

 in twos and threes; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx- tube faintly 

 tinged with red, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, long, broad, 

 obtuse, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, with short, blunt 

 claws; anthers yellowish; filaments nearly one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than 

 the stamens. 



Fruit matures early; less than one inch in diameter, cordate, compre'ssed; cavity 

 intermediate in depth and width, flaring; suture indistinct; apex pointed and slightly 

 depressed; color purplish-black; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; stem slender, one 

 and one-half inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, separating readily from the 

 pulp; flesh purplish-red, with dark colored juice, firm, meaty, crisp, pleasant flavored, 

 mild, sweet; of very good quality; stone free, ovate, slightly flattened and oblique, with 

 smooth surfaces. 



BLEEDING HEART 



Prunus avium 



I. Rea Flora 205. 1676. 2. Forsyth Treat. Fr. Trees 42. 1803. 3. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Card. 

 104. 1846. 4. Elliott Fr. Book 215. 1854. 



