14 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



parts and in the number of stamens. In plums the reproductive organs 

 differ greatly in ability to perform their functions, some varieties being 

 self-sterile. In New York there seem to be no marked differences in 

 fecundity in cherries nor are there so frequently the malformations of 

 reproductive organs which are found in pltuns. The season of flowering 

 is a fine mark of distinction between species and varieties, a fact well 

 brought out by the chart on pages 80-81. 



Of all organs, the fruit of the cherry is most responsive to changed 

 conditions and hence most variable, yet the fruits furnish very valuable 

 taxonomic characters in both botany and pomology. In pomology, in 

 particular, the fruits must be closely studied. Size, shape, color, bloom, 

 stem, cavity, apex, suture and skin are the outward characters of which 

 note must be made; while the color, aroma, flavor and texture of the flesh 

 are usually very characteristic. Both species and varieties are well dis- 

 tinguished by the time of ripening though there is much variation in 

 ripening dates. The keeping quality is scarcely taken into account with 

 cherries but varies a great deal, chiefly in accordance with firmness of the 

 flesh. The flesh of cherries, as in all drupaceous fruits, clings to the stone 

 or is wholly or partly free — a character of interest both to the systematist 

 and to the fruit-grower. The color of the juice, whether colorless or red, 

 is a plain and certain dividing line in both species and varieties. 



The pits of cherries are rather more lacking in distinction than in 

 other stone-fruits, plums for example, yet they must be accounted of 

 considerable value in determination and for this reason have been included 

 in all of the color-plates of varieties. Cherry-pits from individual trees 

 are almost lacking in differences except in size but between species and 

 varieties show many distinctions not only in size but in shape, surfaces, 

 grooves and ridges, in the ends and more or less in the seeds within. 

 Cherries of any variety grown on poor soils or in incongenial climates 

 tend to have large stones and little flesh, while the pits are smaller and 

 there is more flesh with the opposite extremes in environment. As will be 

 pointed out in the discussion of the group of cherries known as the Dukes, 

 many varieties have pits with shrunken and abortive seeds coming, as we 

 think, from the hybrid origin of these cherries. 



The several pages given to the discussion of the characters of cherries 

 are in preparation for a proper understanding of the classifications and 

 descriptions of species and varieties. We are now ready for the classifi- 

 cation of the species of cherries which contribute or may contribute forms 



