ROSE TRIBE 217 



and one may now travel from Strasburg to Munich, a distance of two 

 hundred and fifty miles, through an avenue of Cherries, interspersed with 

 walnuts, plums, and pears. By far the greater part of the first are ungrafted 

 trees, which succeed in the poorest soil, and in the coldest and most elevated 

 situations. A large portion of the tract of country which bears the name 

 of the Black Forest, is an elevated, irregular surface, with no other wood 

 than the Cherry-trees which have been planted by the road-side." 



Those who live in oiu' Cherry counties, as in Kent, are accustomed to 

 hear much regret expressed when this fruit is not plentiful, for in the fertile 

 seasons the gathering the cherries from the trees is a source of employment 

 to women, and even children, who ascend the slight ladders to pluck the 

 ruddy fruit. The orchard is a pleasant and cheerful scene of labour, and 

 the baskets of glittering cherries, packed up with sprays of green bracken 

 above and aroiuid them, are bright and beautiful objects, and are often 

 carried oft" amid the merry songs or jocund laughter of the gatherers. Many 

 of the poor also gain a temporary addition to their means of support by 

 selling the fruit ; and little cottage children, to whom luxuries are rare, hail 

 the cheap cherry pudding with great delight. This fruit was first extensively 

 cultivated in Kent in the time of Henry the Eighth, when orchards near 

 Teynham were stocked with the trees. The first orchard then planted was 

 called the New Garden ; and the name of the fruiterer who introduced this 

 culture was Harris, and not Haines, as is generally stated. Michael Drayton, 

 the tediousness of whose poem, the "Poly-olbion," is somewhat comj)ensated 

 by the singular accuracy of its detail, as well as by the general evenness 

 of the versification, alludes to these Cherry-orchards. In his praise of the 

 " dear soil " of Kent, he says :— 



" When Thames-ward to the shore which shoots upon the rise, 

 Ricli Tenliam midertakes thy closets to suffice 

 Witli clierries wliich we say the summer in dotli bring, 

 Wlierewith Pomona crowns the young and histf'ul Spring ; 

 Whose golden gardens seem the Hesperides to mock ; 

 Nor here the damson wants, nor dainty Apricock. " 



Peachem, in his "Emblems," published in 1612, thus describes an English 

 fruit-garden : — 



" The Persian peach and fruitfull quince, 

 And there tlie forward almond grewe, 

 With cherries knowne no long time since ; 



The winter warden, orchards' pride, 

 The philihert that loves the wall, 

 And red queen apple, so euvide 

 Of school-boys passing by the pale." 



This cidture of the Cherries was, however, at this time only reintroduced 

 into England. It is pretty certain that the tree was planted here in the 

 time of the Romans. We know that the word cerasus is derived from 

 Cerasus, a city of ancient Pontus, in Asia, now called Kerasoun. The Cheriy- 

 tree was brought into Europe from thence, by the Roman general, Lucullus, 

 67 B.C., at the termination of the Mithridatic war. When a triumph waa 

 afforded to this warrior, he placed the Cherry-tree in the most conspicuous 

 station among the royal treasures, justly deeming it of more real worth to 

 the country than the spoils of gold, or silver, or gorgeous array, won by 



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