696 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
concludes that, though the mérisier existed in France, it had probably never 
attracted the notice of the cultivated Romans, as, even if they had discovered 
the tree, they would have set little value on its bitter, austere, and nearly juice- 
less fruit ; and that, when Lucullus brought either C. vulgaris, or some improved 
variety of it, from the country near Cerasus, they considered the fruit as new. 
At all events, it does not appear to have been cultivated before the time of 
Lucullus, though afterwards it made such rapid progress, that Pliny, in his 
Natural History, tells us, “ In 26 years after Lucullus planted the cherry 
tree in Italy, other Jands had cherries, even as far as Britain, beyond the 
ocean.” It is curious, that, in Pliny’s enumeration of the sorts of cherry cul- 
tivated in his time (4. D. 70), he mentions C. duracina, and C. Juliana, both 
varieties of C. sylvéstris. The former, he says, aremuch esteemed; and “ the 
Julian cherries have a pleasant taste, but are so tender, that they must be 
eaten where they are gathered, as they will not endure carriage.’ Pliny 
enumerates six other kinds, among which was one with quite black fruit, which 
was called Actia; and another with very red fruit, which was called Apronia. 
As Pliny wrote above 100 years after the time of Lucullus, it is impossible 
now to ascertain whether all the cherries he mentions were introduced by 
that general, or originated by culture in Italy, &c. At all events, the tree 
appears to have rapidly become a universal favourite, and to have spread 
throughout all the Roman dominions. At present, it is extensively cultivated, 
as a fruit tree, throughout the temperate regions of the globe; but it does not 
thrive in tropical climates, and even attains a larger size in the middle and 
north of Europe than it does in the south. 
In Britain, the testimony of most authors confirms the statement of Pliny, 
that the tree, or, at least, the cultivated cherry, was introduced by the Romans ; 
and tradition says that the first cherry orchards were planted in Kent; a 
circumstance which seem$ confirmed by the celebrity which has been long 
maintained by that county for its cherries. Some writers assert that the 
cherries introduced by the Romans were lost during the period that the 
country was under the dominion of the Saxons, till they were reintroduced 
by Richard Harris, gardener to Henry VIII., who brought them from Flan- 
ders, and planted them at Sittingbourne, in Kent. The incorrectness of this 
story is, however, proved by the fact that Lydgate, who wrote in 1415 (during 
the reign of Henry V.), speaks of cherries being exposed for sale in the Lon- 
don market. Gerard, in his Herbal, published in 1597, figures a double and 
semidouble variety of cherry; and, of the fruit-bearing kinds, says that there 
were numerous varieties. Among others, he particularly mentions the black 
wild cherry, the fruit of which was unwholesome, and had “ an harsh and 
unpleasant taste;” and “ the Flanders, or Kentish, cherries,’ of which he 
says, that, when they are thoroughly ripe, they “ have a better juice, but watery, 
cold, and moist.” Gerard also speaks of the morello, or morel, which he 
callsa French cherry. In the survey and valuation, made in 1649, of the manor 
and mansion belonging to Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., at. Wim- 
bledon, in Surrey, previously to its sale during the Commonwealth, it appears 
that there were upwards of 200 cherry trees in the gardens. (Archeologia, 
vol. x. p.399.) From this period to the present day, cherries have been in 
great request, both as shrubbery and orchard trees, 
In France, the cherry is highly prized, as supplying food to the poor; and a 
law was passed, so long ago as 1669, commanding the preservation of all 
cherry trees in the royal forests. The consequence of this was, that the 
forests became so full of fruit trees, that there was no longer room for the 
underwood; when, as usual, going to the other extreme, all the fruit trees 
were cut down, except such young ones as were included among the number 
of standard saplings required by the law to be left to secure a supply of timber. 
This measure, Bosc remarks, was a great calamity for the poor, who, during 
several months of the year, lived, either directly or indirectly, on the produce 
of the mérisier. Soup made of the fruit, with a little bread, and a little butter, 
was the common nourishment of the woodcutters and the charcoal-burners 
