THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK IO7 



to very firm becoming tender at full maturity, with abundant colored juice, sweet; good 

 in quality; stone large, roundish-ovate; dorsal suture deep. 



BLACK TARTARIAN 



Prunus avium 



I. Truchsess-Heim Kirscltensort. 130-132. 1819. 2. Pom. Mag. 1:44, PI. 1828. 3. Land. Hort. 

 Soc. Cat. 55. 1831. 4. Prince Pom. Man. 2:113, 114. 1832. 5. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 52. 1848. 

 6. Dochnahl Fiihr. Obstkunde 3:21. 1858. 7. III. Handb. 61 fig., 62. i860. 8. Leroy Diet. Pom. 

 5:228, 229 fig., 230. 1877. 9. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 377, 378. 1889. 10. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 37. 

 1906. 



Ronald's Large Black Heart. 11. Forsyth Treat. Fr. Trees 42, 43. 1803. 



Guigne Noire a Gros Fruit. 12. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 36. 1906. 



Tartarian. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1909. 



Black Tartarian is probably the favorite dooryard and roadside Sweet 

 Cherry in New York and ranks second or third among commercial cherries 

 in the State, as it probably does for the whole region east of the Mississippi. 

 It is known by all who grow or eat cherries. The preeminently meritorious 

 characters which give it so high a place in cherry ctilture are: first, and 

 most important, the elasticity of its constitution whereby it adapts itself 

 to widely different soils and climates; second, the fruitfulness, healthfulness 

 and robustness of the trees which also bear regularly, live to an old age 

 and grow to a prodigious size, oftentimes attaining a diameter of two feet ; 

 third, this variety is comparatively free from the worst of cherry diseases, 

 brown-rot; lastly, the cherries, though not as large as some similar sorts, 

 are tempting to the eye through their rotund form and glossy black color 

 and are a delight to the palate, the handsome ptirplish-red flesh being firm 

 and crisp, yet juicy, with a sweet, rich flavor which all agree gives the quality 

 the rank of "very good to best." It is a virile variety and from it have 

 come several promising seedlings and it is one of the parents of a number 

 of cross-bred cherries. Black Tartarian is earlier than most of the Sweet 

 Cherries with which it must compete — under most conditions a help in 

 marketing. Unfortunately it is a little too soft to handle well in harvesting 

 and marketing or to hold its shape as a canned product. Its small size 

 is also against it for the canner's trade. The several defects noted prevent 

 Black Tartarian from taking first rank in commercial orchards but for the 

 home plantation it is one of the best. 



Black Tartarian came originally from Rttssia. It was introduced into 

 England in 1794 from Circassia, by Hugh Ronalds of Brentford, Middlesex, 

 as Ronald's Large Black Heart. Two years later, John Fraser introduced 

 a variety, a native of Crimea, which he purchased in St. Petersburg, as 



