55 
mens should prove most useful, as the Pulney Hills have hitherto 
been somewhat poorly representd. 
34:8. @; 
which that work was written of can only be repeated in the 
present instance. The botany of the common fruiting cherries 
as compared with that of the plums cultivated in North America 
1s quite simple, for they have been derived almost wholly from 
two species, viz., Prunus Avium, the sweet cherry, and of 
Cerasus, the sour cherry. JL. acida, if considered to be a distinct 
species, would make a third, but it is usually regarded as a form 
of verasus. A single cultivated variety, ‘‘ Early May,’’ is 
also said to have been derived from the ground cherry, 
fruticosa (P. Chamaecerasus). North American cherry orchards 
are, therefore, almost entirely dependent on varieties derived 
‘rom European species. The only New World cherry which has 
hitherto been shown to have much value as a fruit is Prunus 
Besseyi (Bot. Mage. t. 8156). Mr. Hedrick devotes about one 
hundred pages of his work to a most interesting discussion of 
his subject in its broad phases—historical, botanical and cultural. 
The first mention of the cherry in literature appears to have 
been by Theophrastus, writing about the year 300 B.c. Even then 
there is evidence that the cherry had been cultivated for several 
centuries. It was introduced to North America by the early 
settlers, and in 1909 we are informed that there were close upon 
twelve millions of fruit-bearing trees in the United States, which 
bore over four millions of bushels of fruit. Since then the in- 
dustry has greatly increased. Perhaps the most important part 
of the work is Chap. iv., running to 108 pages. In this is given 
a description of all the leading varieties of cherry alphabetically 
* The Cherries of New York. By U. P. Hedrick, New York Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Geneva, 1915. pp. 871, 400, with 56 coloured plates and 
portrait frontispiece. 
