THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 1 65 



and even before ripe; it is also delicious to eat out of hand if the cherries 

 are dead ripe, when it is one of the best of the subacid cherries; while one 

 of the earliest of its class, it may be left to hang for a month or six weeks, 

 becoming daily sweeter and more aromatic; few or no cherries thrive in 

 greater variations of soil and climates, this fact accounting in greatest 

 measure for its world-wide distribution in temperate regions; despite its 

 tender flesh, it ships well though it is grown only for local markets since 

 its long period of ripening makes necessary several pickings — a fatal 

 defect for a canning cherry or one for the general trade ; lastly, the trees are 

 as fniitful as any, and are hardy, vigorous and healthy. The fruit is remark- 

 ably well distributed in dense clusters on trees characteristically upright 

 and vasiform and bearing a heavy canopy of dark green, luxuriant foliage. 

 May Duke fills a particular place in the cherry orchard as a fruit for the 

 local market and hundreds of new-comers have not been able to supplant 

 it. The fact that it has lost none of its pristine vigor, health and produc- 

 tiveness in the two hundred and more years it has been known contradicts 

 the idea that varieties of fruit degenerate or wear out with age. When 

 we pass in review all of the varieties of cherries, all characters and purposes 

 considered, May Duke remains one of the best. 



This variety seems to have been first mentioned by Ray in 1688. 

 May Duke is supposed by some English writers to have originated in a 

 district in France known as Medoc and the name to have been derived 

 from the place. When this cherry first received attention, the old style 

 of reckoning time was in vogue and the nth of June was the last day of 

 May. It may, therefore, be presumed that the variety derived its name 

 from its season of ripening rather than from a corruption of Medoc. A 

 few years ago Professor J. L. Budd of Iowa imported from Russia several 

 cherries among which was one called Esel Kirsche. Later this cherry was 

 distributed by the United States Department of Agriculture. As grown 

 on the groimds of this Station, Esel Kirsche has proved to be May Duke. 

 In Ohio the two could not be distinguished and with this evidence we have 

 listed Esel Kirsche as a synonym of May Duke. In 1832, William Prince 

 mentioned May Duke as being among the first of the cherries introduced 

 to America from Europe. From the references to this variety in the horti- 

 ciiltural literature and in the nursery catalogs throughout the United 

 States we may say that it is one of the most widely distributed and best- 

 known cherries in the country. The American Pomological Society placed 

 May Diike on its fruit catalog list in 1848. 



