THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 1 85 



Century. The American Pomological Society placed Royal Duke upon 

 its catalog list of recommended fruits in 1871. 



Tree of medium size, vigorous, upright, vasiform, improductive at this Station ; trunk 

 slender, roughish; branches stocky', with roughened surface, dark reddish-brown covered 

 with ash-gray, with lenticels of medium number and size; branchlets stout, long, brown 

 partly overspread with ash-gray, smooth except for the lenticels which are inconspicuous. 



Leaves numerous, variable in size, averaging four and one-half inches long, two 

 inches wide, folded upward, oval to obovate; upper surface dark green, slightly rugose; 

 lower surface medium green, pubescent along the midrib; apex abruptly pointed, base 

 acute; margin serrate or crenate; petiole variable in length, often one and one-half inches 

 long, not uniform in thickness, tinged with red, glandless or with one or two small, reniform, 

 greenish-yellow or reddish glands, usually at the base of the blade. 



Buds rather small, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in very 

 dense clusters on numerous short spurs; leaf -scars obscure; time of bloom mid-season; 

 flowers white, one inch across ; borne in very dense clusters, closely grouped in fours and 

 fives; pedicels over one-half inch long, glabrous, green; calyx-tube green or with a tinge 

 of red, obconic, glabrous; cal>TC-lobes with a trace of red, acute, serrate, glabrous witliin 

 and without, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, sessile, apex entire; filaments nearly one- 

 fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens. 



Fruit matures early; three-fourths inch in diameter, oblate, compressed; cavity rather 

 narrow, abrupt, regular; suture a mere line; apex flattened or depressed; color bright 

 red becoming darker at maturity; dots few, small, obscure; stem one and one-half inches 

 long, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, rather tough, separating from the pulp; flesh pale 

 yellowish-white with tinge of red, pinkish juice, tender, sprightly, pleasantly acid; good 

 to very good in quality; stone semi-free, small, ovate, slightly flattened, with smooth 

 siu^aces. 



SCHMIDT 

 Prunus avium 



1. Dochnahl Fiihr. Obslkunde 3:38. 1858. 2. III. Handb. 37 fig., 38. 1867. 3. Jour. Hort. N. S. 

 23:169 fig. 1872. 4. Flor. & Pom. 121, fig. 2. 1874. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 17. 1897. 6. Budd- 

 Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:290. 1903. 



Smith. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1909. 



Schmidt, shortened in accordance with the rules of the American 

 Pomological Society from Schmidt's Bigarreau, is not new nor can it be 

 said to be little known, since it has been rather widely planted in America 

 for a score of years. Yet in New York, at least, it is not receiving the 

 attention that it deserves from commercial cherry-growers, being relegated 

 to the rear of ten or a dozen kinds when it should be in the front rank. 

 Indeed, about Geneva, where many Sweet Cherries are grown, while not 

 the leading market variety, it is one of the best. The characters which 

 entitle it to a high place as a money-maker are: large size, being unsurpassed 



