l66 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



Tree large, upright becoming somewhat vasiform and spreading with age, open- 

 topped, very productive; trunk of medium thickness, somewhat shaggy; branches smooth 

 or roughish, reddish-brown partly covered with ash-gray, with nimierous lenticels variable 

 in size; branchlets short, brown partly covered with Ught gray, smooth, with smaU, incon- 

 spicuous, raised lenticels. 



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

 obovate; upper surface very dark green, rugose; lower sxirface thinly pubescent; apex 

 abruptly pointed, base acute; margin finely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole one 

 inch long, slender, tinged with red, grooved, glandless or with one or two small, globose, 

 brownish glands, usually at the base of the blade. 



Buds obtuse, plump, free, in large clusters on short spurs ; leaf-scars prominent ; season 

 of bloom intermediate; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in dense 

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

 tube with a tinge of red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes with a trace of red, rather long, 

 narrow, acuminate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals broad-oval, entire, nearly 

 sessile; apex crenate; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens 

 in length. 



Fruit matures early, although variable in habit; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, 

 cordate to conical, compressed; cavity abrupt, regular; suture indistinct; apex roundish, 

 with a small depression at the center; color Ught changing to dark red at full maturity; 

 dots niomerous, russet, obscure; stem slender, one and one-half inches long, adhering 

 strongly to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh medium to dark 

 red, with pinkish juice, tender and melting, sprightly subacid, pleasant flavored; of very 

 good quality; stone nearly free, small, roundish to elliptical, with smooth surfaces; slightly 

 ridged along the ventral suture. 



MERCER 



Prunus avium 



I. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 262, PI. 5. 1892. 2. Am. Card. 14:39 fig. 1893. 3. Can. Hort. 17:322 fig. 

 693. 1894. 4. Black & Son Cat. 22 fig. 1909. 



This comparatively new Bigarreau is on probation in many parts of 

 the State and country, otherwise we should not give it prominence in 

 The Cherries of New York, as the variety is all but worthless as it grows 

 on the grounds of this Station. The trees are not sufficiently fruitful, the 

 cherries are too small, the flavor in none too good and the fruit is not at all 

 resistant to brown-rot — four fatal defects for a commercial cherry. 



This variety is reported to have sprung from a pit of a Mazzard tree 

 and was introduced several years ago by Black & Son of Hightstown, New 

 Jersey. The name, Mercer, after the county in New Jersey from which 

 it was introduced, was given the cherry by H. E. Van Deman, then United 

 States Pomologist. 



