niE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 99 



are larger, more divergent and more pendulous. The cherries are not as 

 well flavored but are larger and have a shorter stalk. 



This old English variety was first mentioned by Parkinson in Paradisus 

 Terrestris, 1629. For many years previous to the middle of the last century 

 the true Arch Dtike cherry was very scarce and was often confused with 

 other varieties, some writers asserting that it was the May Duke; others, 

 the Late Duke. In 1847, however, the true Arch Duke cherry was dis- 

 covered in the niirseries of Thomas Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, England, 

 having been grown there, according to Mr. Rivers, by his ancestors for 

 nearly a century. It was then found that the fruit was quite unlike that 

 of either May Duke or Late Duke, though the habit of the tree was similar. 

 It is not known when Arch Duke was introduced into America but the 

 American Pomological Society placed it upon its fruit list in 1871. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, somewhat upright, hardy, productive; trunk stocky, 

 smooth; branches slender, long, smooth, reddish-brown, marked with considerable scarf- 

 skin, with numerous, rather large lenticels; branchlets of medium length, curved, with 

 short intemodes, brown mottled with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with few small, slightly 

 raised, inconspicuous lenticels. 



Leaves numerous, about two inches wide, three inches long, folded upward, short- 

 oval to obovate, of medium thickness ; upper surface dark green ; lower surface light green, 

 verj' slightly pubescent; apex acutely pointed; margin finely and doubly serrate, glandular; 

 petiole one inch long, tinged with dull red, slender, with one or two, rarely three small, 

 globose, brownish glands at the base of the blade. 



Buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds or in clusters 

 of variable size; leaf-scars rather prominent; season of bloom mediimi; flowers white, one 

 and one-sixteenth inches across; borne in clusters of twos and threes; pedicels three-fourths 

 inch long, rather slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube with a faint tinge of red, obconic, 

 glabrous; cah-x-lobes with a trace of red, of medigjfi Jength and breadth, acute, serrate, 

 glabrous within and without, reflexcd; petals r^^^ilish, entire, nearly sessile, the apex 

 entire or with a shallow, wide notch; anthers yellowi.sh; filaments three-sixteenths inch 

 long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens. 



Fruit mattires in mid-season; one and one-eighth inches in diameter, obtuse-cordate, 

 slightly compressed, flattened at the extremities; cavity of medium depth, narrow, some- 

 what obtuse; suture distinct; apex flattened or depressed; color light red becoming dark 

 red or almost black at full maturity; dots numerous, of medium size, russet, rather incon- 

 spicuous; stem slender, one and one-half inches long, rather stout at its point of insertion 

 in the fruit, adherent to the fruit; skin moderately thick; flesh Ught to dark red, firm, 

 crisp, sUghtly astringent at first, becoming a very pleasant subacid at full maturity, juicy, 

 good to very good in quaUty; stone semi -clinging, seven-sixteenths inch long, three-eighths 

 inch wide, oval, compressed, with smooth surfaces. 



